So I've been playing BG1 and it's been... Eh, honestly. I'm finding myself getting frustrated quite often, as I am playing a straight up mage (no dual class, no specialist wizard). I'm quite familiar with the system of D&D, and knew I would be fragile, but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth continuing this character into BG2 (for the record, I'm not very far in BG1... Chapter 4). Beyond being nigh-on worthless in combat after blowing a couple spells, I'm starting to realize enemies are going to become magic resistant- which makes life really difficult.

So thoughts? Are mages worth it at all to play through without double classing? Or should I go back and start over? I really want to be able to enjoy both games, and being a fighter seems sort of... Well, point and click. But I don't really feel the appeal of many of the other classes.

The first thing to understand about mages is that spells should be used only when necessary. If you see an enemy, any enemy, and fire off a barrage of spells without thought, then no wonder you're getting frustrated. Baldur's Gate (D&D) magic is not mana based, so conservation is key. Your mage is a support fighter. That is not to say that a mage is useless in a fight, far from it. The further in to the game you go, the more essential your mage will become. By end game a mage can hold their own against almost anything. There are spells to counter magic resistance, just as there are to counter protections.

Of course single class mages are worth playing. Anything is.

I played a straight-up mage for playthrough of BG1. It's very doable.

The frustrating thing with the mage is that you do die more often than with many other classes and since YOU are the mage, you can't get a rez and it goes to the death screen. But it's still manageable. Just keep your guys buffed up and keep your mage out of danger.

You can definitely do it and Chapter 4 is really deep into the game.

Also, remember that there is a difficulty slider. If you are rolling for your HP, you can get a super-squishy mage. You might want to knock back the difficulty by 1 and see if it gets to be more enjoyable. I played Hardcore through BG1, but found Normal to be far more enjoyable in BG2.

Good luck!

Other thing that can help you, is a wizard ring hidden on the Inn where were Jaheria & Khalid. The ring will doulbe your Level 1 spells.

P.d. the mage is my favorite class, and just sometimes I turned into a wild mage for BG2 (Though casting a Gate spell on the first dungeon is a priceless suicide)

Didn't have much time with pure mage but I played some time ago as Sorceress and it was not so damn hard (but... some fancy stuff from DSotSC and NTotSC helped A LOT). Key is mirror image, some healing pots and when available stone skins. As for offensive spells chromatic orb is always nice (gets better over time but still is quite easily repelled through successful saving throw), magic missile, web and once you get fireball u rule! Later, in BG2 part just see what mage can do with Vecna robe and that really useful amulet u get from Aran Linvail. As for magic immunity - it might only apply on some lower level spells and liches or maybe magic elementals. All other enemies can be brought to 0% MR using lower resistance spell (and few others). It didn't last long but it should suffice. BTW it's always good to have at least 2 arcane spellcasters in a team when going into SoA or ToB. ABHW is problem solver most of the time and even if not you can always use some exploits like cast incendiary cloud into room and close doors. For umber hulk (d'arnise hold, spellhold and lots of other places) cloud kill is nice and vanilla game trolls - circle of death - very useful.

Mages are weak at the beginning but get more and more powerful as they level up.They are far more powerful than non-casters in BG2.

Mages can use wands to cast spells like fireball, wands are very useful in BG1. If there's only one charge left you can refill them by selling and buying them back.

Mages get so OP by the end of the franchise, that it is possible to solo the game as one.

An excerpt:

Day 11
[i]I have it! I HAVE IT!!! Were it in my personality to dance and sing in the streets with joy, I would do so. Perhaps the Bards' guild would arrive and threaten me? I have done it. I relate the story of the capture of this nigh-unique item of extreme power: the Staff Of The Magi...

...As hellish as the quest to rescue the Boots Of Speed...er...Ha'er-Dalis was, they again saved me by allowing me to keep my distance when required and lead the enemies through the deadly gas. The Cloudkill ran out, so I hit them with another one (wands can be used with a Protection From Magic active...it just prevents cast spells from working.) The beholder dropped, leaving four enemies...and then the mage! Immediately I picked the Staff Of The Magi from her fresh corpse, identified it from lore alone and equipped it...and its powers became mine. To all remaining enemies, I was invisible. They stood around wondering where I had gone. Shangalar cast True Sight, but with the Cloak Of Non-Detection I was still invisible. If it had worked, I would have just re-equipped the Staff again and disappeared. The thief was Nearly Dead; I pounded him one step further. Now only the lich and vampire remained. I crushed Shangalar to dead bones, re-equipping the Staff with each strike, and suffered not a scratch. His corpse yielded over 2,800 gold pieces, and I gained 50,000 experience points from his centuries-belated demise. Only the vampire remained. The beholder's eye had fallen off when it died; this turned out to be the key out of the place. Knowing of the vampire's regenerative powers, not being able to cast Disintegrate through the magical shield, and satisfied that I had done everything I had set out to do and more, I departed, leaving Mr. Bloodsucker to wonder how a single, fragile human could have caused all this damage.[/i]

