Not all mages will be as dumb as liches. Though with dragons, it's debatable. Anyway, you get more than a simple 1 or 2 level spells thanks to equipment. Rings of wizardary and such. Edwin also has a three spell bonus per level.
Here's how hard it is to find characters:
Minsc, Jaheria, Korgan, Nalia, and Amoen--easy (copper coronet for those who don't join the party);
Viconia, Jan Jansen: fairly easy, just in the government district
Keldorn: harder, in the sewer in the temple district, will require one semi-tough battle;
Cernd: harder, in a jail in Trademeet, no battles except easy ones against animals
Valygar: harder, Umar hills, no battles except random encounters, must either get Minsc's quest or talk to someone in the government district to get Umar Hills on the map
Mazzy: harder still, locked up in the dungeon north of Umar Hills, must find her map in the cabin to travel there
Edwin: more difficult. Requires performing four quests for the shadow thieves.
Imoen: hardest (naturally), requires several quests, and will not have more than 400,000 exp when you get to her.
You want to try to meet the fighters before level 9 (with the exception of Korgan) because at level 9 they waste their proficiencies on moronic things if you haven't met them (i.e., daggers and short swords). Also, don't get too many of them at once or you will have too many quests to do and they will all leave you if you don't do them in time. Korgan and Nalia's quests are easy. Jan, Viconia don't really require you to do anything. Edwin's quest is identical to Korgan's, almost. Valygar says you have to help him but never complains about it. Not sure about Mazzy, know she has a quest.
Oh, and silence and miscast magic don't really work well anymore. Most casters have globes of invulnerability up which block at least spells below level 3.
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