I know that there are endless discussions on forums across the internet since the beginning of time as to which class is the best or most fun, but what I look for in choosing a main character is something that you cannot find in any companions.

Among choices for companions in your party you can get: Mages, Paladins, Fighters, Clerics, Druids, Thieves.

This covers almost all bases.

Therefore, when you are choosing a Main Character to roll, if you are thinking about "there are not really any good ____ to choose from" what fills the gap for you?

Not familiar with Baldur's Gate 1, but for Baldur's Gate 2, there are a fair number of classes that aren't represented, or whose representation involves a kit that takes away basic abilities of the class.

(Note that I am assuming the classic edition, not the enhanced edition here.)

For example:
* The only Paladin companion has a kit that takes away the abilities that, to me, make a Paladin a Paladin in AD&D, so that class is an option.
* Something similar can be said about Bard.
* Having a thief main character (and not a thief/mage; there's two dual-classed and one multi-class character with this particular combination) might work, particularly when you get to HLA levels, since thieves get some nice unique HLA abilities. (Note that Bards can, for the most part, get the same HLAs.)
* Not every multi-class combination is well represented. Try fighter/mage, for example. Or, cleric/thief (which actually has some interesting synergy; Draw Upon Holy Might boosts Dexterity, affecting trap disarm rates, while I believe you can use some thief skills while under Sanctuary without breaking it, even when the same action would break invisibility).
* BG2 added 3 classes from 3rd Edition: Barbarian, Monk, and Sorcerer. It did not, however, add any companions with those classes (something I find to be rather disappointing). So, maybe chose one of these classes for the main character? (Sorcerer is actually really good in this game, though it helps if you're familiar with which spells are good in this game and which ones are not.)

Something that I often see people on the forums saying is, never choose a thief because thieves are only necessary for Find Traps and you always have a thief companion. While others say, always make your main character your thief because you're always going to need a thief.

Another thing that I see people saying is "you can never have too many fighters" - therefore a main char fighter (either pure kitted or Multiclass) would be best.

Lastly, I guess it's pretty obvious that there is no sorcerer companion, but I feel that any arcane caster you can create will be crappy compared to Edwin so I dunno.

Thing is, there's many optional uses for thieves, like setting traps, using stealth, backstabbing, and thief HLAs (including Use Any Item), that there's a reason you might want to have more than one, or at least have a character who can level up the class and won't permanently leave midway through, and the game just doesn't give companions suitable for that.

Also, one strategy I once saw in a speedrun is to do a mage to thief dual class, and I believe the player spent all the thief skill points on pickpocket, allowing the player to steal some items. (Note that I wouldn't recommend this for casual play, as your HP will be worse than what a thief would get.)

(There's also the fact that, personally, I'd like the main character to be a magic focused character, preferably one who can heal, and there being a thief shortage doesn't help.) The ability to spontaneously cast spells can be quite handy. If you get dispelled, for example, you can easily just put those spells back up. If you find that you chose the wrong spell for the situation, you can spend those slots on other spells without having to rest. If you use Limited Wish to recover spells, or use Simulacrum to create a duplicate, you don't need to worry about which spells are restored or are available to the clone. Also, multiple clones can spend their spell slots differently.

Also, Sorcerers can get rarer spells more easily. Because, for whatever reason, Mages don't get to choose new spells at level up, they're at the mercy of the game to provide scrolls for the spells you want; Sorcerers, on the other hand, aren't bound by this. A Sorcerer can, for example, learn Wish without needing to go deep into Watcher's Keep or reach the main Throne of Bhaal campaign.

There's also the fact that Edwin has only 9 Wisdom, making him a poor choice for casting Limited Wish or Wish. Furthermore, he's vulnerable to Holy Smite, which can be a problem if you want to use that spell offensively, and are relying on the fact that it won't hit non-evil targets in a game where most of the enemies are evil.

For Baldur's Gate 1, Ajantis is easily obtained and is a basic Paladin. Ajantis is not available as a companion in Baldur Gate 2.

