Ok, here's my 2 cents (or a little more
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1) Lvl 9 seems like a nice round number. On normal difficulty, that's about Dorn's Deep, on insane, it's about the end of DE. I'm not sure what you meant by:
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How much XP can I gain if I play through HoF with TotL and do all quests?
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If you are referring to playing through HoW (not HoF) with TotL and doing all quests, it's about 2.3 million xp on normal, 150% of that on hard, 200% of that on insane. I'm not finished playing through HoF yet, but I expect you will get into the high 20s with 2-class characters. The bard will max out quick, and the paladin should max out also.
2) Melee is much more powerful in IWD1 HoF than it is in IWD2 HoF. The monsters have vastly increased HP, so they last longer, but they don't have the massive bonuses to hit, damage, and saves that they do in IWD2 HoF.
Consider this: a high level warrior is capable of about 2.5 hits per round, and should be doing at least 10 damage per hit. As most monsters don't have a discernably better AC (at least for my high level characters), that's 25 dmg per round, not including the possibility of critical hits. With saving throws, you will find yourself hard pressed to do that much damage with a spellcaster, round after round.
As an illustrative example, my HoF party walked through the last three levels of Dragon's Eye in one day, without resting. You can't do that without some good melee power (and lots of summons).
3) Summons do have increased HP, but they don't get the same multipliers that unaffiliated monsters have. They are comparatively weaker, but still exceedingly useful.
4) I would break down the Pally vs Cleric/Ranger debate like this:
Pally advantages: dedicated tank, edged weapons and bows, probably a better AC and definitely better saves (+2 class bonus). Will level up much quicker, with correspondingly better HP. Disadvantage: Will almost certainly max out levels on HoF.
Cleric/Ranger advantages: better spell access, will continue to level, gives the party a good cleric for the resurrection/major healing spells, and the Shield of Lathander spells.
It's a tough call. Melee advantage goes to the paladin, spell advantage goes to the C/R. The paladin will give your party a bona fide tank that can focus almost entirely on tank duties, the C/R gives you access to important and otherwise inaccessible spells. The Lathander spells are fantastic in IWD1, btw. Edit: the paladin will get access at higher levels.
5) Dual class character #2 at lvl 15. As NobleNick pointed out already, 15 makes sense for the extra PP, and will give you a good enough Thaco to hit just about anything you want. As you have another druid to provide quick access to druid spells (e.g. summons), and XP is not a factor...
6) Do the triple class. With your game experience, you shouldn't need to scout, so you can keep the F/M/T fairly safe. It will not make you too weak. Don't forget that a mage is constrained by his/her ability to find scrolls; a HoF mage, even one that is not a raw rookie, will probably still gain levels faster than it can get high level scrolls.
[ 10-24-2005, 11:37 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]