Okay, I've started this game three times now, and haven't particularly liked any of the characters I've used. The first one was a flat-out cleric. Found her rather boring. Then I tried a cleric/rogue--nah. I can't even remember what the third one was now! [img]smile.gif[/img] I'm thinking it's because I do enjoy the wizard/sorcerer spells, so now think I'll try that. My only worry is that this game seems really big on the hack and slash and there are often a number of enemies ready to hit you all at once. How would a character be that starts off with a couple of levels as a fighter, then switches to a wizard?

Also, regarding NPCs, can you bring more than one with you at the same time or are you limited to the one extra character?

Paladins are nice.

But pure arcane casters are good as well. Dont melee with them. Well, equip for melee as best you can, but its a last resort. You gain two levels in the prologue, so you have a few spells to hand before things get tough, and since NWN is patheticaly generous when resting, you shouldnt have too many problems. The game may be hack and slash biased, but arcane characters can deal more than enough damage to deal with it.

If you must take fighter levels, watch out that you take enough INT(for wizards) or CHA(sorcs, bards) that you arcane class will be useful. Personaly, I am not fond of melee/caster multis since you have to boost so many of your stats to be really effective with both. (Exception - Paladin/Sorceror, where both benefit from CHA. But that ones cheesy enough that I avoid it most times).

As for NPCs, in the official campaign you can only have the one henchman, although you can use a summon and a familiar as well. (For most players, the Pixie familiar is best, for its theiving skills. Its not terrible at combat either, but dont risk it since it hurts you when it dies.) In the HotU campaign, you will be able to get 2 henchmen at once.

With NWN you can alternate each time you level with one of three PC's. I found the Fighter, Wizard, Bard to be A good combo.
The Wizard, Ranger, Thief, Has also worked real well in a number of game too.
Once you upgrade to Shadows of Undrentide you can build a wizard/Paladin mix and become an Arcane Archer. You'll be able to use every wizard scroll and also have the power of a Very powerful Archer with the abilities to use Arcane Magics and build Arrows that will kill the strongest Monsters and NPC bad guys.
Or you can go the Exact other way with The Black Guard class which is an Evil Black Knight with the Wizards Arcane Magic and the Power of the dark side of the Palidin with out the pentilties of the fallen Palidin but all the benifits.
The only requirement are :
1) Feats: Hide 5 ranks
2) Skills: Cleave
3)Alignment: Any Evil
4)Base Attack Bonus: +6

Best way to make the Character you want is first start as A wizard or Sorcerer for two levels and then level three take on the Ranger or Fighter class for two levels then return to the Wizard or Sorcerer class. You could also add a third class as a Thief or Bard to give to the ability to open your own locks. But in the first NWN without the two expansions I would only use Two classes and bring a thief henchman with you. This will allow you to gain Higher levels in the Magics Classes.

You May even enjoy The Druid/fighter Class mix or the Sorcerer/Druid can be alot of fun and with the higher Druid levels you will gain some great spells and mastering the Staff weapons and wands even at the lower levels you'll hold you own against the bad guys.

Good luck and once you start the first expansion the game impoves 200% in both Quallity and graphics not to mention the higher levels you can reach.

Bards aren't that bad a class. I think they're actually pretty balanced. They have reasonable fighting skills, have the ability to cast both divine and arcane spells, and have access to most of the rogue "special" abilities.

But what I really came in here for was to advocate a Wizard/Cleric mix. I've only been through the original campaign once, and that was with an elf (subrace: drow) wizard/cleric. I don't remember how I divvied the class levels, but I believe by the end of the game, he was about Wiz. 16/Cler. 3. So he had access to all of the arcane spells (well, most), and was able to heal himself when need be. IIRC, everything other than my return to Neverwinter was a breeze.

I've seen fighter/Wizard characters done before. Take them up to level 4 as a fighter to get weapon specialization, then switch to wizard. Your spells will always be behind and you'll have a hard time getting the really good spells, but you will be able to hack and slash effectively for a good part of the game. Once you start throwing spells around you won't be able to keep on any good armor, though. As long as you're not doing PVP you should be fine.

What I've done is create a Rogue/Fighter. As it happens, she can use wizard scrolls, so I am not really missing out in that regard. I picked up a cleric as a henchman, and I can pretty much do everything any class can do with this combo.

A really good warrior is the Barbarian/fighter/ranger,but i dont know if my plan works with the latest version.Basicly,It gets the barbarian speed and rage while still equipped with platemails,and gets the 'favoured enemy' of the ranger.

I actually ended up creating a monk character with a couple of early sorcerer levels. So, she can use spells, but really kicks butt when fighting. I've never played a monk before, but after picking up Grimgnaw when using a different character, I decided to give the monk a shot.

Personally I am very fond of the Ranger It took a while for him to get pretty good but once you hit about level 6 .. But next I think I will try the Red Dragon discple!