So, I've pretty much run into a solid road block at this point.

• Gotta have a thief: Someone needs to be able to detect traps for places like the cave south of Candlekeep or the Naskhel mines. Early on, the obvious choice is Imoen. But what about when you dual-class her to a mage?



• Xzar/Montaron: They'll only stick around until your party's disposition goes above 16 or so. At which point they'll decide that you're too goody-goody and leave. Even if you do use them, your reputation will probably rise past their comfort level right around the point where you dual-class Imoen.



• Safana: In order to get Safana, your party needs magical weapons (to hit Flesh Golems, ranged characters will need magical ammo). Combine that requirement with the HardTimes mod, and you're in for a bit of pain. She's still probably the best choice.



• Ditching Dynaheir: If you ditch Dynaheir, even inside a building somewhere, you can never return to that map. She will hunt you down eventually. I had stuffed her into an out of the way building in Friendly Arms Inn, and it wasn't enough for her to find us later. You may have to kill her off after saving her if you want to keep Minsc. I suggest an accident while you are clearing the Nashkel mines...



• Coran: Coran is the trade-off with Safana. The downside is that you need to be able to kill at least one Wyverns in the cave. Plus he comes with a low find-traps score. Plus he's not available until Chapter 4.



• Jaheira: Jaheira is going to start nagging you incessantly if your reputation score gets too high. So, even though she's "canon", she might need to be replaced by another healer.



• Yeslick: You don't get access to him until in the Cloakwood Mines (sometime after Chapter Four starts). But he's a dwarven fighter/cleric multi-class.

I think the way that I'm leaning at the moment is keep my main character as a dwarven cleric (pure), roll with the canon party of myself, Imoen, Khalid and Jaheira. At the start, I'll use Monty/Xzar as slots 5/6, but they'll get ditched when I'm ready to pickup Minsc and go get Dynaheir. Dynaheir will probably meet an unfortunate end and Safana will take her place (once Imoen can cast mage spells).

I am very tempted to do fighter/cleric as the main character though. Probably multi-class, even though it will level slower. I need to read up on the pros/cons of that.

Gotta have a mage to cast identify. Gotta have a thief to detect traps and pick locks. The most common number I see bandied about is 85% for both (or better). Gotta have an arcane caster. Gotta have a divine caster. Gotta have a meat shield to keep the enemy busy.

Imoen can do the traps/locks and arcane caster, if you wait long enough to dual-class her.

So many decisions... it's like a puzzle where you get to pick which pieces you want to make fit.