Or so OP at the outset in this case:
Stats (without tomes): Str. 18, Int 18, Dex. 18, Con. 18, Wis. 9, Chr. 12

The guy rolled for two hours to get this, but why? There's no earthly reason for 18 STR and 18 CON for a mage -- a wiser decision would have been to up WIS to boost identifying things. A solo character is not going to be carrying around enough (inventory limit) to warrant even STR at that level.

Of course it's possible, but that's a bad example, that's all.

You may disagree, but he explained his reasons. It's a pretty enjoyable Let's Play regardless.

I only said it was a bad example, for the purpose of helping a frustrated newcomer. I never meant to imply that it wasn't valid or enjoyable. Each to his own.

18 Con was obviously a mist take: unless all the charts I've seen have been mistaken, non warrior classes gain no benefit for Con above 16. On the other hand, when playing solo you don't have tanks to protect you from being hit. While moving out of the way generally works, there are situations where it isn't feasible, so having extra hitpoints can always be useful. What's more, not having the lore to identify something isn't that major an issue, since you can cast the spell if lore isn't enough (and resting can be done almost anywhere, and with no healer will probably be done a lot, relying on the ring of regeneration). Thus, I feel that in principle maximising Con is preferable to maxing Wis, though in this case points were wasted.

18 Str might have been a bit excessive (considering he didn't need to, eg, carry plate armour for himself, and especially in a game with bags of holding). Again, though, I don't see the point of squeezing every point of lore available - I would have simply let my Str drop a bit, and saved time rolling. The author explains that the biggest reason he boosted Strength, though, was for situations where enemies closed with him and he had to use melee in early BG1, when he didn't have the spellslots for spells in every fight (and, as I'm sure you know, retreat to ranged combat can sometimes be tricky and result in hits which a low-level mage is unlikely to survive). He also needed it to open locked doors pre-knock.

As you highlighted, there is zero benefit of 18 CON for anything but a fighter in BG1, so hit points were not the reason -- 16 is the max needed for any other class.

Having lore is far more important in BG1 than it is in BG2. You simply do not have the spell slots to waste (as a soloist) on Identify, nor the money to spend at temples, and resting continually is just cheesy -- there is no ring of regeneration in BG1 by the way. Maximising CON is absolutely not preferable, because there is absolutely zero benefit, while there is ample benefit for lore bonuses (+10) from WIS.

Regarding the melee closing, a mage has a much better chance of surviving a retreat to ranged (kiting) than going toe to toe (Sleep, Blindness and Horror are a mage's best friend). Regarding opening locks, Knock is only a level 2 spell -- you don't plan your stats based around your character's first four levels if you're planning the long haul.

Way over the top if you ask me.

I misunderstood you then. My apologies.

If they are playing as a mage, it might be beneficial to have 18 Con if they are importing to BG2. I remember seeing something in a loading screen about losing a Con point if your familiar died. There's also the possibility that they are modding in some of the harsher P&P rules (-1 Con on death), but that doesn't seem to be the case, and even if it was, it would only affect other characters since PC death is a game-ender.

I've played BG2 through 3 times with a mage (always the same.) Playing BG for my first time and I'm using a mage that I then plan to carry into BG2 and play through with her AGAIN, but this time having come from BG1. I'm excited. It's a little difficult at the beginning with a mage because you can't do much, but it quickly changes and is definitely worth playing one. Get a familiar ASAP.

Also, make sure you have some defensive spells cast before going into battle, most specifically stoneskin, it is crucial. Blur and various shields are also quite helpful.

Depending on your spell selection, you may want to start over just so you can choose different spells and get a bit more fun/smooth of a playthrough. That is one of the bonuses to re-playing a mage multiple times, refining spell choices and simply "learning" the class more so you can kick major butt with it. I almost always opt to play a mage in RPGs because I love to watch the spell effects, and just seeing others cast them makes me want to know what they are casting and be able to do it and see others of my choosing, plus they are so powerful with a good supporting group of companions, and there's always a fun fighter or two to choose from that you can build to be however you want anyway.