Hey guys.

I'm starting to get the urge to play through Baldur's Gate gate again, it doesn't seem to matter what games come out I always fall back to this series.

Anyway after a bit of thinking I want to play a party that has the NPCs you can have in BG, BG2 and TOB all in my party for continuation which leaves us with

Jaheria
Minsc
Viconia
Edwin
Imoen

You can get recruit all early in the first game and are available, bar plot reasons, all the way to the end of TOB.

On paper it's actually a really strong group, Jaheria is a little weak in the first game but is a real powerhouse in the second imo. Minsc is Minsc, give him a bow and a 2 handed weapon and he'll go off butt kicking for goodness, Edwin and Viconia are both excellent examples of their classes and Imoen provides thief abilities with strong magical back up.

That leaves me with what to play as the main character, I'm thinking it will probably need to be a strong melee class of some description as it's the only area currently lacking a little. The group has plenty of both Divine and Arcane spell casting and the thief duties are taken care off but I'm thinking another melee would fit in well.

Fighter/mage is always a strong contender or maybe even an Inquisitor, perhaps a berserker?

I'll be using the happy patch to avoid any reputation problems because the reputation system is so badly implemented in this game, think about it what evil person wouldn't want to have a great reputation in public that allows him to do whatever he wants in private?

Viconia is the perfect example of this 'stupid evil' because in both games you have to rescue her from people who want to kill her simply for being what she is. Let's have a think about this problem Viconia, what would stop random people wanting to kill me? I know! having a reputation across the realm as a hero. Wait what do you mean you're leaving now we are getting welcomed and have great discounts at stores.......

All your choices look pretty good to me.

Fighter/mage is always a good choice, though if you dual-class Imoen you shouldn't really need the extra spellcasting. Won't hurt either, of course.

Berserkers are fine characters, but not that interesting to play. Inquisitors add more to a party. They're a pretty unique blend of mage-killing abilities, especially once they get a certain greatsword in BG2.

Another option would be fighter/thief of some description. You can leave the locks and traps to Imoen and focus the protagonist on stealth, backstabbing and trap setting. Plus it's another melee character. Early in BG1 he'll be a bit squishy, but that's what bows are for.

I'd say you definitely want a tank. I'd either choose a straight-up Fighter, an Inquisitor, or possibly some kind of beefy Cleric with really good stat rolls (if you're playing EE, there's a cleric kit designed for this role--I think it's Helm?). If you wanted to play it as more of a challenge game (in which you have a lot of power but truly lack a damage sponge character), you could play that slot as a Kensai or Sorcerer.

It sounds like you're using the Tweak Pack anyway; in addition to the reputation patch, you may also want to turn off party conflicts to keep Minsc and Edwin from fighting each other.

No need for another spellcaster imo. You've got imoen & edwin and that's enough.
Question is - are you using bg trilogy mod or playing with bg1/2:ee editions? You know, for that nasty class kits in first game.

If yes than I'd recommend (just for pure fun) starting with assassin kit (thief) and playing with it whole 1st game and a little bit of the second up until you'll have that x7 backstab multiplier. Then dualclass to fighter and go on to the endgame. Walking dualwielding backstabbing OPness :P Of course there're foes immune to backstab but you'll taking all that npcs in your party for a reason.

You've got 2h user (minsc), cleric (single class so not that efficient in melee), amazing fighter/druid (especially in sequel) and two mages.
You definitely gonna need kind of melee class. It's your choice, but imo it just has to be melee char.

Paladin - maybe, but after obtaining carsomyr you're propably not gonna "evolve" in terms of weapons and for me that's kinda boring for protagonist. Besides it would be another character with 2h weapons after minsc.
Single class fighter (berserker for example) is kind of boring too, efficient but boring. That's why I'd take assassin/fighter or fighter/thief (if you're playing vanilla bg1).

If I were playing that crew -- I am *not* a power gamer -- I would be looking at Bard (dual-wielding Blade), since you have every other class covered, not to mention that pure melee fighters are boring; bards have so much to offer, and are much more fun than fighters or paladins. Don't underestimate them.

I'll be using the EE versions since I got them cheap in a sale a few months back.

Honestly I've never been a fan of the thief type gameplay, it always seems so much effort to set up back stabs and then you miss due to your low THAC0.

I still can't make up my mind.

I like the Bard suggestion too. It's worth noting that you don't absolutely have to go with a primary melee character for this last slot, even though that's the most obvious choice. Equip Viconia with Crom Faeyr, give the Girdle of Fortitude to either her or Minsc, and give the Hill Giant Strength belt to Jaheira, and you've probably got all the melee you need. Choosing the Blade kit for a Bard on top of that would add some extra melee support as well.

That's why you're dualing to fighter (or multiclassing with). Backstab is all about positioning so not that big problem (for me). Of course you might have diffirent opinion and that's fine.
Guys are talikng about bard here, blade especially. I'd rather go for Skald, just for his (much) improved song. Really usefull and in addition you've got +1/1 hit/dmg all the time and not for X seconds during spins like Blade (and defensive spin is useless in ToB). But I'm propably talking about powergaming here, sorry :D

In terms of "fun" classes I always thought about sorcerer or wildmage (for that epic randomness) but since you've already got 2 mages... meh. Shapeshifter would be fun too if it weren't so completely broken later in BG2. Sad.

I've decided to give a multi-class fighter/thief a play, I'll invest in hide/move silently and let Imoen deal with the traps and locks so I can try back stabbing plus I enjoy the fighter HLAs so I decided against a dual class.

An Inquisitor would be a perfect fit but I just can't see a Paladin travelling with Viconia and Edwin, Viconia may have turned from Loth but Shar is worse if anything.

I've played a Sorcerer before, it is good fun and insanely powerful later on. I had thought about a Monk but the one big thing that puts me off them is the progression they get their magical fists at, level 9 for +1 means I would spend an entire game without them.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

My last (and only, so far) BG1 playthrough was as a Monk. It's really not as bad as it sounds on paper. For one thing, that's why the Monk gets weapon skill points; for another, there aren't all that many BG1 enemies you can't hit with unenchanted fists; for a third, you'd have five other party members. Best thing for monsters requiring magic weapons is to melee with Jaheira and Minsc (in my case, I also had Khalid), and have the Monk with a sling and Imoen with arrows for missile backup and Viconia/Edwin for spellcasting support.

Fighter/thief is probably an excellent choice though. I've never played one, but the backstab ought to be pretty badass.

When I play a fighter-thief, at times I forget I even have a whole party, since my protagonist scouting ahead somehow ends up killing half the enemies.

My favourite tactic is to pair the fighter-thief with a stealthy NPC ranger type who's good with a bow. Kivan is ideal in BG1, Valygar is best in BG2 and can also backstab, but Minsc will do if you give him light armour.

They then operate as a tag-team: the fighter-thief moves in and backstabs. As soon as the blow hits, he runs. Meanwhile, the ranger is waiting in stealth with his bow some distance away. He starts shooting the bad guys. This typically distracts them, so the fighter-thief can move around a corner and enter stealth mode again. The ranger then also flees, and hopefully has enough of a lead he can also get out of sight and re-stealth. This way, hitting and running, they can harass the enemy to death. Works best indoors, where stealth is easy (avoid lights) and there are plenty of corners to hide behind.

This can and will fail, at times, which is when you see the stealth-team running like panicked chickens for the safety of the rest of the party, or conversely sees the rest of the party madly dash forward to try and save a scout who got hit with a hold person spell. Fun times.