Best build?

[shurick47]

is there a build that is generally considered the best one in this game?

found this list:
Illusionist/Thief
Illusionist/Cleric
Sorcerer
Wild Mage
Fighter/Illusionist
Dual classes into Mage
Any other specialist Mage
Any other mage multiclasses.
Generalist Mage
Cleric/Ranger with the Cleric/Ranger spell "fix" disabled as god and nature intended.
Fighter/Mage/Thief
Fighter/Mage/Cleric

Source: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/66719/best-build-for-a-new-player

but i am not sure how to construct them properly. any suggestions?

[biogoo]

For BG 1, any warrior class (ideally fighter) with good rolls (max str/dex/con) will destroy the game. EE made it a little bit more complicated by splitting "large swords" into many sub-cathegories, but it is still very easy to get the best weapons in the game (Drizzt scimitars, got to ge of good alignment for one of them) and the addition of dual-wielding even allows you to use both at the same time. The addition of half-orcs with 19 max in strenght and constitution is like outright cheating, especially with constituion manual being available relatively early, allowing for easy 20 constitution which provides regeneration. Also 19 strenght means that you can straight up skip the whole 18/01 to 18/00 strenght roulette the other races have to deal with.

[shurick47]

Originally posted by biogoo:

For BG 1, any warrior class (ideally fighter) with good rolls (max str/dex/con) will destroy the game. EE made it a little bit more complicated by splitting "large swords" into many sub-cathegories, but it is still very easy to get the best weapons in the game (Drizzt scimitars, got to ge of good alignment for one of them) and the addition of dual-wielding even allows you to use both at the same time. The addition of half-orcs with 19 max in strenght and constitution is like outright cheating, especially with constituion manual being available relatively early, allowing for easy 20 constitution which provides regeneration. Also 19 strenght means that you can straight up skip the whole 18/01 to 18/00 strenght roulette the other races have to deal with.

I see, so if i want to be a god, i should run an orcish fighter? be good( good alignmen), find Drizzt scimitars, duel wield, find another one and voila? i am basically a god? xD?

[biogoo]

Not a god. Just a god-spawn ;)

You still need some help against spellcasters (cures, protections, interrupts), but you dont need any help dealing or tanking damage.

PS: Drizzt conveniently drops two scimitars and a good armour, although you can get a better armour easily (either the Ankheg one from Nashkel or better buy the full plate in Beregost).

[Tasi]

Easy to play and powerful:

• Archer (you will very likely have more kills then the rest of your party all together - for both BG1 and BG2)
  
• Barbarian (preferable Dwarf)
  
• Fighter (non-kitted or Berserker or Dwarven Defender)
  
• Paladin (any)
  
• Fighter/Cleric (preferable Dwarf)

Powerful but can require more knowledge/control:

• Fighter/Mage (preferable gnome Fighter/Illusionist)
  
• Fighter/Thief
  
• Mage (specialist)

Powerful but not recommended for beginners since there is quite a lot of knowledge you have to understand to use them effectively:

• any dual-class
  
• Bard (Blade kit)
  
• Sorcerer

Triple-classes are also interesting but keep in mind that you will progress in levels much slower...

[Tasi]

Originally posted by shurick47:

but i am not sure how to construct them properly. any suggestions?

If you pick any of "easy to play" classes, then you can go as you probable intuitively feel, like:

• high Strength for melee characters (and decent for others to have decent inventory load capacity)
  
• high Constitution for anybody (for more HP)
  
• high Dexterity for armor class
  
• if you are not cleric/druid/paladin (exception: special usage for one wizard spell) you can go low Wisdom
  
• if you are not wizard you can go low Intelligence (it will affect you slightly; decent number is 10)
  
• low Charisma is also option (it will affect you slightly, decent number is 10)

[[MOSS]-BurningUp]

Paladin is always a solid choice.

[An Ian]

Depends on how you wish to play really
Personaly I like to use spells so a sorcerer is the best pick for me

[wendigo211]

For a first run stay away from Sorcerers, you can't change your spells once you choose them so you need to know which spells are good before hand. They're also weaker than mages because there are no rest restrictions (so spontaneous casting and the extra cast are moot) and mages can learn every arcane spell in the game. While at some point you do need to learn how to use arcane spells, playing an arcane caster through the first 3 or 4 levels is rough on a new player.

Also stay away from Paladins and Rangers, if you don't know what you're doing it's easy for them to fall and if you don't have save from before they fell you end up with a gimped character.

Thieves are another class I would avoid for a first run. They can do okay with traps and a shortbow in this game, but they tend to be more about out of combat gameplay.

Berserker is an easy start (18:90+ STR, 18 DEX, 18 CON), as is Fighter/Cleric (18 STR, 18 DEX, 18 CON, 18 WIS). I would probably recommend the latter since you get to learn spell casting.

