Here I would like for you all to list the virtues of your favorite character class, and why... you may include items and equipment in your arguments, as I have played the game through several times before, although it WAS a while ago.. I just returned to the game, and was pondering which class to go for- so all of your suggestions are welcome and appreciated.. thanks for the record, here was my favorite character from the old school days when i played:

ranger/cleric
dual wielding maces... the disrupting one? and the flail of the ages for a while at least.. anyways.. tanked like a madman against the vast armies of vampires and undead... pretty good at summoning/ "buffing" himself and minsc too, they made a decent team!

include your favorite party combo as well, if you dont mind... i dont remember all of mine... anyways... look forward to reading your posts.

Well I love the Fighter/Mages..... they r HEAPZ powerful once they have the 8 000 000 XP..... they r my favourite class by far.....

But I can see were your getting at with the Ranger/Cleric.... but if u have ToB a better settup would be Crom Fayer and RuneHammer +5.... then u would be a REAL killing machine

I can say one thing...
Fighter/Mage/Thief is a god. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Not a suggestion if your going party.
In that case a Kensai/MAGE

well the best choices for the character class would depend on what your allignment is. A straight mage and a straight cleric are the most powerful in the game because they can cast time stop and summon devas and pit fiends and stuff. The cleric can wear armour though which makes it much better than the mage. But the Cavalier and the Archer are the best scrips you could choose because they are killing machines and have very little disadvantages (excluding the armour restriction for the Archer, but rarely gets into close combat).

well the best choices for the character class would depend on what your allignment is. A straight mage and a straight cleric are the most powerful in the game because they can cast time stop and summon devas and pit fiends and stuff. The cleric can wear armour though which makes it much better than the mage. But the Cavalier and the Archer are the best scrips you could choose because they are killing machines and have very little disadvantages (excluding the armour restriction for the Archer, but rarely gets into close combat).
The best choice for the character class would be the cleric. This is because it can wear any armour, it can use the cromfayre or the flail of ages, it can use a shield, which would add quite a bit to your armour class, it can cast powerful spells and if it is hit it will continue to cast, unlike the mage, it can cast VERY powerful magics at a lower level than what a mage would cast it at and it can hold its own in close combat.
The cleric is by far the best, though I still haven't played as one yet. But I wouldn't say that a half-orc barbarian is crap: Constitution 19; Strength 19; bonus hp (added to the constitution 19 would have you with a final hp of about 350!); kicks rs in close combat; wears ne armour; can use the anti-mindflayer 2handed sword.

Druids are good- elemental summoning spells, shapechange and in TDD they get the 9tl lvl spell shapeshift!. also they are the only characters that can use the elemental guardian figurine.

I nEVA KNEW BARBARIANS COULD WEAR ANY ARMOUR THEY LIKE... wasnt just splint mail???

I'm going with the Archer idea - I'm playing one, a complete killing machine. I just want a better longbow :(
If you're playing a good-neutral party, a single-class thief, cleric or mage would be a good idea - as there are no good singleclass mage/thief/clerics that you can keep for the whole game. Or maybe a tank (Cavalier, Berserker) - with good stats, those get pretty powerful.

Archer has been enjoyable. =) I started an Elven Archer w/ 19 dexterity and GM in longbow. Pretty powerful to begin with. Keep the rest of your party around the corner, have the archer hide in shadows and creep up on the enemy. Fire off a few and then retreat. If the rest of your party is ready with ranged weapons, few enemies make it close enough to melee.

I just exited the underdark and my PC is 22nd level (I did Watchers Keep before chapter 3). He's wearing boots of speed and Aeger's hide (spelling? That magical leather armor that was cut from a bear's hide - immune to charm & confusion) 5 shots per round, generally doing 17pts per... very effective!

in this game i would say the sorceror, why? SHEER POWER!!!!

my personal favorite however is a barbarian wielding crom faeyr, shadow-dragon armor, and the sentinel+4 shield. of course he is tanked out, but that is what happens when you solo. i also got two rings of gaxx, so that was helpful. i got them legitly by the way, on accident actually. reason he is my favorite? well in this game ive noticed that ALOT of mages or liches are the formidable opponents. maze, imprisonment, etc are powerful spells. well, when i fought Kangaxx, i laughed at him as i went into a rage, and pummeled him with the longsword from the druid-grove.i tell you, for a lich that was at one time a powerful mage, he is DUMB!! after two or three imprisonments, i would have tried something else, but NOOOOO. he just keeps looseing those imprisonments, and i cut his ass more times than a blind man working at a newspaper press. ha HA!!