For the uninitiated, AD&D's character creation was a total unintuitive mess. I'm writing this guide to help you understand how to make smart decisions about stats upon creation, and a general direction on the strengths and weaknesses of every class.

The rest of this is largely copy/pasted from a post I put up on the Beamdog forums back in 2012, that I honestly forgot about but it's listed in the BG1:EE steam guides. (Yes, I am that sandmanccl who used to moderate on the Beamdog forums, and who wrote the vast majority of the now defunct PlayItHardcore.com website. No, I don't really have proof of that.)

Original thread link here: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/5006/baldurs-gate-stats-and-you

Before we start discussing each stat, it's worth mentioning there's a handful of events and items that permanently affect character stats. If you've imported your toon from BG1, you've already run into the various Tomes that can permanently up a stat. Without going into detail, there's an area in BG2 where you can gain a single point in each stat, usable amongst your party. For meta-gaming purposes, I feel like this needed to be mentioned.

Strength is important for anyone you plan on inflicting melee punishment with and also determines your character's carry capacity and potential gear. Note that bonuses to melee do not start in any way until 16 so you can get away with lower values on characters you do not wish to bring into melee such as wizards and druids.

Generally speaking, do not go below 10. It is a hassle to micro-manage weight distribution among your party when you have less than that because only 50 lbs. of gear capacity means you will likely be near max just from robes, two weapons and quick-slots full of potions.

Negatives to attack rolls do not start until you hit 7 or below strength. 8 is therefore the bare minimum value you should ever allow on your Bhaalspawn.

Ever notice the "18/##" number listed on some potions, and that you can roll at creation for warrior classes? It's known as "exceptional strength." Only warrior classes — that is to say anything that rolls a d10 or better for HP upon level up — can obtain this bonus upon character creation. That number is factored by percentage dice and therefore go between 01 and 00 (00=100). The threshold for bonuses goes 01-50, 51-75, 76-90, 91-99 and lastly 00. That means there is no difference between a guy with 18/17 and 18/50.

If you plan to do melee at all, it is an important stat to boost as high as possible. ThAC0 is more important than damage (though damage is obviously nice). You get a +2 bonus to it at 18/51 and beyond, finally improving to +3 at the max exceptional roll 18/00. Generally I try to get at least 18/51 while rolling for my melee heroes as a result. Clerics and warrior classes should at minimum have 15 so they can equip full plate mail.

There is one item in BG1 and several in BG2 which simply set strength at a predetermined high value (18/00 and up). Even if you max your strength with a Half-Orc at 19, you'll eventually rely on such an item in end-game. Even if you have low strength, it's is easily "fixed" on a semi-permanent basis by utilizing the arcane spell "Strength," which grants 18/50 STR to any target you cast it upon. (Note: If you already have an exceptional strength value, ie: 18/41, casting this spell adds another 50 to the exceptional role boosting it to 18/91. If you have 19 strength or better, it lowers your strength.) It's only a level 2 spell and lasts for an hour per character level, so even when you first gain level 2 spells it will last long enough to get you through any single map segment in BG1. Clerics also get spells which simply set their strength value to a high 18/## roll although for shorter periods of time and with higher level spell slots.

Dexterity is the most important stat in that every single class gains important benefits from it. Generally speaking, max it out on every last character you roll.

Each point above 14 grants additional Armor Class, meaning you are more difficult to hit. 7-14 dexterity has no differences between them at all, so if you do not care about lowering your armor class, you can safely go as low as 7 without penalty. You start to gain penalties to armor class and ranged attack rolls if you go 6 or below, so I advise against it.

Additionally, 16 Dexterity or better grants a bonus to ranged attack rolls. It is important to boost this stat for anyone you plan on utilizing ranged weaponry with as a result.

As a final note, dexterity grants extra bonuses to thieving skills. You should max it on all your thieves, and this is partially why halflings and elves are so good at that class.

There are gauntlets you can find which simply set that character's dexterity value to 18. I recommend against relying on these to fix an otherwise poor dexterity score at least for your Bhaalspawn, simply because once he or she dies it's game over. There are a number of NPCs who desperately need the Gauntlets of Dexterity to be viable. Just like with strength, I recommend against relying on this item when you can simply click the reroll button until you finally get a roll you're happy with.

There are also potions which boost Dexterity to 18. They are a band-aid for low dexterity NPCs that last a good chunk of time at 15 turns.

Constitution is important for each class as it grants bonus hit points per level. However, it is limited in usefulness for any non-warrior class. Each point above 14 makes your character gain an additional hit point per level, but non-warriors are capped at just +2 HP per level. That means in terms of HP, there is little reason to go beyond 16 CON for your mages, thieves, clerics, etc. (Halflings, gnomes and dwarves may want to go beyond 16 constitution even as a thief or cleric for their saving throw bonuses as explained shortly.)

Warrior classes still gain bonus HP per constitution beyond 16. A dwarf fighter with 19 constitution gains +5 HP per level, which is pretty significant.

At 20 constitution, your character regenerates 1 HP every minute. It doesn't sound like much and rarely comes into play in combat. However, it does mean your guy will heal up to full upon resting, even if your clerics are out of healing spells.

Halflings, dwarves and gnomes all gain bonuses to saving throws based off constitution. The bonuses max at +5 at 18 constitution. Generally speaking, you should attempt to maximize your constitution on any of these races. If you boost constitution permanently and it's the difference between gaining another bonus to saving throws, you will adopt the bonus to throws upon leveling up.

As a final note, you only gain constitution bonuses on levels you gain a full Hit Dice for hp. What this means is when you roll the dice to determine new HP. Thieves, Bards, Mages and Sorcerers roll a hit dice for 10 levels while everyone else only does so for 9.

