I would pick Sorcerer, why? "It is thought that the blood of some powerful creature flows through their veins; perhaps they are the spawn of the gods themselves, or even dragons walking in humanoid form." -description of the sorcerer
Wow, maybe i should restart as a sorcerer. It somehow makes things fall together for me.
You can feel the caling of nature even if your cut off from most of it, One of your first companions is a Fighter/druid pluse you meet two outher rangers early on to teach you there is plenty of books of nature lore or natrul philisphy has it was called. The watcher can teach you the basics of fighting.
The easiest choice for me is still the mage. Always played one, excpept my first time around. The sorcerer, however, came into a new light, power from within and unknown heritage and all, and I will probably restart and play one, keeping Neera as the party mage.
It seems that all classes are fine, if you perceive the class to be one's calling rather than profession. It certainly makes even ranger seem ok, even though i didn't think so up to now. You have to run through the wilderness, and you pick up things along the way, trying to track down who is behind this all. Oddly, this would make the bounty hunter thief kit believable as well.
Given that, any warrior class is fine. There seems to be a consensus that barbarian seems out of place. But let me ask you. Who would be more impulsive, wild at heart, savage in behaviour, defiant of authority than the child of the god of murder? Leaving Candlekeep is like being unleashed on the world, like the force of nature you are! Aaaargh! I got excited.. Sorry.. Blackguard could be easily attributed to your heritage as well. Paladin would be a contradiction, being disciplined and lawful, but it's all in one's character.
Druid, is strange, yes. But then again, a demigod may be expected to be more attuned to the world than the average person, more of a "mystical" being, if i may say so. So druid is fine, and even adds a special flavor, almost the same as the sorcerer. Travelling with Jaheira may also be considered a catalyst, even though having two druids in a party may be too much. The above would also make the beastmaster kit ok.
The cleric or monk choice is also ok, due to CHARNAME's ubringing in a monastery. Even if it is not of the Oghma church. Some people argued that a Talos cleric seems strange. At first glance, yes. But maybe the evil God took a special interest in you, because of your heritage, whispered in your ear in the silent hours of the night, displayed his power in the thunderstorms for the big eyes of a small child, tried to claim you as his own... Ahem.. Got carried away... It may be my choice for the evil walkthrough (or blackguard).
Bard: Yes, yes and yes. A cultured person, brought up in a civilised environment, full of lore and tales of old. A delicate person. Still, your best friend is Immoen, a Thief. It's obvious you picked up something from her. And what if a bard is mainly support. High Charisma means good leadership, and, from the role playing point of view, it could be that your voice resonates with something more divine than talent.
Thief: Could it be that you just didn't like books? That all of Gorion's tutoring was in vain? If evil or neutral, could it be that you mean to get what you want at all costs, even at the expense of other's property? Furthermore, your best friend IS a thief. And if acting like a rogue is a calling, not a profession, could it be that you simply flowered in your time of need, after being left alone without the means to survive? Yes it could. And if you like assassins, well, duh? Dad was god of murder?
As far as not mentioned kits are concerned, they are all fine if the main class is acceptable. They are just variations after all. For instance, you could be less of a thieving bastard and more of a swashbuckler at heart! Or even a jester, the soul of the party!
RACE: Any race is fine, as long as you remember it was only your mothers race. She could be anything, and dad shouldn't count, being a god (oh dear, he didn't mind bearded dwarven ladies and half-orc uglies). Elf did seem strange at first, because immoen is supposed to be a childhood friend and she is a short lived human. But an elf's childhood is somewhat extended, and it's believable to have been friends just for the duration of Immoens life, and still be good friends. And noone said you leave candlekeep as a mature adult. More of a frightened child.
Fighter/Mage is my choice. Both seem to fit the main character. Moreover, keep total size of party to 3 most of the time (have larger party when needed to handle a side plot). That would be Player (Fighter/Mage), Imoen (Thief), a Cleric.
Mage is my favorite, but takes so long to become "useful" that a Fighter/Mage works better for me.
