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Personally I think Wild Mages are damn good. They have the same amount of spells as specialists but can cast from all schools. They have Nahals Reckless Dweomer which duplicates ANY spell! Even 9th and 10th! Imagine 3 more 10th level spells per day.....

I also think that Barbarians are good too. Why? They get 1d12 hit points per level opposed to 1d10 for berserker. They also gain natural hardiness and can use Dragon Scale Armors. Granted Barbarians can't deal as much damage as a fighter but they sure can have just as low AC and absorb more damage. My barbarian i played with had 270 hps + natural resistances. Needless to say, he didn't die very often. (maybe twice the whole game.)

Archers can also be very good, you just need an extra frontliner like Korgan/Minsc so they can be effective. Archers are a mages worst nightmare with insect spells + arrows.

As for the worst class..... Shapeshifters, Beastmasters and Jesters take the cake here....

@whiterabbit and people: don't worry about panda. I don't whats wrong with him/her but he's/she's always pissed of at everything. I was almost forced to flame the poor bastard.

Originally posted by Ned or Weasel: I heard a rumor theifs don't take a bath...so I would say they stink.

Is Weasel insulting Sly Ned?

@fable: I'm sorry to say this, but some questions are going to be posted again and again till the end of the world. The list includes topics about:

best character class
how to beat kangaax
how to beat bodhi
how to beat irenicus
toughest battle
how to beat twisted rune
how to beat dragons
romance spoilers
how to beat demon in underdark
and more

and thats just bg2. Then theres ToB.

All i've got to say: use the search thingy on the top of the screen or go to the strategy section in the bg2 section which tells hows to beat the tough monsters.

@Panda: Man, you are so sad...

@KillerKid: What's wrong with Shapeshifters? A great kit IMO, and I've played a lot with Cernd. The main disadvantage is the time it takes to change form, but apart from that I see no reason to dislike them.

@Ivan Cavallazzi: There were no Archers (or any other kit whatsoever) in BG1. Do you mean that Bows in general are less effective in BG2 than in BG1? That most certainly is true.

My vote goes to multi-classes in general as they level up so slow. I would not say that they stink, but Dual-class is much more effective.

Yeah, Archers are great! It's like tanking from a distance. My archer had hundreds of kills by the end of SOA.

"SINGLE CLASSED Thieves (Imoen or Jan is all the thief you ever need....or want)"

Polaris: I beg to differ Sir
Yes, they are all you 'need', or have to have. But, as to 'want', that is an entirely different matter, for various reasons.
A) There is something to be said for a high hp character wandering invisibly while searching for traps. Imoen or Jan might have trouble if something were to see through their invisibility. Imagine this:
Jan walks invisibly by a stone gollum while checking for traps. Something catches the corner of his eye, what is this? A turnip in a crate, it’s his lucky day! Suddenly, his haste causing clumsiness, he knocks the crate over, and becomes visible. The stone gollum, now alerted to his presence, stumbles forward, and aims one mighty arm at him. Sadly, due to his low hp, that's all it takes. The only sound remaining is:
"Don't forget to raise me..."
(Yes, this can’t actually happen, I’m roleplaying. But, he could be discovered and have trouble with the situation due to his extremely low hp.)

B) There's something to be said for being able to pick pocket, check for traps and lay snares successfully without using potions. It's a lot less stressful than the worry of 'will Jan's skill be high enough, or will Ribald try to kill me?’

C) A single class thief may use many weapons and wear many tunics, which a multi-class thief cannot (without disabling spells, which highly annoys me). This makes the thief more of a fighter, and more handy to have in the front line. (Maybe not in other people’s party, but mine was my thief and Anomen as my front line)

D) Those nice high level gifts, such as ‘use any item’, ‘spike trap’ etc… Now, Imoen cannot attain these, but Jan may be able to, if you play long enough. Isn’t it nice not to ‘have’ to do all the boring quests, just to level Jan up?

E) A thief makes an excellent leader. Who better to be checking for traps than your main character swashbuckler in that first position.

F) My female half-elf thief looks very good in her black leather. I rest my case.

Answering the actual question, well, I’d have to say I personally don’t like fighters or rangers, or paladins. My goal is to have an all mage party and see how far we make it “Okay, Edwin, you have the highest hp, you be the ‘tank’, Aerie, you’re next.”

