Starter Build for New Players
Champion Fighter is always a good beginner class. It’s pretty bland but does what it’s supposed to very well. You crit more often, have more attacks than everyone, just a good Fighter. You can spice it up a bit with your race choice too, but you can never go wrong with a Champion. I’d stick with one pure class to start out. Get a feel for the game first.
Note: Don’t be afraid to experiment with what class you play; we will have the option of respecing for a bit of gold. But you can’t go wrong with a Fighter, Rogue or Wizard. Warlocks are a ton of fun but until you become familiar with the spell list and know what spells you need, it can feel extremely limiting only being able to cast 2 spells per rest (3 spells at level 11).
Really though, any class will work as long as you take the time to learn the class mechanics. The most important thing to learn is how often you can use your spells/abilities when when said spells/abilities refresh (either on a short or long rest).
I’d suggest a Paladin: will be very similar to Fighter but benefit from charisma so also able to talk for the party as you wanted and have something extra than just grab big weapon and go bonk bonk.
Bard could also work. Their main power is ability to talk and a lot of skills to help with dice rolling. They’re also not limited by any oath so roleplay/conversation/skillcheck wise they should be the strongest. They’ll likely be a bit disappointing in combat but thats not their role. Besides, realistically combat is a party effort, one somewhat weak character shouldn’t be that much of a difference to make it unplayable. You can take extra Fighter, Barbarian or Ranger to the party and have the basic fighting power covered
If you haven’t decided, Wood Elf Rogue is also a lot of fun and not very hard to use. You need to get accustomed to doing sneak attacks, but they’re simple and *very* powerful once you learn them. Doesn’t really even need to be a wood elf, but 2 free skills that are both useful for a rogue is hard to pass up.
I’d recommend not following other peoples’ builds. Or multiclassing.
Just pick a class that sounds interesting to you. None of them are so complicated that you’re gonna shoot yourself in the foot as long as you keep them pure, and there will be a respec option.
If BG3 behaves like previous Larian games, then play a Wizard. Ranged characters were always way over the top compared to melee in previous games. It’s not directly Larian’s fault though, it’s just how old DnD was. Now this is based on 5th Edition so paladins should be powerhouses.