Thanks for the thoughts, guys. My original mage for this go-round was a necromancer... it felt like it would be a better mix. I'll go back to him another time, I'm sure.
And while I've played BG before, I never got much past the first chapter. Combat was too much of a pain (largely because I didn't read about missile weapons). It's a whole lot more enjoyable this time...
So while I've been here before, this is my first run at a serious stab at it.
It's been a couple of days out of town, and I've got to finish something up for a customer tonight, so I might not get to game until tomorrow. But I'm looking forward to it...