Bard, most fights can be avoided or made significant easier if you can pass a conversation or notice a other wise hidden trap. The companions are decent for killing enemies, your choices are all RP dialogue focused from my interpretation. Bard is the best face of party, while not being completely useless In combat. Gloom / Paladin can be faces but you will struggle a lot
You've probably hit on my greatest weakness, which is that I AM RP focused, and somewhat casual in other regards, but certain aspects of non-optimization still bother me. For example, in my bard run, I easily talked my way out of an early combat encounter directly after the tutorial and then realized I got no XP, and I missed out on all the loot from not killing the guys... So, I do love bard for conversation stuff, but at the same time, using conversation to get out of combat encounters actually seems counterproductive. Somehow, I manage to be a "casual" that is simultaneously concerned about getting as much XP as possible.
(One of my favorite "bear and pretzels" type DnD experiences was going through the Sunless Citadel with just my tempest cleric and a buddy's sorcerer, just two characters, angling for as much XP as possible and taking the whole thing just us, haha)
Anway, so far, I'm thinking:
1. Gloom Stalker
2. Lore Bard
3. Devotion Paladin
Thankfully, there's nothing saying I can't do a playthrough with each, but honestly, my life is so busy, if I finish the game once, I'll be pretty happy. So, still looking to nail down the best option.
*edit to get rid of a ridiculous looking emoticon!*
