Since you don't really use that great a variety of spells, a Sorcerer is far better than a mage, since he can cast far more spells per day.

A Half orc fighter/cleric would be ok, almost the same as a dwarf. Each has their little racial abilities, so would be about even. There is a nice weapon in the game that only a dwarf can use, but i don't know of any half-orc specific ones.

Any cleric welding warhammers and maces rocks, and any fighter/cleric rocks a bit more in my eyes. Plus if your a dwarf you can weld the nice Dwarven throwing hammer, and that really hurts.

Eh...don't hald orcs get a Wisdom penalty? Never played 'em in BG, so I dunno...BTW, Rangers get Druid spells, which are somewhat different from Cleric spells. Noone ever seems to mention this. =)

1. They get limited cleric spells. I think rangers get it around level 9.

2. A Dwarf fighter/cleric makes for good role-playing and is really tough with the added CON. Oh Rikard already said that..

3. A sorceror has lots of flexibility. He has no need to memorise specific spells, and has for example, 6 casts of every level 1 spell in his spellbook. That means you can tailor him to your play style. It also means you don't waste any slots on spells that you dont need at any given time because a mage can memorise say, 3 magic missles and 3 identify spells. If you're in combat against say, a dragon, those 3 identify spells are'nt going to do jack. But if you're a sorceror, you can cast any spell you need, so if you're in combat against that dragon, then you'll be able to cast 6 magic missles or 5 missles and 1 chromatic orb, or any combo. Thats why they are so playable. Its up to personal preference.

4. Your armor class is also dependant on your dexterity. If you have a very high dexterity, your AC will be lower than another monk with lower dexterity.

5. Your characters need to be in "range" of the bard song. And some bard kits have songs that affect the enemy instead of you. Its unreliable at best, so your best bet would be not to rely too heavily on bard song bonuses.

6. Wild Magic is just that..wild magic. Anything could happen when you cast it. If you read the spell description, it says that you can TRY to shape the spell into the desired effect, but it almost always comes out as something else. Its just random. Can be incredibly powerful, or it can turn your mage into a plucked chicken. Nothing to do with the way you use the spell.

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Why?