yeh - i was thinking barbarian too - at least if you go with berserker (also good) stick to leather or chain armour - agree with axes but swords would work too and shields would be the right look
NPCs: hmmm...
minsc - definitely if you mainly raid evil
yoshimo - fine - a thief/scout is always a good thing
cernd - kinda a shaman
korgan - definitely
haer d'alis - yes - you've gotta have a bard (and a mage in game terms . . .)