tbone1 said:
The best is whatever you enjoy most. In my opinion, the Cavalier is best. The worst is a fallen ranger dualled to a cleric.
Well, he did say "based on difficulty". You can be the biggest pure-class Assassin fan in the world, but that doesn't mean it's not harder to solo than a sorcerer, for instance.
All following advice is mostly based on party play: from a soloing standpoint, if you want powerful / easy, it's really just the Sorcerer and then everyone else fighting it out for second.
I'd say the most powerful character in the game is either Sorcerer or Dragon Disciple. Dealer's choice: Sorcerer is better offensively, Dragon Disciple trades a bit of offensive power for 20 extra HP, a bit of extra AC, fire immunity, and the ability to achieve innate regeneration. I prefer the Sorcerer because that extra spell per day when you first unlock a new level of spells is so useful. The only potential hiccup is making sure you get a good spell list, but if you do that, you're golden; they're powerful and flexible enough to deal with any situation in the game either alone or in a group.
Paladins are also pretty user-friendly; they're not the most powerful classes, but Inquisitors and Cavaliers are solid, easy-to-play PCs with some built-in goodies to handle some of the more annoying stuff. Cavaliers are immune to fear and poison and get a nice bonus against some of the toughest enemies in BG2 (demons and dragons). Inquisitors are top-notch mage-killers, and their superpowered dispel is useful for bailing out your own party members when things go bad, too.
Archer is probably the "easiest" character just in terms of the ratio between power and decisions. Load them up with your best bow and arrows and they'll completely trivialize BG1 and most of Shadows of Amn. They fade a little bit late, but your other NPCs should be coming into their own, and Archers remain strong contributors through to the very end.
Fighter/Thief is a very basic multiclass with very high power potential. Early on, they fight like a pure fighter while also covering your lockpicking and trap disarming needs. Later on, they get Use Any Item and Spike Traps in addition to Fighter HLAs, becoming sick death-dealing machines. And since it's a basic multiclass, there's no real fiddling required to get them to work, no downtime to slog through, nothing. You just roll it and it's good to go from day one.
Dwarven Defender is top-tier, as well. Being locked out of Grandmastery doesn't even matter until BG2, anyway, so they're essentially just fighters with extra HP and an awesome on-demand defensive buff. By the time you hit BG2 they start to lose a little bit offensively, but Defensive Stance + Defender of Easthaven + your own innate resistances is over the top, making you 90% immune to physical damage for a turn at a time. Plus, as a dwarf, you're guaranteed the +5 to your saving throws, (assuming you max your constitution, which... do).
Fighter dual-classes are considered power-classes for a reason. Berserker>Mage, Berserker>Cleric, Kensai>Mage, Kensai>Thief, and Wizard Slayer>Thief are going to be your big five. You have to deal with all of the hassles of the dual-class, and to be honest, I don't think they're actually any better than some of the classes I've already mentioned.
Comparing a Kensai>Thief to a Fighter/Thief, for instance, the Fighter/Thief gets shorty saves, Fighter HLAs, better THACO progression, (enough to beat out the Kensai's +4 bonus if you dual at level 13), and the ability to use everything it needs from day one instead of having to wait until HLAs. In exchange, the Kensai>Thief gets an extra half attack (assuming you dual at 13, because otherwise he doesn't even get that), a +4 damage bonus, and Kai. Meh.
In terms of "worst" classes, (or, more accurately, "most difficult"): I'd agree that single-class thieves are a major pain, with the possible exception of the Bounty Hunter if you're really going to go nuts trapping. I'd put Assassin or Vanilla Thief as a tougher play than Beastmaster. The Beastmaster is at least getting extra attacks and bigger shields.
Shapeshifter has its fans, but my opinion is that it's really well-balanced and powerful until you reach level 13 at 750,000 XP, at which point it... just stops improving. It eventually winds up as nothing more than a gimped druid, and since druids already kind of have it rough, it's not a very powerful class.
Pure-class Clerics are kind of the same way. They're phenomenal through BG1 and the early stages of BG2, but they get their most powerful spells at level 14, (1.35m XP), and they start fading quickly from there. Fighter>Cleric duals are basically the same thing with extra attacks per round. Fighter/Cleric Multis are even better still, since you get Shorty Saves *and* Fighter HLAs. As much as I love Boon of Lathander, the plain old Cleric and kits doesn't really have a ton going on for him.
