What class to play as?

[tattuvamasi]

I tried to play this game years ago but I didn't get very far. I met the wizard girl and the orc guy and the elf priest, but I never found the Stag King.

Now, I got bored of Baldurs Gate and I am thinking about maybe trying this one again. I remember that I found it frustrating. What kind of character should I play? I am thinking, probably something simple, but also something that doesn't overlap too much with the other playable companions.

[FunkyMonkey]

From the base classes, you don't get a Druid, Paladin, Slayer or Sorcerer. Also, Monk (blegh).

Of these, Druid and Sorcerers are casters with Druid being more CC and Utility and Sorcerer more blaster-y. Paladin is melee and Slayer can be both melee or ranged, while I prefer Slayer as a ranged character. There is a good archer Ranger later in the game, but you can miss getting him, so take that as you will.

[mbradtke]

depends a bit on what you like, you should cover important roles but you dont have to have everything even tough it helps quite a bit...
everything will work, some are better fighters, arcane casters,divine casters and skill monkeys and/or a mix of both...
you def. need a cleric but u get 2, maybe even the inquistor you get could work....
if u want something simple, i would just go with a martial(fighter) class, you cant do too much wrong here, cleric is pretty simple as well however,
there is a prebuild option for hedwirg (the unofficial) main char of the game, he is a fighter tank+dps hybrid with shield bash fighting style, he is quite solid,
beside that you could play a monk, there is no monk in the game but they are tanks, dont exspect a lot dmg from a monk

[Radiac]

Any class that gets an animal companion is actually pretty good, because those are really good in Kingmaker. Ranger, Sylvan Sorcerer, and even Cleric of Erastil with the Animal Domain are good. Druid is also good for this reason, and for some spells they get, but the "pet summoner" approach is fairly weak in the low levels due to the short duration of summon spells (at level 1, your summoned pets last for all of one round....). If you do go with the ranger or something similar, you won't get the pet until level 4, and you need to take a feat called Boon Companion to remove the inherent nerf that the class gives the pet. So given that, and what you said, I think Sylvan Sorcerer would be a good choice for you. That class isn't really a blasty caster though, your main guy will be more about debuffing monsters with spells like Glitterdust, Grease, Daze, Color Spray, Hideous Laughter, etc and then letting the melee companions, and your pet smilodon/cougar/wolf/dog/elk/bear destroy them in combat for you.

One of the most overlooked things about animal companions is the amount of added weight carrying capacity they give your party. At level 5, my sylvan sorcerer's party that just defeated the Stag Lord can carry just over 1000 lbs thanks to my pet elk. When it get's the size increase that will go up from there, and later, if I decide to use the one companion who also has an animal companion, we'll be able to haul like 3000 lbs by then. I like being able to just hit "collect all" and not worry about encumbrance. Pets also give you an additional set of eyes and ears for doing Perception checks, and make good targets for buff spells that don't stack with gear, like Mage Armor, Bull's Strength, etc.

The game gives you like 12 different companions, eventually, but you can't take more than 5 of them with you at any given time, and the companions available span a wide range of different classes and roles. It's to your advantage (and I would argue, necessary) to recruit them all because you need almost all of them to be kingdom advisors even if you're not going to use them in combat, and because their personal story lines have quests for you that give XP and loot. The game gives you some melee tanks, some DPS, some spell casters, some healers, some lock pickers, etc, so whatever you do decide to make as your main, there will inevitably be some overlap with somebody. Therefore I would advise you to just make a main character that you personally like to play. The only drawback to having a main character that's similar to one of the companions is that you end up having to decide who get's to use the best gear for that character, you or the companion, and there are usually not two copies of that gear. At some point though, you probably just stop bringing that companion with you because you don't need them anyway, so its no great loss.

[Radiac]

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

From the base classes, you don't get a Druid, Paladin, Slayer or Sorcerer. Also, Monk (blegh).

Of these, Druid and Sorcerers are casters with Druid being more CC and Utility and Sorcerer more blaster-y. Paladin is melee and Slayer can be both melee or ranged, while I prefer Slayer as a ranged character. There is a good archer Ranger later in the game, but you can miss getting him, so take that as you will.

I made a monk mercenary in one run, I liked him in combat, with Pummeling Charge he was doing like 5 punches at the end of a charge into combat. No real out of combat skills though, and as a main character, he'd suffer from having low charisma.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by Radiac:

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

From the base classes, you don't get a Druid, Paladin, Slayer or Sorcerer. Also, Monk (blegh).