Intelligence is most important for Mages and Bards as it determines your maximum amount of spells known per level and your ability to scribe scrolls into your spellbook. Also, you need at least 9 INT to read scrolls at all, so your divine spellcasters should aim to hit at least that earmark to utilize scrolls of healing and the like.

You should get this as high as possible on mages and bards because the more spells you know, the better. The BG2 engine allows you to circumvent spell scribe failure by lowering the difficulty to "Normal", but for those who desire an experience closer to how it was with Pen and Paper D&D, you really want your intelligence maxed because nothing is more frustrating than spending 5000g on a spell just to fail copying it to your spellbook. A good way to circumvent this scribe failure it so boost your intelligence by way of potions before attempting to write spells.

Other than that, Intelligence is part of the "lore" skill, which allows you to identify items at a glance. It is not terribly important. You only really "need" a single guy with good lore in your party to identify things at a glance, and even if you do not have someone with a high lore value, you can simply use the 1st level arcane spell "Identify" or spend 100g at most shops to get it identified. Penalties to lore begin at 9 and below, and bonuses begin at 15.

There is one instance where Intelligence influences gear you can equip:

In Baldur's Gate 2, you can equip the NPC Keldorn's armor if you have at least 15 strength, 17 constitution, 12 intelligence and 18 charisma.

As a last note, enemies in Baldur's Gate 2 known as "Mind Flayers" or "Illithids" damage your intelligence with every successful melee hit. When they reduce it to 0, your character instantly dies. I recommend going no lower than 7 as a result. If you have a stupid character, keep them out of melee range of these enemies!

Wisdom is most important for clerics and druids as it grants them a bonus number of spells they can cast per day.

Other than that, it is like intelligence in it affects "Lore" value. It is even less useful than intelligence on non-divine spellcasters because there are not enemies that kill you instantly if it's low. Penalties to lore start at 9, bonuses begin at 15.

Rather than go into the nitty-gritty details of what bonus spells you gain, I will simply link to this table[baldursgate.wikia.com]. (Sidenote: God I miss PIH. I spent so much time making the tables neat and tidy, you guys. ;_;)

Many people argue high wisdom is important on mages because of the arcane spell "Limited Wish." The higher your wisdom, the more positive and less negative options show up. This can be circumvented with a potion of wisdom if you decide to utilize Wisdom as a dump stat.

Wisdom also plays a role in a particularly good item for multi-class mages:

Multi-class mages should aim for 11 wisdom. Valygar's armor is usable by an NPC with 6 strength, 18 dexterity and 11 wisdom. You can cast arcane spells while wearing it, making it one of the best armors for a multi-class mage or a bard to equip.

High charisma grants you a bonus discount when buying goods. Additionally, a handful of quests yield slightly better returns if you have high charisma and a few instances where you can avoid an otherwise difficult fight purely through dialogue. However, it does not affect combat in any way and the situations it affects are few and far between.

Many people claim high charisma affects NPC morale. However, evidence to confirm this behavior is anecdotal.

Bonuses to NPC reaction begin at 13 while penalties begin at 9. Shop discounts begin at 16 charisma. You can never have a penalty to shop prices.

As it does not directly affect combat, many people opt to use Charisma as their dump stat. NPCs with high charisma can still get you the shop discount, after all. Plus, there's a ring obtainable early that simply sets Charisma to 18. Wisdom and Intelligence are generally a preferred dump stat for warriors and thieves because while all three "mental" stats do nothing, at least Charisma serves a small purpose outside of combat.

Only Humans, Elves and Half-Elves are eligible for romances (unless that got changed with the Enhanced Edition games. I honestly don't know.)

Which race you choose has very little else to do with the game, however, so feel free to pick one purely on meta-gaming prowess.

Lastly, and I will mention it here: All meta-humans not of the orc variety gain bonuses to thieving skills, and as a result make better thieves than pure humans. There is a table of the specific bonuses here[baldursgate.wikia.com].

HUMAN

Strengths:

• Can dual-class, leading to some potentially game-breaking builds.
  
• Only race that can be a monk or paladin.

Weaknesses:

• Literally nothing else special about them. If you're not dual-classed, nor playing as a monk or paladin, you would be better served being any other race.

Despite being a human in the real world, I only bother with human characters when I want to dual-class or am forced to for class purposes. There's very little reason to be one otherwise. Half-orcs can start with 19 strength, shorties get excellent bonuses to saving throws, elves get bonuses to bows and longswords and resist the hell out of charm magic. That said, Dual-Classing can produce some totally broken builds. It will be discussed in a later segment.

ELF

Strengths:

• +1 Dexterity
  
• 90% (!) resistance against charm and sleep spells
  
• Infravision
  
• +1 bonus THAC0 with any bow or longsword

Weaknesses:

• -1 Constitution

Pretty much any non-warrior I make ends up being an Elf. Their bonuses are just too good. Dexterity as previously mentioned is the most universal stat as everyone benefits from better armor class and ranged skill.

HALF-ELF

Strengths:

• 30% Resistance against charm and sleep magic
  
• Infravision
  
• Has the most multi-classing options, including Ranger/Cleric (only race able to do so)

Weaknesses:

• Nothing else about them stands out

Half-Elves are what you pick when you can't be an Elf for the class or multi-class you're choosing, or when you don't want to give up constitution. It's also a better choice for Bard than a human is, because of a +10 pickpocketing meta-human thieving skills bonus.

