Ahm... 120 health... and what if you don't take MAX HP rolls?
"without a potion of freedom they would fail their run there" - this is the main thing. A wizard slayer can't have this potion. So, even this particular area is harder for him than for the rest. We even can look at it this way: with a Wizard Slayer you have to meta-game much more than with everyone else. Not a little thing to take into account when you decide what run is the hardest.
Monks and kensais can get those protections in no time, so with due kiting none in BG1 would touch them. A Wizard Slayer doesn't have this possibility.
It's perfectly fine if you don't take max HP rolls, you'll just have to understand that your no-reload game has much less to do with your skills and much more to do with luck. Now i prefer to play a game where i know if i fail my game it comes down to my tactic instead of luck based.
To spell it out for you.
Wizard Slayer - Need to know where the traps are. Other Character - Need to know where the traps are and bring potions/Gear.
Wizard Slayer - Need to know what spells the enemy will use. Other Character - Need to know what spells the enemy will use and bring potions/Gear.
It takes much longer for a Kensai/Monk to get through the game because they will have to hunt for certain gear and potions, this requires much more metagame knowledge than the Wizard slayer.
What this ends up in is that there is no correct answer to what class is the hardest to play, because you have to take into consideration the player and restrictions.
Just a small thing like not being able to use a helmet will make a huge difference.
No reload or not? Do you know the game or not? Is it a new player or old player? Do you have experience with it or not? Do you know where all potions are? Do you know where the scrolls are?
I can only speak for myself, and I've soloed every single class through BGEE with no-reload games (with the exception of the wild mage). In my opinion the Wizard Slayer was easier than the Kensai, none of them were that hard to start with, but my Wizard Slayer went pretty much through everything.
And we can also turn it around and look at it like this, if you need to drug yourself up on potions to stand a chance, how much stronger are you really than the other class then?
It's like saying a rogue is the most powerful class ever because he got UAI. So let's use the other classes items to be able to compete with them.
This is an argument that will never end. In my opinion the Wizard Slayer was easier than both the monk and the Kensai, but none of them were really that hard in the ORIGINAL BGEE without SCS.
[Edited]: This is just going to go around in circles, so i'll just end this with the following.
MY OPINION/EXPERIENCE : The Wizard Slayer is not the hardest class.
And about the not taking max HP rolls. If you're REALLY unlucky with your monk you can end up sitting on 24-35 HP. You won't be able to finish the game if that happens, at least the Wizard Slayer/Kensai will have a minimum of 6 HP per level and will gain more health from DuHM.
Without abusing things like potions, wands, poor AI, etc. and strictly using class skills/abilities, which class does everyone think would have the roughest time making it through the game alone?
Monk? Bard? Kensai? Sorcerer? Something else?
Concerning cheese (and cheesy tactics) I'm not sure what you consider that to be.
For instance I don't really view recharging (and later using) items that use lower-level wizard spells (shield, sleep, fireball, lightning bolt, invisibility) as being cheesy. A higher level mage like Thalantyr (who is level 17) or Halbazzer Drin (level 18) should be able to recharge items like this. They probably should have implemented some kind of chance that the item would be destroyed and the charges shouldn't be as high as they typically are, but there are other examples of the game ignoring penalties normally found in PnP (like low wisdom clerics able to cast spells without a chance of spell failure, rangers getting a bonus to dual-wielding while wearing heavy armour) that I still don't view it to be cheesy (particularly since there is a financial cost to it).
Likewise with poor AI what specifically do you consider this to be? I could use the Horn of Kazgaroth against a lot of mages and clerics in the game and chances are they would be dumb as bricks regarding its use (they would continue to cast level 1 and 2 spells at me even though I would be immune to level 1 and 2 spells). Likewise if the AI casts a hold person spell on me and it doesn't work (and it has two hold person spells) its likely to try again even though it saw what happened the first time.
But besides all that I'd still have to say Wizard Slayer. Not being able to use a Wand of Sleep would make the game more difficult (despite what its description says it works on enemies that are level 4 or less, which is everything from black talon elites to ankhegs, giant spiders, huge spiders, gibberlings, xvarts, wolves, dire wolves, black bears, gnolls, gnoll elite, hobgoblin, hobgoblin elite, chill hobgoblin, gnoll veterans, flind, bandits, half-ogre, ogre, ogre berserker, ogrillion, tasloi and kobolds). Also while you do get the benefit of fighter health, thac0, and proficiencies (as well as a bonus of up to 8% magic resistance and a cumulative effect of 10% chance of spell failure every hit), the loss of the various rings, amulets, wands and most potions as far as I'm concerned puts it in a worse position than any other kit or class.
