Baldur's Gate II class suggestions

[Chevy]

All this talk of Baldur's Gate made me decide to finally start my first playthrough of Baldur's Gate II. Anybody have good suggestions for what class I should choose for my main character?

[Wizardry]

A Half-Elf ranger/cleric multi-class.

[Serenegoose]

A Half-Elf ranger/cleric multi-class.

Ranger/cleric? Can you explain that to me? I'm shockingly bad at D&D so I'm unsure of what classes work well together.

Though I'm partial to a half-elf fighter/cleric on the basis that 'fighter/clerics are my favourite' if that counts as a viable suggestion.

[Wizardry]

Ranger/cleric? Can you explain that to me? I'm shockingly bad at D&D so I'm unsure of what classes work well together.

Though I'm partial to a half-elf fighter/cleric on the basis that 'fighter/clerics are my favourite' if that counts as a viable suggestion.
Rangers get druid spells. Therefore ranger/clerics get full access to all divine spells, both the druid and cleric schools.

[Unaco]

Human Wizard Slayer! I don't know why, but it's always been my favourite class... I don't know exhaustive amounts about Dungeons & Dragons, so I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, but having a fighter that could go toe to toe with Spellcasters was great, for me and my parties and style of play (there are probably other methods of dealing with enemy spellcasters, but I found hitting them with sharp things works well- and they can be a terrific pain). Also, there is a longsword (forget its name) that casts Silence in a 15' radius, and the Wizard Slayer restrictions on magical items don't extend to weapons.

[Rinox]

Rangers get druid spells. Therefore ranger/clerics get full access to all divine spells, both the druid and cleric schools.

While I don't want to say "don't play it", I do want to note that multiclass ranger/clerics are horrendously unbalanced and overpowered at higher levels in BG2. It may not be much of a challenge.

Like Unaco, I always liked the wizard slayer kit. Wild mage is a bunch of fun but has a messed up difficulty/power curve. Bards are a compromise between 2-3 classes but can make for an entertaining main character.

[Reinhardt]

Played the whole thing with 2 Wizards, 2 Sorcerers, a Druid and a Fighter.

Magic classes have WAY more options in terms of gameplay.

[duff]

Mage dual classed to Kensai is really fun with lots of combat buffing / defensive spells.

[Wizardry]

While I don't want to say "don't play it", I do want to note that multiclass ranger/clerics are horrendously unbalanced and overpowered at higher levels in BG2. It may not be much of a challenge.
I know. Being able to cast all those lovely cleric buffs, on top of the amazing druid spell iron skins, with fighter high level abilities like whirlwind, critical strike and hardiness makes you a killing machine capable of soloing the game relatively easily.

[Sarlix]

Dwarf Berserker - Get the Flail of Ages and turn everyone into a pulpy mush :-)

[Kelron]

Wild Mage. That's actually an awful suggestion for your first play.

[Sarlix]

That's actually an awful suggestion for your first play.

Referring to mine?

That was my first playthrough and had a lot of fun. But then I like dwarfs and spikey things. Besides, I thought the point of a role playing games was to role-play. Surely he should pick whatever appeals to him the most?

[fiddlesticks]

I had a lot of fun playing a Blade on my last playthrough. They're not as powerful as many other classes and require a bit of micromanagement to properly work, but there's a lot of neat tricks you can do with them. They play similarly to fighters, but with enough magic spells and unique abilities to offer some variety from just blindly slashing anything you come across. Plus, I feel the Bard stronghold is the best one of them all.

[Fumarole]

Play a bard, they're fun to roleplay with. Except when in the first game Imoen is turned to stone and then subsequently blown apart by a fireball, only to inexplicably return to life in the second game. But I'm not bitter.

[Chevy]

Wow, there is so many different suggestions in this thread! That is awesome.

I'm going to try the ranger/cleric multi, because it sounds resilient, which is what I look for in a main character. I will definitely try the others on later play-throughs, though.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[SMiD]

I loved me my Archer. At higher levels, the arrows (and Called Shot) become ridiculous. You are spell interrupter #1.

[NathanH]

I am a big fan of dual classing for getting the most bang for my XP, but that is probably a bit dangerous for a new player. Favourite dual classes are swashbuckler to fighter at 10, swashbuckler to cleric at 10, kensai to mage at 9, ranger to cleric at 8. All of these are a bit OP once they get going.

I quite like the paladin stronghold quests, but on the other hand there is already a perfectly serviceable paladin recruitable who is also a very likeable fellow. Bards have a fun stronghold but are a bit rubbish.