Hmm,

Let's just mark it down to different gaming styles then. In PnP, thieves have their uses (but I still think even in PnP they are weak....in *second* edition rules)...

In *my* playing style, single classed thieves are a waste because:

1. I largely know what is coming up *anyway*

2. If I have a Ranger in the front row (Minsc), he can have detect traps up all the time.....so I *never* have a problem detecting traps.

3. I have yet to see a monster in the game that will gack a dual or multiclassed thief the way you said. In addition, a multi or dual class thief can wear just as good an armor as a regular theif (bladesinger chain anyone?) and still cast spells.

4. Have the theif dual wear boots of speed.....I did that with a mage/theif multi....called her "bait". Works like a charm. Detect the traps ahead and draw the enemy to your waiting fighters...smoosh.

I am not saying your playing style is wrong...please don't get that impression, but IME with some good tanks (inc a ranger and/or paladin) in the front row, I just don't see the point of a *single* classed thief.

-Polaris

P.S. The high levels traps are really nice. To bad you get them so late in the game.....

The characterclass that smells bad, is a class that does not contrubute to a party, but mostly I think Wizard Slayers are not very nice, since they cannot use any potions. Its just outragious? How to heal these guys?

Polaris,
This will sound pathetic, but Rangers can detect traps? I thought they could go invisible, but not detect traps. Granted I haven't played them very much...

As to armor, I've just found that my thief can wear better armor, I think the best she found was white dragon scale, which does disable spells. (Also Shadow armor was good, and did disable spells.) This is fine, as there is plenty of other (not quite as god though) armor for multies...

As I said, I used my Jan story as a joke. In all honesty, Jan and Imoen both tend to be weaker characters than my 'wimpy' single class thief. It's all in how a person plays. If one gets used to the strengths of one's character, then one doesn't understand how it's not appreciated. I'm sure the same can be said for any class mentioned here

I believe Polaris probably meant that he has Minsc cast the Find Traps spell, which rangers can do. I find that Valygar is an especially effective scout since he can both cast Find Traps and go into stealth mode.

Vivian,

I think we can agree that it is a matter of playing style. As for me....if I want a scout, I will use a Ranger (and equip the ranger with the White or Shadow scale armor...Minsc or Valgyr is especially good in White Dragon scale).

In the Underdark you will see lots of suits of Drow Chain +3 (Base AC of 2) and Drow Chain +5 (Base AC of 0). Your multi or dual classed thieves can were those and cast spells just fine.

Later on, you will find elven chain +3 and bladesinger chain (see above). I also note that multi/dual class thieves get a BONUS to their thieving skills when equipped as a mage (bracers, robes, rings et al only).

To each their own.

-Polaris

Any class or race that can't "dual" or any race that can't choose a certain class.

Dual-classed Kensi-Mages, of course!

*runs for cover*

Especially if they haven't bathed in a good week or two! Then they REALLY stink. Wooboy, do they ever!

Someone said that clerics don't give much of an image of a hero. Well, at least my half-elven priest of Helm looks pretty glorious in his all-red armament and with the flail of ages +5 in his right hand. It's just all about the roleplaying, how you imagine your char to behave in different situations and the way he thinks or looks. Just use your imagination

Originally posted by polaris:
<STRONG>I also note that multi/dual class thieves get a BONUS to their thieving skills when equipped as a mage (bracers, robes, rings et al only).

-Polaris</STRONG>

It is not a bonus, these are their "pure" abilitites. Each type of armor brings some penalties to thieving abilities, I think the exact numbers are given in the table in SoA manual.

No I believe the base numbers (at least they were in PnP ADnD) are based on the assumption that you are wearing leather armor. If you wear no armor you get a bonus.

-Polaris

Yep, Polaris be right (I just checked)

Classes I like the least: Beastmaster, Wild Mage, and Monk

Monks are the coolest man, I seriously think there was never a funnier moment in my life when I kill Irenicus/Slayer with quivering palm, should've seen me getting all nervous ans souped up for battle preperation, but then all of the sudden.... BAM! That had to be the coolest thing that ever happend to me.

In my oppinion Wild Mages is the best class for the game:
First, they are fun to play and second...
Bhaal is chaos, right?
Wild Magic is chaos, Right?
So it's logic that the bhaal spawn is a Wild Mage.