I've been pondering on that dual class but I'm also wondering how far along in BG2 I would have to be before regaining swashie skills if I dual at lvl 10? I've played BG 2 a bit before but never gotten too far.

You'll get it soon enough. You need 375000 xp to get your mage to level 11, which can happen pretty quick, especially with a few sidequests.

If you dual to a thief/mage, swashbuckler wouldn't be my first choice because of no backstab multiplier. Personally I prefer a bounty hunter because of the extra traps. A swashbuckler at level 10 isn't that great a fighter, especially later in the game, where the bonus to armor class isn't that usefull compared to more traps and a backstab multiplier.

You'll get the 11 mage levels quite fast, especially since you get XP for learning spells from scroll. If you want to speed up the process you can dismiss your other party members temporarily and get the scribing XP alone.

Thief level 10 isn't enough to set effective traps (not even for bounty hunters) so don't bother spending skill points there. Thief level 11 improves your traps but it's your decision if an about twice as long dualing period, 60,000 XP less as mage and spending 75-100 skillpoints is worth it for you.
Waiting longer isn't worth it, even after finishing dualing late in the game you'll suffer from the slower development as mage.

If you play bg1 (tutu) then you can dual at level 10 and still add a couple of mage levels before you even start bg2... I’d recommend putting at least 100 points into ‘Detect Illusions’ (105-115 for SCS).

Bad idea. No need playing through a full game just for starting another with a little more XP you could grind much faster in BG2 than in BG1 or simply use an editor.
Because of the BG1 XPCap you'd be stuck as weak level 1 mage until the end of BG1.

I doubt the usefulness of detect illusions for this character. A simple true sight spell does the same every round while you're free to do other things in combat. Set traps is more useful although traps do only 7-21 damage at level 10.

The trouble with that idea is ‘Spell Immunity: Divination’ (which SCS makes use of) will block ‘True Sight’ and several other detect spells whereas ‘Detect Illusions’ has no counter... it’s up to you as to if this skill is worth investing in.

That's one of the reason why I don't recommend mods like SCS. It even highlights the unbalanced cheese in the game.
In a normal game there's no need for it.

A great combination. Swashbuckler to Mage. This is a new character i just started for a freshly made new game. You need to reroll a few times, because 2 of the most useful mage spells, the wish ones, require high wisdom. No more than 16 constitution, and an 18 to strength, dexterity and intelligence, no being cheap with those. But there are those tomes, lum the mad's machine and the tears of bhaal, so it is not that hard to both get decent stats and plan ahead on how to raise them.

Most people dual at either 10, or 15. I personally favor 15, because at hitting this level, you get another set of the kit's bonuses (per 5 levels), more thief points to distribute, and still have enough xp remaining to hit 28 mage, which is ideal (because at this level you get max spell slots). And do not worry about xp, regaining your class and stuff; 2 is full of xp loopholes, or you can import export and repeat irenicus dungeon a few times until you are ready to go.

Thief mage is great for many reasons.

1) BG2 + ToB both lack an able thief party member, able to progress as a thief (yoshimo dies, the gnome is an illusionist too which means no necromancy and wasted xp...).
2) Your main would be a real waste if he is not able to cast arcane spells, as an arcane class (mage, wild mage, specialist mage etc). Some reasons? You get to keep your hard earned spells with new playthrough, you can summon familiar and use its tricks or normal play, and last but not least, you can cast your way into endless spellcasting without rest, or simulacrum yourself and have 5 main char copies summon 5 planetars.
3) A rare combo. As the fighter mage one, it is extremely versatile, powerful, and many spells and items are tailored exactly for a dual or multi, mage/thief and/or fighter/thief.

Backstabbing is worthless, at least for me. All serious enemies are immune to it. Regular enemies affected by it, are easily dispatched anyway. Plus, swash is like a fighter, with low AC and great damage/accuracy bonuses. Plus, being able to put 2 prof points in weapons, is serious stuff. Having 3 points in dual wield, and 2 in both katanas and scimitars (the highest damaging weapons in thief's repertoire, excluding the staff maybe), makes this little fella something like a fighter/mage/thief. But better, since you do not have to share xp between three classes, you have 1 kit with most of its benefits (15 is high level), and you still hit 28 mage, which means not loosing a single spell slot. Wear robes of vecna, an ioun stone and enjoy.

Yay! I get to Necro!

Anyway, I'm jumping back in for another round of IE goodness. BG2 +ToB, not BG1 this time.

One of my characters is going to be a Swash/Mage. From what i can determine, the only reason to go this route is NOT for the fighting ability (although it's fine early in the game), but for the ability to just be a Mage that can OL/DT/Detect illusions (don't want to bother with True Sight). Later areas of the game are just too much for most thieves, especially boss encounters, and even the swashy will be far too squishy for melee combat in many of these encounters.

My question though, is when to DC.

Most of the consensus seems to be at level 10, and that seems fine, as I basically DC before I'm even out of Irinicus's dungeon. However, It doesn't allow me to get 3 points in two weapon, AND 2 points in Kat. and short sword. I'm 2 points short, and don't know where to go. I'm actually thinking just 1 slot in Katana, one in short bow, one in long or short sword, and then the last in a different fighting style. I was also thinking of putting 2 slots in Two handed, and then taking the Quarterstaff point when I DC to mage. If I do that, I have 3 points left at char. creation. I'm thinking basically the same breakdown, and just ditching TWFS all together.

Thoughts?

Make your own thread.

why? makes more sense to us the existing one

the point of a quarterstaff thief is to backstab which Swash does not do and ditching twfs really misses the point as well because that is the swash main str.

range weapons = axe, bow or crossbow, and I tend towards crossbow because I can get by without needing str
melee - short swords and scimitar for defence but longswords and or katana are valid options if you want to risk it

Not necessarily. I played a pure swashbuckler once through ToB, and he did fine. Their AC and damage bonuses are based on level and continue improving long after a fighter stops gaining much new stuff. It's by no means the strongest character out there, but they do remain perfectly viable.

Can't really recommend it, though, due to the lack of backstabbing. Not nearly as much fun as playing an Assassin or something. Not to mention that dual classing negates this advantage anyway. Your dual class will probably be more fun. (though it's not a combo I've tried.)

As for proficiencies: it's important to note that the Swashbuckler doesn't get any extra attacks from putting 2 stars into a weapon proficiency, so dual wielding does take priority (as ussnorway says.)

Furthermore, once you get your swashbuckler levels back (level 11 mage) you can start putting proficiency points in all rogue weapons again. So you can put those extra katana/shortsword points in later.

What I'd do is put points in daggers and slings on the early mage levels. There are some pretty good daggers in the game that are useful at mid levels, particularly the magic throwing daggers (which unfortunately can't be dual wielded but are still very good because they give you 2 attacks per round and deal lots of damage) and slings make for better missile weapons than most if you have high strength and get the sling of seeking.

I've always found that ten levels of Swashbuckler synergizes much better with Cleric than it does with Mage.

You get +3 AC, +2 Attack / Damage, 3 pips in Dual-Wielding.

Now, your Cleric is likely to be in Full Plate so he wasn't going to Stealth anyhow, which fits the Swashbuckler perfectly since he has no backstab. And while a Mage won't get much mileage out of those AC points, the Fullplated shield-wielding Cleric will be a monster of a frontlining tank. Plus the ten levels of Swashbuckler easily max out Find Traps, Pick Locks and your choice of Pick Pockets or Detect Illusions as an off-skill negating the need for a Thief in your group.

Mages tend to synergize better with kits that make use of Stealth like Bounty Hunters and Assassins since they don't wear armor themselves.