I had this idea. Yoshimo might be a great dual class fighter. It would mean you would have to rely on Nalia/Jan for thief skills until Yoshimo gets his skills back. He definitely has the stats for it and as a thief he is already maxed out in skills (or close enough by the next level) and not useful in the long run. But I have read something about him betraying the party at some point. Is he a good long term party member?

In a word, .... no. Judas, I mena Yoshimo has to go and he has to go sooner rather than later. Why wait for a betrayal? Trade him for Jan ASAP.

- Spoilers, mostly minor.
I've heard of a little loophole with Yoshimo's death. Unfortunately it involves leaving him behind in chapter three before you go to Spellhold. If you can't help but like the Kara-Tur rogue, don't do any sidequests - just go for the main plot. Leave him at the Copper Coronet after you clear the crypts of vampires, then go off to Spellhold. Run through there, then the Sahauguin City, then the Underdark. Go to the Coronet. When you walk in, Yoshimo will drop dead (!). So instead, walk into the Coronet, pause and talk to Yoshimo. You'll walk over and start a conversation - take him back into your party. Then, he'll drop dead. Resurrect him, and voila, good as new.

Wow, I knew there was a way around it. Can't wait to have Yoshi as a kick-butt fighter/bounty hunter.

Yeah but that does mean that you have to go to spellhold ealry and that spellhold becomes easyer
that not the way to do it right/?

No, it's exactly the same.

Aren't you like gettin way killed in the mind flayer dungeon????

Yeah, but that happens anyway.

Why would I have to avoid the sidequests in chapter 2-3? Does something trigger whether he is going to betray or die?

No real need except to make the part of the game in which you actually have Yoshimo seem longer.

Yoshimo is truly be a good fighter. Right now I have him up to level 9 (needs 2 more levels to get his thief skills back). He has a decent number of hitpoints, and a very high armor class. He can offer as much as Mazzy does when it comes to archery, and you now get another fighter to develop for any weapon you want to use that no one else starts out with any skill in (halberds, long swords, or flails). Here's the party I think I will eventually assemble:

Keldorn
Minsc
Yoshimo
Me (level 9 Kensai, then dual-ed to mage)
Aerie
Ceric (the druid shapeshifter if I can ever find him)

Instead I have to keep Amoen in the party while Jan is there for thief skills. That works out to four warriors, one thief (who will need thieving potions to open some locks), one and half clerics, and one and half mages. That's probably as much power as you can pack into one party.

Not really. Jaheira is far superior to Cernd, since a pure druid can still only get to level fourteen in this game. Edwin is ten times the mage Aerie is, and I'd also drop Keldorn for Viconia. That would be a powerful party.

I think the reason to keep Aerie in the game is to have some form of priest and the reason for Ceric is the fact he can fight and cast better than Jaheria (who has only a 13 wisdom), even though he won't absorb the same damage. Plus, Jaheria is not all that interesting. I'm curious how good the greater werewolf form is and I wanted to do through the druid grove challenge.

Maybe going:

Keldorn
The Dwarf (whose name escapes me)
Yoshimo
Viconia
Edwin
and player character would be ideal (though you miss out on the insect and elemental spells). I chose to axe and katana proficiency for the player character though and don't see the beserker as being so useful.

I forgot Jaheira's low wisdom. Course, you don't need a druid.
As for me, my character is in the middle of Jaheira's romance dialogue, and we've also been hunted by Harpers ever since Jaheira scarpered on them to stay with the group. Personally (next to Jan, of course, whom none can hope to rival) I found Jaheira to be the most interesting NPC in the game - she has more sidequests than you can shake a stick at.