There is a fairly good axe in the Copper Coronet, after you do the subquests there, and there is a really good hammer in the game, but it is a long drawn out process to get it. Sorry, no real spoilers, but the hammer is worth the effort.
As for the subquests, Imoen's is self running, whether you run her or not, it's part of the storyline, and all of the npc's, except Minsc, have one or two things that come up, for example, Nalia's Keep, which will become your stronghold if you are a fighter, or a fighter sub-class. (note: this does not include Paladins, which was discussed on the old message board. MP is fun, but if you don't have any npc's in the party, it could turn out to be pretty dull, as there aren't a lot of other things to do.
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"...and that's the bottom line, 'cause Robert the Bard says so!"
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