| Don't forget that BG2 uses totally different rules than NWN, a character with 14 in all stats is great in NWN but horrible for BG2 for example since there's usually no difference between 14 or 7 in a stat in the 2e rules, look at the stat tables.
Unlike in NWN your PC is only one of up to 6 party members who you can control as well as him/her, so you can play any class once you recruit other party members. So it doesn't matter too much what class you play.
Mages are pretty weak in BG1 since you are low level and don't get many or very powerful spells and the few HP a level 1 mage gets won't last long.
If you start as a mage I strongly recommend starting as specialist so can cast a few spells per day, illusionist class (can be gnome or human) has the least important forbidden spells, if you don't mind not having the identify spell you can start as conjurer.
If you play a specialist mage start with at least 10 str (for some carrying capacity, exactly 18 dex,16 con, 18 (19 if gnome) int. Wisdom is useless and can be dumped (take 10 if you want some lore but other party members can have some lore too), 18 cha helps a lot for quest rewards but you can even dump it to 3 since there are other party members with 16-17 cha you can put at position 1.
If you are a very patient reroller you can get a sum high enough for both 18 str and cha (dumped wis) or 10 str,10 wis and 18 cha. If you are not very patient you can play with lower stats, but remember: 14s don't help, 18s make the difference.
With the +4 AC and +2 ranged attack bonus from 18 dex (most important stat for all classes) and the +2 HP/level for 16 con your mage isn't that vulnerable anymore although you will still need a few reloads at low levels. Take sling proficiency at the start.
Since mages won't get very powerful before the start of BG2 and you get the first levels of a class very cheap an often used tactic is playing BG1 as a human fighter and dualclassing to mage at level9 early in BG2 for a very powerful character. For this I recommend starting with 18 str,dex,con, at least 17 int, dumped wis and putting the remaining points into cha.
Put proficiency points only into bows and large swords.
You could also dualclass to specialist wizard at level 3 if you want to cast mage spells in BG1, you'll still get many HP and weapon specialization.
Another option is playing a cleric since he gets more spells, HP and armor than a mage. You can also start as a human cleric in BG1 and dualclass to mage early in BG2 at level 9 to get the best of both worlds. In this case I recommend starting with 18 dex, 15-16 con, at least 15 (better 17) wis, 17 int, at least 12 str, use sling and hammer.
Half-elf F/M/T and gnome F/Ill are also very powerful characters throughout the whole sage. In BG1 you usually quite bad HP rolls for multiclasses, but you can reload your level ups and or use a mod to get always the maximum if you like.  |