I suppose closing his eyes wouldn't make any difference, since he never hits anything anyway.

Har har, touché. But I really think he is a hell of a good fighter with remarkeable casting abilitys. Really, I wouldn't trade him for Jaheira.

Anyways, I hate the fact so many quests are bound to you have special party members. While it looks like a brilliant idea in the first place, I'd love to single-multi with an entire party of my own. But that would leave with so damn less quests ...

It can be annoying, but it also makes sense. I mean it's all very well to go around freelancing with a party made entirely by yourself, but it goes without saying that having characters with backgrounds is going to give you more options in the game. Maybe in a future Baldur's Gate they'll include pre-made backgrounds that you can slap on a custom made NPC, and off you go, quests and all.