Favorite Class?

[Chaosolous]

[Noodle]

Mage or thief/mage

[Nobody]

Thematically? Paladin (Cavalier).

For the game play? Sorcerer or Priest of Lathander (lots of cheese is possible when dual classing the PoL in BG2). Both of these classes are stellar in BG2 if done carefully.

My current group has a F/M/T and a M/T in BG 1. Both are fun.

[wendigo211]

Fighter/Mage, most powerful combo, also one of two two-class combos not represented by an NPC in any of the BG games (Ranger/Cleric being the other one).

[Centurion]

I am 'mostly' sure you meant this as an innocent question, but this is bound to kick off the "my class is better than your class" battle royale. You also did not specify this game or the whole series? It makes a big difference. There are classes that rule in BG1 and suck in BG2, or vice-versa.

Keeping in mind that, even over two decades, I have not played every class or combo, and finished with even fewer. So far, for sheer power play, I have to go Archer. BG1 is full of big open areas that really favor ranged characters. And the Archer is progressive, meaning their abilities keep scaling up better and better all the way to the end of Throne of Bhaal. And a Ranger with Grand Mastery? Here's the deal: using the gear you get by SoD (which can be found later in BG2 if you have it on you when you Xfer) you can have a THACO that only misses on a critical miss against anything, routinely deals 30 points damage per hit, and an APR of 9/2! Even I was shocked how fast dragons go down under a hail of arrows or bolts. Of course, you want a pure elf to maximize the class. Only downside: In BG2 you get some 'ambush' encounters where you have to melee and a few missile-immune enemies. But, seriously, I have never had an easier run through the games. No need for lots of buffs and resting. Just gun everything down you encounter.

Hypothetically, I am inclined towards the Fighter>Mage dual-class, Here's why: Maybe it shouldn't be, but BG1 was designed as a pure dungeon crawl. It favors raw combat (armor and HP) and you really don't need a lot of spell-casting or finesse. So, in BG2 you now have a big-time fighter (grand mastery, max HP, APR, etc.) who can then become a mage and focus on that (with the HP keeping them alive.) True, you lose out on the fighter HLAs in BG2 (no time-stop/whirlwind combo), but it plays to the style of each game (which is very different,) Actually, I think Fighter>dual anything is a pretty good plan. I have started this character at least three times and have never finished (CPU meltdowns; not related, I hope!)

For role-playing, which I am now focusing on more (having figured out how to beat the game pretty consistently), I would say any class you can make an interesting story around. Custom characters can be fun (who says only Bioware can design them?) Right now I am running a female half-orc cavalier. You read that right. She had a pretty messed up childhood in Candlekeep and did not get the memo about only humans being paladins (it helps that I role-played her not knowing this until about 2/3rds through the game!) Since the Bioware story never changes much (good vs. evil is about it), I find it fun making my own story around the bare bones. So for RPG, the best class is the one you can really get into the role.

[Kusarigama]

Any class besides Shaman or pure Ranger. Monks are even fun. I can not for the life of me understand why they made Shaman or Ranger (Ranger really should have just been Archer).

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Short question, short answer: archer and sorcerer.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

These two dual-class options:

- Berserker9>Cleric
- Swashbuckler5>Fighter

[MightyMickey88]

Inquisitor: best single class warrior and puts the game on easy mode. I hate having to stack my spellbook with specific counters. While in BG2 and evil party has a better overall composition, this class single handedly raised the good options to equal or better.

Multi-class is the gnome fighter/illusionist. They are a powerhouse and I hate the loss of HLA and THACO that a dual class occurs.

Dual-class is kensai / thief. This is one of the few classes I’ve beaten the game with and they are an absolute powerhouse once you obtain Use Magic Item. Still though Berzerker is probably better

[zytimer]

My favorite classes? Too many choices….

1.) Swashbuckler, already a frontline thief and can fight decent. Will dual to cleric, or to mage depending on the swashbuckler lvls when exporting this character to baldurs gate 2

2.) Shadowdancer, the ability to instantly hide in plain sight is a great help, and good backstabs damage, same as above but only to cleric (might mess around with EEkeeper to move some unwanted thief proficiencies to dual wield at master)

3.) Inquisitors, no brainer and easy mode when it comes to dealing with mages and liches.

4.) Stalker, fighter with the ability to backstab, will dual to cleric when imported to baldurs gate 2.

5.) Clerics, I just enjoy blowing up Undead with their Turn Undead at higher lvls.

[Darth Rand]

For me any combination of Mage, with all the spells in BG1 and 2 there's just so much you can do, (favorite might be Thief Dual to Mage tho.)

Mage/Thief Multi
Cleric/Mage Multi (Takes a while to get going but once it does its great)
Thief Dual to Mage ( especally in Bg2 with more points in Theiving abilites )
Fighter Dual to Mage is just broken
Also having fun with Fighter/Mage Multi right now.

And Wild Mages are so much fun with all the crazy wild surges( I once tried to do the Reckless spell -> Simulacrum, got the Aoe effect surge and my entire party got Simulacrum xD )

[CrescentMouse]

I like Shadowdancer a lot

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by Centurion:

Actually, I think Fighter>dual anything is a pretty good plan.

Yes, if you just want the most powerful, survivable CHARNAME, then Fighter (lvl9) > anything is very, very strong. (Where "anything" means mage, cleric, or thief.)

Mainly this is because Mage, Cleric, and Thief all scale better than Fighter in BG2, but starting as Fighter gives you the most HP and melee ability.

If you do start as a Fighter, the berserker kit is the best, because your rages make you immune to most of the really deadly spells in BG1 -- confusion, charm, and hold person.

However, for fun, I really like dragon sorcerer.

[AvoK]

cleric/mage :3 always moar spelllzzz !!

[itsu]

Necrodancer
yes..dancer

[Orkhepaj]

archer or fighter/thief with op backstap