I just got the NWN compilation (OC, SoU, HotU). I tried the game when it was released, but major Baldur's Gate fan as I am, I didnt like the lack of party memebers. I've decided to give it a fair shot once more, and atleast play alot further this go around (didn't get very long at all last time).

I mainly play as Chaotic Neutral Bards or similar if it exists in-game. Are Bards a bad "solo"-choice? I want to play either Bard or Ranger, since it suits my type of solo roleplaying well.

Well, I guess the main question is - should I aviod anything at all costs?

Is it worth bringing along henchmen? I seem to recall them as very annoying/bad AI/something else ...

Oh, almost forgot; is SoU and HotU both expansions to the original campaign, or what's the story with all that? Read somewhere that SoU starts your char at lvl 1, while I haven't found anything about HotU.

Check http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/NWN/expansions.php

As for henchmen, their AI is often sketchy, but I don't think that it's so bad that you'd want to skip using them altogether. It gets better in the expansions, too.

You're going to want to get the Henchmen mod (Henchman Inventory & Battle AI), especially for the OC:

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/NWN/index_editors2.php

That way you can somewhat control their tactics and change their inventory (you can't in the OC by default). This also affects Familiars and Animal Companions I believe.

SoU is a new campaign meant for a new character. HotU lets you continuee with the same Character from SoU though.

I'd recommend skipping the OC...it's pretty boring. I'd go straight to SoU which is a bit better, and the henchmen have a little more personality (although there's only a few choices.)