Ive Completed IWD and HOW with one char, should i try this one to?

It's worth a try--the character development is relatively fast-paced (since you start out at Level 1) and the plot actually keeps you in SUSPENSE. Imagine that!

You seem familiar with the D&D system, so I'm not going to tell you to "be a Fighter, with these stats..." What you will notice, coming from Icewind Dale, is that the people you can get to have join your party will seem to suck in comparison to the kinds of stats you could roll for your party in IWD. That's because Baldur's Gate is more roleplay-oriented: Each NPC has their own personality, etc. Certain NPCs don't like certain others, at random times they'll spark conversations (and arguments) which can be really fun to listen to, and it's realistic: You COULD go around murdering innocent villagers, but if you do, NPCs with Good alignments will either leave your party or downright attack you. The downside to these cool, in-depth characters is that their stats aren't as good as those you could roll yourself. Some of them aren't even close: There's a Cleric in the game with only 10 Wisdom! Ouch.

You can still create your entire party, though: Just start a Multiplayer game, roll everyone, save your game, then go back out to Windows and move the Save file from the Multi-Save folder into the Saved folder. You sacrifice the cool NPCs, though.

All excellent advice. I would say for the first time through the game use NPCs rather than a custom party. You'll get so much more out of the game that way by way of character interaction. If you play a party entirely created by you then you'll miss out on that.

The first full game I played I used four of my own charcaters and two NPCs and it was still very exciting just following the plotline and fighting the battles. Prior to that I had played about 100 (game) days in an unfinished game where I simply roamed around and tried out different NPCs. But, anyway, again, if I had it to do over again I would definitely choose to play with all NPCs the first time through.

Well i never use more than one character of my own but npcs in this game add sub plots and quests to the game and sometimes will even start fighting in party....evil char opp to good char.
Personally for this game a good fighter cant be beat as there are few powerful npc fighters.One must always consider that you are going to play bg2 and throne of bhaal too so the consideration for character arbitration from this view point is endless...especially when considering dual classing.Again in the following games the npcs make the game with their chatter and quests.....even romance in bg2.
BG is mainly based on a good alignment although it can be fun and challenging to complete it with an evil party...(presently doing that now).
In the end....personal preferance rules all.....Dual classed conjuror/fighter.....in the making for throne of bhaal.
nightshift001