Although Keldorn's Inquisitor kit does deprive him of some stereotypical Paladin abilities, it offers some nice perks of its own, even before considering his personal equipment (Hallowed Redeemer, Firecam Full-Plate Armor).

I concur with dtgreene's remarks about thieves. In particular, I cannot recall any companions with the thief kits Assassin, Swashbuckler, or (EE only) Shadowdancer. If you want any of those, you must create one yourself. As for whether to recommend it, I have played with a Swashbuckler and found it to be decent. It provides a thief with a bit more tanking capacity than the unkitted thief, and its only penalty is loss of the ability to backstab. If you do not care to use backstab anyway, then you will not regret that loss. dtgreene focused on Classic Edition, so I want to add that BG2: EE added Rasaad, a Sun Soul-kitted Monk. I have not used Rasaad or created a CHARNAME Monk.

If we include kits, I find that Dwarven Defender, Kensai, and Archer are quite good, and there are no companions with any of these kits. Kensai and Archer are a bit fragile if you want to get in close, but all three can be good ranged fighters with the right weapon (DD: Throwing Axe, Kensai: Throwing Dagger, Archer: Long bow in BG1, or Short Bow in BG2 (for Tuigan Bow with its +1 APR)).

Cleric kits generally have no disadvantage beyond their alignment restriction, so if you decide to play a Cleric for CHARNAME, I would recommend using a kit based on your alignment. As far as I can recall, none of the cleric kits available to the player are represented by companions.

Wiki: Companions provides a summary of who is available and their class kit, which could be convenient if you want to quickly determine all classes and kits that are (un)available as companions.

In BG2/BG2EE I usually create something/thief purely so I don't have to bother with Imoen/Nalia for the umpteenth time.You can't go without thief in this game, but you also shouldn't go with pure thief.
Or just edit Hexatt into fighter/thief, and go with something actually not restricted to xxx/thief with your main char.

It isn't really something lacking, but I personally think going for something tanky works best on the charname. Companions will nearly always be weaker than what you create yourself, and having a good tank carries everyone else through.

There are several options. Fighter/mage is more or less the meta standard. Berserker/mage variant being stronger, but any of them are fine. Even just default fighter/mage.

Any fighter/x class works well. And, quite honestly, just straight up fighter without a secondary class is good. People tend to focus on the last parts of ToB where a straight fighter misses out on the benefit of the second class, but for the first 80% of the saga, a pure fighter will push low thac0 harder than any other class. And thac0 is everything. You'll still have access to arcane magics from companions.

Especially useful for BG2 where I find good tanking companions limited. Yes, there is Korgan. Yes, there is Jaheira on the long term. But outside of that you'll need a lot of gear to get other companions up to their level. Haer-dalis CAN tank, but it takes a lot of effort.

An added bonus is you get to build your tank with what weapons you want to use ahead of time. Korgan comes with axe pip by default, Jaheira has a very limited weapon set. For a charname tank you can focus on whatever weapon type you want right from the start.

I know, not the most exciting answer. But you can never go wrong with some kind of tank charname.

Worth noting that, in BG2, a Sorcerer with the right spells can effectively tank. Protection from Magic Weapons makes it so that most enemies can't hurt you physically, and Mirror Image and Stoneskin can negate the damage from attacks that would otherwise hit. Add in Spell Immunity to protect against dispel attempts, and you have a character who is hard to kill.

The catch is that, while this character can tank, they're not actually good at dealing melee damage.

It's pretty rare for a game to have mage tanking options, but here we do have one. (The one other example I can think of is Star Ocean 3, but that's not viable until late, since the game's mage doesn't actually join until late game.)

It's all fun and games until an enemy caster hits you with dispel magic.

Apparently Spell Immunity: Abjuration can prevent that.

Yes, arcane magic ends up being the best for tanking. Hence why zerker/mage is the go-to meta option. And sorceror can fill that role as well. Including high level wish shenanigans. But if or when you need the extra spells for tanking, someone like Edwin can fulfill the role just as well.