Other than that I'd consider something you can't find elsewhere. There are no recruitable Sorcerers so that is a decent option. There are no recruitable Monks, but monks annoy me in every rpg system they appear in, and there are no recruitable Barbarians, but they're a bit poor. Wizard slayers are a bit silly, Kensai are fun but fragile, wild mages are hilarious but at low levels they are more-or-less mages which occasionally commit suicide (shortest game of BG2 ever: wild mage on Insane, first action use innate healing ability to heal cutscene damage... wildsurge, fireball, game over). I have never used archers but people tell me they're cool. Swashbucklers are rogues that have decent attack abilities.

[ado]

A safe bet for a newb in BG2 is a Paladin. A) they're pretty haxy and B) there's that sword...

[Subatomic]

As nobody else suggested it yet: rogue with the assassin or bounty hunter subclass (or were the called kits in BG2?). Sure, you don't really need a single class rogue in any of the BG games (with all the +skill items, even a low level dual class rogues like Imoen or Nalia is enough for 95% of everything when it comes to locks and traps).
The kits have nice special abilities though, like stronger backstab + powerful poison for the Assassin and special traps for the Bounty Hunter, and backstabs and traps are two skills you probably won't use much with either Nalia or Imoen - because they suck at it. The thief stronghold quests are also pretty good, and they get some of the most overpowered high level abilities in ToB, "Use any Item" and even more powerful traps.

[karthink]

Kensai/Thief

[Kelron]

Referring to mine?

That was my first playthrough and had a lot of fun. But then I like dwarfs and spikey things. Besides, I thought the point of a role playing games was to role-play. Surely he should pick whatever appeals to him the most?

No, referring to mine. Wild Mage is somewhat more reliable at BG2 levels but you don't really want to be accidentally summoning demons as a new player.

[Vexing Vision]

No, referring to mine. Wild Mage is somewhat more reliable at BG2 levels but you don't really want to be accidentally summoning demons as a new player.

Speak for yourself.


Elf Fighter/Wizard remains my favourite class, but I also love playing Sorcerer.

Personally, I find that Druid gets the best stronghold of all (Fighter second), but I really like Jaheira and would feel silly in also being a druid.

[Rinox]

I know. Being able to cast all those lovely cleric buffs, on top of the amazing druid spell iron skins, with fighter high level abilities like whirlwind, critical strike and hardiness makes you a killing machine capable of soloing the game relatively easily.

Agreed! I rank a fighter/illusionist multiclass up there too (only gnomes iirc).

[Wolfenswan]

Agreed! I rank a fighter/illusionist multiclass up there too (only gnomes iirc).

You know, this reminds me of that time, waaaaay back...

[Theblazeuk]

I transferred over my character from BG1, who was a simple fighter. Who benefited massively from harvesting all of the stat increase books throughout the first chapter and was unstoppable by the end of 2 :) Problem is that mages are v.weak in the first game as far as I could tell. Other classes don't fare much better either tbh, it was only the meatshield that could take damage without crumbling or sucking up those precious healing spells/potions. Changes massively come BG2 though!

Currently have a stalled (i.e. I have UFO Defence on there now) game on my laptop with a Blade character, seems quite fun. I also got quite far into the game in one playthrough with a half-elf fighter/mage.

I never really got dual classing. Doesn't it just freeze your first class and then start you from scratch in another?

[Subatomic]

I never really got dual classing. Doesn't it just freeze your first class and then start you from scratch in another?

Yes, until your second class surpasses your first class in number of levels. Than you get all of the first's skills and abilities (up to the reached level) on top of those of your second class. This is especially useful with fighters and thieves, who benefit much less from higher levels than spellcasting classes.

[Wizardry]

Play a bard, they're fun to roleplay with. Except when in the first game Imoen is turned to stone and then subsequently blown apart by a fireball, only to inexplicably return to life in the second game. But I'm not bitter.
It's the same for all returning companions like Jaheira, Minsc, Edwin and Viconia. And don't forgot those characters that appear in Baldur's Gate 2 but not as companions, like Faldorn, Garrick, Ajantis, Tiax, Coran, Safana, Xzar and Quayle. And how about those who are dead in Baldur's Gate 2 (but due to circumstances that couldn't possibly be related to you getting them killed in the previous game) such as Montaron, Khalid and Dynaheir.


I am a big fan of dual classing for getting the most bang for my XP, but that is probably a bit dangerous for a new player. Favourite dual classes are swashbuckler to fighter at 10, swashbuckler to cleric at 10, kensai to mage at 9, ranger to cleric at 8. All of these are a bit OP once they get going.
Dual-classing isn't always better than multi-classing though. For example, a ranger/cleric multi is better than a ranger to cleric dual because you get fighter high level abilities in addition to the shitty cleric ones. A cleric to ranger dual is shit because you miss out on high level cleric spells and don't get the full advantages of being a fighter through the low levels.


