Kensai / Mage is initially harder than a lot of other options, no ranged weapons or armor makes it really tough.
A Swash / Mage is actually easier in BG1, assuming that the XP cap is removed you can get to level 10 Swash with 160k EXP compared to 9 Kensai with 250k exp, and dual earlier.
9 Kensai / 10 Mage requires 500,000 EXP, 10 Swash / 11 Mage requires 535,000 EXP, but you can do an aweful lot more with a Shortbow + kiting + Set Snares along with trap removal and opening locks on top.
HP will never be an issue, you will eventually be buffed and near invincible with either combo, but getting through 10 swashbuckler levels is a lot easier than 9 Kensai levels.
Without EXP Cap removal, you can also do 5 swash / mage, but you will be lacking 1 AC, hit and damage, and you wont be able to hit with weapons, shapechanges or conjured missile spells as easily.
Heres a video of soloing the most difficult parts of the early game:
Best weapon proficiences for both BG1 and BG2 soloing are Scimitar + Quarterstaffs - In BG kill Drizt for his Scimitars, in BG2 you get one with an extra attack per round. Also the Staff of Striking will quickly dispatch the Tanarri Demon and Sarevok in BG1, and in BG2 you get the Staff of the Magi.
I put 2 points in Scimitars, 1 in Shortbow, and 1 in Quarterstaffs for BG1 solo runs.
Agree with what everyone else has posted. I've solo'd with F/M, Thief and Sorcerer.
Sorcerer and pure Thief (Assassin) are very fun. Sorcerer is terribly hard in the beginning... but then it later becomes a cake-walk once you get mostly through BG2/ToB
BG1 - Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Thief multiclasses. The first one tends to be a bit faster in times. Figther/Cleric is also doable but you need to know exactly where elemental traps are (lightning bolt in a narrow corridor = insta-death, even if your char has 300 health. Tested it myself )
BG2 - Cleric/Mage in my opinion. Slow start (VERY slow) but super rewarding.
Monk is also very doable. Once did a solo monk, right out of the chapter 2 went to Watcher's keep, where I was able to survive until the ending of the second floor. Did some quests around the place to unlock quivering palm, killed the elemental demon thingy on floor 2 and continued till floor 5 (the final seal battle is tough for a solo monk admittedly). By that time, completing SoA was a walk in the park, and by the time I hit ToB, had already enough HLAs to complete that easily too
Hardest -
BG1 - Hard to pick, all of them are doable. But overall, I think Enchanter is kinda tough (I am not sure, is that the specialization of Xan?)
BG2 - Barbarian and Stalker. Don't try at all. Stalker is pretty much impossible in every single field. Barbarian CAN be done, but it's SUPER SUPER tough.
@Tanthalas Berserkers can rage making them immune to the game ending spells like charm, or hold. As well most mages in BG1 are not high enough level to have the various self defense spells such as stone skin.
Berserkers are more powerful for solo simply because of their immunity to game enders with rage active as well as being able to wear armor before dual classing.
And both classes get ranged weapons through throwing axes.
In BG2 I use the shortsword that has 3 clicks of Silence for mages. For both games your most powerful spell is Polymorph self - You get access to a sword spider with amazing THACO and poison, plus a Jelly with loads of magic resistance, both of those are the easiest way to deal with any caster mob, the spider will destroy them very fast, the jelly will absorb all their spells.
While Im still in my thief levels, I save and reload until I have both my snares set, and they kill Silke and Bassilus easy.
Thief / Mage multiclass can also get use any item and Tensers Tranformation which gives you fighter thaco and HP, but then you dont get any of the attack or AC bonuses which make the Kensai and Swashbuckler kits so powerful. You'll be able too kill everything if you can succeed in backstabs though.
Kensai > Mage dual class can actually wear robes because its bugged, and once you have 9 Kensai / 10 Mage and a robe of Vecna, it is the strongest combo you can make, but theres nothing that this combo can do that a swash / mage cant (I've soloed BG1 + 2 with both these and a Cleric / Mage).
Back on topic my rankings for a solo run(These do not include dual/multi, and are based on their difficulty from level 1 up to the end of ToB):
1-Blade 2-Berserker 3-Inquisitor 4-Swashbuckler 5-Paladin and the rest of its kits 6-Bard and the rest of its kits 7-Cleric and kits 8-Ranger and kits 9-Thief and the rest of their kits 10-Barbarian 11-Fighter kits 12-Wizards and Sorcerer 13-Monk
My preference for soloing the whole saga is thief/mage. Traps, stealth, backstab and the utility of removing traps and lockpicking from thief, and spells and mage only overpowering items (robe of Vecna & staff of magi) from mage side make you invincible.
There is a BIG reason why I dislike Kensai>Mage : NO Robe of Vecna. That item is simply too important to leave behind for a PC mage.
My Kensai/Mage has it equipped just fine =\. The only setback i experienced was not being able to use slings, which i planned on using Sling of Everard.
