I bought original BG1/2 on GOG long time ago but never got to actually playing them until this december. I mean, I played both games when they were originally released, and enjoyed them thoroughly, but this time around I enjoyed them even more. Which is not surprising considering how many modern dumbed-down rpgs with consolized UIs I played, or tried to play over the last 20 years.
I did some research before I started and I had 3 candidates to play: a dwarf fighter/thief (I always loved backstabbing in BG, 20 constitution with BG1 tomes gives you some hp regen, "shorty saves" are great), a half-elf cleric/ranger (being able to cast all cleric AND druid spells, including Iron Skins and Insect Plague is crazy good, would have dual-wielded Flail of Ages +4/5 and Crom Faeyr by the endgame), and a gnome fighter/illusionist, which I finally settled upon. I tend to play "tanks" with main characters in almost all rpgs, and F/M is unmatched tank in Baldur's Gate. Being able to cast all kinds of protection spells on himself while wielding most powerful weapons in the game, what's not to like? A gnome with 19 constitution has +5 "shorty" bonus on spell saves, and being the only multi-class speciallist mage +1 slot on all spell levels. Another plus is that a gnome can have a romance with Aerie and a dwarf cannot. Funny stuff.
This time around I wanted to have range weapons on all my characters so I didn't use dual-wielding with any of the party members, even though it's really powerful with Belm/Kundane off-hand. But ** in single weapon style is also great for tanks, providing -2 AC and 19-20 crit range. So, my protagonist used Celestial Fury early on and Crom Faeyr when I finally got it, and short bows (Tuigan/Gesen) as a range option. Then there was Keldorn with Carsomyr and Firetooth +5 crossbow, Minsc with Flail of Ages, Mace of Disruption +2 and the best longbow I had at the time, Imoen and Nalia with shortbows and best defensive weapons I got to swap to if anyone gets in melee range, and finally Aerie, using Sling of Everard +5, Defender of Easthaven +3, and the best shield available.
I hope I gave you some ideas for your own run. Ok now I can go back to theorycrafting builds for the new league in PoB.