Human. Do you want to compare dual-classes - bards - monk to everything else?
If you're going to play a bard, half-elf is better. Why turn down +10% to your only thief skill and 30% sleep/charm resistance? You can't dual-class to/from a bard.
Always been a Dwarf fan, can't really say why. Something about epic mountain strongholds, roaring mines, and the fact they always end up screwing themselves by delving too greedily and unleashing some ancient or natural force that destroys them.
~To add on to Flashburn's comment, I often find myself using my main char who is a DD to set off traps and take them on head on if I cannot get the trap disabled... A lightening bolt or fireball that would kill one of my weaker companions simply leaves a scratch on my DD and it is followed by a chuckle "on to the next trap"
Ive even won some mage battles by having the enemy mage run out of spells because he is unable to defeat my defender. My defender could be dazed and confused but still alive and the ai wizard resorts to trying to smack him down with his staff. Only to have him snap out of the spell and beat the wizard down to size.
I must say, Gnomes have ALL the best classes, because Illusionist is probably the second best mage school to choose (behind conjurer)... or better worded, Necromancy is an acceptable school to lose.
Yes, instant death can clear lots of annoying swarms, but if you go C/I, you'll have instant death, and you'll have Skeleton summoning as well, and even a way to control undead if you're evil enough.
Okay, so losing the nukes that are ST & ADHW is pretty lousy, but a well balanced party usually has a second arcane caster.
T/I is a nobrainer thief with Illusions well suited to mage playstyle.
There's also C/T. Ya ever do a Ram Staff Backstab with an assured max damage with boosted Str and the ability to use Sanctuary to do it immediately again? Yea, that's fun! The Orcish Strength and Wis boost is irrelevant because Saving Throws are king!
Don't gnomes have higher intelligence, @Southpaw?
Maybe some of them. But they have a nasty after-taste of airhead-ness and beard.
@Southpaw you said "Best pickled brain ever!" When you ate my brain!
Well, your insanity&hilarity level was not that high back then. Now, it's over NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND! (Southpaw screams at the top of his lungs for several seconds. Then stops and awkwardly looks around, noticing that there is no one else around to witness the outrage. Southpaw then silently sits back down, accompanied only by a disapproving look of a cupboard, to whom the scene was, of course completely lost*.)
My favorite class can only be human (thief=>mage) and in role-play, it can be hard to be something like a gnome or halfling for me. I've never been a real fan of elves in fantasy settings. Second place would be half-elf (I have ties to elves, but not by choice and a good avenue for the "outcast"). The prototypical characters are ok (elf/ranger, dwarf/fighter, half-orc/barbarian, etc.), but more so as party members than main characters.
I don't so much have a 'Favorite race', nor is it specific by class. I have a party of adventurers in mind that I usually play from. I pick one and go from there. There are about 10 or 12 of them total and most of the characters I've played in BG or NWN or just about all of the D&D games have been from amongst that group.
@the_spyder, that's an interesting observation. After a month or two of limited activity both on the forums and in-game I'm eager to start adventuring again, but I find myself lacking in inspiration when it comes to developing a new charname. Atm I'm more inclined to go back to Ocker the Skald if I want to play a Bard, to Vallon the Undead Hunter if I want to play a Paladin, etc, until some nice new character concept occurs to me.
@Blackraven - my party started out as the group I used to play with when I was young. Each character in the core group represented another character at that table. Over the years they have developed and changed over time, and a few more have been added from my own (fertile??) mind, but it is still the same core group.
@Quartz Any all one race/class is fun. I did an all dwarf play-through of Black Pits 1. And I plan on having an all bard play-through of IWD1. The idea is that they're a troupe of entertainers. Maybe led by an ex-priest who had a slight problem with stealing his temple's donations. (That way I've got ranged, melee, arcane, and divine.)
I like to play with every race, they all have their own charm. But my favourites are dwarves since, as a ten years old kid, i read from the adventures of Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori, and last but not least Thorin. Strenght, comradeship, straightness and humour. What else would you need?
I like to play with every race, they all have their own charm. But my favourites are dwarves since, as a ten years old kid, i read from the adventours of Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori, and last but not least Thorin. Strenght, comradeship, straightness and humour. What else would you need?
AS a fan of IWD 2 not so much BG this is pretty much strait forward. But i love the 30)% resistance to charms part. Where it IWD 2 i would probably choose either a Human or a Half-Elf.
@Anduin, I think you need to look at it like this: haute cuisine, ballet, and Gnomes and other shorties aren't for the masses, hamburgers, twerking and Elves are.
What happen if a half-elf has a child with another half-elf??? They gave birth to humans on saturday and then elfs on monday?? how
I keep asking myself questions like that. My Gnome Illusionist/Thief has been putting up with Aerie solely in the hopes of breeding a race of winged Unbergnomes, to no avail yet.
Comments
~To add on to Flashburn's comment, I often find myself using my main char who is a DD to set off traps and take them on head on if I cannot get the trap disabled... A lightening bolt or fireball that would kill one of my weaker companions simply leaves a scratch on my DD and it is followed by a chuckle "on to the next trap"
Ive even won some mage battles by having the enemy mage run out of spells because he is unable to defeat my defender. My defender could be dazed and confused but still alive and the ai wizard resorts to trying to smack him down with his staff. Only to have him snap out of the spell and beat the wizard down to size.
Yes, instant death can clear lots of annoying swarms, but if you go C/I, you'll have instant death, and you'll have Skeleton summoning as well, and even a way to control undead if you're evil enough.
Okay, so losing the nukes that are ST & ADHW is pretty lousy, but a well balanced party usually has a second arcane caster.
T/I is a nobrainer thief with Illusions well suited to mage playstyle.
There's also C/T. Ya ever do a Ram Staff Backstab with an assured max damage with boosted Str and the ability to use Sanctuary to do it immediately again? Yea, that's fun! The Orcish Strength and Wis boost is irrelevant because Saving Throws are king!
You will never eat a brain of mine again!
*Anduin goes back to his necromantic antics*
Now, it's over NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!
(Southpaw screams at the top of his lungs for several seconds. Then stops and awkwardly looks around, noticing that there is no one else around to witness the outrage. Southpaw then silently sits back down, accompanied only by a disapproving look of a cupboard, to whom the scene was, of course completely lost*.)
(* that's because cupboards don't like anime)
*Anduin pulls out a jar with a brain in*
I never use it anyway...
...
In other news... Gnomes not winning...
Edit: Half-elves instead of halv-elves
If they ain't taller than a goat your not interested!
*Anduin storms off and leaves his overlords to it*
They gave birth to humans on saturday and then elfs on monday??
how