My personal advice - don't be afraid to experiment. BG 1-2 are based on second edition and character building is not exactly that complex in this one, just pay attention to some initial stats, but beyond that you will be good to go. There are no complex feat combinations like in 3rd edition for example. As for the player class - as much as I hate to admit it - you can't go wrong with a cookie cutter fighter - but it is an extremely simple class with little nuance to it, until you hit some very high levels. Paladins are also a good choice - but you have to keep your character good aligned, or you risk falling. This is not much of a problem, as game quite actively pushes you towards good choices for the most part - and beyond weapon masteries, paladin is basically a fighter with additional benefits. Thief is another good choice, BUT games give you decent thief companions - basic thief reaches usefulness cap relatively early and are still fairly basic. Ranged classes, like Archer - there is a small problem with bows - some late tier enemies far into the game are immune to lower level weapons, and bows that match this are few and far inbetween - but early on, good bowmen shred everything. So that leaves us with the "scarecrows" for new players - all sorts of spellcasters. Should you be scared? Not really. Magic users tend to scare new players because they look complicated, but they are not. And there are plenty of classes that bypass that. If you are new - avoid classes with limited selections of spells, in case you choose badly, such as sorcerers. Pick a wizard, or cleric, druid or a fighter-mage multiclass. They Wizards and Fighter-mages can permanently learn spells from scrolls, which is very handy, and you will eventually learn a massive amount of spells good for any situation. Additionally - fighter-mage has better selection of equipment and bypasses the biggest problem of many spellcasters - they do not suck early game - they can still FIGHT. Before you get your decent spells, you can just put the armour on and act as a fighter, for the most part. And once you get some basic protective spells, you will be able to achieve armour class of a well equipped fighter while wearing a robe and dual wielding weapons, if you so desire - it is pretty nice and fun, when you eventually turn into a magical meatgrinder - and if you weapons fail, you still have spell repertoire, almost as good as pure wizard. I'd say that fighter-mage is probably the best class if you want to experience the most the game has to offer. Clerics and druids share a lot in common with fighter mages - they can hold their own in a fight in a pinch, but they use divine magic, which, while more supportive, still have plenty of offensive options - and you get access to spells without learning them - you just have to prepare them on rest, so you can always pick, choose and experiment. Cleric, in addition can be very tanky and can wear armour - just remember than ANY cleric special kit is strictly better than vanilla cleric. Don't get the impression that cleric is just a healbot - they can fight, they have some decent offensive spells, and very good summons. Druids are similar here - but their selection of spells is more offensive and you have trademark shape-shifting.
The half-orc would be great unless you want to export the character to bg II and get into romances with the party members (half orc cannot romance in bg II while there are no romances in the bg I so it doesn't matter EXCEPT the additional ee content but i have no idea who halforcs can romance of the new ee companions if anyone). I like berserkers more but there is no much difference between these subclasses. Magical longswords are probably the easiest to finds early (amazing varscona) so yeah - one of the easiest character to start the game with. If you want a fully romanceable character - go with half-elf (you'd drop one point in strenght and constitution though but in exchange you can get higher charisma what may or may not matter to you). There is really no need to start with a theif character unless you really want to as there are two great theif options early in the game (both good and evil one) and a gazillion later on. Like 1/3 or recruteaable companions are thieves for some reason.
Without any doubt, the best class for beginners is Cleric. It will give them material for them to learn all possible playstyles; caster, summoner, healer, spell-enhanced melee, the whole nine yards.
I’m playing an archer right now basically one shot everything once you get a good Longbow and some magic arrows. I have imoeon as my thief, Jaheira to buff and heal built her as a tank, Neera my mage, Khalid basically just as an archer doing nothing (can’t find it in my soul to kill him off even though he’s basically useless), branwen as another tank/healer. I’ve trying to 100% game for first time
I roll a new character and make it to some point and restart as a new class. There's just too many good choices I can't stop. I've healed dreppins cow like a thousand times now 😆 First playthrough was a paladin as a kid. I thought it was so cool to become fallen, didn't know you just become a crappy fighter..
Sorcerors are fun, make it easier to learn the magic system than wizards, and end up being easier (a bit into bg2) than other classes. The beginning is brutal and boring as a caster tho
Thief, especially on your first playthrough, being able to undo traps and unlock all the doors and chests is just an exciting experience. There are plenty of fighter and caster companions regardless of if ypu are playing a good or evil run. so you won't be missing out on meat shields or magic casting.
You get a thief Companion as soon as you leave Candle Keep... And an evil thief and wizard companion are just down the road. from where you recruit her.
@An_Ian Yeah, and it pays to have more than one in a party. Can have one maxed out for pickpocket and the other as a trap sensor. Especially since Montaran is fighter/ thief
@andresfermin866 I usually leave imoen at the friendly arms and continue on with xan and montaran. Montaran just isn't enough of a thief to be the only one in your party.
My personal advice - don't be afraid to experiment.
BG 1-2 are based on second edition and character building is not exactly that complex in this one, just pay attention to some initial stats, but beyond that you will be good to go. There are no complex feat combinations like in 3rd edition for example.
As for the player class - as much as I hate to admit it - you can't go wrong with a cookie cutter fighter - but it is an extremely simple class with little nuance to it, until you hit some very high levels.