Of these, Druid and Sorcerers are casters with Druid being more CC and Utility and Sorcerer more blaster-y. Paladin is melee and Slayer can be both melee or ranged, while I prefer Slayer as a ranged character. There is a good archer Ranger later in the game, but you can miss getting him, so take that as you will.

I made a monk mercenary in one run, I liked him in combat, with Pummeling Charge he was doing like 5 punches at the end of a charge into combat. No real out of combat skills though, and as a main character, he'd suffer from having low charisma.

You can always use scrolls and potions to boost charisma There are charisma boost items as well just remeber to change them out before combat and there is I think a monk variant that uses ch instead of ws I think.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by Radiac:

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

From the base classes, you don't get a Druid, Paladin, Slayer or Sorcerer. Also, Monk (blegh).

Of these, Druid and Sorcerers are casters with Druid being more CC and Utility and Sorcerer more blaster-y. Paladin is melee and Slayer can be both melee or ranged, while I prefer Slayer as a ranged character. There is a good archer Ranger later in the game, but you can miss getting him, so take that as you will.

I made a monk mercenary in one run, I liked him in combat, with Pummeling Charge he was doing like 5 punches at the end of a charge into combat. No real out of combat skills though, and as a main character, he'd suffer from having low charisma.

There is nothing wrong with Monks, mechanically. I just have a deep dislike for them.

[diogoqv83]

Play leopard class and select a pet sorcerer who cast stinking cloud.
Or play a vivishitcionist with a fauchard.
Or install bag of cheats mode and play with anything.

[grognardgary]

Fighter archer, occassional dips into rogue, zen archer monk.

[Orion Pax]

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

There is nothing wrong with Monks, mechanically. I just have a deep dislike for them.

I like Monks. They’re usually used for a single dip, to get their WIS/CHA benefits to AC, free feat, and free Improved Unarmed Strike to accelerate Crane line.

That said, Monks are pretty straightforward to build, they get their bonus feats early, and they get an extra attack through Flurry of Blows (when used with unarmed or Monk weapons). Early on that is very useful.

A second Flurry attack comes at level 11, so that’s a reason to build to at least that, while absorbing benefits to AC, another limited Ki pool of extra attacks.

Decent amount of skills & good class skills (Perception, Persuasion, etc.). I think their saves are pretty strong as well? Could be wrong though.

[Gresh]

Slayer! It has the best parts of ranger, rogue and fighter.

I like this build a lot.

[tattuvamasi]

Originally posted by Dulce:

Slayer! It has the best parts of ranger, rogue and fighter.

I like this build a lot.

I tried to play as a Slayer before but it didn't work out so good, I couldn't really tell what role the character was supposed to be in, like you say, they are kind of a mix. Slayer seems like it should be a good choice for the main character...maybe I built my guy wrong.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by tattuvamasi:

Originally posted by Dulce:

Slayer! It has the best parts of ranger, rogue and fighter.

I like this build a lot.

I tried to play as a Slayer before but it didn't work out so good, I couldn't really tell what role the character was supposed to be in, like you say, they are kind of a mix. Slayer seems like it should be a good choice for the main character...maybe I built my guy wrong.

Slayers are DPS, pure and simple. They are good with skills, too, but that is secondary. If you build them for damage, it's hard to go wrong. Are you looking for a ranged or melee DPS?

[tattuvamasi]

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

Slayers are DPS, pure and simple. They are good with skills, too, but that is secondary. If you build them for damage, it's hard to go wrong. Are you looking for a ranged or melee DPS? [/quote]

I decided to play a Cleric of Abadar with LG align and Travel/Law domains...seems like it fits well with the story.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by tattuvamasi:

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

Slayers are DPS, pure and simple. They are good with skills, too, but that is secondary. If you build them for damage, it's hard to go wrong. Are you looking for a ranged or melee DPS?

I decided to play a Cleric of Abadar with LG align and Travel/Law domains...seems like it fits well with the story. [/quote]
Good luck :) Sounds fun!

[diogoqv83]

Originally posted by Dulce:

Slayer! It has the best parts of ranger, rogue and fighter.

I like this build a lot.

You can disgrace tough enemies with this one, not even the corrupted dice rolls will save the flat footed mobs.