[Lord Tansheron]

I see your point. Still, I am not entirely convinced it is that much better.

Cannon Fodder: even if there are some, you can usually safely ignore them and rush right past to punch the mage's face in. I don't recall any fight where I was seriously troubled getting to the mage in time; or, if that is not an option, kiting the adds out of range to deal with them and then turn to the mage.

Protections: I imagine with correctly scripted contingencies, you could become basically unkillable until something runs out. And that is where you can attack, either using the whole array of dispels (AP, Mage, the wand from WK) to create a defense gap or by simply outlasting the buff durations. Getting a shot in before the scripts fire is, imho at least, a bit too weak for my taste - the fun comes from dealing WITH the issue, not circumventing it.

While it is true that BG2 is a caster-heavy game, especially with the nastiest mods, don't forget that many of them are still just run-off-the-mill trash encounters that you will steamroll through. Focus should be on the bosses imo and for those, I'd rather have an Archer and not a WS.

Speaking of which, I am not sure but does the WS debuff affect the heavily scripted arsenals of the most annoying bosses in the first place?