I'll leave this open to anyone with any questions and or tips for making or playing around with classes in either game

Right this minute however I am interested in some ideas pertaining to being a really evil bastard in KOTOR 1. XD Is there a preferred class for evil? I've played it through both times with good and middle of the road and I really want to attempt a full game as bad. #2 is other story and is obviously way more complex, but I was curious if anyone had any thoughts on this in the 1st game. I was thinking Scout though Scoundrel does seem the seedier of the two, alas a scoundrel is really hard to get through the first half of the game with.

Classes in KotOR and KotOR II are thankfully not very complex and the choice overall not that important.
The games are easy enough so you can beat them with any class and any combination, really, at least if you have some experience with RPGs in general.

Now, there is no advised class for a dark side character in KotOR. The classes represent a specific play-style (or they attempt to do so):
Soldiers for warriors, also known as the lightsaber-guy, if you like to confront your enemies in close combat.
Scoundrels for diplomats and "clever" players, using stealth your mind (and the force later on) to solve problems.
And the Scout, who somehow is a mixture of the two above but can't get anything right (my opinion, to be fair).

You can later choose your class as a Jedi, no matter what class you've chosen at the beginning:
Soldiers would naturally choose to become Jedi Guardians.
Scouts would become Jedi Sentinels.
And Scoundrels therefore Jedi Consulars.

Classes differ in their progression and development of skills, feats, force points and base attributes. The paths described above are easy and obvious, but other combinations may be more fun or rewarding, in a way. For example, I personally think the Scoundrel-Guardian is the most powerful warrior at the end, due to certain skills and combinations of abilities.


But all of that doesn't actually answer your question.
If you intend to make your character evil and bad-ass, I recommend the Scoundrel-Consular. Yes, Scoundrels are more difficult to play in the first few hours, but it will be a great base for a force-centric build and your Sith Lord later on will be a monster.

I feel like this post didn't really go anywhere, too many thoughts in my head. I've read and learned a lot about these games over the years, especially their mechanics, but it's sometimes difficult to articulate :D

Anyway, if you'd like to dig into this matter deeper, I recommend this guide here. It is in-depth and explains everything you want and didn't want to know about classes and more.

Thanks for the link. :D Your post was kind of what I was hoping to get when I made the thread so I guess it worked. Simple as the system is, I've had this game a looooong time and played it countless times yet I'm always coming up with questions and curiosities about how to toy with it. Up until recently I really didn't have a forum I could go to where I trusted the people and in turn the people didn't treat me like shit (steam anyone). :P

Anyway I was thinking Scout/Consular just so I could have a little added dexterity and a fighters chance for those 1st few hours....plus I just love speed. I'll have to think about this.

I was going to look up that doc @Urnoev linked you to (bless his heart) because it has everything you may want or need (I despaired whether I'd be able to find it - my sources become as scattered as my thoughts, these days).

But I might suggest an approach to make your decision: Start with the last decision first, then decide what best feeds into it. So decide whether you want to cut people up with your lightsaber or if you want to force choke people and cover them with evil lightning (I'd go with the latter since you can cut people up with your lightsaber on the Light Side).

Then figure out if you want to enhance that kind of character more with skills or with feats. And which saves/to hits/vitality/special feats you want at the end. Think hard about whether you want skills much at all. If you do, then think about pumping intelligence a bit (which is sort of a waste of points). Repair is nice if you want to see the HK story and to bring out his full potential.

All the times I've played I've never been able to do that.

Yes, Skills are quite unpopular for some reason, most seem to think they are useless, since your companions have them already instead.
But they are useful, especially in the second game of the series. I actually once played the game as a Jedi Sentinel with Intelligence 16, so I could develop six skills to maximum. And it was a lot of fun.
There are things you just can't do with companions, but only yourself.

Everybody loves having skills. It is just that you have to give up force strength or lightsaber strength to get them. You only get a few attribute points through the game. Boss battles can be a pain if you haven't put enough into fighting.

First playthrough. :p Which, IIRC, was a scout/consular.

Only been able to do it once in my several KOTOR playthroughs, specifically making a repair build just for HK's dialogue.

Skills are rather underused in KOTOR1, which is why Obsidian improved upon them in KOTOR2 with dialogue-choices and crafting.

My best advice for a really dark and powerful playthrough is to go force-heavy and eventually become Sith Lord.

Dark force powers such as Lightning and Drain Life become very powerful, so much so that you can pretty much walk your way through most of the late-game watching the enemies drop like flies to your all-mighty force powers!

Also, Force Crush is a favourite of mine because it just feels awesome xD

The only thing I've seen in the entire Kotor 1, which would push one build over another is the robe you make near the end of the game.
Light side characters get a +wisdom robe, while dark side chars get a +strength robe.

Like another said, in Kotor 2, anything goes.
I usually play a light side jedi master, for the sheer party buff powers, combined with the force enlightenment mod, that makes it very very easy to buff everyone.

Glad you posted because I just happened to be playing and the damnest thing occurred, my guy grew a beard! I've never played as a male before and here I am a DS male and this full goatee just shows up! Has it always been like this and does it happen in #2?

That made me laugh. X-D
I know he has one if you select it at the beginning in #2; I've never seen that happen in #1.

Goatee = evil. It is the law.

[url=]http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-21-bastard-of-the-old-republic[/url]
(spoilers)

I'll throw in with the notion of consular for an eeeeeeeevil player. Also, there's a point where you can use force choke in a dialog iirc, so definitely take that power early.

For a starting class I *always* choose scout and stop leveling him at 4. Taris is a little tougher, but the payoff is worth it. If you go this route, you only have one lower BAB than a soldier, and much better saves. Also, although the soldier gets to pick one more feat, you will have gotten levels 1 and 2 of implants for free, so the net effect is scout gets one more feat than soldier. Lastly, repair is a class skill, which helps get an early jump on that if you are looking to fully upgrade HK. All things considered, scout is the optimal choice for starting class imho.