Need a fun kit to play, any recommendations?

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I don't really want a berserker or mage variant as I've done those a lot. No Blades either, my last playthrough was as one.


Any tips? What have you guys/gals enjoyed in terms of kits?

 

I really enjoyed playing a monk. I like playing paladins (Cavaliers are my favorite), rangers (Archer), and thieves (any will do).

If you're willing to cheat a little, I found a half-orc fighter/assassin to be a riot.

 

assa is cool! quite a lot of micro though

archer

basically all the support and specialized classes force you to have a more creative game, especially if soloing

 

No Blades?! What's wrong with me?

Seriously though, I liked trying out the Shapeshifter.

 

Omitting wild mages I would say that I tend to like paladins too.

Archer can also be interesting because it can give you a fighter/tank like character that really operates differently and can have different abilities/tricks it can pull.

 

I'm more of a multi-class or vanilla ranger kind of guy, but if I must be a kit...

My favorite kits are the all the Paladin kits (all 3 are excellent for their specialty and well balanced), Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Stalker and Wild Mage. All the Druid kits eat it, and I hate Druids in BG1 and 2. The cleric kits are very nice because they have no downsides, but I think playing a straight-up cleric is boring in the BG series, so I avoid them. Archers are great, but I believe they are a bit overpowered, so I avoid them too. Bounty Hunter is OK fun if you like laying traps, but I don't like the Swashbuckler kit, because a thief without backstab just seems goofy, and a fighter/thief is much more powerful if you wanna go the melee route.

I also consider the Monk, Barbarian and Sorcerer to be kits, even though they aren't. All three are fantastic.

There's also the only multi-class kit available: the gnomish illusionist/thief, which is excellent (but I always take Jan, so I've never played one). But if you can't stand Jan (and many can't) and don't mind being a midget, I highly recommend the Illusionist/Thief.

 

I also enjoyed playing the Bard kit - Jester. Challenging, but fun. Skald too.

 

Well, I guess I'm not completely opposed to multi classing, I guess I just want to avoid the typical powergamish dual class options. Like Ranger/Clerics, which I consider broken as I don't think they are supposed to get all cleric and druid spells.


Hmm well I've been thinking more about it and heres what I am down to(I plan on playing from bg1tutu-tob)

Stalker
Assassin
Fighter/Thief


I guess I'm interested in the stealth angle right now as I have never done it. I can't decide though . Curse you restartitis!

The party I plan on rolling with is going to be:
PC
Jaheira
Imoen
Minsc
[rotating slot] - whoever I feel like having at the time.
[rotating slot] - whoever I feel like having at the time.

and by tob I plan to make Sarevok a full timer. I play on insane difficulty and I don't reload except if my character dies. If a character gets chunked (ie their portrait disappears) well then I'm SOL. It's a fun way to play for me since I'm not quite hardcore enough to do no reloads but it still adds an element of danger as I could lose a long time party member at any time. But anyways those three I intend to have in my party unless they manage to perma die, in which case I'd have to alter things .

 

I think you'll have fun with any of those. Each has bonuses and tradeoffs.

Assassin has the best backstab in the game, but of the three, the worst Thac0, and worse thief skills than the F/T. He also cannot specialize in any weapon. His damage will suffer because being a non-warrior he can't get exceptional strength. This can be fixed, however, with equipment or by picking a half-orc (recommended). Speaking of which, you can be of any race with only the Assassin. The assassin also has the unique ability to coat their weapons with poison as a spell-like ability several times a day (this also works with missile weapons), making them a very dangerous adversary for enemy mages.

F/T will have much improved Thac0, the best armor selection and thief skills, can use any weapon and weapon style (I recommend single weapon style), and gain exceptional strength, but only the normal thief backstab progression (which is still quite good). Race choices exclude humans unless you dual-class, which may be a good idea if you want to gain mastery in your weapon of choice (most choose Katana, but keep in mind that Staff is a backstabbing weapon for some reason, so skills in two-handed weapons could increase your chance of criticals).

