I've finished this game umpteen times now, and it still manages to hold my attention, and was wondering if you completed every single side quest in SoA and ToB.

Taking this into account what is in your opinion the optimum amount for party members. Is it better to have 6 high level single classes or three multi or dualled chars that can wade through the realms in a bloodbath with their insane powers of Bhaal :rolleyes:

Done it, as much as I try going through with smaller parties, I always find myself making groups of six.

Multi-class are generally better than dual-class characters, but I still prefer single-class.

I'm always torn between choosing large vs. small parties. Large parties tend to offer more versatility, but when I go with a lage party, I invariably end up falling back on what is essentially a melee approach since that is the easiest to manage. Smaller parties force me to be more "strategic" and fully utilize the abilities of my party members.

Yea, I have more or less the same feelings. The benefit of a small party is more power. But again, if I'm roleplaying, I'm not really going to leave behind the following characters:

Jaheira
Imoen
Nalia

Those make 4 together with charname. Generally 50% more XP for everyone, not including task XP you get individually. Perhaps 33% net profit, then. I'm not sure.

Kicking Minsc out of the party isn't really nice either, but I didn't have him in my BG1 party, so I can live without him.

Of course, I could powergame a bit, but I have better things to do in life than to watch some numbers grow as I spend time. There's still some strategic fun, but come on, more of that is in RTS'es.

In other RPGs I tend to have a full six in order to try so many individual builds and team combinations as possible... and I have sort of photographic memory, so I can't force myself to play one game again and again. I'd even rather speak about it all the time than play again :p

I usually go with 6. By the time you reach ToB, your characters are really powerful anyway. You probably won't max out XP on all characters with 6 by the end of the game (I usually end up somewhere between 6 million and 7 million XP), but those extra levels are really not that big of a deal. There isn't much difference between a 30th level fighter and a 40th level fighter. Similarly, there isn't much difference between a 30th level thief and a 40th level thief, or a 15th level druid (I think that's when they get the big boost in 7th level spells) and a 20th level druid. Basically, most classes stop "getting better" as you go higher in levels. Sure, you get more hitpoints, but fighter THACO's cease to increase, clerics only get more spells not new ones (once you get a few HLA's) and really the same goes for mages and druids. Your characters continue to improve, but at a much slower rate that they did early in the game. So for my part, I prefer having 6 characters with 6 million XP's rather than 3 or 4 with 8 million XP's.

If you do everything in SOA, a party of six will comfortably hit the SOA XP cap (well, Imoen won't but everybody else will). If you have TOB installed they will go above 3 million XP and high level abilities will kick in. This is rather nice as it offers the possibility of setting a spike trap for Irenicus on the Tree Of Life. It not only gives him a rude awakening but ensures a rapid descent to hell. Of course, you need Jan or Haer'Dalis in your party to give you this capability. Once in hell, you can set traps in front of the Bhaal tear door and do some serious damage to the Slayer before the final fight kicks in (an explosive trap added to the mix will blow him back where he came from, allowing you to concentrate on his summoned demons).

If you do everything in TOB your party of six will hit somewhat over 6 million XP each. This allows Jaheira to reach 15th level druid, for example, and for druids 15th level is like Christmas and birthday combined.

I know because I've just done it (again).