So many classes and kits, cant decide what to play (and now 5 more O.o)

Felspawn

Originally in years gone by my original BG character was a Paladin. Beat BG1 and BG2 with him, never got around to ToB. With BG:EE i made a Fighter with the intentions of making him a fighter thief dual class but already beat the game to quick (as i mentioned in a previous post) so i'm thinking of making another character, one better prepared to clear all of BG1 in prep for BG2 but i just cant seem to decide what to play. I dont really care about the Power gamer aspect of thing as much as good RP reason for being CHARNAME. I tend to play Martial Characters more then Magic ones BUT one thing that i didnt like about my fighter was that he was pretty much dual wield weapon of mass destruction, granted thats not a bad thing but he was very hands off, point him at the enemy with a standard script and he torn people up, effective but dull. I play with a full party not solo, any suggestion for a new CHARNAME, something interesting to play?

Nifft

Half-Orc Cleric of Lathander (Str 19 of course).

Gnome Fighter / Illusionist.

Half-Elf Skald.

Debaser

@Felspawn

Try maybe a Fighter / Mage Elf? Or a Cleric / Ranger Half-Elf?

Or a Fighter / Thief Half-Orc who uses Staves and Two-Handed Style?

These are all very strong multi-classes, easy to play...but have lots of range in choices.

Felspawn

Fighter Mage seems fun, you are still strong at arms but with some spells for defense and utility. I dont think i can be an elf an i think that'll prevent me from romancing Viconia in BG2, maybe a Half Elf... I wish Humans could multiclass

Debaser

@Felspawn

Well the Elf gets the bonus to Long Swords...I dunno she is an elf...maybe since she's a Drow she hate regular elves...can't remember if you're right on that.

She will romance a Half-Orc....so her standards aren't THAT high. =P

KidCarnival

I'd say any melee class with some buttons to push, so the gameplay is less dull and not the one trick pony a la "send to enemy, wait for everything to be dead". I have much fun as a Priest of Talos as battlepriest - still high str/dex/con, focussing on self buffs. Clerics make awesome tanks and don't get boring like a fighter in the same role. I haven't played neutral or good clerics, so I can't say how effective their special kit stuff is, but as evil cleric, I found the Stormshield very useful and the Lightning became an essential roleplay element. I use it as a "daily sacrifice to Talos", covering rep management, roleplay immersion and an extra challenge with one ability. Making the use mandatory, but accepting enemies, animals and commoners as sacrifice took away the "mindless slaughter" for rep management, yet still put me in situations where I had to kill an innocent and face the consequences.

So, Priest of Talos is highly recommended if you are ok with a frontliner who isn't the main damage dealer, and offers some more abilities instead. Maybe make it a dwarf or half orc for extra strength/con.

(Kitted) Bards are a lot fun, too. However, skalds are rather passive in my opinion. To make optimal use of their song, you just sing and can't actively participate in fights. You are back to clicking one button and waiting for your NPCs to clear the area. As charname, I find this even more dull than pointing at enemies.
Blades get you back to dual wielding, but if you don't neccessarily want a different fighting style, that's the way to go. Blades make effective melee fighters and they do have some extra buttons with their spells, allowing a lot more strategies than a pure fighter.
I personally love jesters and make excessive use of invisibility, almost playing them like thieves without backstab ability; and the offensive song is a very nice change - though you'll lose that in BG2 late game when you get the better bard song. That will be the normal song all bards get. I do hope BG2EE will change that, but that's just me daydreaming.

Swashbuckler as melee oriented thief might be an option, though you wouldn't have backstab. You still get something more than point and kill to do, but not neccessarily in fights. A dual/multiclass fighter/thief may be more interesting if you're looking for new things to do in battles.

Madhax

Human Sorcerer or Dragon Disciple. Powerful, interesting classes, and fitting extremely well into the mythos of the game given the PC's lineage.

A fighter dualled to Mage in SoA would be another interesting idea.

KidCarnival

Felspawn said:

Fighter Mage seems fun, you are still strong at arms but with some spells for defense and utility. I dont think i can be an elf an i think that'll prevent me from romancing Viconia in BG2, maybe a Half Elf... I wish Humans could multiclass

I think she only doesn't romance elves. You should be ok with half elf.