Stalker will have access to the best Thac0 (being a pure class), exceptional strength, weapon specialization, weapon styles, and excellent natural stealth. Of the three, he's the only one who can cast spells (which are a nice perk, but not a big boost). His backstab is the weakest of the three (maxing at x3 by level 17, I believe), but still quite effective. However, he's not a rogue, so really the only thief-like abilities he has are his stealth and backstab abilities. But with Imoen in the party, and if backstabbing and stealth are your only interests, you may not care.

If you're looking for a challenge, the Assassin or the Stalker are your best bets IMO. Their weaknesses are significant enough that things won't be too easy. If you want to be a stone-cold ass kicker with the most versatility, the fighter/thief is very powerful without being over-powered. But with either choice you'll be a backstabbing machine, which I've had the most fun playing. There's something so satisfying about chunking an unsuspecting baddie...

Let me know what you decide.

EDIT: Ack! How could I forget about High Level Abilities!? Okay: with the Assassin and Stalker, you'll get access to HLA's slightly sooner, but you only get access to 1 pool (the rogue and warrior pools, respectively). With the fighter/thief, you get access to BOTH. If that sounds powergamy to you (it doesn't to me), you may want to stick with one of the single classes. I personally prefer kicking MORE ass to less, and I think versatility makes the experience better, so the HLA's make the Fighter/Thief the easy choice for me personally. Your mileage may vary.

 

Ended up with an elven fighter/thief. I got an 18/00 strength in like five rolls so I figured what the hell, the game is obviously telling me something . My charisma/int/wis are all around 9, but that doesn't matter to me, because you get that charisma ring in bg2 and I can just use Imoen for buying stuff in bg1 if I need to.


I went with longswords which I am going to dual wield for bg1 thanks to that awesome long sword you find early. I have no idea what I'll end up using by tob, though. I know for sure that Belm is probably what I will be offhanding. I don't think I'll even bother to put profiencies into my offhand weapon, as you only ever get one attack with it and since it will be belm that attack will be doing hardly any damage so I don't think I need to worry about it.


What weapon type should I invest in next? Katana's seem tempting for the celestial fury and the massive backstab damage, although their end game choices in tob are merely ok since I think the best you get is a +4 one, correct? Still, celestial fury/belm would last me all of SOA easily enough, I imagine.

What is the typical weapon choice you would shoot for with a f/t by TOB?

 

For variety, and certainly for roleplaying reasons, long swords and short swords would be my picks. There's an ungoldy variety of both in BG2, so you can nicely mix and match depending on the situation (or if you just get bored). I'd say daggers, but they do too little damage IMO, though some do have neat spell-like effects. But with longs and shorts you'll never want for a good weapon and you'll find a nice new toy for your main character to use in nearly every quest. I would avoid the blunts, and scimitars/wakizashis suck despite how cool they look on your avatar. Katanas I used to always use, but I feel like they're powergamy because in reality they aren't really wielded with one hand effectively.

Excellent choice on the race, by the way. The boost in DEX will come in handy. I would have recommended a halfling or half-orc otherwise, but with an elf you can do the romance with Jahiera (if you want; it's the best of the four IMO) and they have the best-looking avatar (also IMO).

 

Yeah I wanted to do the Jaheira romance as I haven't done it before. Hopefully she won't permanently die and I get the chance lol. I've already had quite a few trips to the temple in bg1 to res Minsc and Jaheira and even Imoen once or twice. Jaheira has the bracers of dex now though and Ankheg plate so her ac is minus 6. She should be fairly survivable with that even on insane difficulty.


As for weapons, that sounds like an interesting idea. With longswords and shortswords I certainly would have no lack of toys to use for most of the game. I'll actually end up with enough proficiencies to probably take two more weapons, or even more, since I'm not bothering with grabbing profs for Belm which will be my permanent off hand weapon once I get to bg2 and get it.


I'm having a blast so far. Strategically removing an enemy of my choice in any tough fight via backstab is an amazing thing to be able to do. Especially mages in bg1 which can be annoying normally, but a f/t seems to murder because they have no stoneskin or contingencies in bg1. Occasionally I find some potions of invis too which is just unfair.

 

Sounds good. Since you have proficiencies to spare, I have a few suggestions to consider (in no particular order).

