What Classes do you play and why?

The_Zealot

I haven't seen one of these yet so thought I would start.

I originally played a mage(evocation), cause who doesn't like to hurl fireballs that explode, but since I have picked it back up I've been playing an archer (ranger) and love it. Something about the ranger class just appealing, I set my character up to use longbow and dual long swords.

Tanthalas

Well, I always have to struggle to prevent myself from making a half-elf plain Ranger every time I start up BG. The half-elf part comes from the Tanis Half-Elven character from Dragonlance (the first fantasy book I ever read), the Ranger part comes from me reading the character creation screens the first time I played BG and liking the concept of the class (I wanted a melee but Fighters seemed rather plain and I didn't like the Lawful Good thing of Paladins).

Winthal

I tend to be most drawn to Rangers, Thieves or Bards, with chaotic good/neutral alignments. I love the concept of the ranger, especially for BG1 since you do a lot of free roaming in the wilderness. The appeal of the thief is to be a tad darker (not necessarily evil), and stealing is always fun :P and finally the bard for the social aspect and versatility, splashing in some magic.

It would be interesting to see a forum-wide poll to find out what class is the most popular

The_Zealot

That's not a bad idea, how would we go about that?

Space_hamster

In BGI the Gnome Illusionist/Thief combo got incredibly powerful as they leveled up. Started out weaklings, but became demigods by the end.

Human Necromancy was also fun to roleplay, ie. focus on the death spells (of which there are few in BG), there's just something really fun about sucking the life-force out of one's enemies, or perhaps unleashing a hoard of undead to do one's bidding. Low level mage's are also a little more challenge in BG world.

In BGII the Bard class (Blade that is) was really fleshed out, lots of good weapons, complete with the playhouse stronghold, lots of fun there!

Silver_Moon

I play for Paladin. And use Halebard as favorite weapon. Just try to be good... and somekind noble warrior in a fantasy world.

AndreaColombo

I usually pick male human melee-ers. Occasionally it's male elves or half-elves, but I never play the "shorter" races because I like CHARNAME to look imposing. I do like dwarven, gnomish and halfling NPCs, though.

I like melee-ers because they don't require much strategy or pre-buffing to be powerful. Point, click, enjoy the slaughter. Physical prowess feels... well, empowering. But I do like spellcaster NPCs, and I've been thinking of playing a Wild Mage and a Ranger/Cleric, lately.

Fighter was my class of choice in vanilla BG1. Became Berserker in BG2 because it had all the characteristics of a regular fighter plus the Berserker ability and no real drawback. Later on, I fell in love with Kensais (my current favorite fighter kit). My last time through BG1 was with an Inquisitor, and that was quite powerful too.

The_Zealot

I tend to also have a fondness for clerics, partially because of my fondness for war hammers and partially because I like the whole holy warrior image. Just something cool about a warrior who fights for a cause while heal his team, calling lightning on the bad guys, and hammering anything that gets to close.

But I haven't really explored the bg II clerics yet since I'm set on the ranger/archer I'm currently playing.

Winthal

That's not a bad idea, how would we go about that?

Hmm, I don't think there's a poll feature on these forums yet... could create a poll on some website and just post the link I suppose, but that's less satisfying.

kamuizin

Played with all classes and kits 1 time already, except some of the mages specialist classes and bounty hunter.

Even tried a wizard slayer once, finshed the game with him, but that kit sucks.

The class i liked most? Archer (love this one), priest of talos (the stronghold quest is a lot fun) and assassin (this last a little).

caruga

I used to be drawn to tank classes but I've since preferred thieves for their versatility, particularly as I often solo the game, and it makes me itch when I don't get to find out what is in a chest or someone's pockets.

AndreaColombo

@kamuizin

Yeah, you've just reminded me that I once played an elven archer in BG2 and never got to finish that game. He was extra-powerful.

maverick

AndreaColombo : I like melee-ers because they don't require much strategy or pre-buffing to be powerful.

Totally agree and so true. You don't have to elaborate any strategies, they have a high thaco, the best saving throws so it's a real pleasure to play a fighter. By the way I like to have a fighter with at least 16 or 17 in intelligence just to say that's he's not just a fighter without brain.

In my case I've finished the trilogy with a berserker.
Why? well I like the fighter with its true high mastery, good difference with thaco and damage, progression better compared to a ranger (I love the archer) and a paladin (only lawful good T_T).
And I've decided to choose the berserker because its rage give him a lot of interesting protections such as imprisonment. Kangaxx and another demi-lich in the watcher's keep are just like pets ^^

But I also like the archer, the swashbuckler (rogue rebalancing) and the monk (oversight).

The_Zealot

my archer usually one hit the lesser enemies and can drop half a group before my melee'ers get to it.