Imoen is integral to BG and BG2, in my opinion -- plus she provides Thief skill set in BG.
Other NPCs are optional. But, a Cleric nicely rounds out the "classic" party skill set.
Fighter/Mage makes sense enough to me. A sort of more martial spell-slinger that gets her powers from her bloodline. And being godspawn means greater power, speed, and prowess (like demigod legends in real world history). A warrior with a mystical godhood angle.
Fighter/Cleric for a good-aligned Charname, for much the same reasoning. Only more divine righteousness and harnessing of holy might.
Falls in line with the powers you spontaneously develop after your nightmares.
Swashbuckler makes the most sense to me. Gorion filling his ward's head with idealistic, clever adventure tales is bound to rub off on him. So yes he'd be a rogue and a scoundrel but a light hearted one with perhaps an unrealistic view of how the world really works.
Of course I just love swashbuckling so I'm biased.
Wizard Slayer makes the most sense. That Gorion was just so mean with his nonsensical rules and regulations. I'll go to bed when I feel like it, damnit.
However, I also like to play ranger. I make sense of it by thinking that CHARNAME likes animals, has helped in the stables, and taken care of birds and stuff in the castle. Also CHARNAME is very intrigued and curious by the vast forests outside the walls. On top of this he recieved martial training in Candlekeep.
It makes sense to me because, after all, we start at lvl 1 with 0 exp. Therefore, CHARNAME will travel around and learn more and more what it means to be a ranger, CHARNAME doesnt need a ranger "master" to be plausible. Works very well for me.
Got confused about the no ranger or barbarian. You could have been a feral youth running around the huge forest outside the keep. It never said you were trapped inside. SOMEONE has to bring the food in. SOMEONE has to get all the crap out... At least.
All make sense. You start at level 1, and are thrust into your new persona the first day basically. With all those books in candlekeep, you were bound to study people that you were fascinated with, and wanted to be like.
I think mage makes the most sense, and it has felt very natural for me playing through the game as a transmuter. Plus the healing spells in the beginning make your mage even more useful and if you're evil you get some extra life draining spells
I would pick Sorcerer, why? "It is thought that the blood of some powerful creature flows through their veins; perhaps they are the spawn of the gods themselves, or even dragons walking in humanoid form." -description of the sorcerer
Wow, maybe i should restart as a sorcerer. It somehow makes things fall together for me.
Use the party mage for disables and other spells while you get ur sorcerer with offensive magic, you will bring destruction!
I would pick Sorcerer, why? "It is thought that the blood of some powerful creature flows through their veins; perhaps they are the spawn of the gods themselves, or even dragons walking in humanoid form." -description of the sorcerer
This. Clearly Sorcerer. And I am honestly surprised that it doesn't come out more often, since it's the very description of the class itself to suggest that it could fit very few people, but it certainly fits the main protagonist of the BG series.
On the other hand, I always thought that cleric would be the least fitting, since the protagonist is a spawn of gods called to discover its divine potential, so in the long run it feels kinda odd to be the faithful worshipper of another deity. (This didn't stop me from playing also as a cleric, anyway!).
Ranger/Cleric: You're a demigod, of *course* you know every divine spell in the game.
Mage/Thief: You're fielding phenomenal cosmic power and trained at the feet of Gorion. Makes sense. Why Thief? Who do you think taught Imoen? Winthrop?
From my recollections of the Complete Book of Elves, I seem to recall they had tales of young (less than 10) elven children who start adventuring a couple of decades after their father was killed. D&D has always been a bit spastic when it comes to elves; they either reach physical maturity at 20 or so and then have to take between fifty and ninety years with their thumb up their slanty elven backsides, they're actual children until age 70 or so, or somewhere in between, with elves being so colossally stupid it takes them the better part of a century to learn to operate as a basic functional adult.
Part of this is arbitrary game balance (your average elf could probably justify starting at level 10+ if they just applied themselves in a remotely appropriate manner), part because writers don't really seem able to comprehend the mentality of a race capable of surviving about ten generations of human history without hitting middle age or being considered particularly old and wise among their kind.
