This is my first time through the game (Baldur's Gate). I have proceeded through the game by following the main story thread pretty closely, which means I haven't tackled manny of the side quests.

I'm currently wandering through the maze under the Thieves' Guild in pursuit of Sarevok to engage in what I presume will be the final battle.

Here's the problem, my party of six is rather weak and low level compared to the parties I read about on this newsgroup. Will I have enough firepower to compete against Sarevok, or should I go back and undertake some side quests.

A rough description from memory of my party follows:
Me - H/E Ranger, Level 6, AC -1, 61 HP, +1 Long Sword, +1 Composite Long Bow
Xan - Level 6 ie. No 4th Level Spells, Wand of Paralyzation, AC 1, 21 HP
That wimpy fighter friend of Gorion, AC -3, 61 HP, +1 Bastard Sword/+3 vs. Shapeshifters
Iomen, Level 7?, AC 1, 45 HP, some sort of thief short sword and a fast short bow
Yeslick, Level 5/5, AC -1, 62 HP, +1 Mace
Jahiera, Level 5/6, AC 3, +1 Spear

Thanks for your input everyone,
Ranger

Your party is experienced enough, I just think you should get some better equipment. You all have very high AC's, for example.

Most important are 1 or 2 Wands of Monstersummoning and/or spells. Summoned Creatures make the fight against Sarevok much easier. And give your fighters good ranged weapons to bombard Sarevok while he beats up yur summoned creatures.

I initially had problems with the Sarevok fight, but when I came to completing it, two of my mages had Wands of Monster Summoning, and the rest bomabrded the guy with weapons, wands and spells. Make sure you hit Sarevok with some Arrows of Dispelling first to remove his magical enhancements. As it came about, I never even hit the guy with a melee weapon at all in the end.

Of course, that does tend to take the fun out of it.

Ranger: Don't worry. If your party is strong enough and experienced enough to GET to Sarevok, they're strong enough & experienced enough to BEAT Sarevok. I'm not as big a fan of Monster Summoning and Animate Dead as the rest of the folks on this board (I never have to do it against Sarevok anymore), but what I DO love is casting Area of Effect spells from beyond the enemies' sight range, especially (hint) Dispel Magic, to take away their edge. My second and final hint about the end battle is to beware of some traps that CANNOT be Disarmed, even if your Thief has 100% or more in Find/Disarm. This is the only place in the game they exist (except for 1 in ToSC). I, too, stress the power of ranged weapons, although lowering your Armor Classes would definitely not hurt. (It's possible to reach an Armor Class of -10, even lower if you're a meany and kill Drizzt.)

(See, guys! It's his FIRST trip though the game, and ALREADY he knows Khalid's a wuss!)

Right on, brother! Every time I go back to High Hedge, I always pay a little visit to where I dropped Khalid's body off to pick up Kivan. Oh, it does make me smile! :D Of course, I've never heard Jaheira complain once. Which is nice.

Spoiler (yeah yeah)

You've got a pretty good party, you should do fine.. The monster summoning is great, it's kind of cheap though... Sarevok is a mean melee machine, and will tear up most of you front liners, but you're AC is pretty good, you might survive... You could probably stand to pick up some better armor and weapons of the people outside the Temple of Bhaal too..
I actually did almost every single side quest in the game, except for the Revenant and the dagger, couldn't find the revenant.