POLL: Most powerful class?

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I want you to vote for which among the most talked about classes in this fine game is the most powerful. I know you cannot actually compare them technically, as each might have different strengths, etc etc. But on the whole, based on your own opinion, which is the most powerful class?

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 76 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Most powerful class? (76 votes.)

Most powerful class? (Choose 1)
* Kensai (with dualclasses) - 7% (5)
* Archer - 1% (1)
* Sorcerer - 43% (33)
* Assassin - 1% (1)
* Ranger/Cleric - 8% (6)
* Blade - 8% (6)
* Inquisitor - 4% (3)
* Monk - 3% (2)
* Fighter/Mage - 4% (3)
* Fighter/Thief - 1% (1)
* Fighter/Mage/Thief - 4% (3)
* Other...please specify in your posts - 16% (12)

 

I would say sorcerers just because they can make themselves near invicable, and on the otherside are able to blow apart enemies in no time at all.

 

If you want to you will literally never run out of spells as a sorcerer. (Wish and/or Spell Trap)
Once your sorcerer gets access to Project Image it's over.

 

I went for r/c because they get so much good protecting spells and still have decent offense. By the way my r/c laughs at a buffed sorc when he casts Nature's Beauty.

 

I think the sorcerer is definitly the most powerful class.

However, I would say the best class is a blade. Although a sorcerer may be more powerful, when you get to the point that any enemy in the game is a piece of cake, power doesn't really matter as much. Plus, I think the blade has some of the coolest ways of killing it's enemies. Nothing better then running into a fight with 4 misleads all singing improved bardsong, throwing in an introductory skull trap, then killing them all with offensive spin!

 

Swashbuckler, definately. A well placed hit (no backstab, but gets bonuses to hit & damage) from the shadows can take down any near enough anything, and with a decent pair of weapons and a nice critical hit... marvellous!

 

No argument. Archer.

Best sorcerer in the world wouln't be able to get a spell off againts a high level archer with high quality arrows.

Throw in his HLA's and he's an animal.

 

I do believe that a Thief/Mage is the most powerful of all classes.

1) Cast Mislead.
2) Cast Improved Invisibility on clone.
3) Cast Spell Immunity: Divination.
4) Backstab over and over to your hearts content, with absolutely no interruption.

The only thing that can mess with that is Glitterdust, and enemies never cast that. With Belm you can attack for about 60-75 on average 2 times a round.

Other than that, I'd say a Fighter/Mage can handle absolutely anything thrown at him.

 

The Blade.

In a game where just about any ability can be improved to epic proportions, it helps if you're well versed at everything, so when the opportunity for improvement comes...

The other good thing about the Blade is that he has no real weaknesses. While the Sorcerer is supreme when it all amounts to raw magical power, he has his fair share of exploitable weaknesses. No amount of protection will ever be enough to defend anything against everything in this game, and when it all comes down to it no single skill will ever be enough to take on every situation possible as well.
(ie, All Magic or All Melee won't work everywhere - apparent enough in several mods) So it really helps if you have other skills to fall back to.

This versatility is present only on the FMT, the FMC and the Bard, and the Blade is the best among them.

 

I think fighter/mage or thief/mage are preety powerful

 

The Blade.

I agree with everything Scythesong has said.

You can tank, melee, cast and sing with the best of them. While my fighters prove useless against certain foes, me Blade can cats magic or sing. While my mage(s) find their spells ineffective and have to hids, my Blade can step up and fight/tank. With Tensers, my Blade had 200+ hitpoints, had way better AC and was far more effective than Korgan. Plus UAI, means you can pick the best equipment there is and back-up any other character.

 

We're not talking about PvP here folks!

A sorcerer normally never has eye contact with his enemy. He uses farsight to direct his summons and spells. A Project Image is casting all the spells and using the quick slot items.
Meanwhile the sorcerer sits out of danger and directs the battle.
Only as a last resort will he engage personally, probably by preparing with a Wish to get fully rested and then a Time Stop/Improved Alacrity combo just before stepping in.

This is why I think the Sorcerer is the most powerful class.

 

Aye. Sorc is the single most powerful class, in the game at least. With the right spells you can overrule the magic resistances in a split second (Improved Alacrity, Pierce Magic etc), break the spellbarriers, and then just proceed with the slaughter. Unless opposed by a powerful mage, a sorcerer can also protect himself against just about everything for a fairly long time considering the amount of spells in his possession. And a fairly long time is definitely not a luxury their opponents have.

If we were talking about PvP, then one single magic immunity scroll used by a character able to read it and do powerful melee as well, would prove near unbeatable by a sorc. Then again if we were talking about PvP, a sorc wouldn't stand idly by in a situation like that. Instead he'd teleport the heck out of there, and retaliate another time... probably succesfully as well.

In any case, in Forgotten Realms magic is the most potent power of all. The more levels you have, the more important powerful magics become. Any character wishing to strike down a magic-user needs powerful magic themselves. The question is unfair because in BG2 you have an over-abundance of powerful magical items able to rival the power a mage has. Still a blade may be versatile, but his magic cannot even hope to compare against a full-fledged sorc. While he might strike down a few unwary magic users with either surprise attacks or by using unexpected items of great magical power, in the end when a mage / sorc prepared for just that would come accross him, there's not much he could do.

