I play a Stalker often. Composite bows right from the start of BG 1 kicks butt. Then in BG 2 I can switch to dual weild backstabs with 19 str which owns mages and other squishy targets.
Fighter/mage because I love smart, intelligent fighting with lots of strategic options. He's bigger than you? Hold Person. He's weaker than you? Use your sword. You can always attack their weakest defense.
Multiclass, because it allows to play in such a style all through the game. In my experience, dual-classing most always screwed up the balance and left you competent in one or the other class, but not quite both. It took me a while to understand the true value of THAC0.
Plus I dig elves. Lite, agile fighters using magic to shore up their physical shortcomings. Their long lives afford them that luxury.
In my Let's Play (which was by far my longest BG1 game, due to having to play everything in excrutiating detail about 3 times fully), Zeckul is an evil Berserker 5/Cleric X; I role-play it as a violent and greedy Stormlord of Talos who kills cows for fun and little girls for their lack of money when you save their cat.
I try to play a different class every time I play though.
I've played these classes an equal amount: fighter/thief, fighter/mage & cleric/ranger. I prefer multi over dual-class characters, I'd rather both skillsets advance. Kensai/mage or kensai/thief are often touted but having played them through I'd rate their multi-class equivelents higher. Epic fighter feats come to mind, whirlwind (even if you're a thief with two weapons you can't use assassination on every foe), hardness (great when coupled with armor of faith).
Archer is also a great kit - Bolts of lightning + Greater Whirlwind or Arrows + Improved haste + Smite.
On that note (I know it's unrelated) does anyone know whether arrow damage in BGEE is set to BG2 levels? I recall acid arrows doing 1D6 +1 + 2D6 acid damage in BG1 and in BG2 their acid damage is reduced to 1D3. Hence my use of whirlwind and bolts of lightning - bolt damage remaining high.
This is difficult, but for my main character's class, the top three are my most used:
1. Fighter (Two-handed sword)
2. Paladin (Two-handed sword or one-handed weapon + shield)
3. Fighter/Cleric (One-handed mace or flail + shield)
I always prefer my fighters to use heavy armor, and this preference of mine continues into later editions of Dungeons and Dragons where I often use lower Dexterity scores so that I do not waste stats due to maximum dexterity bonuses of armor.
Fighter/Cleric or Cleric/Ranger for sure. It's a match made in heaven, honestly the only thing you're missing is swords and bows. And Morning Stars are pretty beast, and slings are actually worth a damn in BG1 (strength bonus), so yeah!
Looks like I'm remarking on all your comments, I totally agree with your fighter/cleric - Cleric/ranger remark. They also have very high HP compared to other multi-classes. It's been along time since I played a fighter/cleric though, I usually play a cleric/ranger due to the druid spells. With a fighter/cleric however you can be a dwarf and in BG2 there's a great throwing hammer (+3 restricted to dwarfs) that you can use. Makes me wish that Yeslick was in BG2.
I nearly always play the same character in BG 1: a female paladin with sword and shield. And she's always called Hope, after a line from the IWD soundset that I use for my character: "I'm ready ... I hope."
Generalist Mage because all the spellcasting choices are fun. And as @ZelgadisGW mentioned, a mage's vulnerability early in the game also makes it an exciting class to play.
But that said, one of the most satisfying experiences I can recall for BGT is a half-orc Cleric-Thief. When I buffed this fellow some of the backstabs I was getting with a quarterstaff for most of the game were astounding. And there are some surprisingly powerful staves in the game. By the end of ToB there aren't many enemies you can backstab anymore, though.
I liked this character so much that I was motivated to create a mod for him, and at least got it started. I just never had the time to finish it.
i started out with mages, so i picked them, but in truth i have played the most with rogues. somehow i always land on these kind of characters no matter the game type. i love stealth, nimbleness, one shot kills/backstabs.
i will probably start out as a sorcerer in this playthrough, to go back to the roots.