Axes aren't thief weapons, but there are a few good throwing axes to be found, so in situations where you need to hit from ranged, this could be useful.

On that note - darts can solve the ranged problem, and nailing a mage with a poison dart before a battle starts is a proven tactic. Plus, darts fit perfectly with your theme. On that note...

Daggers. I mentioned earlier that many come with nice effects, but there are two or three nice throwing daggers too, for the ranged angle. I usually give Firetooth to Imoen, but considering its high damage, it would be like wielding a +3 bastard sword with extra fire damage. Food for thought.

Maces. Being able to wield a single blunt weapon is a good idea, and maces offer the best variety and allow you to wield the Mace of Disruption for those annoying and plentiful undead fights in BG2.

Staves. Not for the two-handers, but the Staff Mace does nice damage, is an easy-to-find/early/cheap +2 weapon in BG2, is one-handed, and uses the mace proficiency. Also, if memory serves, all the rods are one-handed blunt and use this proficiency.

NOPES:
Bastard swords are too rare and of mixed quality.
Same with Scimitars.
Flails/Morning Stars I usually give to Minsc, Anomen or Viconia, and aside from the Flail of Ages, aren't too many really good ones.
Bows/Crossbows are out, since you're dual-weilding and backstabbing. This is where thrown weapons come in in a pinch. Plus, you've got others that can handle range.
Hammers: Unless you're a dwarf, they suck in this game. 1d4? No thanks. You can wield Crom just for the strength bonus as an off-hand weapon without being proficient in it, most people do.

 

I'll definitely keep those ideas in mind. Mace sounds good, if only for the mace of disruption like you said. I guess after that I probably would toss some points into daggers, because there are some good ones out there with interesting effects.

About the darts..I can use those without having to take off my offhand weapon and messing around with my inventory when I want to switch to them?

 

Unfortunately, no. Any one-handed weapon that has missile capability can't be wielded with a weapon in the off-hand (but they can with a shield). That means darts and slings. The same goes for thrown melee weapons. Throwing daggers, thrown axes, and the dwarven thrower have to be switched in and out via the inventory screen if you're dual-wielding. That's the only pain about it. But I never found it to be that much of a pain, since I only used the thrown weapons occasionally.

 

Well here's an update. The fighter/thief is exceptionally powerful in bg1. My goodness, I had no idea just how strong this class can be. His backstab is up to x3 now, and I routinely hit for 40-60 damage backstabs, with crits of 90, with the longsword +2. That pretty much chunkifies any spellcaster, with a few exceptions.


Unfortunately, I also had my first character perma die. I was at the mines in cloakwood and fighting that brawl on the second floor where there is that mage that goes invis and casts lightning bolt. I had Dynaheir invis and then use a cloudkill scroll to take out that room of guards, but the mage survived, as did a few guards. She unfortunately got her invis off. I high tailed it away hoping to wait her out and have it wear off, but she followed me. I was busy fighting a few surviving guards at that point, and in the cramped hallway near that room, so I was unable to interrupt her casting. That lightning bolt absolutely decimated my entire party. As I type this, only Imoen, Jaheira and my PC survived. Minsc got perma deathed by that lightning bolt. Dynaheir and Faldorn died as well, but they are rezzable.


Kids, don't play with lightning. Especially on insane difficulty .

 

I hate you. Now you're making me want to reinstall the old battleaxe again and have a run-through with a fighter/thief. Something I haven't done in about 3 years.

Hate you. Twice.

 

Hey you persuaded me to get this going. I'm usually more of a spellcasting type myself. Wild Mage is probably still my favorite class, but f/t is quickly becoming my 2nd favorite. It's made a lot of fights that can be tough much easier.

For instance: against the party that you fight outside of the Cloakwood mines. Here is what I did. I gave my f/t a pot of freedom, had him quaff it. Then I stealthed and backstabbed one of the mages, immediately popped an invis pot and backstabbed the other one. Both mages dead in about a few seconds. After that I tossed a web at my character who was immune to it due to the potion and proceeded to open up a can on the two fighters.


I feel like I'm Arnold Schwarzenegger from Commando or something sometimes.