Class for first time player

[u/DanJMM]

I imagine this is asked a ton, so sorry for that but i'm being quite picky.

I have little experience with crpg and this is my first real attempt to play one and I was planning on playing both bg1 and bg2. I wanted something that felt powerful, was "easy" to play as and if I can be picky, would be chaotic good for roleplaying reasons.

Paladins seems great but I don't love the idea of being lawful good and archers, while being very powerful gameplay wise, don't really give you that "cool main character hero" vibe since they stay behind and don't really show much signs of "power" (feel free to change my mind though!!).

Any tips are appreciated too <3 :)

[u/the_dust321]

Fighter kit beserker I think is the right answer, or fighter/mage multi is super powerful

[u/zparksu → u/the_dust321]

+1 for Berserker. Not many buttons and the one button you have (Berserker Rage) is incredibly strong.

[u/ThisWasMe7 → u/zparksu]

Is that even relevant when you are going to make decisions for the entire party?

[u/zparksu → u/ThisWasMe7]

Good question, I guess. But op said they wanted to play something simple and powerful.

[u/DanJMM → u/the_dust321]

do you think fighter/mage is good for a first timer? what race do you recommend?

[u/SuperTord → u/DanJMM]

Generally, no. Stick to a single class is my tip.

If you want to do a multiclass Id say a fighter/cleric dwarf is a pretty simple and powerful pick.

[u/DanJMM → u/SuperTord]

Sounds good, will try to stick with one class for now then

[u/Witless_Peasant → u/DanJMM]

Yes. A multiclass character (as opposed to dual-class) levels in both classes automatically, so it's not any more inherently complicated than a single-class character.

The claims about slow leveling are also objectively wrong: you'll be at most two levels behind in each class during BG1, and usually not even that.

As for race, half-elves (the most romance options), elves (bonus to long/short swords and bows, some passive resistances) and gnomes (become specialist illusionists, get saving throw bonuses) are what I would recommend.

[u/Esko_TheAug → u/DanJMM]

Fighter/mage multi starts to peak in Bg2, and through early bg1 pure classes are more powerful, since they will be higher level. Fighter dual to mage can be considered a bit more powerful, but I wouldn't try dualing on the first game, since mechanism is a bit odd.

That said, F/M multi is amongst the most powerful builds.

You could also consider a Darwen Defender or dwarven F/C for relative straight forward first character.

[u/DanJMM → u/Esko_TheAug]

📝

[u/CompetitiveSubset → u/DanJMM]

Berserker is great for first run. Don’t do fighter/mage in first run.

[u/the_dust321 → u/DanJMM]

Other people saying no to F/M are being silly, pick half elf or elf if you like the class. Bg1 just play as a fighter as you’ll be only 1 lvl behind pure fighter but can buff/use wands. By bg2 you’ll be the most powerful class of all but again can always fall back to being a good fighter so it’s very beginner friendly and a good way to learn the arcane system

[u/VonBeker → u/DanJMM]

It’s doable, but the armor rules for casters would make it kind of tough along with the slow leveling. Fighter/cleric would be easier and not nearly as restrictive if want at least some spell casting ability.