If 3rd Edition, the only time it was ever spelled out to my recollection, is to be believed, your average elf reaches "maturity" at around age 25, but in Elven society, since they breed comparatively slowly, there would be incredible social pressure on them to stay home and engage in non-adventurous pastimes until they're 100+ or so. Yet at the same time those decades of experience crafting incredible artworks and music doesn't translate to associated skill points or levels thanks to the aforementioned arbitrary game balance.
For my elves, I assume they're between 25 and 40, young enough to be raised by a human, old enough to go out and see the world, since no elf culture was around to say otherwise, and young enough to display the necessary naïvety for the BG plot to function.
There's a wyrm silver dragon ghost underneath candlekeep as well. In the Lore books. She could have taught you many a trick, she is benevolent if you give her all your books. Maybe she has druid/monk/ranger/cleric levels.
Candlekeep sits near a lot of natural terrain, as a druid you could tap into that, or you could be a Radagast type, talking to the birds and local fauna to gain insight. Rats are gossips you know.
A lot of people visit Candlekeep, you gain stories from them, snippets of conversation, so Bard works there.
I picture you as the more dutiful of the two children that Gorion took in, so maybe you got stuck doing more book work and study and training. So Wizard or fighter or Paladin works.
Ranger works because you were a precocious child jumping all over the place, hiding with the cows. rummaging in the garden etc.
Sorcerer cause you know, GOD BLOOD!
Any class works really. just probably not every alignment.
On the other hand, I always thought that cleric would be the least fitting, since the protagonist is a spawn of gods called to discover its divine potential, so in the long run it feels kinda odd to be the faithful worshipper of another deity. (This didn't stop me from playing also as a cleric, anyway!).
You're not really aware of your Bhaalspawn status until quite some time passes though and it may not make much sense to suddenly abandon your deity of choice because you find out dad probably wouldn't agree. So cleric works as much as any class imo. Really boils down to how much thought you put into your character and if you agree with the pre-generated bio I guess
A non-kitted cleric could work. Unaware, you're using the shards of divinity within yourself to draw on infinitesimal amounts of Bhaal's scattered power. Ditto for Paladin, thought like 3e conception of Paladins who draw on good, as opposed to any specific deity.
I do think Paladins are RPable, but you cut yourself off from a lot of awesome stuff, as I don't think one can justify theft, breaking into people's houses, etc.
Though now that I think about it, why couldn't you be a bhaalspawn and a follower of another god, drawing powers from him/her? Forgotten Realms has deities upon deities, all in service to one another. Even if in ToB you take up the divinity, that doesn't grant you a portfolio. You'd be a demigod of some sort, and would have to take service anyway.
The classes that don't really fit well at all with the cloistered upbringing backstory are Druid and Ranger. For obvious reasons.
And arguably Thief. Learning to pick locks and detect/set/remove traps in such a lawful place as Candlekeep seems rather out of place. But thieves can learn their skills for the purposes of treasure hunting as opposed to burglary. So perhaps the PC learns those skills from adventurers who pass through, or something like that. Maybe Gorion's Harper friends provide that instruction.
Monks require very specialized training. But perhaps again Gorion's buddies regularly provide that within the walls of Candlekeep.
I think the classes that make most sense are probably Bard, Mage, Sorcerer, Cleric, Fighter, and Paladin. And multis like Fighter-Mage and Fighter-Cleric.
Fighter, then later in BG2 duals to a mage. Due to the game canon locking the PC's age at 20 at the beginning of Badur's Gate 1, only a human, halfling, or half-orc would have the right age and maturity. Half-elves would be a bit closer to their early teens, dwarves and gnomes would be young children, and elves would babies. The above four do mature faster when young, before slowing down during puberty, but still no where near as fast as humans would.
Imoen comments that PC was always ditching their studies, so I doubt he'd be mage material, though still quite intelligent as Gorion did educate (leaving the possibly to become a mage later when motivated). He could in theory, given that he and Imeon are childhood friends, have a learning towards thievery, though I imagine Gorion would've been strict about such things given what was at stake (also probably leading to a Good alignment of a sort..possibly neutral, but given his implied free spirit, probably chaotic). Doing odd jobs around candlekeep and recieving basic combat training as part of his education (I imagine Gorion would be trying to prepare him for what may come) makes a fighter fairly likely.