Felspawn

How About a Half Elf Blade? considering i cant make up my mind maybe a jack of all trades? or would i be better off with the Fighter mage?

certus

Cleric/mage is good fun to play. Cleric/ranger is pretty overpowred too. Half orc Fighter/Thief is the most fun for me so far though.

certus

@felspawn cleric/mage can wear armour and helmets and use limited weapons. Duhm amd stoneskins is pretty cood combo imho. Robe of vecna and improved alatricity(sp) would be a nice combo in bg2. Hard to get a decent roll for it though

HaHaCharade

Madhax said:

Human Sorcerer or Dragon Disciple. Powerful, interesting classes, and fitting extremely well into the mythos of the game given the PC's lineage.

How does having the blood of a dragon somewhere in your ancestry have anything to do with having the essence of Bhaal in you?

Felspawn

Dragon probably not but a general Sorcerer certainly makes sense, i've never played a straight up mage but if i did it would probably be a sorcerer

Debaser

HaHaCharade said:

Madhax said:

Human Sorcerer or Dragon Disciple. Powerful, interesting classes, and fitting extremely well into the mythos of the game given the PC's lineage.

How does having the blood of a dragon somewhere in your ancestry have anything to do with having the essence of Bhaal in you?

@HaHaCharade

Maybe Bhaal mated with a Dragon????

Madhax

@HaHaCharade

If Bhaal wanted to make powerful children, tapping into dragon lineages would be a good place to start. Bhaal's essence within the PC could be considered a contributing factor to the resurgence of latent dragon traits and magical capabilities, for example.

I might be pulling that out of my ass though, I don't know of any Dragon Disciple characters to compare a BG PC Disciple to. I interpreted the kit's description as a stirring of latent power, as if the dragon's presence in the character's lineage was many generations back and the character's family had been unremarkable in the interim. If that's the case, it fits nicely into the BG story.

Lemernis

Felspawn said:

Fighter Mage seems fun, you are still strong at arms but with some spells for defense and utility. I dont think i can be an elf an i think that'll prevent me from romancing Viconia in BG2, maybe a Half Elf... I wish Humans could multiclass

One thing that makes F/M particularly interesting for me is figuring out how to integrate spellcasting with melee. There's a number of ways to go about it tactically. What I usually end up doing is immediately casting one area-of-effect spell (Sleep, Glitterdust, Horror, Emotion) and then rush into melee. While in melee I'll also cast a spell or two on individual targets. Hold is sweet here because it can affect up to four enemies. Blindness is great. Slow is good. Vampiric Touch is fun. But anyway, you can mix these spells in while dual-wielding. Robe of the Archmagi is a must for this approach, once you can afford it. But even just Armor and Shield and other AC lowering items is sufficient to avoid getting too bloodied up.

You can use the same approach with a Blade, and you'll also have Offensive and Defensive Spin. You won't have quite as many spell slots, though.

EEKeeper allows you to change the appearance of a half-elf to human. (RP-wise some half-elves do pass for human.) EEKeeper is still in beta but it seems to be working stably.

You could also dual-class a Fighter to Mage. You'll need to have at least 17 Int to dual. Personally, since I dislike the so-called 'downtime' of waiting to get the original class skills back when dual-classing, I dual at Fighter 3. (This just for a single run through BG:EE mind you, not the whole saga). If you dual at level 3 you'll get your Fighter skills back almost immediately and enjoy excellent martial skills. There's advantages to starting with either the Berserker or Kensai kit over just a vanilla Fighter.

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Felspawn

i ended up making a bunch of guys and did quick solo runs through Casa Iranicus, to see what was the most fun, i liked the Fighter/thief best. I wouldn't say he was the most powerful (at least in that stage of the game) a sorcerer i made leveled the placed. but sneaking around and 1shoting a mage and then running around a corner to awaiting traps (when they work) and a waiting party doesn't get old) i guess it makes sense as it was sort of my original intention to dual class my fighter as a thief but in hinde sight i really dislike dual classing and after review there isnt enough benefit to it. Multi Class it is.

Oxford_Guy

Felspawn said:

How About a Half Elf Blade? considering i cant make up my mind maybe a jack of all trades? or would i be better off with the Fighter mage?

I'm playing a CN half-elf Blade currently and it's great fun (although the cat familiar sucks, too slow), fighter/mage is probably stronger overall, but I think a Blade is more *enjoyable* to play as CHARNAME (I've played both BTW), there's more things they can do (offensive/defensive spin, pickpockets, identify items, use Bard-specific items) and in BG2 their stronghold quest is interesting and their HLAs are great (Use Any Item, Spike Trap, Improved Bard Song etc.). Blades can do an insane about of damage, though are more fragile than fighter/mages.