As is often the case when I play a BG game I have decided to start over. I still want the chaotic fun of playing as a wild mage. My main concern is Imoen. I dualled her to mage when her thief level was 7. I did this strictly for the reason of making BG1 and BG2 match up.

I intend to do this again in my restart. (I also intend to use ShadowKeeper in BG2 to make Minsc, Imoen, and Jaheira match their BG1 incarnations). I have a dilemma, though. Traps. Can anybody give me a good way to run through the early trapped areas like Durlag's Tower and the halfling village so that I can maximize my xp in trap areas before Imeon duals and minimize my xp gains in general areas so that I can get her some easy xp after she duals? Thanks in advance.

I looked around a bit, but have really not found a good survivable way of hitting Durlag et al earlier than with a L4 or L5 party. As for the maximizing xp, I would go for a direct line approach, leaving as many sidequests form mod added projects unresolved until she has dualed. Often, there is not a restriction on how long folks are waiting.

Quite frankly, I leave her as a Swashbuckler (using Macready's EasyTutu NPC Kits) all the way through the game. Then I either add mods that adjust her in BG2, or NI/Shadowkeeper her into her stats at the end of BG and set it up as if I had dualled her at the "start" of BG2. She becomes something like a L12 Swashbuckler/L1 Mage. She catches up fast, both with mod tweaks and xpcap removals in place, and when she catches up she is a goddess in her own right.