GNOME

Strengths:

• +1 Intelligence
  
• Only race that can multi-class a specialist mage (Illusionist)
  
• +2 bonus saves vs. Wand and vs. Spells, with additional shorty saving throw bonuses to them based on constitution
  
• Infravision

Weaknesses:

• -1 Wisdom
  
• Forced into Illusionist specialist mage, meaning they can never use Necromancy spells

Gnomes are remarkably resilient at the few things they do, because of their saving throw bonuses vs. Wands and Spells. If you want sheer magic firepower, a Cleric/Illusionist can get more spells than anyone else. The Wisdom hit is actually not that big a deal if you want to pursue being a Cleric, by the way, as it means you lose a bonus 3rd and 4th level spells compared to someone with 18. Typically those are fairly weak slots for clerics anyway, bolstered by the fact you'll have a bajillion wizard spells to choose from.

HALFLING

Strengths:

• +1 Dexterity
  
• +2 Saves vs. Paralyzation/Poison/Death, Wand, and Spells, with additional saving throws based on constitution
  
• +1 THAC0 bonus with slings

Weaknesses:

• -1 Strength, -1 Wisdom

The hit to strength is really not that big of a deal unless you're trying to go for a raw warrior halfling. (To which I ask, if you're not into RPing... why would you?) The difference between 17 and non-heroic 18 strength is all of +1 damage and 30 pounds of carry weight. The obvious choice of class is thief, but Halflings make remarkably good clerics too due to their saving throws and sling prowess. Like I mentioned for Gnomes, the hit to wisdom is so miniscule. The strength hit is kind of a bummer til you realize you're a Cleric and can steroid the hell out of yourself.

DWARF

Strengths:

• +1 Constitution
  
• +2 Saves vs. Paralyzation/Poison/Death, vs Wand and vs Spells. Additional bonuses based on constitution
  
• Infravision
  
• Only race that can be "Dwarven Defender" class

Weaknesses:

• -1 Dexterity, -2 Charisma

The dexterity hit kind of sucks because it's an entire AC bonus lost from having 17 and 18. That said, the difference between 18 and 19 is just ranged THAC0 bonus so once you permanently boost the stat up, everything is copacetic. Besides, 17 dexterity is tied or better than most the warrior NPCs and they get by just fine. Dwarves make ridiculously good fighters of any kind, as they shrug off spells extremely well.

HALF-ORC

Strengths:

• +1 Strength, +1 Constitution

Weaknesses:

• -2 Intelligence

So starting with 19 strength to bypass the whole Heroic Strength thing is pretty fantastic. A non-heroic 18 Gives you +1 THAC0 and +1 damage with 200 lbs carry weight. 19 gives you +3 THAC0 and +7 damage, with 500 lbs carry capacity. It's astronomical, and there's no random rolls to foil your otherwise good character creation roll. Also, you don't have to sacrifice a dexterity so your AC will be better than a dwarf. That said, I still personally prefer dwarves because their downsides get fix eventually and the saving throw bonus is great. It's a toss up between who makes a better warrior.

Multi-classing a character means your levels are a little more spread out, but you are effectively two classes at once. Dual-classing means you completely drop scaling in one class and start to 100% focus on the new class you pick up.

That means from a raw meta-gaming standpoint, anything that stops benefitting from leveling up longterm tends to be better served as a dual-class, while things that continue to grow more powerful even into end-game are better off as a multi-class. As an example, cleric/mage is vastly better as a multi-class because you want to continue growing your spellcasting abilities in both classes. Conversely, fighters in general stop gaining significant bonuses after level 13 so dropping a fighter class to pick up thieving means you gain a lot of potential power as a result.

The upside to continuing gaining levels in classes that otherwise start to stall is once you hit Throne of Bhaal and start gaining High Level Abilities (HLAs). A multi-class character can draw HLAs from both classes, while a dual-classed character cannot draw from their inactive class. A multiclassed fighter/thief will therefore be more deadly as a raw fighter than a Berzerker/Thief, because they can gain Whirlwind.

Multi-classing only lets you put 2 specialization points in any given talent even as a multi-classed Fighter. Someone who dual-classes out of or into fighter can still gain Grand Mastery over a weapon. Also, you can dual-class out of a class kit (like Berzerker or Swashbuckler) and still retain the bonuses those kits grant.

The downside to dual-classing is, other than HP gained, you will be completely locked out of your former class until your new class surpasses it in level. Depending on how long you spent in the first class, this can be a very long time and mean you're stuck with a very gimp character for awhile. It's therefore recommended to not fly too close to the sun while dual-classing, and opt out sooner rather than later. For fighters, you gain your last bonus attacks per round at 13 and should dual-class no later as a result. In general, I'd go no later than 13 for any class simply because unless you're dual-classing into Thief, the level grind takes a long time.

Dual-classing options for powergaming will be discussed specifically in each section on classes.

Fighters are whirling dervishes of punishment. End-game, they have access to some Epic Level Feats that allow them to deal hundreds of attacks in a relatively short span of time, which combined with their high strength values, means things get chunked. They are the only class that can put more than two points in any given weapon specialization so they get more attacks and are slightly more accurate than paladins or rangers.

From a sheer loot perspective, pick weapons you know the NPCs you plan to recruit aren't also going to use. For example, if you want Minsc to stay true to his wanna-be berzerker self and stick to two-handed swords, you shouldn't also go two-handed swords. The point of being a warrior is you can utilize ANY weapon well, so I personally like to aim for things I know none of the NPCs can utilize all that spectacularly.

Of the 4 kits, Berserker is the most universal. The "Enrage" ability is a great protection spell disguised as an offensive buff. The +2 Hit/THAC0 and -2 AC is nice, but going immune to charm, hold, fear, maze, imprisonment, stun and sleep is the real star of their ability as pretty much all of those situations lead to game over. You only lose out on being able to stack weapon specialization in ranged weaponry, which is largely ignored because you can just go Axes, Daggers or Warhammers and get a returning version of those weapons.