Once I started using a Mage as my PC, I couldn't go back. I think because Mages require the most micromanagement, and it creates the sensation that I'm primarily controlling my character.
Very tough choice, as I tend to create many charactors before finally sticking with one. The most common choices though would have to be
1: Mage (or specialist, usually conjurer)
2: Fighter (Simple but awesome fun, feels good being the most powerful fighter in party / world
3: Thief (Looks awesome, nifty tricks, helpful, decent at fighting, just plain awesome)
Honourary mention: Druid - In my noobier days I was ALWAYS a druid. Call Lightning is so damn cool and I loved shapeshifting. However in (relatively) recent years I don't use em so much.
I still plan to one day go through from start to finish as a pure Druid (Shapeshifter in BG2), furthest I got in my nooby days was Spellhold (thought I was near the end of the game haha)
Somehow I can convince myself that in the real world I could master, to some degree, most any weapon. It's a stretch, I know. But I just can't see me getting the ability to sling spells no matter how hard I try. This is my only shot at casting Fireballs!
Ranger was the first class I beat the game with. Paladin was the second. I enjoy paladin the most nowadays due to how much time I sank into one in WoW afterwards. I still want to do a fighter and fighter/mage multi. Overall though I think it plays out like this.
Cavalier>Stalker>Archer>Kensai>FMT>FMC in how I prefer to play.
Comments
Fighter/mage because I love smart, intelligent fighting with lots of strategic options. He's bigger than you? Hold Person. He's weaker than you? Use your sword. You can always attack their weakest defense.
Multiclass, because it allows to play in such a style all through the game. In my experience, dual-classing most always screwed up the balance and left you competent in one or the other class, but not quite both. It took me a while to understand the true value of THAC0.
Plus I dig elves. Lite, agile fighters using magic to shore up their physical shortcomings. Their long lives afford them that luxury.
I try to play a different class every time I play though.
Archer is also a great kit - Bolts of lightning + Greater Whirlwind or Arrows + Improved haste + Smite.
On that note (I know it's unrelated) does anyone know whether arrow damage in BGEE is set to BG2 levels? I recall acid arrows doing 1D6 +1 + 2D6 acid damage in BG1 and in BG2 their acid damage is reduced to 1D3. Hence my use of whirlwind and bolts of lightning - bolt damage remaining high.
1. Fighter (Two-handed sword)
2. Paladin (Two-handed sword or one-handed weapon + shield)
3. Fighter/Cleric (One-handed mace or flail + shield)
I always prefer my fighters to use heavy armor, and this preference of mine continues into later editions of Dungeons and Dragons where I often use lower Dexterity scores so that I do not waste stats due to maximum dexterity bonuses of armor.
But that said, one of the most satisfying experiences I can recall for BGT is a half-orc Cleric-Thief. When I buffed this fellow some of the backstabs I was getting with a quarterstaff for most of the game were astounding. And there are some surprisingly powerful staves in the game. By the end of ToB there aren't many enemies you can backstab anymore, though.
I liked this character so much that I was motivated to create a mod for him, and at least got it started. I just never had the time to finish it.
i will probably start out as a sorcerer in this playthrough, to go back to the roots.
Though I'm surprised Fighters aren't more common, given that the melee characters sort of rule BG1.
1: Mage (or specialist, usually conjurer)
2: Fighter (Simple but awesome fun, feels good being the most powerful fighter in party / world
3: Thief (Looks awesome, nifty tricks, helpful, decent at fighting, just plain awesome)
Honourary mention: Druid - In my noobier days I was ALWAYS a druid. Call Lightning is so damn cool and I loved shapeshifting. However in (relatively) recent years I don't use em so much.
I still plan to one day go through from start to finish as a pure Druid (Shapeshifter in BG2), furthest I got in my nooby days was Spellhold (thought I was near the end of the game haha)
Cavalier>Stalker>Archer>Kensai>FMT>FMC in how I prefer to play.