I suppose I shouldn't have used the word "tanking" specifically. The benefit of warrior ethos classes, which I alluded to, is thac0. So even if you are using arcane magic to supplement damage mitigation, the thac0 is still good. Outside of liches, which are immune to breach, high APR physical damage is the easiest way to hack through any encounter. No rest needed to regain spells, no need to try and get around spell protections, just hack and slash.

BG1 has plenty of companions to fulfill that role. BG2 I find a bit lacking, which is why I suggest it. I like Mazzy and Korgan is always good. Mr. ToB comes late. Just about everyone else sucks with martial weapons and/or is more caster oriented.

An optimized charname warrior ethos, either straight or multi/dualed, will give you that guaranteed physical damage output as a baseline for your party. Then it doesn't really matter if you have Keldorn swinging carsomyr or Viccy running around with crom faeyr. Your companions can do what they want and you'll always have that steady output of good physical damage from charname.

Don't forget that other characters, sometimes even non-warrior characters, can fight in the front row. Even Aerie can work there, as she apparently can use that hammer that gives 25 strength, not to mention the combination of Strength and Draw Upon Holy Might (and you can put those spells into sequencers for instant casting).

(Of course, you could make your main character a Fighter/Cleric/Mage, which is basically the (Final Fantasy) Red Mage of AD&D.)

(Worth noting that, in these sort of games, I prefer to have the main character be a caster, preferably with healing magic, rather than a fighter, because I find magic to be more interesting than physical attacks.)

Ye, sure, pretty much anyone can eventually fight on the front lines. The point is more about momentum.

Take Keldorn for example. Warrior ethos with a busted kit. Yet he comes with 17 strength, 9 dexterity, and a 2-handed sword theme. He does mediocre damage and cannot AC tank (AC still very useful for most of SoA). Bracers of dexterity are locked behind his rather difficult quest.

He is basically dead weight until you can "fix" him with several specific items.

However, if you have a solid warrior/tank/dps charname, regardless of the flavor, it doesn't matter what Keldorn does early on. He can hide behind charname and swing a sword. His damage won't be spectacular, but you aren't relying upon it. Since you don't need things like dex bracers and strength belt on charname, those items can eventually allow Keldorn to stand on his own.

This goes for any of the companions. Aerie has slow spell progression so can't arcane tank as well as a pure mage, but charname can drag her through the early levels. Viconia and Valygar can make surprisingly good tanks, but also requires a bit of set up. Again, charname can drag them through the early levels. Charname is the rock which compensates for lack of good kits/attributes on companions.

I, too, prefer healer casters. But I also really (really really) hate vancian magic systems. Let me just rest for EIGHT HOURS right in front of Davaeorn. Not immersion breaking at all. And so even if I roll a caster of some sort, it is always dual or multi just so he can function without resting 8 hours every few steps.

I tend to gravitate towards the fighting classes, because there are plenty of mages to go around among the companions.

A multiclass fighter/thief can work in almost any party and can have many different roles - I know BG has a couple of fighter/thieves available, but even in the occasional party with two you can specialize in different aspects: one might be the archer/lockpicker, the other the increasingly sneaky backstabber/pickpocketer with significant staying power even after the first strike. And from BG2 onwards, the character can fill out the rest of the thief skills while switching to a more melee orientation if the party balance requires it. Eventually the UAI cheese synergises well with with the warrior HLAs as well as the multitude of items now carried along in the bags of holding. So the character can always be useful from start to finish - not to mention that the ability score requirements are not that heavy.

I'd argue that the problem here isn't the vancian system, but rather a combination of two factors, which can happen in an MP-based system as well:
* Low level casters don't have enough magic resources to sustainably use magic during combat.
* The game allows resting in most places. This problem would be solved if, say, you could only rest in towns and had to manage your resources until you got back to town (and the game were balanced accordingly). (Ironically, it feels like these games allow resting anywhere *except* towns, which feels very backwards to me.)