Wizardslayer gets a bad rap for being bad. It's really not. You lose out on some good rings and cloaks and the like, but the vast majority of your power comes from armor and weapons, which you still get to use. Not being able to chug non-healing potions is also kind of a bummer. The two schools of thought when choosing how to gear yourself is if you want to go melee or ranged. Personally I find riddling clerics and wizards with arrows to be a much better way to stack spell failure chance so I like shortbows for the high attack rate and speed factor. If you want to melee, two weapon fighting is a great way to stack those spell failure chances, plus there's more epic on-equip bonuses from weapons than from shields.

Kensai are the most damaging physical fighters in the game. However, their defenses are lacking without major help from the spellcasters in your party. Because they can't use missile weapons, I recommend at least taking 2 pips in axes, daggers or warhammers for the same reason I mentioned it in Berzerkers: you can still throw the ranged versions of those. Kensai are ripe for meta-gaming dual-classing purposes. Get to level 13 for the final attack bonus warriors gain, then switch to Mage or Thief. You can still wear robes as a Kensai/Mage so Robes of {alignment} Archmagi functionally serve as actual armor, and now you've got a perfect killing machine ripe for all the self-buff spells Mages can do for melee. Kensai/Mage also makes perfect use of Dakkon's Zarth Blade which gives you a ton of extra spells, available from Dierdre in the Adventurer's Mart. Thieves eventually get the epic feat "Use All Items" which negates all downsides to being a Kensai, plus Kai + Backstabbing = stupid amounts of damage. I highly recommend it. You will ♥♥♥♥ all over Throne of Bhaal.

The new-because-Enhanced Edition class is Dwarven Defender, and it's a living wall. You'll get 18 more HP by way of better hit dice, and Defensive Stance straight up makes you take half damage from all physical damage, on top of the 20% physical resistance you straight up get simply for hitting level 20. The downside is you won't have as many attacks per round as other fighters (that final point for Grand Mastery does a lot), but the defensive capabilities more than make up for it. The kit kind of forces you into axes/warhammers so do that.

TL;DR
Warriors rip things new buttholes and also make excellent bases for dual-classing into mage, thief or cleric.

Rangers are basically fighters who level up a bit slower, but have access to minor druid spells. They are not limited in weapon selections and are versatile as a result. The basic Ranger is actually worth considering because you can still equip as though you were a fighter, meaning heavy armor and big swords. All the kits limit your gear selection somewhat. It's usually worth it, but I'm just pointing out considerations.

You don't gain bonus Divine spells for high wisdom on Rangers. It literally only applies to Clerics and Druids, so, there's no reason to get above the minimum. It's better to get a good exceptional strength roll than it is to have a functioning brain, so feel free to dump all of the "Mental" stats.

For your preferred enemy, I like going for Golems as they are difficult enemies you encounter throughout the game. However, picking bonuses against the game's most dangerous enemies is not a bad plan. Illithid, Dragons and Liches end hardcore ironman runs more than just about any other enemy, so getting through those encounters quicker is smart.

Archers are bar-none the best ranged characters in the game. Even fighters cannot match the sheer damage Archers pump out with arrows because while fighters can hit Grand Mastery as well, Rangers get the whole +1 THAC0/Damage every 3 levels. Bows already attack more per round than melee weapons do til you get epic level perks, so it's very nice. Called Shot is pretty good to use on pesky targets that will be around for a few turns. Not being able to get good at melee is not a problem because you want to be at range anyway. Same thing goes for not being able to wear metal armors: it's not your job to tank. Longbows give you the most damage early-game and there are a lot of NPCs who favor using shortbows (Mazzy, Imoen, Nalia) so it's probably the more optimal pick. Crossbows are good too. Whatever melee weapon you get proficient in is up to you, but at least pick one in case you are forced into melee in a given encounter.

Beastmasters are in kind of a funky spot. They can use heavy armors like warriors, but have the most restrictive weapon selection in the entire game. They can only use missile weapons, clubs and quarterstaffs. I like going some version of bow and Quarterstaff. They actually have useful spellcasting because of the kit bonuses. Sitting at range with your bow as your hordes of summoned creatures attack the target and meatshield for you is the way to go.

The biggest thing against the Stalker kit is that Valygar is already one and he's pretty good. That said, if you want to make your own it's a fantastic kit. It's essentially a fighter/thief/mage but without the downside of leveling up like molasses. The 3 mage spells you get access to are all quite good, and the ability to backstab with a warrior's THAC0 is nice. The fact you can't wear heavier than studded leather is a pretty moot point because you're supposed to be utilizing your stealth to backstab enemies anyway.

TL;DR Rangers are fighters with slightly less attacks per round, but they get some spells to make up for it and their kits are amazing.

Paladins are one of those classes where you go a kit no matter what, because their kits are all way too good and it's not like you can dual- or multi-class anyway. Like Rangers, they are essentially Fighters but with divine spellcasting. In the Paladin's case, they access minor Cleric spells.

You don't gain bonus spells for having high wisdom, as that is just for clerics and druids. As a result, dump it as much as you can. For that matter, dump intelligence and the single point off Charisma. None of them serve the Paladin. He needs to meatshield good and hard, and it's kind of difficult with the high minimums for other stats. I tend to not worry about the exceptional strength rolls on paladins as a result, as I'd rather make sure I've got high dexterity and constitution. That said, if you're going to not max one of the 3, make it Strength. I still wouldn't go lower than 15 if you don't mind rolling for forever, but Strength is significantly easier to "fix" on a permanent basis via items than low Dexterity or Constitution.

