Another one of THOSE threads...

Papa_Lou

So, after purchasing myself a new computer, I decided to start up a new run through of the Baldur's Gate saga.

Thing is, I can't seem to decide which character I want to go for. I've played through the saga three times, once with a berserker, once with a sun soul monk, and once with a wizard slayer. As you can tell, I'm quite fond of melee-oriented classes. I know I want to switch it up a bit this time and try a bit of a sneak/scout character, but there are so many ways I can go about that.

Usually when I do a complete playthrough like this, I have a character in mind. But this time, I have too many.

So I thought I'd come to you guys for help!

The first character is a human stalker. Mind you, the stalker kit is a little different for me, as I'm using the revised stalker component from the Might & Guile mod. I can't quite remember the exact changes, but as far as I can tell, it makes the kit almost like a thief/ranger mix. The stalker can backstab, set traps, and hide in shadows. It's possible I'm missing out on some other things, but that's the jist of it. He'd be a bit of a rough guy, but he means well at the end of the day.

Secondly, I was thinking of either a halfling or elf fighter/thief. I love the shorty races, and I've been toying with the idea of a little halfling dude that's a little shy, and somehow finds himself travelling with the likes of people like Edwin, Dorn, and Shar-Teel, simply because he can't bring himself to say no, or back away from something he's uncomfortable with. The elf would be a much more edgy character, and would probably fit in with the evil crew.

Third of all, I was thinking of maybe going even further beyond my realm of comfort and taking on a mage or sorcerer. Of the two, I think I'd prefer a mage, but the dragon disciple looks like an interesting kit. Nothing's really set in stone character-wise, but I'm picturing something of a Coran-type, who thinks he's all that and a bag of chips because he can throw a few magic missiles around.

And lastly, going back to my warrior roots, I was looking at the kensai kit. Specifically, because the Might & Guile mod makes the kensai a much more interesting kit, making them truly focus on one weapon type, until they reach grandmastery, at which point they can move on to a new weapon type. I want to give Rasaad a try, because I've taken Neera and Dorn along and liked them both. I figure a calm, monk-like kensai would get along rather nicely with Rasaad, although I fear we may be a little squishy at times, with such a lack of armour.

So, yeah. I'm at a loss as to which one I like the most. I honestly have no preference, which is why I came to you guys.

If all goes well, I may even post a little play-by-play in the playthroughs thread.

JuliusBorisov

I think you may consider starting with several characters, not one, - it usually helps me when I want to try more than one build.

mlnevese

Create a group with the four you listed and add two npcs

Artona

If you don't want to use custom party, then I think fighter/thief would make good choice: since you never played with thief, it would allow you to get used to it, while being fighter, so it wouldn't be totally unfamiliar experience.

Grond0

I agree it seems sensible to try out all your potential candidates in a party and see if any of them cry out for you to devote a whole run to. Just in case there are some people looking at this who don't know that you can create a full custom party I'll mention that the easy way to do that is by starting a multiplayer game.

Once you've generated as many as you want for the starting party (up to the maximum of 6) start the game and immediately save it. Quit the game and move the save file from mpsave folder to save folder and then restart the game and continue as a single person game (you can play in multiplayer, but you can avoid the problems of lag and a few multiplayer own bugs by playing in single player).

Nimran

Sorcery!

JuliusBorisov

Grond0 said:

I agree it seems sensible to try out all your potential candidates in a party and see if any of them cry out for you to devote a whole run to. Just in case there are some people looking at this who don't know that you can create a full custom party I'll mention that the easy way to do that is by starting a multiplayer game.

Once you've generated as many as you want for the starting party (up to the maximum of 6) start the game and immediately save it. Quit the game and move the save file from mpsave folder to save folder and then restart the game and continue as a single person game (you can play in multiplayer, but you can avoid the problems of lag and a few multiplayer own bugs by playing in single player).

With the 2.X version, this workaround is not needed. Just choose "create a party" at the character creation screen.