[Tasi]

Originally posted by wendigo211:

Also stay away from Paladins and Rangers, if you don't know what you're doing it's easy for them to fall and if you don't have save from before they fell you end up with a gimped character.

Good point. I have not realized that this could be tricky part for new player to be carefull to not make any evil act or lose powers...

[Nich the Cat]

Fighter with two weapon fighting. Specialize in Longswords and Flails. Alot of good longswords and flails. Especially if you are going to import into BG2.

[shurick47]

Originally posted by Nich the Cat:

Fighter with two weapon fighting. Specialize in Longswords and Flails. Alot of good longswords and flails. Especially if you are going to import into BG2.

Originally posted by biogoo:

For BG 1, any warrior class (ideally fighter) with good rolls (max str/dex/con) will destroy the game. EE made it a little bit more complicated by splitting "large swords" into many sub-cathegories, but it is still very easy to get the best weapons in the game (Drizzt scimitars, got to ge of good alignment for one of them) and the addition of dual-wielding even allows you to use both at the same time. The addition of half-orcs with 19 max in strenght and constitution is like outright cheating, especially with constituion manual being available relatively early, allowing for easy 20 constitution which provides regeneration. Also 19 strenght means that you can straight up skip the whole 18/01 to 18/00 strenght roulette the other races have to deal with.

so wait i am a bit confused... should i go for a half orc as a duel wielding fighter or should i go as a barbarian half orc? or its best to avoid being a half orc all together? and is it better to run it as a Drizzt scimitars wielder or long sword?

[shurick47]

gotta say, this is what i love about those old games.... there isn't one solid opinion that everybody agrees upon XD

[Viktor Vaughn]

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/663933-baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition/faqs/65403

This guide is really good, will give you a good understanding about classes and combinations.

Edit: I don't know how outdated it is, it's based on version 1.17 of the game afaik.

[Tasi]

Originally posted by shurick47:

so wait i am a bit confused... should i go for a half orc as a duel wielding fighter or should i go as a barbarian half orc? or its best to avoid being a half orc all together? and is it better to run it as a Drizzt scimitars wielder or long sword?

Forgot about super-optimization. It is not worth of planning. All proposed options are great and no one can really know which one of them will suit you the most.
Safe bet on weapons (plenty of good weapons) are:

• Long Swords
  
• Two Handed swords

If you want you can try to be power-gamer (I do not recommend that) and go for:

• Flails (not very good flails in BG1 but some amazing weapons in BG2 are flails)
  
• Scimitars (you will need to kill famous good hero Drizzt in order to get them... personally, I do not like that, but it is true that they are one of the probable the best weapons in BG1; for BG2 scimitars are only used as off-hand weapons for its ability to increase number of attacks with your main weapon)

There are other good picks:

• Hammers (mostly because of BG2 but there is early on in BG1 good hammer also)
  
• Daggers (decent weapons in good quantity)
  
• Staf (good weapons in good quantity)
  
• Short Swords (decent weapons in decent quantity)

Just remember this: ranged weapons (bows & crossbows) are by far the top for Baldur's Gate 1. The reason why there are not many recommendations of ranged weapons in this discussion is that most of these suggested easy and powerful classes cannot use them or are not best for use them. So if you really want to feel overpowered go and create archer.

That suggestion of half-orc is not something I would agree with (it is not bad - but not my favourite). With half-orc you will on average (it depends on X in your Strength 18/X) get +1 to hit and +3 to damage. Not bad.
With dwarf you will get -5 bonus to all of your Saves (if you will get at least 18 Constitution) and that’s massive bonus! It means that your dwarf will frequently resist against spells & poison.
Both of them are great picks - but it is not true half-orc is better (personally I consider him inferior to dwarf).

At the end I would recommend dwarf Fighter/Cleric. You will be strong/sturdy and will have ability to cast spells. Take hammer as proficiency.
I bet you will find healing spell very helpful:)

[danconnors]

A berserker/mage dual class is awesome. Most fighters he can just beat to death. The few that he can't he can incinerate. As a spellcaster who can blow things up while standing in the front rank, who can leave the rest of the party behind while clearing a cavern full of beholders, he/she is unequalled. Just make sure not to switch too fast. I've played the class twice recently. The first I switched at level 10; then made level 11 mage after dismissing the whole party and learning ALL the spells I had picked up before switching. I spent no time as just a mage with a hell of a lot of hit points. The next time I switched at berserker level 12 (and should have held out to level 13 to get that final half a swing per round). I made the last 2 rounds of mage in the under dark cleaning out the 3 elemental portals by myself. I tried to kill the bossy silver dragon in the under dark. Both tries I had her near death before getting clocked, and I really think I could have won if I'd tried a few more times. Real heavyweight class.