There is a paladin-only Bastard Sword and paladin-only Two-Handed sword in the game, so I recommend taking one of the two. Only one of them can be further upgraded once you hit Throne of Bhaal, so there's no need to take both. It depends on if you want to be super tank with a shield, or club things for higher damage numbers. That said, you'll be rolling in mastery points because you can only put 2 pips per weapon type, so feel free to branch out beyond those types.

Undead Slayer is the reason why I say you should always kit. You only lose Lay On Hands, which starts to lose efficacy around level 11 or 12 or so. It's no better than a higher rank potion, which are plentiful. Meanwhile, you gain +3 hit/damage against Undead (a common and powerful enemy type), are immune to hold (which usually makes you die), AND you're immune to level drain which is one of the more obnoxious debuffs.

Cavaliers are also pretty great. +3 hit/damage against literally the two hardest enemy types in dragons and demons? Check. Remove Fear spell you can rapid fire at any time? Check. Immune to fear yourself, immune to poison, and 20% acid/fire resist are all icing. The only downside is "may not use missile weapons" which, if you read the Fighters section, you'd see you can get around by taking axes or warhammers. I recommend Axes because there's a great throwing version you can get once you "rescue" the Copper Coronet that's only usable by good-aligned characters.

Inquisitor is one of the best anti-mage classes in the game. The instant-cast Dispel that counts as being double your level means it dispels everything, and quickly. The True-Sight is useful for the myriad of fights you run into invisible and stealthed enemies, and you can never be upset being immune to Hold and Charm. You also give up the most for this class in that you lose all your priest-like abilities in spells, lay on hands, turn undead and cure disease. Who needs them. Uber-Dispel is great. Biggest downside to the class is the NPC paladin is already this kit and he's great.

Blackguard is added for BG:Enhanced. Basically, you're an evil paladin on steroids. There's also no downside over being a regular paladin, except you must be "evil" but whatever. You can RP your blackguard to be the most noble dude in the history of dudes and there's no penalty, unlike when you reach Fallen Paladin status and are effectively gimped forever. On the plus side, poison weapon and absorb health are way better than protection from evil and lay on hands. Nice. They are also easier to roll for than other paladins because there's no minimum wisdom requirement and Charisma can go down to 14.

TL;DR Good Paladins should take two-handed swords or bastard swords, depending on if you care about a shield or not. Also, take a kit. They are all bananas.

Unfortunately, barbarian was added to BG2 over BG1 because 3rd edition had come out and it was a new class. They didn't actually make the Infinity Engine version feel like a barbarian, though, and it's essentially just a Fighter kit.

The biggest upside is you book with a Barbarian. They just move faster, meaning you close that gap quickly to punch whatever with extreme predjudice. Like a berzerker, you can Rage to become immune to all sorts of deadly things. You're also straight immune to backstab which, while it doesn't come up often, is exceptionally handy when it does.

Not being able to wear plate armor sucks for a bit, but isn't that bad once you get to Throne of Bhaal and there's silly chain armors all over the place. Plus, you're more resilient than other fighters because of the physical resistances you start to gain at 11th level, and the 18 extra HP from having a better hit die. You'll get hit more, but can take more hits before going down is what I'm saying.

I still prefer my fighter kits like Berzerker because grand mastery in weapons is worthwhile. Still, you can actually tank pretty damn good once you find the better non-plate armors simply because you can absorb a lot of punishment. The choice is yours.

Clerics are a lot more than just healbots. In fact, if you properly use their defensive spells, healing is usually not even necessary. Additionally, they can make better fighters than fighters, if you use the right buff spells. Probably the most versatile class when considered just on it's own merits.

It's kits are too good to pass on should you make a dedicated cleric. That said, they are not necessarily so good as to warrent a straight cleric opposed to a multi-class or dual-class. None of them have downsides, though, so if you're going single-class, you're taking the kit.

Priest of Talos is probably the most useful for the Bhaalspawn. Storm Shield is incredible, as it lets you wade into enemy hordes to hold their attention as you safely spam fireballs or cone of colds or whatever other elemental nukes you've got on your wizards. Going straight up immune to lightning, fire, cold and normal missles is fantastic. The lightning bolt spell you gain is probably not worth ever using, as lightning bounces really poorly in the Infinity Engine.

Priest of Lathander is also really good. It's hard to argue against free uses of Hold Undead, and that's just the icing. The real star of the kit is Boon of Lathander, which is a major melee steroid spell. It stacks with other priest steroid spells, so you can combine it with things like Righteous Magic to lay down the righteous fury. And it makes you immune to level drain so it frees up a Negative Plane Protection for when you fight Vampires.

Lasty we have Priest of Helm, which while obviously better than a basic cleric, is of questionable use. The True Sights for free are nice, but the Seeking Sword ability is kind of meh as it stops your spellcasting. It's an easily accessible +4 magic weapon for when you need a high enchantment to do damage, but you can get better fairly quickly. Still, it basically gives you a spare fighter on the fly as you gain a bunch of THAC0 and attacks per round, without needing high level self-buff spells.

Addendum: Patch 2.0 added "Priest of Tyr." It's another good-aligned cleric kit. The two kit abilities are essentially a melee-ranged Chaotic Commands, and then a super melee steroid spell. You'll hit more often with Boon of Lathander, while you'll hit harder with the Priest of Tyr buff. Up to you which you choose.

Lastly, and I have to note it, Bhaalspawn clerics are a bit redundant. Aerie, Anomen and Viconia are all excellent NPCs, among the best in the game. Obviously do what you want; just saying it's not really necessary.

