fighter/mage or thief/mage

[Zara]

going to play one of these for my second playthrough im wondering which is better fighter/mage looks more powerfull but thief/mage looks more fun

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

"Better" in which way?

fighter/mage multi is a rather safe choice as both classes will develop further, especially if you want to continue into SOD, BG2EE and TOB finally. However, due to multi-class the fighter will be limited to weapon specialization whereas a dual-class fighter/mage could reach grand mastery in at least on weapon skill and eventually will reach a higher mage level and become the more powerful mage.

thief/mage is fun, sure, and since there are NPC wizard and thief companions in the game, you could even invest into stealth skills (in addition to using invisibility potions/spells) and let Imoen become the dual-class thief/mage for finding and disarming traps. The THAC0 of a multi-class thief/mage isn't brilliant, though, and not even the THAC0 of a pure thief is exceptional, so you'll likely spend more time using your wizard skills.

And if you're playing with companions (NPCs or self-created ones), it doesn't matter much anyway. In my opinion it is more interesting to play real specialists. Single classes you can use to full potential because they are backed up by a party.

[fauxpas]

Detect Illusions alone tips the scales towards "Thief/Mage", just get it up to 100% ASAP, which can can done as early as 4th Level.

[ZirzoR]

I just soloed the game with a single character as a gnome Thief/illusionist multi-class, backstabbing, invisibilty go hand in hand.

last fight was a breeze with anti magic scroll and invis potions + haste.
Just backstab, invis, repeat until boss dies.

Chug all the buff scrolls/Potions you can find and just go ballistic.
Some people use dispel arrows on his henchmen before engaging, but meh I just went for the boss itself, as soon as you end him, the game ends and you have done it!

Didnt have any blunt weapons though so skeletons and slimes really got me, had to avoid them for the most part.

I might do another run with abit more characters, I hate playing with 6 though, but 1-4 is the sweetspot for me, not too much and not too little.

Since you can solo the game anyways it doesnt really matter, just play the way you like to play it.

If you like spells but you aint much for backstabbing/traps go for fighter/mage alot more HP and abit bulkier more straightup damage, if you are the type of guy that likes to sneak around corners, backstabbing people, being invisible, tactical, setting traps, then thief/mage is for you.