My favorite is probably Human Necromancer (pure power in later levels, challenging at the beginning), then Gnome Thief/Illusionist (great all around character who is very versatile and gets extra spells due to 19 intelligence!), in BG2 Bard Blade (powerful extra abilities and very powerful at high levels).
Gotta go with Necromancer though, nothing beats raising an undead army to fling at your foes. (also love mages for the fact they get to wander the world wearing a comfy housecoat, and who wouldn't want to do that?)
Can't really cast my vote on the most played character as I never tend to play the same class two times. But the classes/kits I have enjoyed the most are Cavalier, Undead Hunter, Barbarian (gnome, for maximum funkyness) and soloing as a fighter/mage/thief.
Whenever I start up a BG game I always have to force myself to not use a Ranger again. I don't even use any of the kits, I just use the plain Ranger because I like being able to use heavy armor.
The rarely chosen druid here. As ineffective as it is in the first BG, I just fancy the whole shapeshift into a bear thing and being able to summon a herd of animals in the final battle. Lately though, I've been trying the dual cleric/ranger.
Illusionist/theif Gnome, Being useful at finding traps, buffering party with haste, increased survivability with mirror image and blur, backstabing and the use of some offensive spells like fireball and when things get tough you can throw in some cannon fodder to make an escape with the shadows or a nifty invisibilty the use of bows as a mage, however you can use it in different ways, traps, scouting, charm, grease all the spells maes have acess to for endless fun.
Dual Classing should be limited to Humans with only a 20% experience penalty, that would fix the issue of it being less powerful than multiclassing, which by common sense it should not.
On topic:
I normally play a Ranger, which is pretty broken in BG 1.
There is just something about running around in full plate and helping old ladies across the street and kittens down from trees... Yes yes.. goodie-toe-shoe is my middle name
And the thought about carsomyr in BG2 is also making a warm little fire in the heart.
That being said.. when the first of many complete games are done.. I will take a mage and go power crazy (I wanna cast magic missile!)
My favourite class is Mage/Thief. Mage because Mages just are awesome and I love casting fancy magic...or nuke the shizz out of the area with AoE spells like Fireball...Gosh yes, I love me some nice Fireballs, hehe... *ahem* Anyway, I'm simply intruiged by the variety of magic spells and love trying out different combos when facing different enemies. As for the Thief part, ah, I just can't stand leaving locked chests full of precious loot alone... I guess that's the kleptomaniac in me speaking, hehe. (I'm not a real kleptomaniac, of course, but you get what I mean: precious loot is precious)
Druid, or to be more precise; the Oozemaster custom druid kit from Divine Remix. I just *love* to ooze from every opening and becoming more and more inhuman when leveling up. Much better to be one with the ooze than transforming into a naked weremutt.
Edit: Dang, saw the vanilla part in the title too late. Anyway, in *vanilla* Baldurs Gate I favoured the druid as well. Closely followed by the mage.
As far as I remember, I've always played paladins in BG1 (until I discovered Tutu/BGT and the masochistic joy of playing a low level monk, that is). It must be because that's the class I chose when I started playing AD&D, 15 years or so ago.
I never saw them as a goodie two shoes, knight in shining armor, mind you; I played them more like an inquisitor or witch hunter.
I think thieves, swashbucklers and dual or multi fighter-thieves have been my most frequent picks. I like the versatility of melee thieves, and there's usually some pretty cool stuff like the shadow armour which is lore-rich and characterful. There's always a thieves' guild somewhere too, which makes them feel natural in the setting.
A fighter. I love kicking me some ass with sword and Composite Longbow. Watch the monsters whine when I fill 'em so full of arrows they look like a porcupine fell in love with their face! And then- bang! Sword puts 'em out of their misery (assuming they live that long!)
There’s something amusing about being a good guy that accidentally finds himself on the wrong side, but it’s enough for everyone and their grandmother to judge him. He’s then condemned to be seen as a villain, regardless of all his previous selfless actions. XD
I.e. Two villages are sick with the plague, one contains 50 villagers and the other holds 25. The Paladin can only choose one town to save, for if he decides to split the cure, all the citizens will rage war on one another. He, now, not only has to decide who to save, but who shall die as well.
If the Paladin favors the majority over the minority, it would go against his code of morals. Even the minority must be protected. If he chooses the minority, he allows more deaths, in which case would be seen as slaughter.
It’s a lose/lose situation, and many will hold him responsible for which ever action is taken. XD
10 Swashbuckler / Mage, or 9 / 13 Kensai / Mage. The swashbuckler for soloing with traps, the kensai if turning traps off via modpacks.
Fighter / Mage / Thief would also be great, but then you cant have Swashbuckler or Kensai kits, I hope that they allow you to choose a kit for multiclass characters in BGEE.
Comments
Gotta go with Necromancer though, nothing beats raising an undead army to fling at your foes. (also love mages for the fact they get to wander the world wearing a comfy housecoat, and who wouldn't want to do that?)
But the classes/kits I have enjoyed the most are Cavalier, Undead Hunter, Barbarian (gnome, for maximum funkyness) and soloing as a fighter/mage/thief.
On topic:
I normally play a Ranger, which is pretty broken in BG 1.
There is just something about running around in full plate and helping old ladies across the street and kittens down from trees... Yes yes.. goodie-toe-shoe is my middle name
And the thought about carsomyr in BG2 is also making a warm little fire in the heart.
That being said.. when the first of many complete games are done.. I will take a mage and go power crazy (I wanna cast magic missile!)
Edit: Dang, saw the vanilla part in the title too late. Anyway, in *vanilla* Baldurs Gate I favoured the druid as well. Closely followed by the mage.
I never saw them as a goodie two shoes, knight in shining armor, mind you; I played them more like an inquisitor or witch hunter.
Paladins are a close second though.
Fallen Paladin!
There’s something amusing about being a good guy that accidentally finds himself on the wrong side, but it’s enough for everyone and their grandmother to judge him. He’s then condemned to be seen as a villain, regardless of all his previous selfless actions. XD
I.e. Two villages are sick with the plague, one contains 50 villagers and the other holds 25. The Paladin can only choose one town to save, for if he decides to split the cure, all the citizens will rage war on one another. He, now, not only has to decide who to save, but who shall die as well.
If the Paladin favors the majority over the minority, it would go against his code of morals. Even the minority must be protected. If he chooses the minority, he allows more deaths, in which case would be seen as slaughter.
It’s a lose/lose situation, and many will hold him responsible for which ever action is taken. XD
Thus, the Fallen Paladin. <3333
Fighter / Mage / Thief would also be great, but then you cant have Swashbuckler or Kensai kits, I hope that they allow you to choose a kit for multiclass characters in BGEE.