TL;DR Clerics are super easy to figure out, you don't need me here.

Druids are in a weird spot. They initially only got to level 14 because the developers were worried about keeping the purity of the AD&D system in, but they were so underpowered compared to every other class. Throne of Bhaal came around and gave them epic levels at 15 and above, and they've been surpremely good since. That's why there's the HUUUUUGE xp gap between 14 and 15, and why you gain so many spells upon hitting 15.

Spells-wise, they are solid. While they lose out on some of the more point-and-click win spells Clerics get, they've got more summoning and access to Iron Skins to make up for it. Seriously put several casts of Iron Skins on your bar. It's one of the single best protection spells in the entire game.

Shapeshifters are probably "the worst" kit, because a regular druid still gets to turn into Bears and while in caster form, gets to wear armor. Losing out on ALL armor is a pretty big set back, and Werewolves, while cool, are not all that practical. Plus, you can just use Cernd!

Totemic Druids, on the other hand, are totally busted. They get to summon some spirit animals every day, that are immune to normal weaponry. Do you realize how many battles in base BG2 there are you can win with these summons alone? It's a lot. The only downside is you can't shapeshift, which as I mentioned I am not a big fan of anyway. It's a great kit.

Avengers are good, but a bit difficult to roll for. The hit to strength and constitution is not that big a deal except that it means you're down 4 net potential points to roll for, so getting a high overall roll is just statistically less likely. You don't really need strength with the kit, however, and constitution bonuses max at 16 anyway. That said, Avengers both have great shapeshiting via sword spider form, and mage-like Spellcasting with their kit-extra spells. Web as a level 2 cleric spell is especially good. Treat this character like a mage and you'll do fine.

Druids offer an interesting option for multi-classing and Dual-classing. It can only do so with Fighter, but as anyone who's bothered with Jaheria can attest to, you become extremely hard to kill. Iron Skins alone is worth going Druid over Cleric. Weapons-wise, you're less limited than Clerics, too. The sweet spot for dropping out of Fighter is level 13 anyway, so regaining those fighter level with as fast as druids gain levels isn't that difficult. One of the biggest downsides to Druid over Cleric is the lack of access to heavy armors, and this fixes that.

TL;DR Iron Skins is amazing, you guys.

EE 2.0 added "Shaman" which is essentially a sorcerer-like Druid. Rather than having access to every divine spell, you pick only a handful but do not have to memorize. Plus, there is a shaman-only spell per spell level, and most of them are good. Compare them to what you can select so you do not waste slots on redundant spells.

You gain experience as a Mage or Sorcerer, which means leveling is slow going. Gear-wise, you are basically a druid with slightly less restrictive item selection. Notably, you may still use Axes and Shortbows. Also, you get to be a half-orc which are better than Humans and Half-Elves so, why not?

I have not had time to fully experiement with Shamans as they were just added, so practical advice beyond basic character creation, I have none. My gut feeling says to focus on healing and summoning spells as you get a handful of damage spells inherently with the Kit.

Monks are a lot like Kensai in that you sacrifice defense for offense. Thing is, Monks take even longer to get rolling. Once they do, though, they are powerhouses capable of dealing all sorts of big numbers.

For rolling, they are pretty easy. They are essentially thieves. 16 Constitution is all you need, Dexterity is your primary stat. You may as well get 18 strength so if you decide to use the permanent +1 Strength boost on your character, you'll get that big jump skipping heroic strength. None of the mental stats affect your character, unlike 3E and beyond, so don't worry about boosting that wisdom.

The Monk kits were all added for BG:EE. Both of them are worth taking. Both give up Stunning Blow while the evil monk gives up Lay on Hands and the good monk gives up Quivering Palm. Losing Stunning blow is kind of a bummer, but neither Lay on Hands or Quivering Palm is particularly good. Lay on Hands is never as good as a big potion, and Quivering Palm is only useful against enemies you can insta-death that also have crappy saving throws AND it's only ever usable once a day. The benefits to both kits are nice.

First, the Dark Moon monk can dispel illusions. You can make a thief do this, but they generally have other things that are more important to tackle with their thieving points. It's useful in a handful of fights. Also, you can do more damage a hit with Frozen Fist. Gaining Blindness, Blur, Vampiric Touch and Mirror Image is just gravy.

The Sun Soul monk gets to punch things with fire fists. Fire is generally not as useful as ice because more things resist it, but it does hit harder than the ice bonus from Dark Moon monks for all the rest of the things. The rest of the spells basically give you a minor Kamehameha attack, and Fireshield (Red). Neat.

You'll want to pick up some sort of weapon type that lets you get +4 weaponry or better, in case you need to switch to it to deal damage to some magic-immune enemy. You don't gain "Fists count as +4 weapons" til level 25, so it's just something to keep in mind.

TL;DR Monks are straightforward due to their limited equipment.

Thieves, back in the day, were underrepresented in BG2. You had Jan Jansen and that's about it. Yoshimo doesn't count for plot reasons. Nowadays we have Hexxat, though, and she's pretty crazy good for your evil parties.

AD&D Thieves had ludicrous damage potential because Backstabbing straight up gave a damage multiplier rather than extra d6's worth of damage. A default thief can do x5 backstabs relatively soon into BG2. As a result, some hilarious meta-gaming dual-classes rely on thievery. The two most famous ones are Kensai/Thieves, and Assassin/Clerics.

