What kind of character will you use in Book II?

[Antigrav]

My first playthrough in Book I was a virtuous warrior (paladin) that focused on sword, shield, heavy armor and divination. I imagine I'll do that again for my first playthrough in Book II.

Almost word-for-word "ditto" from me.

I'll be playing Fighter first for sure. I'm very likely to choose Virtuous as well, for the "free" Bless spell. My weapons focus will be Sword & Bow, and (at first) Leather Armor.

In terms of magic, I plan no restrictions, so I fully expect this character will evolve into a "Jack of All Trades" type.

Another Jack here. I hate feeling like I'm missing out, so for a first playthrough I like the idea of an Ultima III Ranger: good melee and ranged attacks, light armor (maybe), some holy, some elemental, some thieving.

[geishaboy]

I like playing a thief. Nothing better than hiding in the shadows, moving silently, picking locks and disarming traps. I normally augment that with a few useful spells like haste.

[RezoApio]

I will probably start with a female ranger hoping that arrows are now much cheaper than in Book I

And then I will probably try a thief and replay with killing the less possible foes...

It is already 6am in Indianapolis....

[PhilosophiX]

I'm playing as a female mage. Going to put some points into dodge and maybe some stealth. And a little cleaving. Some cartog as well. But mainly Alchemy and Magery.

[woem]

All of them.

Though for my initial run-through I'm just going to wing it, no rules.
Skills and attributes as I see fit.

Plenty of time for other more focused stuff later.

And I WILL be trying out a merchant "class" character in Book II eventually, just to see how it compares to Book I.

That's exactly how I'm planning to do it, along with a stealth type -- killing as few monsters as possible, and if possible without combat (hint: po tcullis!) -- and as a cleric, and a wizard, and a ranger, and aaaargh!

Addiction kicking in! Can't wait for the Mac version...

[Kreador Freeaxe]

killing as few monsters as possible, and if possible without combat (hint: po tcullis!)

And the new Book II option of strategically placing explosives and letting them do the work.

[Randomizer]

I tried a quick partial game as a pacifist to see how hard it was and after about 4 hours I was over halfway through the main quest path. With the right balance of spells and skills you don't even need to kill anything yourself, but you can't go everywhere.

Right now I want to try the true warrior's challenge and never need a spell or certain magic items.

[CrazyBernie]

A word of caution to the "Jack-Of-All-Trades" players...

Don't spread yourself out too thin... you might find yourself struggling in the mid-to-late game.