My favorite is the undead slayer...the immunity to hold and level drain is a GREAT advantage.

The second best unit is the inquisitor...because his true sight and dispel magic ability...but has no spellcasting abilities.

I think the most useless is the cavalier.
There are only four dragons and a dozen of demons in the game...so there is no big use for his abilities.

I am preparing a undead hunter for the expansion. I've started him as a paladin in bg1.

You might change your opinion on the cavalier after ToB. :)

For BG2, the Undead Hunter would be the most useful, because of the number of level-draining undead you face.

Just my 2c.

Undead Hunter. At the start I thought it would be the Cavalier then I noticed that there was a giant influx of Vamps and other undead into Athkatla.
btw, Just curious, Memnoch... isn't that the name of the Devil or something? :)

Just so long as you don't call me Satan, or Lucifer, or Azazel, or Sammael, or Marduk, or Mephistopheles. ;)

in my opinion i like the cavalier the best. that is the char im presently playing, even though he dosnt have the other good abailities like the others i like the feeling that u get when you know ur playing a true knight and the immunity to poision and fear is really nice

Inquisitor. The Dispel Magic abaility, cast at twice the level of the Paladin, is indispensible against the many mages in the game. The casting time of 1 is an added bonus.

I personally like the cavalier - beeing restricted to melee isn´t that bad - my one is wielding C`Fury, Flail-of-the-Ages and Namarra/ Daystar (Carsomyr is in use by Keldorn) with a THACO of -1/ 0 at lvl-13 :)

He has no restrictions in cleric spells and turn-undead and has lay-on-hands. Basically closest to the basic paladin and more allround.

I chose Fighter1 script an with Donaldus using the boots of speed he´s a killing whirlwind and scoring some 45% of my perties total kills.

Inquisitor is nice with the powerful dispel magic but with Keldorn there is already a potent Inquisitor in the game. As for undead-hunters: even my non-level-drain-protected cavalier came along quite well with vampiric mists and vampires using daystar and he´ll get the mace of disruption soon...

The Inquisitor is the best in BG2.
He has abilities that are lifesavers.

The best Dispel Magic in the game and plenty of very useful True Sights are what makes this the best Paladin kit.
These are abilities that you can't get (Dispel Magic) or are costly (True Sight - Priest spell level 5).
Abilities like Lay on Hands and Turn Undead (Paladin style) are worth about one red copper in comparison. :p
Bonus to hit, be it undead, dragons or demons, aren't as valuable either.

(Naturally this assumes you're not going to use Keldorn! Why choose a Paladin if you plan on using Keldorn anyway? One paladin per party is a good rule IMO.)

Undead hunter be the easiest way to complete the game for obvious reasons :)

So the majority agrees.
Good it be!
There is no mutch to say.

Hey, Tinman! Did I miss something or what? :confused:
I see no consensus formed on this subject.

Of course ya'all should think like I ;) and see the great benefit of the Inquisitor, but alas, converting is a mighty hard task.
Hmmm... maybe those thumbscrews can come in handy here...

The inquistor is the best!!!

I'm just keepin my topic alive Earl Grey.

The inquisitor is a tank, a pity it can't turn undead and cast spells!

Tha cavalier ain't bad, but the undead hunter RULES!

i agree! undead hunters DO rule!

I played the game through the first time with a cavalier and had a grand old time. If I had known then what I know now (i.e., that there was a plethora of Vampires in this game) and Undead Hunter would have been a stronger possibility.

You mention two disadvantages the Inquisitor has:

- The spell capacity of Paladins is hardly worth mentioning unless you want him to go Solo. If you want priest spells you'll need a cleric or druid anyway.

- Turn Undead doesn't look bad on paper (Two levels worse than a cleric) but in reality you won't use it as a Paladin taking into account two factors:
A. A cleric is far better because of faster cleric level advancement. Max levels are Cleric-21, Paladin-17.
B. A Paladin will find it easier to kill the undead that he has a chance of turning.

The other two disadvantages - Lay on hands and Cure Disease - are even less important. Lay on hands is truly meaningless considering that the protagonist starts with two CLW/day as a special ability.

Only the Undead Hunter has an ability that can match the Inquisitors - Immunity to Level Drain.
Sure, level drain is a pain in the ***. To help against that you get an Amulet very early in the game and you can later on get an excellent weapon that gives you immunity to level drain. You can also use Negative Plane Protection and/or Limited Wish.

My point is that it is reasonably easy to get decent protection against level drain.

On the other hand the Inquisitor's Dispel Magic is literally irreplacable and his True Sight is not far from the same calibre.