OrlonKronsteen

I'd say try the fighter/thief - but also try the other classes in subsequent play-throughs. That's one of the things that makes the game so great - replayability. As for sneaky classes: the stalker is also a lot of fun. It also has a great stronghold/quest in BG2. Don't forget about the assassin, either, though the limited number of thief points means you'll be limited in thieving utility until late in BG2. If you only care about stealth and say, setting traps, and wouldn't mind having another thief to handle locks and finding traps, it's an option to consider. Note that the assassin's poison weapon ability was nerfed with 2.0 which, IMO, severely diminishes the kit. There are poison files available which restores v1.3 poison, but AFAIK they only work for BG1 and BG2. You might be out of luck for SOD if you're playing it.

If you generally like melee classes, don't forget about the paladins (including blackguard). They're very thematic and have access to unique weapons.

Gallenger

I really like playing random characters - I know there is a mod for this as well - but I like using my dice - mainly because I get so few chances to use them lately

Counting from top to bottom:

Gender: d4, odd = male, even = female
Race: d8, reroll if an 8
Class: roll whatever is on the menu - using the best dice possible, you may have to break out the d20 of it's a half-elf lol. Whatever number is in excess just count that as a reroll. If you select a class that has kits, reroll once in the kit menu with the best available dice.
Alignment: again roll d10 or if you have limited alignments the nearest best dice
Abilities: take whatever roll you're given, but you can switch any 2 scores with each other - usually this ensures that your class' most important ability is taken care of
Skills/spells: whatever you want
Cosmetics: whatever you want.

It's given me a lot of characters that are interesting to play because they have some flaw or another, not to mention that they're often class/race types I would never really think to play on my own, and it can be lots of fun

PaulGreystoke

I vote for the Halfling Fighter/Thief. I am halfway through SoA with one right now, after rolling through BG1 & SoD, & am really enjoying it. I can be stealthy or tanky as needed, with a lot of options available to me. I'm sure you will enjoy it as well!

Papa_Lou

I hadn't actually thought of creating my own party before. I mean, I've had the idea to create two characters at once, but never an almost full party.

However, being the heavy roleplayer that I am, I don't know if I could enjoy myself quite as much if the majority of my party was so silent.

The BG1 NPC project really is a roleplayer's dream come true.

They were all great suggestions, though. Glad to see all the feedback.

That being said, I ended up rolling the halfling fighter/thief. I've never really done much in the way of multiclasses before, so it's interesting thus far. Tomas is currently in the Friendly Arm Inn, scared out of his wits and rushing to find Jaheira and Khalid before Montaron guts him and Xzar shaves his foot hair for some weird potion.

I'm thinking of writing up my playthrough piece by piece, but I'm not quite sure yet.

Anyhow, thanks for all the suggestions guys!

DevardKrown

if Sorcerer don't go DD you will lose one level per spellslot for marginal benefits, it also would greatly benefit that you are familiar with spells and know the "good ones" also many spells have a zeitgeist, for example first level spell "Shield" is your bread and butter to get a decent AC and not swiped away by enemy magic missiles. but once you have the 2th/4th grade armor spells its basically out of date, so you have to consider if you want the short term benefit or rather a Long term spell who is useful all the time.

i would strongly suggest a Mage, but not a Pure one thats kind of a waste since a mage does not lose anything from Dipping into another class for a few Levels.

either a Swashbuckler6/mage , giving not only bonus to AC/Hit/Dmg and a better weapon selection but also open lock and find trap as a full thief would do (with 20k needed to hit lvl 6 you could go on the basilisk map and be already 3 levels in mage), while BG1 has a strong thief selection SoD and BG2 are lacking in that regard unless you like the 1-2 they provide, on a personal level i don't like wasting a group spot to a pure thief , they just don't bring the bang for the buck.

another good one would just to throw in Fighter3/Mage, slightly more HP full weapon selection with the possibility to grand-master one down the line. hell in BG2 you could even go ape shit with tensers transformation just to mix things up in a while.