Considering the favored class/bonuses/penalties and especially how you look in the game... I usually dont like a race who looks like a dwarf even if he has tremendous advantages... I always prefer Dark Elf or Human... Oh! one more thing, a Paladin/Sorcerer/Ranger combo is nice. What do you recommend a race for it?

I'd go paladin sorc only with aasimar, makes a nice match.

Why ranger? Perhaps paladin/sorcerer/rogue for evasion, but ranger? Maybe for the free dual/wielding. Well, You can always take both ranger and rogue.

Make sure you don't get the XP penalty for multiclassing. Except for the favoured class, all classes must be within one level from one another. Either this or you get 20% less XP.

There's no such thing as the totally best class. It always depends on what class you're going to play. For a paladin, Aasimar is the natural choice. For a sorcerer, aasimar or maybe drow, but sorcerer isn't the favoured class for those, so it would have to stay within one level from the other class(es). Wild elf (or is it wood elf here?) has sorcerer as favoured class and so can humans and half-elves if sorcererer is the highest level class.

well, pal/sorc aasimar, pal for favored. pal1/sorc29 packs a punch.

Multiclassing should never be a problem if you keep in mind the race favorite class and plan the career progression properly.
I once had a DeepGnome Rouge[1]/ Monk[1]/ Fighter[1]/ Ranger[1]/ Dreadmaster of Bane[2]/ Illusionist[12]. Taking further banite levels involved a 20% XP penalty, but that was staved off for a time by level squatting.

Humans are probably still the best race in IWD II. No real multiclassing problems, unless you were stupid about it. Extra feat and skill points.
If you are going pure class, Drow is one of your best choises.

The list of more useful/powerful races includes Humans, Aasimar, Shield Dwarf, Drow, Deep Gnome.
Tiefling, Gold Dwarf, Moon Elf, Wild Elf, Strongheart Halflings, Half-Orc are on the second rung.
Gray Dwarf, Rock Gnome, Ghostwise Halflings, Half-Elf are practically useless.

I always take an aasimar for a sorc. The chr bonuses are really worth it. For my mage, a drow is perfect.

Dwarves are awesome for fighter types... With 3E rules the bonus HPs really stack. A dwarven Fighter (4)/Barbarian (x) is absurdly durable & a staple of many of my parties. That, and their other bonuses make them far superior to Half-Orcs, who look to have been severely hit with the nerf stick. Probably an over-reaction to how munchkin they were in the 2.5E ruleset, IMHO.

Level penalties just aren't worth it, IMO. I'd stick with human. The penalty makes your character more fragile than others. Dwarves are tough but you lose either dex or charisma, which you want a sorcerer to have.

[ March 14, 2005, 01:13: Message edited by: noldor372 ]

I find that Drow and Deep Gnome are easily the best races (so long as you stick to their favoured classes, or don't multiclass). Their racial benefits far outweigh the very minor levelling penalties.

I second Harbourboy. Drow and Deep Gnomes make other races pale in comparison. The Spell Resistance these races have make other races second best. I would even prefer taking experience penalties rather than taking a different race.

For example, my latest party has a Paladin (2) / Sorcerer (X). The common wisdom would be to choose an Aasimar for race: +2 CHA & WIS and no experience penalties. I chose a Drow. I consider the 20% experience penalty to be a small price to pay for a character that will be virtually immune to magic once the Holy Avenger is acquired.

YMMV, but for my money the spell resistance of Drow and Deep Gnomes is so important as to dwarf (no pun intended) all other considerations.

That's true. Drow kick butt. The charisma bonus, sex bonus, AND dextereity bonus make them ideal for either sorcerer or wizard. Spell resistance heavily offsets their fragility. Paladin/wizard sounds like a powerful combination to me.

It is. Pal gives very high saves with good cha score, at lvl 2 immunity to fear and weren't they immune to disease as well. Not to mention the Holy Avenger later on.
Then sorc buffs and offensive selection.

Quite the punch indeed.