There are no recruitable Monks, but monks annoy me in every rpg system they appear in
Try a game called Disciples of Steel. Having just one of them is an "I win" button.


Who benefited massively from harvesting all of the stat increase books throughout the first chapter and was unstoppable by the end of 2
Which reminds me, there are 3 wisdom boosting books in Baldur's Gate 1, compared to 1 for the other 5 attributes. This greatly benefits clerics as they gain bonus spell slots for exceptionally high wisdom scores.


Agreed! I rank a fighter/illusionist multiclass up there too (only gnomes iirc).
Indeed. It's like a kensai/mage alternative for those who want to have slightly more spell slots in exchange for slightly less physical damage.


Yes, until your second class surpasses your first class in number of levels. Than you get all of the first's skills and abilities (up to the reached level) on top of those of your second class. This is especially useful with fighters and thieves, who benefit much less from higher levels than spellcasting classes.
Yes. So instead of both classes continuing to rise, you can halt one of them permanently. This means that all the experience from then on goes to the second class, allowing your second class to reach higher levels than it would do had you multi-classed instead. So if you could max out at levels 18/24 when multi-classed, you may be able to get something like 9/30 when dual-classing.

Also, you can't multi-class kit classes, yet you can dual-class from a kit class to a standard class. This means you can have a kensai/mage dual-class but only a fighter/mage multi-class.

[Rinox]

I never really got dual classing. Doesn't it just freeze your first class and then start you from scratch in another?

I wrote a dual-classing guide for BG2 way way back, since the manual or the game didn't give you a lot of information on how it worked exactly. Especially the base stat requirements are a problem - so many people started a character with the idea of dual-classing him/her, only to find their base stats made it impossible.

Here it is:

http://clankiller.com/games/bg/dualclass/

There's also a list on there of which spells are known only to clerics, druids, or both. Another thing the manual isn't clear on.

[NathanH]

When we used to play PVP BG2 (pre-ToB, which kinda ruined it), all sorts of dual classes got used to make the most of the 2950000 experience cap. The wizardslayer/mage that I encountered one day was not so impressive. The cheesiest choice was the 2/19 mage/fighter.

[Wizardry]

A thing you may not be aware of is the shorty saving throw bonus you get with gnomes, dwarves and halflings. If you pick one of those as your race, you get saving throw bonuses tied to your constitution. You can find the table here (http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats#.22 Shorty.22_Saving_Throws). If you plan to have 14 or more charisma, going with one of these races makes a huge difference to survivability against spell casters.

[DaftPunk]

Human Wizard Slayer!



What about Human-Lizard Slyer! Can you be lizard ?

[Bhazor]

Something no one mentioned is that among the party members magic is never an issue because Aerie is a fucking double barreled heavy artillery wizard/cleric you can recruit two hours into the game. Likewise Jaheira has some potent healing spells from the start including a level 3 raise dead spell.

Between the pair of them they've got magic pretty well covered. No, what the party members lack is muscle, someone to soak damage and pull aggro to prevent your spell casters getting interrupted. Unless you play as a fighter/melee class you are going to have to rely heavily on Minsc and Amoen. Neither of whom are exactly grade A examples of the art of man stabbing.

[SMiD]

Indeed Minsc presents something of a conundrum. While the dialogue is amazing and bonkers, he takes up a roster spot that could be given to someone more effective in combat scenarios.

[Sarlix]

Minsc gets a roster spot just because he's Minsc!.. & Boo!

And the same goes for Jan Jansen. The banter outweighs any combat handicap...for me anyway.

I tend to interchange Minsc from close to ranged depending on the situation. He will always have a Bow on him anyway.

And I like to have a melee class as my main for reasons Bhazor mentioned...And also because I like to crush/slash/dice/chop/bludgeon things :-)



No, referring to mine.

Apologizes.

[Wizardry]

Between the pair of them they've got magic pretty well covered. No, what the party members lack is muscle, someone to soak damage and pull aggro to prevent your spell casters getting interrupted. Unless you play as a fighter/melee class you are going to have to rely heavily on Minsc and Amoen. Neither of whom are exactly grade A examples of the art of man stabbing.
There are plenty of great fighters in the game, including Minsc, Keldorn, Korgan and Mazzy.

[Kelron]

Also Aerie and Jaheira are probably the 2 most annoying party members in the game.

[jaheria]

Ideal party:

Front line: PC - Multi-class fighter wizard - plenty of defensive spells like mirror image.
Keldorn - best NPC in the game, and I don't even think it's close. Give him Carsomyr obv.
Minsc - Epic natural strength means you can use strength belts elsewhere. Keep him in leather armour if you want him to sneak, because Imoen can't. He can even detect traps with a Ranger spell.

