I figure Ysuran is the best of the original characters for this speedrun challenge because of his skeleton pet and his ability to make powerful enemies fight for him. Also, while Enervation is a relatively weak spell compared to what Dorn or Vhaidra could do melee-wise, it gives you guaranteed hits, which is a huge plus.

This speedrun focuses more on staying alive than building up your damage output. Animate Dead is going to be your main source of damage throughout the run, but especially at the beginning. Dark Possession is critical in the few areas that you use it. Enervation rounds out the attack abilities along with Hand Weapon Focus, but both those feats have low damage capabilities. Haste, Ray of Enfeeblement and Shield will be your main spells to stay alive and go fast. Clarity is critical to max out early on as rejuvenation potion drops are unreliable at best. Taking Empower early on will help you save some magic energy as well, as you won't have to level up Enervation too much right away to make it effective. Iron Will and Willpower are passive feats that you take as you go.

To start the run, cast Shield and then use Life Drain on the first enemy. If you try to kill this enemy with your dagger, you will struggle and most likely die several times. With the first kill, you get a level up. Take Animate Dead and let your skeleton kill pretty much every other enemy you encounter on the first screen. It will be a team effort until you get to Baldur's Gate and throughout the rest of the run. As for weapons, I suggest using two weapons even though Ysuran sucks as a two-weapon fighter, but this gives you the ability to block indefinitely. Once you reach Baldur's Gate, sell what you have and speak to Omduil for 14,000 exp. Buy plenty of health potions and make sure to buy two Imperial Morning Stars before Act I ends. Ysuran has very few hit points, so the Extra Healing Potions pretty much fill his entire life meter throughout the entire run. So I guess you don't need TOO many health potions, but leaving yourself short of those isn't exactly a good idea. in Act III, make sure to buy the Imperial Crossbow if you don't have a Crossbow on hand. This is solely for the purpose of keeping the bow equipped throughout the Earth Foundation level so you don't lose any of your weapons. If you have a Grand Crossbow or something equipped already, then it doesn't really matter. In Act IV, be sure to have plenty of Rejuvenation potions on hand for the final 3 boss fights. Especially Randalla, because if she kills your skeleton and you back off of her for a moment, she may decide to fully heal herself, costing you potentially minutes.

Here's how I go about leveling. The first 5 levels you obtain will be on the first screen.

Level 1 (first kill)- Animate Dead x1

Level 2 (second kill)- Haste x1, Ray of Enfeeblement x1

Level 3- Enervation x1, Willpower x1

Level 4- Ray of Enfeeblement x1, Shield x1

Level 5- Clarity x1, Haste x1, Iron Will x1

Level 6 (near first key chest)- Enervation x1, Will Power x1

Level 7 (Wayfork Village Inn)- Clarity x1, Iron Will x1

Levels 8 & 9 (Omduil)- Animate Dead x1, Clarity x1, Haste x1, Ray of Enfeeblement x1, Shield x1

Level 10 (Rescue Hostages in Hands of Glory 2)- Armor Proficiency x1, Dark Possession x2, Iron Will x1. Armor Proficiency is not exactly needed, but Extreme Mode usually gives you some interesting armor drops that already have multiple gems in them. There's a chance these could benefit you, especially if they have Moonstone/Diamond/Amethyst in armor or Jacinth/Jade/Aquamarine/Ruby/Emerald in Boots.

Level 11 (Bloodmire I)- Animate Dead x1, Dark Possession x1, Hand Weapon Focus x1

Level 12 (Bloodmire II)- Empower x1, Haste x1, Shield x1

Level 13 (Luvia's Lab I)- Empower x1, Great Fortitude x1, Hand Weapon Focus x1. Great Fortitude is kind of a throwaway point, but I figure even semi-beneficial passive feats should be taken when available.

Level 14 (Cloak Wood II)- Empower x1, Great Fortitude x1

Level 15 (Lyran)- Haste x1, Ray of Enfeeblement x1, Shield x1

Level 16 (Sleyvas)- Enervation x1, Iron Will x1, Ray of Enfeeblement x1

Level 17 (Ulchalothe)- Iron Will x1, Willpower x3. Unrelated to leveling, but important to the run: the Ulchalothe fight is difficult because of the horde of Zhentarim and her ability to one-hit kill you and your skeleton with her ash blade attack. The strategy for her is to use your skeleton, Haste, Shield and RoE to kill off the Zhentarim, but once only Ulchalothe is left your strategy will change to melee. If she continues to attack your skeleton, stay back and cast Enervation (it's not effective) and let your skeleton take her down. But if she happens to kill off your skeleton, just go in and use your Morning Stars. Hit her and run around and hit her again and repeat.

Level 18 (Diptolpt)- Enervation x1, Great Fortitude x1, Hand Weapon Focus x1

Level 19 (Omduil)- Accuracy x1, Enervation x1, Great Fortitude x2. Accuracy is another throwaway. The only time a ranged weapon is useful is against Mordoc 1. Shoot him once or twice to goad him toward you. That way you won't have to deal with his Nightwalker buddies in that battle.

Level 20 (Earth Foundation)- Accuracy x3

Level 21 (Aizagora)- Accuracy x1. Unrelated to leveling: the strategy for the Aizagora fight... Don't raise your skeleton. (really?) Yes, this will be the only boss fight that you don't rely on your skeleton to be your main damage output. Why? Aizagora's fire blasts are a one-hit kill to both you and the skeleton. Instead, try to get to the side of her and use Enervation. There are FOUR spots that she can be damaged with this spell, so try to hit each one of them. Her Flame Strikes won't do too much damage to you, nor will the Magic Missiles she casts (auto-blocked by Shield). Just be aware of when she shoots out a wave of Fire Blasts and keep using Enervation and you should be good to go.

That's it! I guess if you wanted to add more Armor Proficiency or Endurance you could, but why bother?