The former is a lot easier to manage for an entire gameplay, as you only need 13 levels of Kensai before dropping into thief. All you're giving up (til you gain Use Any Item) is AC via armor, which ehhhhhhh. Not that big a deal considering you can't get much better than 4AC leather for quite some time. A druid or mage in the party can simply toss you Barkskin or Ghost Armor for the fights you can't simply run in and out of battle to attempt more backstabs.

Assassin/Clerics are the latest of late game builds. You literally spend the vast majority of the game as simply a gimpy cleric because you need to reach all the way to level 21 as an assassin for the x7 Backstab multiplier. When you do finally regain those levels, though, equip the biggest quarterstaff you can find, drop Righteous Fury and other self-buff spells, and do literally thousands of damage worth of backstab. It's fun, if impracticle from a sheer XP required standpoint.

As for actual thieves and their kits, the kits are too powerful to not take. Even for dual-classing purposes. If you don't care about backstabs, you can just go Swashbuckler for the extra AC and THAC0. Even if you do, you barely give up anything for going Bounty Hunter. Assassins (outside of the uber lategame build previously discussed) are the only ones I wouldn't bother with for dual-classing because they require such high levels to gain the biggest reason to choose being one.

Assassins, even when just solo-kit, are quire powerful. The hit to thieving skills is actually a tiny bit of a problem for the first while in BG2 because you're going to want stealth talents to make use of your backstabs and only getting 15 skills per level up means doing so leaves open lock and find trap gimped. The +1 damage/THAC0 and poison weapon abilities more than make up for it. Poison weapon is fantastic for fights against spellcasters as the rapid fire ticking of the damage interrupts spells very well.

Bounty Hunters are trap specialists, and barely have to give up any thieving points to get it. You can lay special traps, which effects are listed in game. Nothing too special, but the downside is negligible so why the hell not.

Swashbucklers are essentially a fighter/thief without the slow XP gains of being multi-classed. Their AC eventually surpasses the most heavily armored character, and their damage/THAC0 is on par with raw fighters. You still get to specialize in weapons and even go dual-wield if you so desire so I recommend doing so.

BG:EE added Shadowdancers. Upside is stealth anywhere even mid-combat (or so the kit claims), downside is slightly worse backstabs. I haven't toyed around with the kit yet to see if it's actually coded to work right, but if so, it's pretty gnarly. Backstab focused thieves tend to require Boots of the Cheetah and somewhere you can abuse line of sight. Being able to just stealth and immediately reapply a backstab, even if it's for a lesser multiplier, is great on paper.

Thieves are essential in any party for disarming traps and opening things, but you honestly don't need much in the way of those skills to disarm any trap or open any lock in the entire game. Nalia with her pathetic 4 thief levels is enough to get by, assuming you keep a stockpile of Master Thievery and Perception potions on hand. Consumables are your friend.

TL;DR If you roll a thief for your bhaalspawn, do it to make a backstab killing machine because support Thief characters can be fulfilled via NPCs.

There is absolutely, positively no reason to be Human. Half-elf for life. Might as well claim the +10% Pickpocketing half-elves get, if nothing else. It's not like there's any multi- or dual-classing options anyway for this class.

Stat-wise, Bards kind of what everything so they're somewhat hard to roll for. Intelligence and Dexterity should absolutely be maxed out and because of their shoddy hit die, I recommend favoring getting 16 constitution over any other stat. Part of the reason to be a Bard is their Lore value, and as a result, do not go below 7 WIS or it get gimped a little too hard. This often means your strength value suffers being as high as you might like. Good thing, then, you've got access to level 2 arcane spells and therefore "Strength". Use it as a stat bandaid until such time you get the Gauntlets of Ogre Power or one of the many strength belts.

Like mages, one of the key abilities to the class is wands and scrolls. You might not have the arcane might of a raw mage, but you can spam that Fireball wand just the same. It also makes Bards a prime Buff bot in terms of their spells, as the damaging sides just count you as way too low of a level to really be worth it. Haste cares not for your level; everyone gets joyously fast.

I don't see much point to the raw bard, because Skald and Blade exist. Jester is kind of bad, because their song isn't as useful as actively casting and fighting in the battle to begin with, and eventually it gets replaced with Epic Bard Song.

Blades are battle-blenders. Offensive Spin is tremendously deadly as it makes all your hits during it's duration cause maximum damage. You better believe combining it with Tenser's Transformation is epic. Defensive Spin is less useful as it roots you in place, but I believe originally it was glitched so if you had free action, you could still move. I think BG:EE fixed that but I might be wrong. Either way, it's useful to drop into when you know you have to tank something. All you give up is Lore and Pick-Pocketing, because a Blade isn't going to be using his bard song. Even with the gimped lore gain, it's miles ahead of any non-bard class, and the pick-pocketing eventually gets good by sheer fact it still goes up. Highly recommended bard class.

Skalds gain +1 Hit/Damage with all weapons. That alone makes them better than raw bards. Their song is also a pretty significant team buff. While epic bard song is better and you should take that eventually, it's still very nice for getting to that point.

TL;DR Bards are awesome because they can use consumables like Wands and Scrolls.

Your arcane spellcasters is why you beat Baldur's Gate. They do the most damage and provide the most buffs to get through the most difficult encounters. Plus they can tap into wands and scrolls, so you want them on your team. Luckily, the NPC mages are quite good so you shouldn't feel pressure to roll a mage yourself unless you want to.

The debate between Mage or Sorcerer is simply known spells vs. spells per day. I tend to like Mages better because knowing every spell sets you up for every contingency in the game if you have a bit of meta-knowledge, but Sorcerers are a lot more newbie friendly as you can just load them up with offensive spells and point/click your way to victory.

