My current party is a bit overpowered but fun anyway.

Wizard Slayer / Thief Dualed at lv 14
Kensai/Mage dual at lv 14
Beserker / Cleric dual lv 14
Paladin

Its a bit melee heavy and they make an awful mess but..
Also the Mage is lv 22 at the moment so has all the magic you need.

I would have only taken the top three but the big paladin sword is sooooo tempting!

I am going through SOA for the first time with this party:


Me, Half-elf Archer with Heartseeker long bow right now and ***** in long bow. She uses the short sword with haste when needed and a flail +2 in the offhand. She has the SPOILER cerebrus idol from the rnager quest and the +5 armor of teh night which makes her always hide in shadows. Very useful for recointeering.

Minsc with Liliacor and Ankehg plate now. Wondering when I will find abetter two-handed sword.

Valygar with his family mail and the longsword and I often put the flameblade in his off hand but I am starting to wonder if that is such a good idea.

Jaheira with a shield and the club of splinters, or a scimitar +2.

Jan with the Staff of fire (summons fire elementals) and his contrapations. I use his spells the least.

Aerie in a robe of fire resitance and with a ring of protection +2. I woudl like to get her AC lower. any thoughts? She also has a sling +2 and the staff of the cleric (+3?). I use her for offense and healing.

Very ranged party. All have ranged weapons. I need to get a better knack on casting entanglement type spells out in front and letting the ranged weapons clobber the enemy. I often seem to cast the spell behind the critters as they crawl up.

What is the best spell for entangling?

Jaheria can be really really good if you give her a good weapon and a strength modifier (such as girdle of hill giant strength). she then becomes a brilliant fighter and a good druid. You can also have a romance with her which makes her even better!

Dualled fighter-druid (me)
Minsc
Valygar
Viconia
Imoen
Nalia

While I thought Jaheira was a solid performer, and a useful addition early in the game, there are better NPC picks out there, depending on your level and what you want to do. I chucked her for Valygar, mostly because poor Minsc was all alone with 5 chicks and a hamster.

I got a classy party to give newr players some ideas.
Me as a sorcerer...
Minsc,
Jaheria,
Anomen,
Jan
and Visconia.
It is more of a magic strong party than a figher strong one, but Minsc, Jaheria and Anomen make good front line guys whilst me and visconia wreak havoc with our spells. Jan's Flashers make a great little range weapon too.

Best spell for entangling. perhap this is not technicaly correct, but id have to say timestop. otherwise i dont bother with entangling my enemies. whats the point of letting them live longer? as in it take longer to get to them to dice them if they cant move.

I think a fairly good even party configaration is you as a true neutral male fighter and all the 'old freinds from the past' (Minsc, Imoen, Jaheria, Vicconia and Edwin). This is becuase your party will basically be a neutral party, which in a way means you can do things evil or good your choice.

You also have a nice mix of classes, 3 fighter types (Ranger - minsc, fighter - you, and fighter/druid - Jaheria), 2 preist types (cleric - vicconia, very good especially with a sling, and a fighter/druid - Jaheria), 1 theif (Imoen, a multiclass theif but has enough theif skills to get you through the game) and 2 mages (A conurer - Edwin, v. powerful and imoen, who advances high with her mage skills as she doesn't advance any more in her theif skills). Also if your interested you have a possibility of 2 of the best romances (with Jaheria and vicconia). You also have a nice mix of male and female characters (3 of each).