@SionIV dont you think UAI is in there as a tool for Rogues? It is from PnP more or less (Im not digging out my blue book with it to check it... I think it lets you use scrolls, wands, etc) and is an important balancing factor for Thieves especially. Lots more enemies are immune to backstab at high levels, and cant be surprised or see invisibility. They need more tools, since they are pretty lackluster at high levels otherwise.
If wizard slayers get their spell thingey with ranged, they become lots more viable, but they really are unsuited to no-reload...way too luck dependent. Their MR gets trumped by the cloak anyways. Theyd be vastly more playable if they could drink potions period.
Comments
To spell it out for you.
Wizard Slayer - Need to know where the traps are.
Other Character - Need to know where the traps are and bring potions/Gear.
Wizard Slayer - Need to know what spells the enemy will use.
Other Character - Need to know what spells the enemy will use and bring potions/Gear.
It takes much longer for a Kensai/Monk to get through the game because they will have to hunt for certain gear and potions, this requires much more metagame knowledge than the Wizard slayer.
What this ends up in is that there is no correct answer to what class is the hardest to play, because you have to take into consideration the player and restrictions.
Just a small thing like not being able to use a helmet will make a huge difference.
No reload or not?
Do you know the game or not?
Is it a new player or old player?
Do you have experience with it or not?
Do you know where all potions are?
Do you know where the scrolls are?
I can only speak for myself, and I've soloed every single class through BGEE with no-reload games (with the exception of the wild mage). In my opinion the Wizard Slayer was easier than the Kensai, none of them were that hard to start with, but my Wizard Slayer went pretty much through everything.
And we can also turn it around and look at it like this, if you need to drug yourself up on potions to stand a chance, how much stronger are you really than the other class then?
It's like saying a rogue is the most powerful class ever because he got UAI. So let's use the other classes items to be able to compete with them.
This is an argument that will never end. In my opinion the Wizard Slayer was easier than both the monk and the Kensai, but none of them were really that hard in the ORIGINAL BGEE without SCS.
[Edited]: This is just going to go around in circles, so i'll just end this with the following.
MY OPINION/EXPERIENCE : The Wizard Slayer is not the hardest class.
Concerning cheese (and cheesy tactics) I'm not sure what you consider that to be.
For instance I don't really view recharging (and later using) items that use lower-level wizard spells (shield, sleep, fireball, lightning bolt, invisibility) as being cheesy. A higher level mage like Thalantyr (who is level 17) or Halbazzer Drin (level 18) should be able to recharge items like this. They probably should have implemented some kind of chance that the item would be destroyed and the charges shouldn't be as high as they typically are, but there are other examples of the game ignoring penalties normally found in PnP (like low wisdom clerics able to cast spells without a chance of spell failure, rangers getting a bonus to dual-wielding while wearing heavy armour) that I still don't view it to be cheesy (particularly since there is a financial cost to it).
Likewise with poor AI what specifically do you consider this to be? I could use the Horn of Kazgaroth against a lot of mages and clerics in the game and chances are they would be dumb as bricks regarding its use (they would continue to cast level 1 and 2 spells at me even though I would be immune to level 1 and 2 spells). Likewise if the AI casts a hold person spell on me and it doesn't work (and it has two hold person spells) its likely to try again even though it saw what happened the first time.
But besides all that I'd still have to say Wizard Slayer. Not being able to use a Wand of Sleep would make the game more difficult (despite what its description says it works on enemies that are level 4 or less, which is everything from black talon elites to ankhegs, giant spiders, huge spiders, gibberlings, xvarts, wolves, dire wolves, black bears, gnolls, gnoll elite, hobgoblin, hobgoblin elite, chill hobgoblin, gnoll veterans, flind, bandits, half-ogre, ogre, ogre berserker, ogrillion, tasloi and kobolds). Also while you do get the benefit of fighter health, thac0, and proficiencies (as well as a bonus of up to 8% magic resistance and a cumulative effect of 10% chance of spell failure every hit), the loss of the various rings, amulets, wands and most potions as far as I'm concerned puts it in a worse position than any other kit or class.
If wizard slayers get their spell thingey with ranged, they become lots more viable, but they really are unsuited to no-reload...way too luck dependent. Their MR gets trumped by the cloak anyways.