I personally dislike Cleric PCs, due to AO decreeing that the Gods not interfere with how things played out with the bhaalspawn (and cleric spells are granted on individual basis, so using cleric spells against another bhaalspawn would be the same as interfering in person for the god in question). However, Bhaalspawn are a special case...they have latent divinity within themselves..so it might be possible that they could tap it to fuel their own divine spells. However, I don't really see it happening for the PC (Sendai, possibly though). There aren't really any druids around either, so that seems unlikely. One doesn't learn to wield the power of nature via a correspondence course. Rangers would also be similarly impaired (Druid powers are granted by nature gods and would likely fall into the same problems as clerics). And canon tales of his lack of motivation shirking responsibilities does not a dutiful paladin make.
Bards are a possibilty....but...a BG series bard doesn't make that interesting of a main character...Jack of all trades kind of keeps them out of the spot light. I don't really see monks. The Candlekeep monks are religious scribe type monks, not round-house kick your teeth in monks. Barbarians are right out....Candlekeep is about as far from uncivilized lands as you can get.
But anyway...they whoop Sarevok, proving that raw strength can only get a person so far, but then end up getting their butts kicked by Irenicus, reminding them of the whole linear warriors, quadratic wizards thing...so the PC decides to buckle down and add the OPness of spell casting to his proficiency with a blade to become an nigh invincible Fighter/Mage.
A non-kitted cleric could work. Unaware, you're using the shards of divinity within yourself to draw on infinitesimal amounts of Bhaal's scattered power. Ditto for Paladin, thought like 3e conception of Paladins who draw on good, as opposed to any specific deity.
I do think Paladins are RPable, but you cut yourself off from a lot of awesome stuff, as I don't think one can justify theft, breaking into people's houses, etc.
Though now that I think about it, why couldn't you be a bhaalspawn and a follower of another god, drawing powers from him/her? Forgotten Realms has deities upon deities, all in service to one another. Even if in ToB you take up the divinity, that doesn't grant you a portfolio. You'd be a demigod of some sort, and would have to take service anyway.
I understand that you don't know about your status at the beginning and I don't think it's impossible to think you are a cleric faithful to some other deity 'til the end. It's certainly viable, not denying that. I just think it's the least fitting. In the end the whole story is about becoming an incredibly powerful being (to what purpose and to what extent it's up to you...) by bringing into development your own divine heritage. This fits perfectly with the Sorcerer class. It fits much less with a class like the cleric whose all power always come from an external deity. At least that's how I feel, of course.
To be honest though, this is a D&D game. You could assume pretty much anything. The fact Candlekeep is FULL of books, theres no reason a character couldnt have read enough about any class/profession to become a level 1 in anything.
Further on this, I keep seeing that people say playing a druid isnt really in keeping with the story, but isn't the second party member you acquire a druid? It's perfectly reasonable to suggest that she trained him as a Druid after Gorions death.
(I've only played BG2 but as I understand it, Jaheria joins in BG1 in the first 20 mins or so)
I say Assassin. I like to think of it as a subconscious knowledge of one's...background bleeding over into the character's preferred fighting styles and techniques, one that strengthens over time and with constant use of one's...unusual powers and abilities.
That said, a lot of other classes can also make sense. A mage, bard or cleric because of Gorion and living in Candlekeep, naturally. Other thief classes. The kensai, which of course is a highly proficient killer. A sorceror.
I like the assassin from a roleplaying POV, especially if I'm playing a character that is non-evil, or morally ambiguous at worst*. The temptation to sink further into the background of your father, if only to survive the trials put in front of you, while trying not to lose yourself into becoming a merciless killer is an interesting one to me.
I also find a Paladin works quite well, from the temptation angle.
