Neutral characters...

[D*Ranged]

...have the best HLA options. It's just that they can have BOTH Deva/ Fallen Deva and same with Planetar/Dark planeter. BUT then roleplaying factor comes to mind. Bioware seemed to cater more 4 Good/Evil CHars than Neutral ones.

[SixOfSpades]

Actually, Normal/Fallen Devas and Planetars are exactly the same, except that they look a little different. Their spells and combat abilities are identical, or at least I've never heard otherwise. So alignment is actually of no consequence here.

You could even be Good and get both spells: Play through SoA until you start getting HLAs, and pick Summon Deva/Planetar; then fail a test in Hell and you should be able to learn the Fallen version.

Where Neutrals DO get an advantage is with Clerics: Neutral Clerics can fire off all the Holy Smite/Unholy Blight/Holy Word/Unholy Word they want, and they'll never be hurt by any of them.

[Lord Lothar]

What is the difference between a Deva and a Planetar other than that they are summoned by different classes?

[True_Moose]

This is directly off of the BG2 Spell reference.

Summon Planetar
The best summon in the game. A powerful Solar armed with a vorpal sword that eats the Shadows of Amn dragons for breakfast. The thing's fighting ability compares to that of a level 15 Fighter, has good magic resistance and is immune to various elemental damages, insta-kill effects and weapons of less than +3 enchantment. It enters play Hasted, regenerates and can see the invisible. The Planetar is actually gated instead of summoned, making it immune to Death Spell as well.

The Planetar is a superb Divine spellcaster (with a touch of Arcane) with the following spells memorized:

Two Magic Missiles.
Detect Invisibility.
Flame Arrow.
Three Improved Invisibilities.
Chaos.
Three Remove Fears.
Three Cure Diseases.
Three Dispel Magics.
Three Remove Curses.
Three Lesser Restorations.
Three Neutralize Poisons.
Three Flame Strikes.
Three Insect Plagues.
Three Raise Deads.
Three True Seeings.
Three Heals.
Three Earthquakes.
Three Firestorms.
Three Holy Words.
Three Symbol, Deaths.
Three Symbol, Fears.
Three Globe of Blades

Summon Deva
The ultimate clerical summon. Calls forth a powerful Solar armed with a mace that destroys undead, dispels magic and Stuns on a hit. The thing's fighting ability compares to that of a level 10 Fighter, has good magic resistance and is immune to various elemental damages, insta-kill effects and weapons of less than +2 enchantment. It regenerates and can see the invisible. The Deva is actually gated instead of summoned, so it's unaffected by Death Spells.

The Deva is a decent Divine spellcaster (with a touch of Arcane) with the following spells memorized:

Chaos.
Detect Invisibility.
Fireball.
Flame Arrow.
Haste.
Magic Missile.
Cure Critical Wounds.
Cure Disease.
Dispel Magic.
Globe of Blades.
Neutralize Poison.
Remove Curse.
Remove Fear.

[Lord Lothar]

Why summon Devas with your cleric then if you can summon Planetars with your mage/sorceror?

[True_Moose]

Because that frees up slots better used on things like Time Stop and Improved Alacrity. And besides, Devas are nothing to sneeze at either.

[Grammar]

Dark Planetars and (Light) Planetars have slightly different spells. One has Holy Word other has Unholy Word(I think that's what it's called). Also, in some versions of the game the Dark Planetar regenerates quicker. I forget if that's in the original or in an erroneous patch that was released a while ago.

[Gammit]

Cool! I've always wondered what the differences were between these two! Thanks.

[Kaltia]

Actually, if you have a neutral character they have to choose one of the type and can't chose another-Jan learns, say, Planetar but once selected can't learn Fallen Planetar, Jaheira learns Fallen Deva but can't learn Deva, that sorta thing.