For mage, your "kits" are taking spell specialty. All it does for AD&D is bans a school while providing you +1 spells castable per level, per day. Because of that, selecting a school based on what you don't mind giving up is more important than selecting a school based on what you actually want to cast.

• Abjurer
  - must be human. Minimum required 15 Wisdom. Gives up "Alteration." (Not recommended, because you give up some of the single best offensive and defensive spells in the game)
  
• Conjurer
  - must be human or half-elf. Minimum required 15 constitution. Gives up "Diviniation." (Fairly good kit as the most imporant spells you sacrifice are Indentify and True Sight. Highly recommended.)
  
• Diviner
  - 16 Wisdom required. Gives up "Conjuration." (Workable, as you mostly give up summoning spells.)
  
• Enchanter
  - 16 Charisma required. Gives up "Evocation." (Misses out on some of the best damage spells, but there's enough redundancy in other schools you can still utilize this kit well. Just take necromancy spells into battle.)
  
• Illusionsit
  - Gnomes must be this kit if they are a wizard. 16 dexterity minimum. Gives up "Necromancy." (Necromancy has a lot of wonderful spells. Gnomes don't have a choice, but any human mage should not be this.)
  
• Invoker
  - 16 Constitution minimum. Gives up both Enchantment and Conjuration. (You give up two schools. There's no reason to be this kit.)
  
• Necromancer
  - 16 Wisdom minimum. Gives up "Illusion." (Illusion is home to many good defensive spells, so this class is not recommended.)
  
• Transmuter
  - 15 Dexterity minimum. Gives up both Abjuration and Necromancy. (Again, you give up two schools so there's no point.)

If you go Sorcerer, focus on learning spells that scale well. Sleep, for example, stops working against creatures with too many HD, which most of the ones in BG2 have. So don't take it.

It's worth going Dragon Disciple, should you want a more Enhanced Edition only vibe. You give up the best part of being a sorcerer over a mage in the extra spellcast per day, but gain a lot of inherent resilency by way of better HD upon level ups and inherently better armor class. And you get to breathe fire, which makes up slightly for having less spells to sling about.

I am not a big fan of Wild Mages. I know I said I wasn't going to do much proselytizing about my personal opinions in this guide yet here we are.

The upside is you don't get an opposed spell school while still gaining the +1 spells per spell level of a specialized mage. The downside is your character doesn't always function as intended. It's one of those "This will be whacky and lead to funny hijinks!" thought processes game developers have that doesn't translate to the same fun concept in the actual game. Reloading because your character turned to stone during the final battle is annoying, not fun. Reloading because your stone skin spell destroyed your entire gold pool is obnoxious, not fun.

Let's do a cost/benefit analysis of the Wild Surge table.
http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Wild_Surge

You have a 5% chance (so a roll of 1 on a d20) of triggering a further d% roll on the Wild Surge table. Out of the 100 possibilities, about half of them are neutral (they don't really accomplish anything), and the other half is split between "good" and "bad" effects. Many of those bad effects literally end your game and cause you to reload. The "good" effects are often actually bad because it means you didn't cast the spell you wanted to cast, even though it didn't actively cause your party harm. Typically the reason you attempted to cast a spell is because you really want that specific spell to work, rather than a Sunfire. Even then, many of the best "good" effects are nothing more than casting your spell at double your current spellcaster level or make the enemy suffer larger saving throw penalties. That's neat and all, but rare enough it doesn't justify hoping for that outcome.

This is the one and only class I highly recommend you do not play, because it's simply not a lot of fun. Lack of total control of your character in a pen and paper setting can be pretty wild and fun; it ends up being a total frustrating waste of time in a CRPG setting where you can just reload.

While dual-classing is in my humble opinion a better way to go typically, there are some stand-out multi-class builds that progress better that way than doing a dual-classing option.

First and foremost is Ranger/Cleric. Because of how the game is coded, you simply gain access to the entire panoply of Divine Spells, meaning you get both cleric and druid spells. For every level, too. This means you're essentially a fighter/druid without the downside of the huge 14->15 level gap for druid, AND you still get cleric spells. It's awesome and because of the addition of Iron Skins to the cleric repertoire, you can be one tanky dude. And, to top it off, you're not as limited in weaponry as a fighter/druid. You'll want to take slings, and I'd recommend either Warhammers or Flails for your melee bashing.

EDIT: Apparently this is no longer true as of patch 2.5 (thanks to Eycariot for pointing this out.) I'm told it's an easy fix to reverse it but I don't know how to do it myself. I would probably just stick to Fighter/Cleric now, though there's still some upsides to going Ranger. It'll level it's half slower than fighter, but you still get a handful of Druid spells and can still stealth if you're in light enough armor. It's not like you lose out on epic level fighter feats because Ranger gets those.

Dwarven Fighter/Clerics are also pretty damn spectacular, as you get the benefit of fighter levels and HP alongside your divine spellcasting. Your cleric side will progress slower, but the tradeoff is totally worth it. And you get to be a dwarf with your spectacular saving throws. Halflings are also pretty good at this roll because you'll be better with a sling for when you're wanting to sit back and cast, and can simply steroid yourself to 19+ strength via spells when the need comes.

Cleric/Mage is perhaps the most sensible multi-class as both classes always improve the entire course of the game. You WANT to keep gaining spells for both classes, as opposed to completely halting one and just sticking with the other. It's worth going gnome for this, as you gain even more spells by way of Illusionist kit. You don't even really lose out on the arcane necromancy spells a default mage can learn because you'll have access to divine spells that kind of do the same thing (til like really high level arcane stuff). There's a reason Aerie is one of the best characters in the game.

Let me know if there's anything I've missed, didn't cover well enough, or you want added. Thanks for reading!