What is the most useful single class in BG1, to you? Why?

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Like the topic says, not the most fun or most powerful but the most useful. My vote goes to the Bard. Bards can add a lot to your party in the way of magic. And beleive it or not, at times, I have found the Bardsong helpful. They can add a bit in the way of missle support and at times make a small contribution on the front line, I always appreciate a good Bard.
What is your pick?

 

Cleric for me. I tend to go a fair bit before resting so having one, or preferably two, characters ready to heal the party is an absolute must. Additionally, the bonuses provided by simple spells like Bless are significant through a large part of the game.

 

Anyone who can heal, but since that gets 3 classes, I'll go with the classic cleric.

 

Fighter. Without a good tank, the rest of your useful NPCs get pulped. Plus, in BG1 archery is king, and nobody does it better than a fighter. Of course, paladins and rangers are almost as good, but the fighter has a slight edge in gaining levels a little quicker, and can get more than two proficiency points in a weapon.

 

I agree with Felinoid. Fighters rock, especially since proficiencies aren't nerfed like they are in BG2. If you make an Elf Fighter with a 19 DEX and **** in Long Bow, this game would be a joke.

 

I enjoy playing with bards. I can use any weapon on them and I'm not forced to use the various tomes on NPC's (I always plan my PC for import in BG2).

 

I think thief is the most useful class for removing traps, opening locks, scouting and backstabbing abilities. Mages and bards can open locks with knock but they will run out of knocks after some point and there are other good 2nd level spells.

 

There are plenty of good thieves in BG1 already. I find no point in making my PC one.

 

Oh, sorry i didn't exactly understand the question because i generally solo. Yes there are lots of thieves so with a party bard could be more useful.

 

It's not specifically about what class is powerful as the PC; just what class is the most useful (which I sorta think includes all the NPCs).

 

I find the Paladin most useful. Can tank, cast spells, turn undead.....the list goes on

 

Fighters, for sure. It's the nature of D&D: fighters dominate at lower levels. Higher levels, mages dominate.

I'd say Bards are the most useless in BG1. Their paltry spells; 1 attack per round; fairly low hit points; and the fact that they need fairly high stats across the board to be even somewhat viable.

 

Bards are far from useless. They get the highest casting level (even higher than mages). Of course, they are not as good as in IWD's but since you already have a complement of NPC's as tanks, healers or spellcasters, bards are great to have. Make one an archer and they make a good sniper (they do get 2 attacks/round with a bow), even though they don't get extra attacks at level 7.

 

I have never seen a useless class, just some more useful than others at different times. And as pisspoor as some of the NPCs look they are all at the very least playable if not tolerable.

 

As far as useless, I'd say no class fits that. Most useful though, is indubitably the fighter. Spellcasting just doesn't do enough damage fast enough. I just replayed with a party of 4 fighters, a fighter/cleric for healing, and a fighter/thief for traps, locks, and backstab.

I had no problems because of the lack of a mage. In fact, I was able to take out Sarevok with just my PC. I made the final confrontation a duel to enhance the role-playing aspect (and to see if I could). With my -9 AC, and speed and cloud giant strength potions, he hit me twice before I killed him. And this is without TotSC, so I was only level 7.

In other words, I agree wholeheatedly with Sir Fink. I'll take it a step further to say that spells are only useful to heal. Four characters with **** in long bows is better than a magic missile spell any day.