 

Okay, maybe I'm a little biased, but I've always thought that the Cavalier kit is one of the most powerful ones I've come across. I hated getting hit with a poison arrow or something and be stuck there twitching until someone can give me an antidote or cast slow poison...and those mutated spiders' and Wraith spiders' could mean instant death without a save! And fear always bugged me...without a protection spell on, my whole PARTY sometimes ended up running about (VERY bad with traps around!). So, a paladin with immunity to poison and fear, resistance to acid and fire AND cleric spells? Sign me up! I hardly even miss the missile weapons I sacrificed.

 

If we're talking straight-up power, then the Sorceror. Due to several exploits available to them, they have it over everyone else in the game in a straight fight. Project Image is borderline cheese, as is Wish. You just need to be patient (and not mind bending the basic principles of reality). A fully prepared Sorceror (or even Mage) is virtually impossible to get a shot at, let alone kill. Of course, to get the most out of your Sorceror, you have to assume that he/she is psychic as well and knows what to expect around every corner - give a newbie a sorceror and watch it get splattered.

That said, give someone who knows what they're doing either a Blade, Swashbuckler or Assassin and that sorceror is as dead as Julius Caesar. All the arcane spell defences in the world can't stop traps and a lethal dose of poison, and the Assassin only needs one hit to do it. A Blade can rip down spell defences as well, the Assassin has poison to his advantage (which Tananda has noted), and the Swashbuckler can use Whirlwind in a sneak attack to take out Mirror Images, Stoneskins, etc. Sure, it's not a fair fight, but that wasn't the question. Equipped with minimal magic items, basic skills/spell picks and with the same amount of XP, I'd back a high-level thief over a single mage any day of the week in competent hands. The only thing is that this tactic doesn't apply so well in the game against groups of 'uge slobbering monsters as it does in a one-on-one fight.

@ Earl: How many Sorcerors always pick Farsight? You're the first person I've seen mention it. Makes perfect sense, though.

 

Again with the PvP comparison. I don't think it's a good idea since that's not what this game is about.
It's a good idea to explain why a class is good, but I object when it's put in a PvP context, when it should be PvM or PvGame.
This is not Diablo, this is a single player game.

Taking Farsight or not depends in part on if you want to avoid reloads. Without Farsight or some other means of scouting and directing the battle in safety you run a greater risk.
There are several other good spells at level 4 - Stoneskin, Greater Malison, Spider Spawn (best early summons), Minor Sequencer, Polymorph Self - so it's no wonder if people at times do not take Farsight.
However for the full solo sorcerer experience Farsight is IMO mandatory.

 

Invisibility and the right Familiar work really well as well. The rabbit(TN) is cool as he can detect traps pretty well, especially in TOB, plus he is always hasted and can run away very quickly.

 

I kinda like a fully up'd single class Kensai. Gib's anything in seconds at high levels.

Or a Kensai mixed with any other class is obscenely powerful aswell.

I've had most fun in the game with a Berserker though truth be told. On my first run through.

 

After a little consideration, I think this question needs to be revised to take into account the stages of the game. Roughly speaking, the "early game" probably lasts until about level 12 or 13, the "mid-game" is until about level 17 or 18 for most characters, "late game" lasts until about 25th to 28th level, and "end game" is everything thereafter. I think the key defining attributes of power are access to magic, stealth and ability to meet more than one requirement for the game (ie: versatility).

Early game: Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Mage/Thief. At this point, the Sorceror hasn't got his game-breaking spells, the Bard isn't quite as powerful as he becomes later, and any dual-classed character is still getting their abilities back. The other two classes are stronger from the get-go.

Mid-game: Dual-class Kensai/Mage, Mage/Thief, Bards and F/M. Again, being able to do a couple of different things well is enough here - you don't have to be super-specialised yet, and the multi-class characters aren't so far behind the single-class characters yet. The Sorceror is just about at that level in the mid-game, but only really shoots into orbit when he gets his highest-level spells and HLAs.

Late game: Sorceror and Bards (esp. Blade), if for no other reason than he levels up faster, making him slightly stronger. Fighter/Mage and F/M/T just behind them, but dropping back due to lack of levels.

End game: Sorceror; by this point in time, rules and any semblance of realism do not apply to them any more.

 

I think NonSequitur makes a good point about dividing up the game into parts. However instead of going by levels perhaps dividing it into xp intervals would work better?

This would make cross class comparisons fairer.
Example: comparing a level 12 Paladin with a level 12 Thief is not fair since it takes the Paladin 1.2m xp to get there while the Thief gets there after 440k xp.

Classifying it in terms of early, mid and late is not a perfect solution since it implies progress made in the main quest and that can differ very much.
Using terms like Low, Medium, High and Very High levels are more appropriate.

Low: up to 999,999 xp
Mid: 1,000,000 - 2,999,999 xp
High: 3,000,000 - 4,999,999 xp
V. High: 5,000,000 - 8,000,000 xp

A Sorcerer would have these intervals:
Low: up to level 12
Mid: level 13-17
High: level 18-23
V. High: level 24-31

A Paladin would have these:
Low: up to level 11
Mid: level 12-17
High: level 18-24
V. High: level 25-34

A Bard would have these:
Low: up to level 14
Mid: level 15-23
High: level 24-32
V. High: level 33-40

I think this works quite well.
3m xp is a natural point as this is when ToB HLA's kick in (except for dual class characters).
5m xp also works well since at this point single class characters have matured and any further levels they gain are actually of very marginal use.