I received Icewind Dale II for Christmas and was wondering what startup team people here would recommend?

I have played Icewind Dale but the changes in IWII, 3rd edition rules are fairly different.

Any suggestions for a party would be greatly appreciated!!

2 fighter class, 1 thief, 1 cleric, 1 arcane spellcaster, 1 optional.

my party is something like this:

Sorcerer
Ranger 1/ Rogue x
Ranger 1/Barbarian x
Paladin 3/Fighter x
Druid x/Cleric x
Wizard

It is great.. I have plenty of spell power and plenty of Melee and ranged attacks...

But this is my 3rd party.. I have been playing the game for 10 hours..

odies, while the rules are different, party composition ideas really haven't changed all that much. A good party mix from the 2nd ed rules will work with the 3rd ed rules.

Heck, that's what I did ... I essentially copied the last party that I used in IWD. 1 paladin, 1 dwarven fighter, 1 cleric, 1 rogue, 1 bard, 1 wizard. I wouldn't necessarily suggest this specific party for you, cuz it has its weaknesses. But it worked fine in IWD and it also worked fine in IWD2.

That said, before actually creating your party, you need to learn some of the 3rd ed rules that affect your decision making during character creation.

1. Magic and primary stats.

This is IMPORTANT!

Wizards are INT based.
Druids, Clerics, Rangers, and Paladins are WIS-based.
Sorcerors and Bards are CHA based.

2. DEX and armor

Armor is very different in the 3rd ed rules.

Armors have a characteristic called Max DEX Bonus. This indicates the maximum amount of DEX bonus that can be added to your AC when wearing that armor.

Heavy armor (plate or scale) typically has a Max DEX of 0 or +1. Medium armor (chain) is +2 and maybe +3. And Light armor (leather & studded leather) is usually from +3 or +4 up to +6.

What this means to character creation is that a fighter that you intend to be a melee tank wearing heavy armor, usually needs no more than a 10 or 12 DEX. OTOH, a rogue or a dual-wielding ranger that wants a high DEX for a better missile attack bonus (think Thac0) will want to be wearing light armor to get the most out of that high DEX's dex bonus.

Also rangers get dual-wielding for free (as a virtual feat) IF and only IF they are wearing light or no armor.

3. Multiclassing is very different

And IMHO better.

Rather than starting as a multiclassed fighter/wizard (for example) and 50% XP going to each class, 3rd ed rules handle it differently.

You select your starting class. When you level up, you select the class you want to take for the level up. If you want to be a pure class fighter, just keep on taking "fighter". But if you want to be a fighter/mage, then just take fighter at creation, wizzy at level 2, fighter at level 3, and so on. There's no requirement to go 50/50 either.

There are only a few limitations.

A. Class alignment requirements.

Paladins can only be LG. Barbarians must be non-lawful. Thus a charcter starting as a one of these classes cannot cross class to the other.

B. Paladin and Monks are really picky about multiclassing. Depending on the paladin or monk order you start as, you can only select a certain class for multiclassing if you want to be able to come back to take more levels in paladin or monk.

C. Favored Class: All races, except pure human and half-elf, have a favored class. If you use one of these "favored class" races, you need to be careful when multiclassing. For example, You start as a elven rogue and want to be a ranger/rogue. The favored class for elf is Wizard. If you do not keep the ranger/rogue mix of classes at roughly 50/50, you will take a 20% XP penalty. By roughly, the rules mean either equal or within 1 level. An elven ranger 5/rogue 4 is cool, no penalty. An elven ranger 6/rogue 4 is legal, but will take the 20% XP penalty. However, if this were a halfling ranger 6/rogue 4 it would be completely legit because the favored class for halfling is rogue. I suggest reading the manual for a more detailed explanation.

That's enough for now.

Good luck.

Try something like this.

Fighter
Barbarain
Cleric
Wizard
Rogue
Ranger,for an Archer.Give him a bow,arrows,some light armor,and 2 swords and watch the fun begin!

no one seems to reccomend a bard, why not, at L11 they have great powers

No one recomends a Bard because Bards are pansies... but that just my opinion, not that it matters. But anyway i like using one character , two or three at max, the game is faster and more enjoyable to play for me when i don't have a large party of a buntch of weenie lvl 6's.
To choose what kind of party you want you should determine what kind of fighting style you like.
Magic is more of my thing so i like playing with Mages and Clerics.
If you like to attack straight on for a toe to toe combat, then you would want barbians and fighters with maybe 1 or 2 clerics.
If you like to sneek around and all the wilderness stuff, then rogues and rangers are your best bet.

My party is pretty typical at this point I suppose:
Moon Elf Paladin
Human Ranger
Tiefling Rogue
Dark Elf Cleric
Moon Elf Wizard
Wood Elf Sorceress

Its a okay party.. they're all around level 12 now.. I wish I had of multiclasses 1 or 2 of them..but they hold their own.. fire/ice storm combo kills/almost dead most enemies at this point. WHen it was time for the bridge fight, I sent all but the ranger against the masses of critters and my level 3 ranger went in and smoked the 3 orcs, wizard, and 2 ogres all by his lonesome (I guess the ogres don't count becaucse they were focused on the bridge supports..but he still did it)

Started playing the entire game with 1 mage. Kept running around a lot and kept dying too often. The last end of the fight scene, i didnt have any choice and had to import some old characters of mine and help out. The enemy was too over whelming for my mage. Anyone had the same problem? I know its totally insane to play one person, but hey, if you dont try it, you wont know and now i know.