yes. i plan on doing it with an elf and that means not being able to regenerate my wounds... (means lots of money on healing...)

dwarves make far better fighters than elves when carried through from BGI. being able to regenerate and be a juggernaught against magic... as well as a demon with two axes (fire and frost) and later in the game a war hammer in the off hand (crom frayer) and an axe in the main hand (frost axe in early game and the TOB axe +5 in later game). easily capable of slaying a dragon

Yes, though I wouldn't really say they are a juggernaught against magic for any real reason... why would you plan on using an elf? Dwarves have every advantage in being a plain fighter, except the elven +1 to aim when using long swords or bows. Is there a reason you would want to use an elf for some reason? And have you already started a game in BG1 to export with? Wow, a lot of questions...feel free to ignore them all.
-Brainless One

lol. Don't be affraid to ask questions. i'm made of them [img]smile.gif[/img]

My character is an elven swordsman/bowman from baldur's gate which i soloed in (i never realised how easy soloing actually was (atleast in BG1)) but as we all know, fighters,relative other classes are stronger on the early levels and less so on the higher levels.

But i share your thoughts on the Dwarven fighter advantages. Especially Battleragers (bezerker class). I believe bezerker was built primarily for dwarves and possibly half-orcs as well (but half-orcs are better off barbarians imho... also for role playing reasons)

but i've nearly completed soloing a mage through BGI (final battle [img]smile.gif[/img] ) and have found that the ability to use magic in a fight makes things much easier. In BGII mages become vastly more powerful and that means more problems for your neighbourhood friendly fighter...

I got one for you guys (or girls). Level 14 Archer with a few armor boosting priest spells cast (just SoA). Gesen Bow and Acid Arrows. Also the boots of Haste. I put the Moon Dog out in front to initially piss the dragon off and take the breath/fear attacks. And then I just ran cirles around him shooting while he tried to melee me. It took like 12-15 arrows and it died. I was STUNNED! I had expected to die instantly!
Curious to see if it was a fluke (that was the Shadow dragon) I immediately booted over to Fierkraag to see if I could continue my draconian genocide. Same result, if not with a few less arrows (I got a few critical hits). Archers, from what I can tell, are pretty well suited to killing dragons. Especially if you have a figurine summon to take a few hits.
I've been soloing with this archer and thus far I have not encountered any enemy that posed a threat. Oh, except for those murderers that Irenicus sends after you in Spellhold when he runs away. I was hid in shadows but I couldn't run away cause they all encircled me so that my char couldn't move. Which I thought was sort of cheap since I was invisible (how would they know where I was?), so when I left shadows they all b-stabbed me and I died instantly :( . But that was the first time I've died since I came out of the dungeon. Spell casters can be tricky, but they're okay if you get the jump on them. Otherwise I just have to wait for their weapon protections to wear off.
I'm started to think that Archers are one of the less popularized cheesy characters in the game.

[ 01-27-2005, 09:07 PM: Message edited by: Elijah Snow ]

Archers and Kensai both have ridiculously low THACOs. This allows them to hit dragons quite often. Kensai have to get in close, and without armor tend to take quite a bit of damage from the dragon's melee attacks. But archers are incredible against dragons, since they sit at range and just whack them (especially if you have summons or other characters in the way to draw the dragon's wing buffets and attacks).

Only the solo sorcerer beats dragons easier (in fact, solo sorcerers pretty much beat anything easy without Tactics installed... :D ). Taking out a dragon with a solo fighter involves:

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• summons from items</font>
• potions (VERY important)</font>
• items that jack up your AC and saves</font>
• good weapondry</font>

I have not tried a solo thief against a dragon, but they could use the same principles above probably. The swashbucklers bonuses (especially at higher levels) let them equal or exceed fighters in combat (though the lack of hp hurts), and the others could use traps and/or poisoned weapons (cheesy to stack up a bunch of traps, but it works).

a swashbuckler's combat bonuses could not exceed that of a fighter of equal level could it? i'd be quite annoyed if it could lol

Swashbuckers are considered by many (myself included) to be the most powerful of the thief kits. At low levels, they are not too powerful, but at high levels those bonuses are extremely powerful. They get a bonus point every 5 levels to AC, so at level 40 (the max) that equals an 8 point bonus to AC, plus the one that you get right at 1st level, equals -9 AC. And considering that there are lots of good light armors out there, they can pretty much hang right up front without getting hit. Then, they get +1 to hit and damage every 5 levels, so at level 40 that is +8 to hit and damage. Then thieves level up quicker than any of the other classes (other than bards, which level at the same rate), so if soloing they just fly up in levels, allowing you to be higher level when you run into your first dragon. Then add the fact that they get all of the thief points to distribute (so they can level trap setting quicker than other thieves). Then add the fact that they can put 2 slots in melee weapons that thieves can use (+1 to hit, +2 to damage, but no extra half an attack), and can put 3 slots in dual-wield (allowing them to get that extra attack, and if you use a weapon that adds an attack with your main hand, then you can really do some major damage).

So what if you lose backstab. If you play ToB, backstab is not as useful at that point. Give the swashie the items I listed for the fighter, and he will give a dragon a run for his money.

I have killed all the dragons in the game using my solo Berserker/Cleric under insane difficulty.
Cast blade barrier,iron skin,protection from evil and other protective/buffing spells.
Cast Gate or any summoning spells if possible.
Boots of speed.
Use enrage.
Dual wielding Crom Faeyr and Flail of the Ages.

I didn't think clerics where meant to get ironskins.

Clerics don't get Ironskins. Druids on the other hand do get them.