Best protagonist class for full saga run with SCS w/o XP cap (BG1EE, SOD, BG2EE) and quests mods

Zoltanavr

What is in your opinion the best class for smooth and reliable run through entire saga run with SCS, quest mods and w/o XP cap & why? I plan to do run for both BG1EE and BG2EE and SOD as well. Mods planned for BG1EE are Dark Side, Nothern tales, Stone of Avaskar and some others.Thanks in advance for your opinion.

jsaving

Easily fighter/mage/thief in my opinion. There are huge synergies between fighter and mage (buffs), between fighter and thief (backstab + melee), and between mage and thief (invisibility). You get all of them in one package with FMT. Plus with the XP cap lifted and all the bonus XP you'll get from quest mods like having every stronghold, you'll eventually receive 9th level spells which is often people's biggest hesitation about going FMT.

Other great combinations for a smooth and reliable run include fighter/mage, ranger/cleric, fighter/druid, fighter/thief, mage/thief, and mage/cleric.

Zoltanavr

jsaving wrote: »

Easily fighter/mage/thief in my opinion. There are huge synergies between fighter and mage (buffs), between fighter and thief (backstab + melee), and between mage and thief (invisibility). You get all of them in one package with FMT. Plus with the XP cap lifted and all the bonus XP you'll get from quest mods like having every stronghold, you'll eventually receive 9th level spells which is often people's biggest hesitation about going FMT.

Other great combinations for a smooth and reliable run include fighter/mage, ranger/cleric, fighter/druid, fighter/thief, mage/thief, and mage/cleric.

Thanks! And what is your option on single classes? Like Cavalier/Inquisitor, Blade or Avenger?

DinoDin

Inquisitor is excellent for the saga, especially given how many mage or mage-like fights there are in the game. Those tend to be the toughest fights, and Inquisitor gives you a sort-of extra dispeller in your party. Probably best made as an extremely tanky character.

Swashbuckler is a solid choices from the thief group as a single class, as it kind of behaves as a fighter-thief. Backstab is fun but it's not actually that particularly powerful from a pure min-max standpoint.

Berserker is solid among the fighters as single class. The status-immunity benefits are enormous, especially in BG2.

I'm not a huge fan of any of the Bards if you're trying to maximize experience. It's just not a class that gets very powerful in the later levels. Though it can be strong from BG1 and partway thru SoA.

Stalker is also a very strong choice, despite what I said about backstabs. But in this case it's because you're also adding attacks-per-round and weapon proficiencies to your damage dealing. Backstab with quarterstaves, regular melee with dual wielded weapons of choice, use a bow when circumstance calls for it.

I'm sure there are others but I don't have experience with every kit.

Zoltanavr

DinoDin wrote: »

Inquisitor is excellent for the saga, especially given how many mage or mage-like fights there are in the game. Those tend to be the toughest fights, and Inquisitor gives you a sort-of extra dispeller in your party. Probably best made as an extremely tanky character.

Swashbuckler is a solid choices from the thief group as a single class, as it kind of behaves as a fighter-thief. Backstab is fun but it's not actually that particularly powerful from a pure min-max standpoint.

Berserker is solid among the fighters as single class. The status-immunity benefits are enormous, especially in BG2.

I'm not a huge fan of any of the Bards if you're trying to maximize experience. It's just not a class that gets very powerful in the later levels. Though it can be strong from BG1 and partway thru SoA.

Stalker is also a very strong choice, despite what I said about backstabs. But in this case it's because you're also adding attacks-per-round and weapon proficiencies to your damage dealing. Backstab with quarterstaves, regular melee with dual wielded weapons of choice, use a bow when circumstance calls for it.

I'm sure there are others but I don't have experience with every kit.

And what is view of on duals? I’m thinking to take berserker 9 / mage, however I’m a bit worried about downtime during SOD in my entire saga run.

DinoDin

Sure, if you're gonna max XP, dualing or multi is probably preferred. I wouldn't worry too much about downtime, even a slightly low-ish single-class mage can still be a strong contributor to the party, especially once you hit level 3 spells, which doesn't take long. zerk9->mage is probably the strongest possible build in the game, fwiw. You'll have to pay close attention to your weapon pips for sure, so plan that part out.

jmerry

If you're worried about the downtime, delay the dual until the start of SoA. It's not like going to fighter 10 costs you much of anything - just 125K more XP worth of downtime, but it all goes very fast because it's BG2. And still mage level 30 at the cap.

Actually, anything up to fighter 13 into mage can still have effectively no downtime in SoA. Loot all the scroll merchants with a good pickpocket, dismiss the party temporarily, scribe and erase your way to victory.

jsaving

Single-classed characters nearly always offer less power than duals/multis. Inquisitors and blades are partial exceptions, but by chance both classes are available though BG2's joinable NPCs so I would not personally recommend going either route with your MC.

If you're intent on being a singleclass character, I'd personally go with a half-orc priest of Lathander (the clerical equivalent of a blade) or possibly a high-CON shorty berserker or sorcerer.

Danacm

A cavalier is also a very beginner friendly single class. Better saves, good immunities and staple warrior goodness is enough for a playtrough with party.

Balrog99

Start your Cavalier with two pips in axe ? and bastard swords for easy access to magic weapons. You can buy a cheap magic axe in Beregost for starters (a magic throwing axe the Thunderhammer Smithy that you can set to melee) and/or have a thief steal a magic bastard sword from either Thunderhammer at night, or from a commoner's house in Ulgoth's Beard. The bastard sword proficiency will help later against Kharoug and the axe proficiency will help using Azuredge in BG2. If you go all the way to Throne of Bhaal, then you can use Purifier (a bastard sword poor man's Holy Avenger) and allow Keldorn to wield Carsomyr. Win, win!