hey everyone!
i am not new to the baldurs gate series (or any black isle series for that matter) but amazingly enough i am sitting at my computer chair considering my first single player bg2 game. i have never actually gone thro the game with npc's before and have often wondered what it would be like to put up with aeries whining or minsc and boo's outrageous comments. to the point....
i am wondering what npc's i should have in my party, i am a bit of a power gamer and imho prefer the sword to the pen, im planning to start with a inqusitor wielding none other than carsomyer and from there on in its all npc's and im just wondering what all you veterans think a good make up is (that being good at fighting and dialogue)

Welcome to IW!!! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

You'll definately want Minsc for his comments. If you install Unfinished Business, then you'll like Minsc even more ;) .
Keldor is a great Paladin as well. He's an awesome tank, but if you're going to be an inquisitor, you may want to take Anomen instead of him. Anomen can get pretty annoying, but he's a good fighter and decent healer.
Aerie is a great cleric/mage, but she tends to die a lot early on with her low HP.
You should take Yoshimo for your thief. He's the only character that is a single-classed thief.
Jan can also take up the role of thief instead of Yoshimo, as well as being a good illusionist. You'll want Yoshimo over him in the beginning, however. Or you can take both of them together.

Well, let's just see here...

These are my suggestions if you are a paladin and powergaming.

You - Inquisitor
Anomen
Aerie
Yoshi->Imoen
Edwin

Now if you really don't want Edwin in your party because he is evil, then you'll have to settle for Nalia, whom you can always boot out when you get Imoen back.

Inquisitor(You)
Minsc-> Sarevok
Korgan
Anomen
Edwin
Jan Jansen/Imoen

Actually Jan should be better in terms of spellpower cos hes a specialist mage, but he will be missing some useful spells so.......

I guess thats for the unmodded characters...... Of course there could be some better characters in other mods..... Valen for instance.

In this lineup you will have very gd fighters/tanks, gd spellcasting, a decent cleric and half a thief, which is all you ever need.

One of my favorite combinations:

Inquisitor (you)
Anomen – great cleric and tank, and his story arc is tailor made for good classed characters
Jaheria – healing and tank potential
Nalia – don’t think of her as a mage/thief…she is a mage who can use a bow
Yoshimo – all the thieving skills you need and he holds a spot for Imoen
Valygar – with the right equipment he can hack and slash through anything

Dragon:

I'm assuming you switch Yoshi for Imoen?

thanks for all your comments guys!
i have decided on a party and it is as follows
Protagonist inquisitor
Minsc-> ToB NPC
Korgan
Anomen
Edwin
Imoen
i know this is rily's idea but i considered all of them and i found this one (not to be better) but to suit my style of play.

so once again cheers

EDIT: sorry six, fixed as requested

[ 10-27-2004, 04:15 AM: Message edited by: lost prophet ]

lost prophet, your post contains a spoiler, the name of an NPC who does not appear until ToB. Please edit your post immediately, the "approved" way of referring to this person is simply 'the ToB NPC.'