New to BG/D&D

Scrye

Greetings, to start I'll say that although I'm new to D&D gaming I have some knowledge of the mechanics. Just no friends interested in tabletop gaming.

So I got hold of BG:EE to satisfy my urge.

But I'm a bit confused as to what class I should choose for my first character.

In my RPG's that allow the choice, I either play a pure Mage or a mix of Mage and archer.

My recurring character from every game I've played is an Elven Mage whose primary concern is herself. In terms of BG, the Wild Mage kit suits her best. But from what I've read it would be an exercise in masochism to learn this game as a Mage.
Likewise with a multiclass thief/Mage (for the spells and archery).

Is this assumption correct?

Should I just suck it up and roll an Archer?
If so, is there much benefit to 18/00 strength over anything less.

DreadKhan

Archers are superb in BG1. Longbows are very solid in BG1. As 2nd ed Rangers, Archers have 2 free pips in TWF, meaning a very good str is actually handy if you get into melee, though good archery and stealth should make this very unlikely in BG1.

Mages are tougher to learn, very much moreso the Wildmage, which makes reloading pretty near required; spells can have very unpleasant unintended effects, so maybe don't start out as a Wildmage...

A pretty good character is a gnome Fighter/Illusionist thats specialized in archery. Straightforward and powerful.

JuliusBorisov

Hello and welcome to the forum!

For your first character you should try the concept you want the most. If you really want a mix of mage and an archer, make an elven fighter/mage multiclass.

dunbar

Greetings!
I would just like to point out that you don't have to get it "right" first time around. The beauty of this game is in it's re-playability, it's not a "get it right first time or go home" scenario, so you are only limited by the amount of time you can afford to spend playing the game.
With that in mind my advice would be to go with whatever feels natural to you for your first playthrough. You will in all likelihood meet an untimely or stupid death at some point (or several points) but you can always abort that game, go back and roll a new character (based on what you've learnt about yourself and the game) and start again.
Don't analyse it to death, just play it.

mashedtaters

Almost all of the classes are playable. Some classes, such as a few of the bard and druid kits, require special thought out decision making. But as far what main character you should play, it doesn't matter because you can compensate for what your main character lacks with a plethora of npc options. If you're a mage, you just get other npcs to fill the thief, cleric, and fighter roles, and you have two extra spots to further customize your party and make it feel the way you envision the game to play. You will almost always need a mage in your party (at least as a brand new player), so you will always need to manage spell memorization and spell-casting. Why not do it as your own character? Fighter/mage archers are, imho, one of the best and easiest classes to play in the game.

Jarrakul

I wouldn't worry too much about the complexity of playing a mage. They're pretty forgiving if you do happen to mess something up. Just make sure you have a high Intelligence. The only other really important thing is spell selection, and for wizards you can always just learn new spells. Sorcerers are a lot less forgiving in this regard, so I don't think I'd recommend them to new players, but mages are a blast.

If you want to go the archer mage route, I'd second the fighter/mage selection. Thieves are more utility than ranged damage in this game. It's worth noting that shortbows are probably a better selection than longbows in the long term (longbows become pretty bad in BG2, while shortbows remain awesome), but a fighter/mage can switch fairly easily. The actual Archer kit can't switch as easily, so I'd recommend going shortbow from the beginning for them.

18/00 strength is very powerful in melee, but it's pretty useless for an archer. You might want an 18/anything if you're planning on using longbows in BG1, but otherwise strength isn't going to do much for you with bows.

DreadKhan

There are decent early Longbows in BG2, but they are indeed worse by ToB. A FI from BG1 can use one that gives +3 to hit and damage right away, which is QUITE competetive for a multiclass. An Archer kit should go crossbow or shortbow though.