Hi everyone, I'm new to this game and am getting ready to begin my first playthrough. However, I am very much a planner and I want to be sure I make a good decision about my class and party members...so I had the following questions that I was hoping you could clarify for me...

1. I've read that there are mods that enable you to change things about the characters you recruit. If you do not install any mods, can you still make decisions about multi-classing or choosing their specific feats and stuff as they level up....or will they just follow a specific path when there is no mod?
2. Will Thunder Call and Storm Call (bard) affect allies, or just enemies?
3. I admit that right now I am most drawn to either the base fighter class or the base paladin class. I would welcome your reaction to that.....as well as what you think would be the best 1-2 level dip....or whether it's better to go single class in either of those.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Hi, first things first. For the first playthrough I suggest setting your Kingdom management difficulty to easy or effortless - not auto. Auto will disable many fun events, while normal kingdom management difficulty is actually quite unforgiving.

As for the questions:
1. Yes of course you can, it's an rpg after all. Actually the character development system in Pathfinder is very deep, so you don't need any mods for that.
2. Damage part of the thunder/strom calls affects only random enemies around you, so there's no friendly fire. But I think there was either an additional feat or ability for that class that also gave you aoe stun, and that can affect your allies. But that's optional anyway so no worries.
3. I don't quite remember anything useful about paladins, but for fighters (and many other classes), base kit is meh. Better to specialize, and even better to minmax with few levels of that, few of this, and few of something else. But that's absolutely not necessary, let's be clear! It's just that many high level class abilities are quite mediocre.
For fighter, aldori duelist is quite strong especially with few or even 10 levels of prestige class. Two-handed warrior is also good with, well, 2h weapons (maybe add some barbarian levels to get rage too).
As for the dips, I think the most useful ones for almost everyone was 1 or 3 levels of vivisectionst (alchemist kit) and/or 1 level of scaled fist monk. Read the abilites/passives you'll get for those levels and you'll see yourself.
Though there're some classes like kineticist that you'll want to get all 20 levels without dips whatsoever.
There're many good builds on internet, even some here on gog forums, if you're into it. For the first playthrough though I'd suggest just taking your time to get to know the game, and follow your gut. You can always respec anyway :)

Random tips:
- AC is king in this game
- you'll have plenty of great companions, so it's up to you if you want to have the same character class as them - without spoilers "taken" classes are: barbarian (base), alchemist (base), tower shield fighter (kit), wizard/rogue, eldritch scion (magus kit), ranger (base), knife master (rogue kit), cleric (base), ecclesitheurge (cleric kit), inquisitor (base), bard (base), kineticist (both base and dark elementalist)
- there are quite few timed main quests especially early on, but you shouldn't feel pressured to do them immediately (there's usually some spare time and you'll know when you're about to run out of it)
- for the "complete" story playthrough - again, without spoilers - you might want to halt your adventure after a certain point (after season of bloom quest), and complete dlc varnhold's lot - it's a separate few hours mini campaign with new party, but then you'll be able to import your save into main campaign for additional rewards and story in next acts :) You'll be able to import this save into your future playthroughs as well.

Hope this helps somewhat. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Oh and btw it's really long game, so no need to rush things. But man, it's just one of the best rpgs I've ever played and I've played them all :)

Wow, I really appreciate you taking the time to share all of that!
I do see your point about the 2H fighter or the Aldori, but my "gut" kinda likes the pure class fighter (with the extensive customization options). What I did think was great about the Paladin was the smith + mark of justice...and maybe also the auras to help allies.

Anyway, I will definitely coming back to your advice / tips.
Thanks much!