[This message has been edited by Earl Grey (edited April 24, 2001).]

Sorry, but what does True SIght do? Does it dispel illusions?

An Inquisitors True Sight is active for 10 rounds, every round dispelling hostile:
- Invisibility
- Improved Invisibility
- Non-Detection
- Mirror Image
- Reflected Image
- Shadow Door
- Mislead
- Projected Image
- Simulacrum

Note: The mage spell is called True Sight and the clerical spell is called True Seeing

[This message has been edited by Earl Grey (edited April 25, 2001).]

Earl Grey!

Which is the weapon that gives protection against level drain?

Tell me PLEASE!

The Mace of Disruption grants immunity from level drain. You can forgo the illithium/sculptor quest if you like and get Cromwell to coat this weapon with the illithium to make it even more powerful.

Having killed Bohdi yesterday with my cavalier I´d like to say something about my fav kit (the cavalier):

I think the "undead threat" is overestimated. Yes, the specialisation to fight undead has advantages, immunity to level drain and combat boni especially, but they can be overcome.

This time I finished the fight without a cleric for the first time. It was well possible. I had to keep Jaheira in the background to prevent her to get level drained and to supply protection from level drain spells when needed. My cavalier had also learned this spell. Minsc was equipped with the mace of disruption and he and my cavalier were the workhorses at the front line, supported by ranged weapons s fire and spells. When fighting vampires I found charm-protection to be more important than protection from level drain, but that´s just my opinion.

I found the ability of the cavalier to learn some cleric spells like holy might (cool at lvl-17) more useful then the "undead specific" abilities of the undead hunter.

I found the melee-only restriction in fact to be an advantage, a cavalier has to be at tho most dangerous enemy every time so he was my ultimate front tank with Minsc and Keldorn (and with Mazzy later, when she got **** with shortswords).

The cavaliers remove fear ability is almost as useful as the Inquisitor´s dispell magic, especially when fighting dragons (dragon fear) and vampires (vampiric fear); I used it frequently with success.

However, Keldorn often was a lifesaver with his dispell magic spell, making me shift him back to the support troops and loosing Carsomyr for melee sometimes - this was a good deal however.

I remember the vampires' and the illithids' domination spells with great chagrin. I had a couple party members killed when I didn't notice my main char turning on me. Ok make fun of me now.

Ironically, the domination/dire charm spells I memorized to have fun with enemies saw most of their use on turning back my own party members. *sigh*

I fought Bohdi the second time with an all-max level party ... so I didn´t had too many difficulties there. Mace of disruption, draw upon holy might, boots of speed on Donaldus and the amulett of power, boots of speed and the +3 club on Jaheira equipped a formidable combat team.

Some thoughts on that fight and the cavalier kit (and about halfling cavaliers in particular), though maybe placed somehow off-topic, here:
http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/002394.html

Reply to Ragusa's post:

The undead hunter also have the spellcasting ability of the normal paladin, excepted that he can't cast lay on hands.

Alternatively halflings can be paladins too. I took Mazzy Fentan into my party two days ago and I noticed that she has some modified paladin special abilities. So I was mistaken about halfling paladins, sorry.

i think all of them have their good points and their weaknesses and it all depends on your playing style and personal preferences.

Personally i prefer the Cavalier.

The cavalier? The weakest kit! :eek:

Maybe, just maybe, if all you fought was demons and dragons it'd be useful. For now the other two kits are so much more useful that choosing Cavalier really is a pure role playing choice. :)

i like the inquisitor best because his abilities are really nifty and besides, his spells and turn undead are no big loss

Put it this way when you use an Inquisiter.

1) what do you loose that cleric couldn't do better anyway?
2) what did you loose that you used on a regular basis?

Now look at what you gain

1) what do you use a lot that normal paladins can't
2) Carsomyr

it is a purely asthetic choice i agree but to me he seems to be the only true example of a knight

I think that a Cavalier would be the most useful, since it hasn't got restrictions (why would you wanna use ranged weapons in the first place, when you have that beautiful holy avenger). The undead-hunter is not that useful, since the only thing u have to do to kill the undead baddies is to go berserk, either with Korgan or Minsc, and get him in the front line so he gets all the hits. Another solution is to use neg. plane prot.
About the inquesetor, you have Keldorn, and the Holy Avenger also grants 3 dispell magics per day which is more than enough.

I'm trying to get through the game at least once and I'm playing a cavalier. Inquisitor would have been better and I would have used Keldorn but I have heard that Keldorn can suddenly leave your party(if he is unhappy by your decisions).. not sure of that though..