Multi-taskers: Anomen and Jaheira. With shields they can do quite well at tanking, plus millions of useful divine magic. Jaheira's insect cloud spells are particularly useful as disruptors.

Artillery: Imoen. Easily the best thief in the game. She has just the minimum thief skills to get you through, while kicking ass with the magery.

[Wooly Wugga Wugga]

I enjoyed playing my pure magic user. The stronghold quests for magic users was really good as well. The massive amount of spells at your disposal also makes things interesting.

[Grizzly]

There are plenty of great fighters in the game, including Minsc, Keldorn, Korgan and Mazzy.

Its hard to think of people who are not good fighters in this game I think... Even Viconia and Jaheira can do reasonably well in a frontline role (especially if they buff themselves with, like "Draw upon holy might". Viconia's dexterity bonus + plate armour makes her very hard to hit, and Jaheira can deal quite a bit of damage) - The only ones who should be kept away from combat are the ones with "mage" in their class (unless combined with "Fighter").

[Rinox]

Its hard to think of people who are not good fighters in this game I think... Even Viconia and Jaheira can do reasonably well in a frontline role (especially if they buff themselves with, like "Draw upon holy might". Viconia's dexterity bonus + plate armour makes her very hard to hit, and Jaheira can deal quite a bit of damage) - The only ones who should be kept away from combat are the ones with "mage" in their class (unless combined with "Fighter").

In addition to that, Viconia also has a ridiculously high innate magic resistance (from her Drow heritage). Equip her with the right items and use a few of the buff spells you mentioned, and she becomes hard to hit for anyone or anything.

[Vexing Vision]

Mazzy continues to be my absolute favourite fighter, and once she goes dualwielding with shortswords, there's a lot of fun with this little halfling-nearly-paladin.

[Peter Radiator Full Pig]

Dont be a monk. I was attracted to the though of being immune to non magical weapons, but you get the skill so late you never encounter them anyway. And if you did, the character would no doubt be so weak without magical weapons that having the skill wouldnt effect you much anyway.

[Bhazor]

As someone who usually sticks with one class can anyone tell me how dual classing affects which class questlines you can do (De'arnise keep, the temple, Druid's Grove etc) in the vanilla version? I always play with the Gibberling mods so I can play all those without worrying about class but I do wonder how the original game handled that.

[Theblazeuk]

Dont be a monk. I was attracted to the though of being immune to non magical weapons, but you get the skill so late you never encounter them anyway. And if you did, the character would no doubt be so weak without magical weapons that having the skill wouldnt effect you much anyway.

I'm pretty sure my character was immune to non-magical weapons due to Bhaalspawn powers by the end anyway. I certainly remember wandering into masses of kobolds without any fear of even a scratch.

[Sarlix]

All of this bantering has made me want to setup Tutu and do a BG/TOSC > BG2/TOB run.

Do you think it possible to do a complete playthrough with only minimal side questing in a 100 hours or less?

I did already start a game sometime ago, but I got given Windows 7 and formatted my PC - I backed up my save game but I'm not even sure if you can get Tutu going with win7?...Hmmmm

[Grizzly]

All of this bantering has made me want to setup Tutu and do a BG/TOSC > BG2/TOB run.

Do you think it possible to do a complete playthrough with only minimal side questing in a 100 hours or less?

I did already start awhile ago but I got given Windows 7 and formatted my PC - I backed up my save game but I'm not even sure if you can get Tutu going with win7?...Hmmmm

You can get EasyTutu (not sure about Tutu - but since Easytutu is the easy installer version...) with Win7, yes.

[Wizardry]

As someone who usually sticks with one class can anyone tell me how dual classing affects which class questlines you can do (De'arnise keep, the temple, Druid's Grove etc) in the vanilla version? I always play with the Gibberling mods so I can play all those without worrying about class but I do wonder how the original game handled that.
You get to choose which one to do out of all your classes.

[Sarlix]

Thanks Grizzly -

Well after 2 hours, 11 (count em!) Cd's , 4 patches and various tweaks later I've got Tutu working with my old saves :D

The process isn't actually that bad, it's the reading up and making sure everything is installed in the correct order that takes the time. Oh, and flipping through 11 Cd's ain't exactly quick!

Ah well, for the glory of Amn!

[corbain]

Thanks Grizzly -


Well after 2 hours, 11 (count em!) Cd's , 4 patches and various tweaks later I've got Tutu working with my old saves :D

The process isn't actually that bad, it's the reading up and making sure everything is installed in the correct order that takes the time. Oh, and flipping through 11 Cd's ain't exactly quick!

Ah well, for the glory of Amn!

FOr this reason, i rebought BG1+2 in the recent GOG sale

[NathanH]

I think BG1 is the only game I have bought 3 times. The time when one of the CDs decayed to an odd goop was most distressing.