[Radek]

I have no experience with ToB, therefore, what I would do differently in SoA:
1. Ammo. The best arrows and bullets in SoA are +2. Result: "I cannot hit anything". I daresay that a good weapon in SoA equals a +3 or better weapon. With a +3 weapon, you will see "my weapon does not work" only seldom (unless the target is protected from weapons by some spell) and we all know when you will see it, therefore, the +3 weapons should be your goal. Please understand me well - I don't want the +3 weapons immediately at the beginning of the game. I want them for all my people at a reasonable stage of the game. The archers using long bows have no chance. Priests and other classes which use slings have only one possibility (The Sling of Everard) which is not a part of the standard game. Do anything with it.
2. Paralyzing and domination spells: Every spellmonger in SoA is casting some kind of paralyze (stun, etc.) or domination (fear, chaos, charm, etc.) from the very beginning of the game. What are your resources to counter it?
a) The Arbane's Sword - if you have somebody which can use short swords effectively.
b) The Ring of Freedom from Asylum.
c) The free action spell - which is ridiculously short timed.
d) The Chaotic Command spell - good protection but it is a level 5 spell, therefore, you will have enough of these spells at a late stage of the game.
e) A few helms that should protect you from domination. According to my experience, the helms do not equal the Chaotic Command spell.
f) The Remove Fear spell - a solution of the "fear" problem.
In the other words, you can counter only the Fear spell. Your resources against the paralyse will be always near to none. Your resources against the domination will be good in the advanced stages of the game. The domination and paralyse spells are deadly, therefore, you should be able to prepare to counter them somehow whenever they threat. Again, understand me well: "be able to counter" does not mean "always counter automatically" - you should have to do something for your preparation.
3. Remove "no save" spells from the game. They degrade the game to a Doom-like stupidity: either you are faster with your pocket nuke launcher or the monster is faster with its two 7-barrel cannons. That's not good. Remove Time Stop, Imprisonment (only a mage can save, other party members have 100% chance to fail) and so on.