*I believe in the original AD&D, from what I can remember, only evil characters could become Assassins. However, if you treat the Assassin as a combat style, which relies on removing the biggest threat from the field as quickly and efficiently as possible, utilising surprise and then poisons to make every hit count and disable the most dangerous foes, the possibility of a non-evil, if somewhat ruthless Assassin is possible.
I would say a wizard slayer .. had enough of mages so he studied upon book and learned to slay mages secretly unless he was forced to be a double agent for powefull group of mages to penetrate wizard slayer circle.
I would say a wizard slayer .. had enough of mages so he studied upon book and learned to slay mages secretly unless he was forced to be a double agent for powefull group of mages to penetrate wizard slayer circle.
Teen rebelling against your tyrannical mage father who doesn't even let you out of the catle...yeah, wizard slayer can make sense.
Comments
The easiest choice for me is still the mage. Always played one, excpept my first time around. The sorcerer, however, came into a new light, power from within and unknown heritage and all, and I will probably restart and play one, keeping Neera as the party mage.
It seems that all classes are fine, if you perceive the class to be one's calling rather than profession. It certainly makes even ranger seem ok, even though i didn't think so up to now. You have to run through the wilderness, and you pick up things along the way, trying to track down who is behind this all. Oddly, this would make the bounty hunter thief kit believable as well.
Given that, any warrior class is fine. There seems to be a consensus that barbarian seems out of place. But let me ask you. Who would be more impulsive, wild at heart, savage in behaviour, defiant of authority than the child of the god of murder? Leaving Candlekeep is like being unleashed on the world, like the force of nature you are! Aaaargh! I got excited.. Sorry.. Blackguard could be easily attributed to your heritage as well. Paladin would be a contradiction, being disciplined and lawful, but it's all in one's character.
Druid, is strange, yes. But then again, a demigod may be expected to be more attuned to the world than the average person, more of a "mystical" being, if i may say so. So druid is fine, and even adds a special flavor, almost the same as the sorcerer. Travelling with Jaheira may also be considered a catalyst, even though having two druids in a party may be too much. The above would also make the beastmaster kit ok.
The cleric or monk choice is also ok, due to CHARNAME's ubringing in a monastery. Even if it is not of the Oghma church. Some people argued that a Talos cleric seems strange. At first glance, yes. But maybe the evil God took a special interest in you, because of your heritage, whispered in your ear in the silent hours of the night, displayed his power in the thunderstorms for the big eyes of a small child, tried to claim you as his own... Ahem.. Got carried away... It may be my choice for the evil walkthrough (or blackguard).
Bard: Yes, yes and yes. A cultured person, brought up in a civilised environment, full of lore and tales of old. A delicate person. Still, your best friend is Immoen, a Thief. It's obvious you picked up something from her. And what if a bard is mainly support. High Charisma means good leadership, and, from the role playing point of view, it could be that your voice resonates with something more divine than talent.
Thief: Could it be that you just didn't like books? That all of Gorion's tutoring was in vain? If evil or neutral, could it be that you mean to get what you want at all costs, even at the expense of other's property? Furthermore, your best friend IS a thief. And if acting like a rogue is a calling, not a profession, could it be that you simply flowered in your time of need, after being left alone without the means to survive? Yes it could. And if you like assassins, well, duh? Dad was god of murder?
As far as not mentioned kits are concerned, they are all fine if the main class is acceptable. They are just variations after all. For instance, you could be less of a thieving bastard and more of a swashbuckler at heart! Or even a jester, the soul of the party!
RACE: Any race is fine, as long as you remember it was only your mothers race. She could be anything, and dad shouldn't count, being a god (oh dear, he didn't mind bearded dwarven ladies and half-orc uglies). Elf did seem strange at first, because immoen is supposed to be a childhood friend and she is a short lived human. But an elf's childhood is somewhat extended, and it's believable to have been friends just for the duration of Immoens life, and still be good friends. And noone said you leave candlekeep as a mature adult. More of a frightened child.
Mage is my favorite, but takes so long to become "useful" that a Fighter/Mage works better for me.
Imoen is integral to BG and BG2, in my opinion -- plus she provides Thief skill set in BG.
