I'd say a Mage
i'm a necromancer aswell have to say that necro is kinda weak specialist but i chose him for the role playig aspect
I'f youre a mage with a nice trowing dagger you cast a couple of protaction spell upon yourself and a couple of shield and see you opponents parish under your offencive spellpower

If you're a mage there are items and spells which can make you resemble a fighter (i.e. Tenser's transformation, Slayer Change, strength-enhancing items like gauntlets and girdles and powerful spells like Protection from Normal/Magic Weapons) so that you can have the best of both worlds. As a fighter however, the closest you can get to a mage is using the book of infinite spells and some other items that can cast spells for you. Therefore I think a mage has more advantages, he/she is not necessarily physically weak. Also I think it's way more fun to cast spells than simply to hack and slash your way through (well maybe it can be sometimes, as a means to get rid of frustrations or something ~lol~)

So here is the age old debate, but is there any hardcore evidence to say which is better? I think not. Oh yeah and i dont want any people coming in here saying something like, "this is a stupid thread, have a kensai/mage instead". Please stick to the topic for an interesting debate. So to get the ball rolling... I think the mage is superior ( being a necromancer myself ). The reason is, when you get to the asylum and earn the innate ability to polymorph into the "Slayer", you are a formidable fighter. Throw in a fireshield and some stoneskin, and i would like to see a fighter beating that.
I look forward to your responses, and remember its only a debate.

I'll go for the fighter, I like to be on the front line and kill, murder, kill...(mindless, dosent it, hehe)
Mage is useful though(choosing proper spells is not easy...yah)

Thanks, there is some good mage support here...No angry fighters though?
Oh and btw, the Necromancer isnt a weak specialist, cos i have Jan J. for his illusionist qualtities.But yes without him it could be irksome.

necro's on there own are weak but WAY cool

I'm a fighter/mage. Fighters don't need to sleep every few minutes to efficiently kill, mages do damage on a wider scale at the cost of time and planning. However, I can safely say that each has its own purpose and that neither could ever fill the shoes of the other. You can tenser's transformation all you like but the fighter's advantage is in having an innate talent for fighting; they don't need to spend several rounds at the beginning of a battle sorting their spells just so they can actually hit something. By the same token, a fighter can move from foe to foe as fast as humanly possible, but he'll never be able to kill a dozen enemies in as short a time as a mage. For the sake of argument, let's toss the non-class abilities, hmm? But even so, the slayer's only good for about twenty seconds, and you'll find yourself very lonely very fast unless you use it sparingly.

Bounty Hunters rock all.

It's hard to play one without feeling guilty -- their traps are so effective it almost feels like cheating.

They're the only class that can selectively kill things they can't see.

Too bad you can't kit a multi-class -- a bounty hunter / fighter would be unstoppable.

I like fighters better in that they're a lot more self sufficient. A mages spells are limited. He's fodder when he runs out of spells, which doesn't take very long. A mage also needs time to cast spells. Hit him and boom, disrupted spell. Also the more powerful a creature is generally the better saving throws and/or magic resistance it has and so it's less susceptible to magic. Yes they can do a lot of damage but only a couple of times. All your fancy spells only last a limited time. My fighter hides behind a big rock and then runs out and bashes you when they run out.

I used to prefer mages... kinda fun to have that much power. Since I started playing BGII (and even in BGI) I kinda missed being able to use all the nice magical equipment in the game for fighters. BGII has converted me completely to playing fighter characters. Its a hell of a lot of fun being a berserker (especially against mind-flayers) with -13 or so ac and a -4 thaco just smashing your way through piles of bad guys Perhaps the best part is that I can trip a trap or be surprised without having to restart from a saved game. All those hps are kinda nice.