I would really love to get my hands on a Fighter/Thief/Mage/Cleric multiclass for the ultimate solo character whether it be implemented in the game or through a mod.
I don't give a hoot what you guys think, I want to get as much mods together as possible and play as a character that can be a one-man army!
Only time I ever tried to solo, I got bored around chapter 4. I never really understood why you would want to leave out the NPCs since for me, it kills the atmosphere.
I was running Thief/Mage and didn't really have any issues, just rested a lot to get spells back.
Well leaving out the NPCs is not that bad in BG1 since they have no personality outside of recruitment dialogue and picking the wrong duos to go together.
@FrozenDervish I agree, that's why I usually multiclassed a mage. That's the "combo" part of my original post. Sorry if that was unclear. The mage abilities pulled backup duty to w/e other class I was using until I was able to use the better spells. I found thief or fighter levels could get the job done, but I think the thief/mage was the most fun.
Comments
I'd imagine a bard would be hard, but I've never really approached soloing through such a lens.
Hardest - Druid and its kits
Everything else I would say would be in between due to dual classing, and equipment.
Hardest...hmm...probably bard
Bard on the other hand is fairly easy due to it's quick leveling, mass weapon selection, and wizard spells.
A Swash / Mage is actually easier in BG1, assuming that the XP cap is removed you can get to level 10 Swash with 160k EXP compared to 9 Kensai with 250k exp, and dual earlier.
9 Kensai / 10 Mage requires 500,000 EXP, 10 Swash / 11 Mage requires 535,000 EXP, but you can do an aweful lot more with a Shortbow + kiting + Set Snares along with trap removal and opening locks on top.
HP will never be an issue, you will eventually be buffed and near invincible with either combo, but getting through 10 swashbuckler levels is a lot easier than 9 Kensai levels.
Without EXP Cap removal, you can also do 5 swash / mage, but you will be lacking 1 AC, hit and damage, and you wont be able to hit with weapons, shapechanges or conjured missile spells as easily.
Heres a video of soloing the most difficult parts of the early game:
Best weapon proficiences for both BG1 and BG2 soloing are Scimitar + Quarterstaffs - In BG kill Drizt for his Scimitars, in BG2 you get one with an extra attack per round. Also the Staff of Striking will quickly dispatch the Tanarri Demon and Sarevok in BG1, and in BG2 you get the Staff of the Magi.
I put 2 points in Scimitars, 1 in Shortbow, and 1 in Quarterstaffs for BG1 solo runs.
Sorcerer and pure Thief (Assassin) are very fun. Sorcerer is terribly hard in the beginning... but then it later becomes a cake-walk once you get mostly through BG2/ToB
Wouldn't the Berserker be screwed against mages? If they put protections up how would the Berserker deal with them?
Though I have seen good arguments for Berserker/Mages, many say that they're more powerful than Kensai/Mages.
BG1 - Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Thief multiclasses. The first one tends to be a bit faster in times. Figther/Cleric is also doable but you need to know exactly where elemental traps are (lightning bolt in a narrow corridor = insta-death, even if your char has 300 health. Tested it myself
BG2 - Cleric/Mage in my opinion. Slow start (VERY slow) but super rewarding.
Monk is also very doable. Once did a solo monk, right out of the chapter 2 went to Watcher's keep, where I was able to survive until the ending of the second floor. Did some quests around the place to unlock quivering palm, killed the elemental demon thingy on floor 2 and continued till floor 5 (the final seal battle is tough for a solo monk admittedly). By that time, completing SoA was a walk in the park, and by the time I hit ToB, had already enough HLAs to complete that easily too
Hardest -
BG1 - Hard to pick, all of them are doable. But overall, I think Enchanter is kinda tough (I am not sure, is that the specialization of Xan?)
BG2 - Barbarian and Stalker. Don't try at all. Stalker is pretty much impossible in every single field. Barbarian CAN be done, but it's SUPER SUPER tough.
Berserkers are more powerful for solo simply because of their immunity to game enders with rage active as well as being able to wear armor before dual classing.
And both classes get ranged weapons through throwing axes.
While Im still in my thief levels, I save and reload until I have both my snares set, and they kill Silke and Bassilus easy.
The Kensai/Mage is a little tougher, but you have to spend 10 hours buffing before every fight.
In a race to the finish, I think Kensai/Thief is the rabbit. In a race to immortal godhood then probably Kensai/Mage.
1-Blade
2-Berserker
3-Inquisitor
4-Swashbuckler
5-Paladin and the rest of its kits
6-Bard and the rest of its kits
7-Cleric and kits
8-Ranger and kits
9-Thief and the rest of their kits
10-Barbarian
11-Fighter kits
12-Wizards and Sorcerer
13-Monk
Wizard Slayer.
I don't give a hoot what you guys think, I want to get as much mods together as possible and play as a character that can be a one-man army!
I was running Thief/Mage and didn't really have any issues, just rested a lot to get spells back.
Yes, mages are deadly, but those initial few levels make it a difficult solo.