Archer Class is awesome

Winthal

I forgot to add one of my favorite combos as of late, Fallen Ranger dual classed to Thief (mostly for flavor reasons, in essence its just a fighter dualed to thief)

NWN_babaYaga

My favourite class is a human Ranger with a focus on archery and can i mention that he always stinks?

mch202

Fighter/Thief....

Dual wielding fighter with high dexterity,option to back stab and hide in shadow... enough said!!!

smeagolheart

Fighter/Thief FTW. My favorite BG1 char was a ftr/thief dwarf with 20 con. The regen was amazing an ability in vanilla BG1.

lansounet

Usually a Fighter/mage, for physical power and tanking with magic; pretty much only protection/dissipation spells that cast fast (2-3 casting speed max) for combat use, level 1 slots filled with MMs/COs to disrupt enemy casters . Dual or multi depending on race/mood.
One SoA playthrough with an Archer powerhouse but it was getting boring. Blades also since they're flavoured fighter/mages.

Sarevokok

Sorcerer. Errday all day. But I also love high level thiefs and a good dual wielding fighter, Crom Faeyr combined with a Celestial Fury or a Flail of Ages +5 is just so nasty.

Sarevokok

Sorry, I didn't post why :P

I started Baldurs Gate when I was 7ish? Back then and to this day, magic has always caught my eye. Devastating power capable of putting nuclear bombs to shame. I love the whole dragons and magic theme. Reason for playing other classes is just to do something different :P

I played BG1 for so long before I learned BG2/ToB existed, I wish I would of recorded my face while seeing the wonderful villain, Jon Irenicus. He is my favorite villain from anything, movies, books, games etc.

ElectricMonk

My first character was a druid, I was drawn to them for their connection with nature, neutral alignment, etc. and I think I've probably played a druid (or some other class dual-classed into druid) more than anything else.

@Sarevokok Agreed, Jon Irenicus is definitely one of my favorite villains.

trinit

evoker-sorcerer-archer-assassin

this was my development. i started out as pure mage, now i end up playing rogue kind of class in almost every other rpg-space opera-random genre type of game.

i like light-show-at-the-wave-of-your-fingertips of the mage class and i'll cut you and be all chaotic and charming of thieves.

Sarevokok

evoker-sorcerer-archer-assassin

this was my development. i started out as pure mage, now i end up playing rogue kind of class in almost every other rpg-space opera-random genre type of game.

i like light-show-at-the-wave-of-your-fingertips of the mage class and i'll cut you and be all chaotic and charming of thieves.

When I first started Baldurs Gate I played an invoker every time until I got BG2, (years later,) and then I switched to a sorcerer.

Lindeblom

I usually end up as thief or fighter/thief.
Scouting and backstabbing for 100 damage is always FUN!!!

May be looking for a 20 Con dwarf next time if there is a hardcore mode where healing will be harder.

Lunever

Since computer games like BG tend do include a lot of fighting - more than many paper&pen campaigns - I prefer to play multiclass fighter/something. Just playing a wizard in a vancian spell system is tiresome - you have to sleep incredibly often and are killed all to easily early in the game.

Also as a main character I like as much options as possible, even at the cost of some stats. So normally my first choice would be half-elven fighter/cleric/mage, but in BG I opted for an elven fighter/mage/thief, good aligned and with a high charisma (took a few tries with rolling up a character who could afford the charisma points):
I can scout, use spells to assist scouting (improved invisibility & non-detection), hold my ground when standing in front of the party and still have good dialogue options. And due to alignement + being a bhaalspawn there is even some minor healing ability.
However, should it be implemented in EE, I would opt for a ranger/druid next time.

DougPiranha

Most fun I had was with archer, avenger and wild mage. I also like what they did with rogues and bards in Rogue Rebalancing, so last couple of characters were one of those kits.

Shrimp

The character I've had the most fun with, is the monk, using the Oversight mod HLA. Barbarians are fun too, but pretty boring and one-dimensional.

I'm usually not much into thief/backstabbing, but just once I tried a kensai-thief dual, and that was pretty awesome. I never thought I'd have that much fun playing a stealthy character, and with UAI you can do pretty much anything you want.

smeagolheart

I usually end up as thief or fighter/thief.
Scouting and backstabbing for 100 damage is always FUN!!!

May be looking for a 20 Con dwarf next time if there is a hardcore mode where healing will be harder.

@Lindeblom if they use BG2 races, you could be 20 con half-orc. I loved 20 con dwarves in vanilla BG1. When they moved to BG2 it seemed like they nerfed the regen - as well as a half orc can get 19 con AND 19 str so no advantage for dwarves anymore.

Lindeblom

@smeagolheart, I don't really like Half-Orcs, they are way to powerful fighter characters to my liking. We'll see, I sooooooooo want to start a new game, but I think I wait for BGEE.

Lunever

@smeagolheart: Do it now - only playing makes my memory remember all the stuff I would like to see fixed or implemented. Ever played Tutu + SCS I+II ? A real challenge!