Also, it's good to have your main character have strong Constitution & a lot of hit points, as it's a real pain when you die. And Charisma is NOT worthless! You should always have at least 1 character with high Charisma (at least 16) in your party: Stores will lower their prices for you, and some quests will turn out better for you if you let someone with good Charisma do the talking.
In other words: A Paladin.
BG (and BGII to some extend) is DESIGNED for a do-good-Paladin. IMHO being evil is not really a true game-play option, since reputation and sidequests is almost always designed for a Good character. The paladin comes with several bonuses: A high charisma and probably strength and constitution as well, wich makes a perfect front man, especially since you can't fall back in line in your party without letting someone else lead your party (in BG, anyway). Do I need to mention holy powers such as Lay On Hands, Turn Undead, Cleric Spells etc.?
And don't woory about the Bow skill, as you will meet at least a couple of NPC's who are quiet capable of that in the course of the game SPOILER
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
Kivan and Coran are both VERY skilled in bows.
Otherwise, I agree with SixOfSpades in that half-elves are just a human who can multiclass. If you want to play Mage or Thief, elves is a far better choice (because of the extra dexpoint), but the game is also full of god NPC's in those classes. The only Paladin in the game is Ajantis, and he is by all means not too good a Paladin compared to your own who would probably have 18.something in str, and 16+ in dex, con and cha, not to mention your own abilities as the Main Character.............
And BTW welcome to the board!
------------------
Love´s in need of love today