Paladins are also a good choice - but you have to keep your character good aligned, or you risk falling. This is not much of a problem, as game quite actively pushes you towards good choices for the most part - and beyond weapon masteries, paladin is basically a fighter with additional benefits.
Thief is another good choice, BUT games give you decent thief companions - basic thief reaches usefulness cap relatively early and are still fairly basic.
Ranged classes, like Archer - there is a small problem with bows - some late tier enemies far into the game are immune to lower level weapons, and bows that match this are few and far inbetween - but early on, good bowmen shred everything.
So that leaves us with the "scarecrows" for new players - all sorts of spellcasters. Should you be scared? Not really. Magic users tend to scare new players because they look complicated, but they are not. And there are plenty of classes that bypass that.
If you are new - avoid classes with limited selections of spells, in case you choose badly, such as sorcerers.
Pick a wizard, or cleric, druid or a fighter-mage multiclass. They Wizards and Fighter-mages can permanently learn spells from scrolls, which is very handy, and you will eventually learn a massive amount of spells good for any situation.
Additionally - fighter-mage has better selection of equipment and bypasses the biggest problem of many spellcasters - they do not suck early game - they can still FIGHT. Before you get your decent spells, you can just put the armour on and act as a fighter, for the most part.
And once you get some basic protective spells, you will be able to achieve armour class of a well equipped fighter while wearing a robe and dual wielding weapons, if you so desire - it is pretty nice and fun, when you eventually turn into a magical meatgrinder - and if you weapons fail, you still have spell repertoire, almost as good as pure wizard.
I'd say that fighter-mage is probably the best class if you want to experience the most the game has to offer.
Clerics and druids share a lot in common with fighter mages - they can hold their own in a fight in a pinch, but they use divine magic, which, while more supportive, still have plenty of offensive options - and you get access to spells without learning them - you just have to prepare them on rest, so you can always pick, choose and experiment. Cleric, in addition can be very tanky and can wear armour - just remember than ANY cleric special kit is strictly better than vanilla cleric. Don't get the impression that cleric is just a healbot - they can fight, they have some decent offensive spells, and very good summons.
Druids are similar here - but their selection of spells is more offensive and you have trademark shape-shifting.
A half-orc, barbarian dual wield long swords, Will it work?
Or a bow thief elf? Wow, there are so many cool builds LoL
The half-orc would be great unless you want to export the character to bg II and get into romances with the party members (half orc cannot romance in bg II while there are no romances in the bg I so it doesn't matter EXCEPT the additional ee content but i have no idea who halforcs can romance of the new ee companions if anyone). I like berserkers more but there is no much difference between these subclasses. Magical longswords are probably the easiest to finds early (amazing varscona) so yeah - one of the easiest character to start the game with.
If you want a fully romanceable character - go with half-elf (you'd drop one point in strenght and constitution though but in exchange you can get higher charisma what may or may not matter to you).
There is really no need to start with a theif character unless you really want to as there are two great theif options early in the game (both good and evil one) and a gazillion later on. Like 1/3 or recruteaable companions are thieves for some reason.
Without any doubt, the best class for beginners is Cleric. It will give them material for them to learn all possible playstyles; caster, summoner, healer, spell-enhanced melee, the whole nine yards.
My recommendation for a first playthrough is to pick an Archer, just make sure you don't run out of arrows.
I’m playing an archer right now basically one shot everything once you get a good Longbow and some magic arrows.
I have imoeon as my thief, Jaheira to buff and heal built her as a tank, Neera my mage, Khalid basically just as an archer doing nothing (can’t find it in my soul to kill him off even though he’s basically useless), branwen as another tank/healer.
I’ve trying to 100% game for first time
A half-orc, barbarian dual wield long swords, Will it work?
Or a bow thief elf? Wow, there are so many cool builds LoL
I always go for fighters.
I would like to play magic users.
Cant help it.
Keep choosing fighter.
Never can go wrong with unga bunga
@@Circ00mspice unga bunga in game unga bunga in real life.
None of my Companions are not Barbarian so I choose on BG 1 that character class & Half-Orc.
I roll a new character and make it to some point and restart as a new class. There's just too many good choices I can't stop. I've healed dreppins cow like a thousand times now 😆
First playthrough was a paladin as a kid. I thought it was so cool to become fallen, didn't know you just become a crappy fighter..
Sorcerors are fun, make it easier to learn the magic system than wizards, and end up being easier (a bit into bg2) than other classes. The beginning is brutal and boring as a caster tho
For the love of god do not play a monk unless you Iike healing the enemy.
What does that mean
@@dangle-pee4420 does basically negative damage
xD They need a lot of xp
Thief, especially on your first playthrough, being able to undo traps and unlock all the doors and chests is just an exciting experience. There are plenty of fighter and caster companions regardless of if ypu are playing a good or evil run. so you won't be missing out on meat shields or magic casting.
You get a thief Companion as soon as you leave Candle Keep...
And an evil thief and wizard companion are just down the road. from where you recruit her.
@An_Ian
Yeah, and it pays to have more than one in a party. Can have one maxed out for pickpocket and the other as a trap sensor.
Especially since Montaran is fighter/ thief
I would go with Fighter thief multi in BG1
You get Imoen at the beginning who is a great thief.
@andresfermin866
I usually leave imoen at the friendly arms and continue on with xan and montaran.
Montaran just isn't enough of a thief to be the only one in your party.