Other NPCs are optional. But, a Cleric nicely rounds out the "classic" party skill set.
Fighter/Cleric for a good-aligned Charname, for much the same reasoning. Only more divine righteousness and harnessing of holy might.
Falls in line with the powers you spontaneously develop after your nightmares.
Of course I just love swashbuckling so I'm biased.
However, I also like to play ranger. I make sense of it by thinking that CHARNAME likes animals, has helped in the stables, and taken care of birds and stuff in the castle. Also CHARNAME is very intrigued and curious by the vast forests outside the walls. On top of this he recieved martial training in Candlekeep.
It makes sense to me because, after all, we start at lvl 1 with 0 exp. Therefore, CHARNAME will travel around and learn more and more what it means to be a ranger, CHARNAME doesnt need a ranger "master" to be plausible. Works very well for me.
And I am honestly surprised that it doesn't come out more often, since it's the very description of the class itself to suggest that it could fit very few people, but it certainly fits the main protagonist of the BG series.
On the other hand, I always thought that cleric would be the least fitting, since the protagonist is a spawn of gods called to discover its divine potential, so in the long run it feels kinda odd to be the faithful worshipper of another deity. (This didn't stop me from playing also as a cleric, anyway!).
Ranger/Cleric: You're a demigod, of *course* you know every divine spell in the game.
Mage/Thief: You're fielding phenomenal cosmic power and trained at the feet of Gorion. Makes sense.
Why Thief? Who do you think taught Imoen? Winthrop?
From my recollections of the Complete Book of Elves, I seem to recall they had tales of young (less than 10) elven children who start adventuring a couple of decades after their father was killed. D&D has always been a bit spastic when it comes to elves; they either reach physical maturity at 20 or so and then have to take between fifty and ninety years with their thumb up their slanty elven backsides, they're actual children until age 70 or so, or somewhere in between, with elves being so colossally stupid it takes them the better part of a century to learn to operate as a basic functional adult.
Part of this is arbitrary game balance (your average elf could probably justify starting at level 10+ if they just applied themselves in a remotely appropriate manner), part because writers don't really seem able to comprehend the mentality of a race capable of surviving about ten generations of human history without hitting middle age or being considered particularly old and wise among their kind.
If 3rd Edition, the only time it was ever spelled out to my recollection, is to be believed, your average elf reaches "maturity" at around age 25, but in Elven society, since they breed comparatively slowly, there would be incredible social pressure on them to stay home and engage in non-adventurous pastimes until they're 100+ or so. Yet at the same time those decades of experience crafting incredible artworks and music doesn't translate to associated skill points or levels thanks to the aforementioned arbitrary game balance.
For my elves, I assume they're between 25 and 40, young enough to be raised by a human, old enough to go out and see the world, since no elf culture was around to say otherwise, and young enough to display the necessary naïvety for the BG plot to function.
Candlekeep sits near a lot of natural terrain, as a druid you could tap into that, or you could be a Radagast type, talking to the birds and local fauna to gain insight. Rats are gossips you know.
A lot of people visit Candlekeep, you gain stories from them, snippets of conversation, so Bard works there.
I picture you as the more dutiful of the two children that Gorion took in, so maybe you got stuck doing more book work and study and training. So Wizard or fighter or Paladin works.
Ranger works because you were a precocious child jumping all over the place, hiding with the cows. rummaging in the garden etc.
Sorcerer cause you know, GOD BLOOD!
Any class works really. just probably not every alignment.
I do think Paladins are RPable, but you cut yourself off from a lot of awesome stuff, as I don't think one can justify theft, breaking into people's houses, etc.
Though now that I think about it, why couldn't you be a bhaalspawn and a follower of another god, drawing powers from him/her? Forgotten Realms has deities upon deities, all in service to one another. Even if in ToB you take up the divinity, that doesn't grant you a portfolio. You'd be a demigod of some sort, and would have to take service anyway.
