I F'ing HATE Goblins!

[Erekose]

Party as follows:
Hum Fighter Jasager the Crazed
Hum Paladin Argen of tyr
Hum Ranger Belindia Trollbane
Dwarf Priest Yeslik Thunderhammer
Elf Fighter/Mage Winonia
Hum Thief Kitty

Had two multis but didn't want to wait for slow progression, might dual them over later.
Although looking at the evil mace i am disappointed i didn't make a neutral cleric.

The best combo in my opinion is:

Two fighters, two clerics, one mage, and one thief.

Icewind Party:
Zaul - human/fighter (power up front)
Greel Peppper - dwarf/cleric*
Sister Moon - human/cleric
Laway - halfling/theif#
Chant - half-elf/ranger (power from the rear)
Charancis - human/mage/ranger+
dualed @ 4th level
(*) uncommon combination; great fighter that heals himself, especially w/hammer profiencies.
(#) adds color to the party & can be raised where an elf cannot.
(+) dual classed after 4th class mage; "fireball" needed
Chant & Charancis are the life blood of killing. Laway the thief draws enemies out a few at a time while the clerics & figher protect the rangers, who kill at will w/mage spells &/or bows. Try something clse it is FUN.

Here's my party, i'm almost through with the Vale of Shadows i think. The game rocks by the way.

Huma - Male, Human, Paladin, Lawful Good
Greensleeves - Female, Half-Elf, Ranger, Chaotic Good
Ragnar - Male, Halfling, Fighter/Thief, Chaotic Good
Zealot - Female, Human, Cleric, Lawful Neutral
Kaz Thunderaxe - Male, Dwarf, Fighter, Neutral Good
Buffy Vampireslayer (i couldnt help myself ) - Female, Human, Mage, True Neutral

Party #1

Human Ranger: Skrull Carterex
Human Invoker(Mage): Arachne Ravenhoof
Dwarf Fighter : Burton Lockheart
Human Cleric : Loki Ironhammer
Half-Elven F/M/T : Morvin b'Dair
Human Bard : Gwenyvere d'Or

Party #2

Halfling Thief : Ken Copperkettle
Human Druid : Brook Meadowfall
Half-Elven Cleric/Mage: Carne Ravenhoof
Human Paladin : Emael Brightblade
Human Fighter/Cleric(3): Lar Foemantle

Party #1 is more of my standard party layout, while Party #2 is an experimental party, which is doing quite well surprisingly. Just about everyone in Party #2 has healing abilities which really helps them out at low level

I personally swear by the following combination:
- Human Paladin
- Human (or whatever) Ranger
- Dwarf Thief (a Dwarf just for laughs)or (rarely) Thief-Mage or Fighter-Thief
- Human Fighter who changes class to an Evoker at level 3 or 4 -- specializes in bow at the start and adds all additional proficiencies to bow, and ends up being a fine archer with both magic missiles and normal ones.
- Human Cleric who changes class to a Conjurer (or other specialist) at level 3
- Half-Elf Druid or sometimes Cleric

This ends up working very nicely, since the Paladin can serve as a classic tank and the ranger and Thief can combine to form a lethal bait and kill team. (The method is simple: the Ranger takes off his plate mail and moves silently and the thief hides in shadows. The ranger goes out and finds a likely enemy. The thief moves part way between the rest of the party and the ranger, who fires an arrow at the enemy and flees using the classic method. The twist of course is that the ranger stops just after passing the thief, who launches a lethal backstabbing attack. If the enemy survives, the ranger finishes him off in hand-to-hand. Repeat as necessary. Also note that you can take off heavy armor, hide in shadows, and put the heavy armor back on without immediately leaving the shadows.) The biggest advantage of course is that you avoid having your low level mages dying left and right. It's a real blessing to start a first-level mage out with 30-40 hit-points, and the four cure light wounds and three cure moderate wounds of the cleric/mage are also a real help in tight situations. In the later game, I'm always very happy to have two powerful mages -- the 3 to 4 thousand experience points you lose by changing class are meaningless by the time you get to mid-levels. The only sticky part is just after the two mages change class -- you basically have a four-person party with two guys along for the ride -- but it doesn't take long for them to progress since you are fighting moderately high-experience value enemies and getting big bonuses by that point. The big downside is the lack of undead turning potential (I find that the Paladin is rarely successful, since the two level penalty basically means that you can't turn whatever it is that you are fighting in vast quantities at any time.)

With this party, I managed to get as far as the bottom level of the Dragon's Eye before I first had a death in the party (the thief, after a failed trap detection and then some bad luck hiding in shadows). If I play again with a similar party, I might wait a bit longer to change the class of my cleric, since there are so many undead floating around -- #$%#@@%# Cold Wights!)

I ALWAYS use this party:

3 Fighter (or paladin or ranger)
1 Thief (absolutely necessary)
1 Wizard (fireballs needed)
1 Cleric (Healing thing)

By the way, I don´t have IWD but I´m planning to buy it. Can I import characters from BG ??

No, you can't import characters from Baldur's Gate.. but Icewind Dale is a KICKASS game... so it's worth it despite this.

If you really want to bring your BG party in, you can use the character editor at http://www.teambg.com to do so.

The best way to get a powerful party in this game (and BG for that matter) is using dual classing, IMO. Most people agree and you need things like a thief, mage, and cleric. Well, start those 3 characters as fighters, get them to level 3 (only 4000 exp, that's easy), give them mastery in their weapon of choice, then dual class them into their "real" class. Now you have a thief who is a master in his sword of choice (nice for backstab), can wear big armor in a pinch, and has better HP. Same for your cleric. And let me tell you there's nothing like a mage who is a master in bows when he's out of spells.

This is better than multiclassing IMO because multiclassing only lets you get up to specialization with your weapon(s), it sacrifices levels on your primary classes, which could cost spell levels, and it's subject to racial level rescrictions. Since you have to be human to dual class, there's no level restriction on your characters.

My party:
Human Fighter L7
Human Fighter/Cleric L6/7
Human Fighter/Druid L6/8
Human Fighter/Thief L6/8
Human Fighter/Mage L6/7
Half-Elf Bard L8

(I waited til lvl 6 to dual class to get high mastery and more HP... man it was tough... lot's of healing potions. )

Party
Dwarf Fighter
Human Fighter
Gnome Thief
Human Druid
Human Cleric
Human Mage

Thief is my key player. Brought up stealth and find traps skills untill each at 75. Then ramped open lock. Now all three skills at 85% and shadow armor adding to stealth ability. At level 8 starting to ramp pick pocket. Saw no use for that skill given game obvious plot line. Druid turning out to be super character especially after picking up Arundel's staff. Entangle spell of staff works wonders against undead at Severed Hand. Find Mage's best spell is actually Identify, magic missiles, scorcher, fireball and summon monster. My cleric is basically a healer.