I'm gonna try playing a mage next. Just gotta get my cavalier out of Ust Natha and find Irenicus.

Oh yeah. There are places where you can't/shouldn't go to melee. That's where a good strong crossbow or bow can help. Don't melee mind flayers if you don't have less than -10 ac.

[This message has been edited by Lukki (edited January 08, 2002).]

I am always Undead hunter, cause i :( HATE :( Level drain...............

I've always thought the kits were just a paladin with a set racist enemy. You really just have to pick who you like the least undead(most common), dragons and demons(hardest but few) or mages(sorta in between). I'd have to go for Cavalier myself because the other two weren't problems for me.

I'll say I am partial to the Inquisitor as the true sight ability last for long enough that I dont neet to have my mages use it or dispell invisability freeing up both the time and slots for them to do mor important spells.

I'm a cavalier fan myself. I love all the resistances and the boni against demons/dragons (the former of which are more common in BG2 than you might think; see the abyss/final battle/liches/any high level mage with a penchant for casting Gate etc.) As for spellcasting ability, thats the one loss that puts me off the inquisitor. I like being able to cast armour of faith, doom, draw upon holy might, aid, protection from evil etc etc as my enemies are approaching and the rest of the party are tenderising them with missile weapons/spells before meeting their charge with the holy avenger :D:D:D Plus I have TOB installed, so I suppose Im a bit biased.

this might sound stupid, but i really dont know what people see in paladin's. sure they can cast cleric spells, are immune to fear, have lay on hands abilty, can cast a few extra spells from from special abilitys and can use weapons that no one else can. but you can't dc or mc them and there's nothing they can do that a good fighter or cleric can do.

[This message has been edited by I love bg2 (edited January 11, 2002).]

I think that paladins are not that great. More then the abilities of a paladin is the heroic idea of the character. I most of the time play with at least a paladin in my party, love them, and usually is my char. I haven’t tried the cavalier, and just SoA, not ToB, therefore don’t know how good each kit can be. But I can tell you, can’t be with one. The undead hunter is good, but to specialized, and with a couple of items in the game you can stand against vampires. I have a kensai mage and a ranger that have vampires as dinner… hehehe. I have even tried TDD paladins, and every kit is great for the idea of just being a paladin. This is MHO. So, for me the inquisitor kit is the best, versatile and great spells.

mannedoc if your looking for a versatile character then you cant beat a fighter/thief or a mage thief. [ToB spoilers removed].

[Go read the forum description. NO ToB spoilers are allowed in the BG2 forum. We have a ToB forum for that!] -Tal

[This message has been edited by Taluntain (edited January 11, 2002).]

ToB spoiler again! Please keep them out of this forum for those who don't have the game yet, or who haven't finished it.
I think the Inquisitor is the best kit available for a Paladin, mostly for the massive Dispel Magic ability.

Undead hunter is seriously over-estimated because of immunity to level drain!! level drain is no biggy mon freres and so is undead slaying. All you need is false dawn and sunray! If you do 3 sunrays to kill bodhi without even once touching her and the great thing about sunray is that i know of atleast two weapons to invoke it from. Daystay and helm of brilliance, woot woot... and thus Undead hunter is not the best Paladin Kit! I would say the Inquisitor is because of the plethora of useful spells he has! especially true sight to detract any illusions from your foe.

Indeed, I agree with strange_machine in that Inquisitor is the best paladin kit.

I thought this thread was laid to rest long time ago. :)

[This message has been edited by Earl Grey (edited January 11, 2002).]

The Undead-Hunter is best... --->I hate vampires...........

The inquisitor is without a doubt the best: If you're willing to overlook his long list of small disadvantages.....I posted a reply about this on the thread "NPC you hate the most" or something like that....

PS

Is there a name for someone who digs up old threads?

How about "THREAD DIGGER":)

Sounds good to me! I mean...this post is a YEAR old. I posted one a few months ago about Paladin kits...why didn't they dig up that?

You know what is the only thing I hate more than people digging up old topics with pointless comments? It's people who reply after these trash diggers, people who have totally NOTHING to contribute to the topic except stating the obvious, that the topic is a) old and b) dug from the archives. Yes, YOU are the people that go on my nerves in this case.

Not the guy who brought this topic back, because he actually did so with a good enough post. As per the Rules/FAQ, bringing old topics back up is fine, as long as you have something to contribute.

What is NOT fine is replying to these resurrected topics only to say that, gee, it really is an old topic. STFU and don't reply if you have nothing to contribute! :mad:
The only thing you achieve with the pointless comments is that one of the mods will have to close the topic down. This is the kind of productivity we really don't need.