Don't take Xan, he's a very weak mage with a low capacity! I would go and find Edwin, or Xzar, or even Dynaheir. It really doesn't matter if you, or other party members are good-alligned, just manage your reputation so that it stays between about 8 to 15, but I wouldn't exceed these limits. It's really not that hard, there are simple ways to quickly increase or decrease your reputation. It is true however, that in comparison with say, a Hero rep (20), item cost will be quite a bit higher for you. But even this doesn't matter much because most of the very good items in the game can be either found, won, or stolen. Like Saoric said, kick out jaheira and go get Branwen. Not only is Branwen a better warrior, but she has some really powerful and benificial Cleric spells. Khalid is not all that bad either, when I played with him I had him as an archer and gave him a two-handed sword (Spider's Bane) for when he needed to jump into melee combat. However, Shar-Teel is probably a better choice than Khalid. I can't recall her exact stats, but I think she is about second to Minsc as far as fighter/NPCs are concerned. Keep Kivan, he is a winner as well. Blah, blah, blah,....
Enough of my ranting... go experiment and have fun. Remember, you don't need to see and do everything the first time you play BG. If you are like most us, you'll be playing this game over and over and over again.
[ 09-01-2002, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: Sir Heinrich Godfrie IV ]