New and stuck at character creation. Help.

[weird name]

I am overwhelmed by the amount of classes and subclasses this game has.

Really help, from scrolling through them I like the idea of undead bloodline but not sure what class.

[Sanctified Reach 420]

it took alot of reading for myself when i first got this game... so i went with ranger cause he has an animal companion, others do to but i just went ranger subclass ranger. if you play on normal then they are all viable really... however if you play on higher then normal then you gotta watch out for your stats and alot of min/maxing involved... just go with what you like man.

[Psychotic_Frog]

I read stuff for 1-2 days before I started playing. Lots of subclasses, lots of feats, lots of rules, lots of stuff. Take some notes and narrow down what you'd like to play.

[Raven]

If this is your first time playing through the game, I would strongly recommend having your main character be a backline hero of some sort - simply because if the MC dies at any point, you automatically lose and have to reload from your most recent save, which can be annoying in particularly deadly fights later on in the game.
My recommendation would be Sylvan Sorcerer - you get full spellcasting progression plus an animal companion, and a Charisma-reliant hero means you already are better-suited for the multiple Persuasion checks the game will throw at you at varying points in the story.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by King Strange:

I am overwhelmed by the amount of classes and subclasses this game has.

Really help, from scrolling through them I like the idea of undead bloodline but not sure what class.

I know what you mean. I'm an experienced player of this genre and am semi-familiar with the ruleset (never played Pathfinder but have years of experience with PnP DnD 3.0 and 3.5) and I spent hours on that screen having my mind explode from the sheer number of options.

I finally settled on playing a scaled fist monk for my first playthrough (which I started a few days ago), simply because it is a class I'm very familiar with and know I enjoy.

This is definitely a game that will get more than one playthrough from me though, because I'll want to try some other things as I get more familiar with the options available.

[Martialis]

Surely you must have played other CRPGs before, or even PnP games. You will be spending a lot of time in this game, so make sure it is a character which you know you enjoy playing.

For me, it is fighter or rogue. I simply enjoy playing melee over casters. My most successful and enjoyable MCs have been a dual wield knife master rogue and a shield bash fighter.

If you want an actual bloodline (versus just role-playing and imagining you come from an undead line), you want to be a sorcerer, the idea being that you magical abilities are innate and come from whatever ancestor you have. Of course, you could take it even further and have a tiefling sorcerer, and choose a heritage too, for even more special character benefits.

[Fluffykeith]

Eldritch Scion with Undead Bloodline is pretty strong. You get to cast spells, you're decent in melee, and the Undead bloodline gives you a bunch of stuff to help you stay alive. They're a little squishy for the first couple of levels and then get really solid after that.

[weird name]

Originally posted by Martialis:

Surely you must have played other CRPGs before, or even PnP games. You will be spending a lot of time in this game, so make sure it is a character which you know you enjoy playing.

For me, it is fighter or rogue. I simply enjoy playing melee over casters. My most successful and enjoyable MCs have been a dual wield knife master rogue and a shield bash fighter.

If you want an actual bloodline (versus just role-playing and imagining you come from an undead line), you want to be a sorcerer, the idea being that you magical abilities are innate and come from whatever ancestor you have. Of course, you could take it even further and have a tiefling sorcerer, and choose a heritage too, for even more special character benefits.

Yeah I've played and finished balddurs gate 1 &2 EE, DV2, pillars of eternity 1 and part of 2 but I didn't like some aspects of the game so never finished.

[weird name]

Originally posted by Fluffykeith:

Eldritch Scion with Undead Bloodline is pretty strong. You get to cast spells, you're decent in melee, and the Undead bloodline gives you a bunch of stuff to help you stay alive. They're a little squishy for the first couple of levels and then get really solid after that.

Okay that's sounds pretty cool.

[weird name]

Originally posted by Raven:

If this is your first time playing through the game, I would strongly recommend having your main character be a backline hero of some sort - simply because if the MC dies at any point, you automatically lose and have to reload from your most recent save, which can be annoying in particularly deadly fights later on in the game.
My recommendation would be Sylvan Sorcerer - you get full spellcasting progression plus an animal companion, and a Charisma-reliant hero means you already are better-suited for the multiple Persuasion checks the game will throw at you at varying points in the story.

Speaking of char classes how good is the bard in this game?

[Fluffykeith]

Originally posted by King Strange:

Originally posted by Fluffykeith:

Eldritch Scion with Undead Bloodline is pretty strong. You get to cast spells, you're decent in melee, and the Undead bloodline gives you a bunch of stuff to help you stay alive. They're a little squishy for the first couple of levels and then get really solid after that.

Okay that's sounds pretty cool.

I'd suggest playing on Turn Based as it's a bit easier to control how the Eldritch Scion works, with their Spell Combat and Spellstrike stuff.

I'd also suggest playing a human, as they get an extra feat to start with and more skill points, or a Half-Elf.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by King Strange:

Speaking of char classes how good is the bard in this game?

Everything I've read about it so far has indicated bard is one of the best classes in the game, in terms of being nearly essential to have in your party.
That said, one of the first companions you may get is a bard, but you'd have no redundancy with her if you simply don't take her along or take your bard in a completely different direction build wise.
I'm planning on eventually doing a playthrough with Thundercaller Bard as MC.

[InEffect]

Bards are great. Caster bards not so much, but then if you are not going for unfair it doesn't really matter what you do.

[Abyssian]

Just don't listen to people who try to tell you that multiclass of 3-4 classes in the build is a good thing(only 3 classes are good when you want some prestige class, otherwise no). The more classes you get(only small advantage from that), the worse your character will be at the end. It is like in real life. 1 interest(job, hobby), 100% expertise. 3 interests, 33% expertise.

[InEffect]

Just because you are too inept to get a lot out of multiclassing doesn't mean everyone is just as deficient.

[jonnin]

If you have the DLC, make a full custom party and do the arena "adventure" its just a nonstop fight down thru the levels without any regard for plot etc. A half hour in there with a custom party and you can check out a half dozen builds well enough to get the general idea of what worked or not before moving into the main story and real campaign.