Kunovski: I've re-rolled many times of course :) but I never knew you can roll values above 18...

I got 17 intelligence and 16 strength (I wanted to almost solo so high load capacity was important) so I thought these are quite good (plus none of my stats are below 10... except constitution which I guess is the problem with me dying all the time :))
Kunovski: hmm, strange... I remember when I played as a kid I might have gotten to about 1/2 of the game and my mage had about 7 lvl1 spell slots, and with level 5 now I only have 4... so I thought jumping to level 5 isn't even that much.
Kunovski: yes, I can live with that :) I'm a sociopath and have almost no self-consciousness :D

Kunovski: hmm, strange... I remember when I played as a kid I might have gotten to about 1/2 of the game and my mage had about 7 lvl1 spell slots, and with level 5 now I only have 4... so I thought jumping to level 5 isn't even that much.

gyokzoli: There is a ring which doubles the number 1st level mage spells which can be memorized. [url=http://baldursgategame.wikia.com/wiki/Evermemory]link2

TVs_Frank: And DO NOT run a mage as your main. If you die, it's game over. Mages are just too weak and prone to being gibbed far too easily. Ranger, paladin, cleric, fighter. You will be far harder to kill and make sure you get yourself a good roll and crank that Con and Dex.

timppu: Frankly, I always reload a save game if any of my party members die. I have never carried their bodies ot temple for a costly reviving, or whatever you are "supposed" to do when a party member dies.

So in that sense, it doesn't matter to me whether my main character is strong fighter or a weakling mage. So mage it is.

timppu: I don't get the (OP's?) point of trying to go with a small party, if one wants to go through the game fast. While you indeed level up faster with less party members, isn't combat still much harder, and last longer too? With more party members, you get less damage per member, land more blows on enemies per turn, and you have more versatile party with mages, healers, fighters, thieves who can lock-pick doors for you or help you evade traps, etc. Or did I misunderstand something?

Kunovski: that's my point exactly - I don't want to spend long minutes saving/loading in EACH combat, I need to have a group that needs to think a bit when fighting but it's members don't die EVERY TIME something bigger attacks...

TVs_Frank: Keep in mind running a small party is going to:

1.) Keep your ability to bring items out of a dungeon to sell at a minimum.

Kunovski: yeah, I've learnt that already now...

looks like I'll have to get at least one more person, but the characters I've met so far (Garrick and Kagain) are just so stupid... I'm going to wait for Minsk or some really pretty sorceress :)

I've already said no to Khalid and Jaheira and those two evil characters at the very beginning (those looked stupid as well, so no big loss there)

F1ach: Jaheira is one of the best characters in the game, Khalid...well, he's just useless, keeps dropping his sword, you will need to do something drastic with him. as they are a package deal, Minsc also comes as a package, so you need to do something about that too if it's a problem (I would only take Minsc for flavour, I would prefer Kivan). Viconia (cleric) is great (to me anyway), she is in Peldvale, east of the Inn, shes a baddie though, so try to keep your Rep in the lower double digits. Dump Garrick whatever you do, would be my suggestion. Kagain isnt great either imo. Shar-teel is good, but I dunno if you are playing good or evil.

I dont know which version you have, but in the Enhanced version, I have Neera (wild mage) and Dorn (Blackguard) and they are pretty awesome.

Thats about all I can think of, for this part of the game.

Kunovski: seems like my final quest for this will be to look at the list of all possible companions and choose the very best ones :D

ddmuse: I'm fond of Branwen. Cleric, True Neutral. You can get her early and easily.