And arguably Thief. Learning to pick locks and detect/set/remove traps in such a lawful place as Candlekeep seems rather out of place. But thieves can learn their skills for the purposes of treasure hunting as opposed to burglary. So perhaps the PC learns those skills from adventurers who pass through, or something like that. Maybe Gorion's Harper friends provide that instruction.
Monks require very specialized training. But perhaps again Gorion's buddies regularly provide that within the walls of Candlekeep.
I think the classes that make most sense are probably Bard, Mage, Sorcerer, Cleric, Fighter, and Paladin. And multis like Fighter-Mage and Fighter-Cleric.
Imoen comments that PC was always ditching their studies, so I doubt he'd be mage material, though still quite intelligent as Gorion did educate (leaving the possibly to become a mage later when motivated). He could in theory, given that he and Imeon are childhood friends, have a learning towards thievery, though I imagine Gorion would've been strict about such things given what was at stake (also probably leading to a Good alignment of a sort..possibly neutral, but given his implied free spirit, probably chaotic). Doing odd jobs around candlekeep and recieving basic combat training as part of his education (I imagine Gorion would be trying to prepare him for what may come) makes a fighter fairly likely.
I personally dislike Cleric PCs, due to AO decreeing that the Gods not interfere with how things played out with the bhaalspawn (and cleric spells are granted on individual basis, so using cleric spells against another bhaalspawn would be the same as interfering in person for the god in question). However, Bhaalspawn are a special case...they have latent divinity within themselves..so it might be possible that they could tap it to fuel their own divine spells. However, I don't really see it happening for the PC (Sendai, possibly though). There aren't really any druids around either, so that seems unlikely. One doesn't learn to wield the power of nature via a correspondence course. Rangers would also be similarly impaired (Druid powers are granted by nature gods and would likely fall into the same problems as clerics). And canon tales of his lack of motivation shirking responsibilities does not a dutiful paladin make.
Bards are a possibilty....but...a BG series bard doesn't make that interesting of a main character...Jack of all trades kind of keeps them out of the spot light. I don't really see monks. The Candlekeep monks are religious scribe type monks, not round-house kick your teeth in monks. Barbarians are right out....Candlekeep is about as far from uncivilized lands as you can get.
But anyway...they whoop Sarevok, proving that raw strength can only get a person so far, but then end up getting their butts kicked by Irenicus, reminding them of the whole linear warriors, quadratic wizards thing...so the PC decides to buckle down and add the OPness of spell casting to his proficiency with a blade to become an nigh invincible Fighter/Mage.
In the end the whole story is about becoming an incredibly powerful being (to what purpose and to what extent it's up to you...) by bringing into development your own divine heritage. This fits perfectly with the Sorcerer class. It fits much less with a class like the cleric whose all power always come from an external deity. At least that's how I feel, of course.
To be honest though, this is a D&D game. You could assume pretty much anything. The fact Candlekeep is FULL of books, theres no reason a character couldnt have read enough about any class/profession to become a level 1 in anything.
Further on this, I keep seeing that people say playing a druid isnt really in keeping with the story, but isn't the second party member you acquire a druid? It's perfectly reasonable to suggest that she trained him as a Druid after Gorions death.
(I've only played BG2 but as I understand it, Jaheria joins in BG1 in the first 20 mins or so)
That said, a lot of other classes can also make sense. A mage, bard or cleric because of Gorion and living in Candlekeep, naturally. Other thief classes. The kensai, which of course is a highly proficient killer. A sorceror.
I like the assassin from a roleplaying POV, especially if I'm playing a character that is non-evil, or morally ambiguous at worst*. The temptation to sink further into the background of your father, if only to survive the trials put in front of you, while trying not to lose yourself into becoming a merciless killer is an interesting one to me.
I also find a Paladin works quite well, from the temptation angle.
*I believe in the original AD&D, from what I can remember, only evil characters could become Assassins. However, if you treat the Assassin as a combat style, which relies on removing the biggest threat from the field as quickly and efficiently as possible, utilising surprise and then poisons to make every hit count and disable the most dangerous foes, the possibility of a non-evil, if somewhat ruthless Assassin is possible.