For single-classed or 50/50 multiclassed fighters or barbarians, you can pull the aasimar trick. They get +2 to WIS and CHA but no minuses. Being an aasimar puts you approximately one level behind your group and one feat behind plain human fighters. So dump the 4 additional points into strength instead of leaving them where they are. This gives you even better to hit bonus (by two) and also +2 to damage, like Specialisation, only with every Strength-based weapon. And the comfort of rarely being encumberred.

When skill points are important, aasimar may look like a bad idea. But for humans, it's only +1 skill point per level, so putting 2 points in intelligence solves the problem, also giving you more skill points at start than the plain human alternative, and 2 free points remain.

Deep gnomes are cheese. Especially when they're monks. An unarmed one meter tall guy more of a melee threat than some brute in full plate carrying a big sword? If the average deep gnome were anything like the racial package suggests (non-detectable invisibility etc etc), they would rule the underdark; they certainly wouldn't be the perpetual slaves/whipping boys of the FR setting. My guess is that the deep gnome was designed as über in IWD2 as kind of a revenge for their use in IWD as peons and cannon fodder...

Depends on what you prefer/like, so there is no real "best" race.

If the average deep gnome were anything like the racial package suggests (non-detectable invisibility etc etc), they would rule the underdark; they certainly wouldn't be the perpetual slaves/whipping boys of the FR setting. My guess is that the deep gnome was designed as über in IWD2 as kind of a revenge for their use in IWD as peons and cannon fodder... Actually the Drow consider the Deep Gnomes to be their most powerful adversary (according to The War of the Spider Queen books). Possibly due to their relationship with earth elementals and the fact that the underdark is pretty much ALL earth (being able to control almost every concievable part of the enviroment would make you very dangerous indeed).

Usually at lower levels I consider worth having a Drow or a Deep Gnome...when the game advances, is not really worth having these characters 1-3 levels lower than the rest of your party (assuming they are human). So stick to humans...especially if they are spellcasters.
The deep gnome has better abilities than the drow, but I guess drow are quite popular...because they are considered "cooler". First time I played the game I had one of each in my party...I guess it depends on your way of playing but the humans are the best race I believe due to fast leveling, extra feats and extra skill points...two points in strength (for half orcs) or in dexterity (for elves and halflings) don't make such a big difference during the game

Drows or deep gnomes are nice for soloing the game. Their innate ability to resist magic shouldn't be overlooked.

@Morghak Steelhammer: Dark elves are cool indeed... ;)

I have two words... DROW RULE!!! No question about it, they kick ass. So what if they're 2 levels lower than the rest of the group, they still own you! :D

Magic ressistance of drow and deep gnomes are worth level penalties.

Depends on what you prefer/like, so there is no real "best" race.Ahhh, but there are half-elves, the worst race, IMHO.

I think there is only a "best" race if you take into account what you want to do with the character. Since this question doesn't do that, I vote for "Human" as the best race, as there isn't anything they can't do well.

For power gaming, Drow and Deep Gnomes are the best, period. Level penalties are only really penalties early in the game, as later on, lower levels actually increase the rate at which you pick up XP and the relative difference in strength isn't all that much ... yes a cleric with Raise Dead is much more useful than one just shy of it, but by then your characters should be much less prone to dying, making Raise Dead less important relatively speaking. Spell resistance AND the huge ability score bonues(Drow)/AC Bonus(Deep Gnome) make them the best, especially if you're going to min/max.

If you're not power gaming than it all depends on the composition 'theme' of the party. I have a party of paladins and monks which has three Aasimar, a Tiefling, and 2 Humans. If you're going to have a fighter combo(other than fighter/pally where Aasimar is the best), than Dwarves are the no brainer class to go with. For a Barbarian or Barbarian/Cleric, Barbarian/Druid, I'd go with a half orc. Sure he gets penalties to intelligence and charisma, but there's no role playing reason not to bottom out a half-orcs charisma for points, and wisdom is untouched. For dealing out damage, there's nothing so good as starting with a 20 strength, casting holy power and champion's strength, then getting to add rage on top of it. And of course, humans are the default to slip into damn near anything.

Anyways, that my 10 cents on the subject

[edited for grammar and spelling]