My main character gets about 70% of the kills, and I usually just send him into a room to take care of everything. I was thinking about taking out a few NPC's, but I'm not sure. The game seems to be made for a party of 6, because of the thousands of experiece points given to *each* NPC after a certain quest...ah, decisions, decisions.

The game is certainly geared towards a party of six since that is where the optimal mix of magic, healing, thieving and fighting can be achieved. Additionally, more NPCs lead to more character interactions which, IMHO at least, is a significant aspect of the game.

Nevertheless, a party of nearly any size should be able to complete the game without too much difficulty. Many people have even finished the game with only their PC.

If you are considering trying the game with a smaller party - perhaps four - I say go for it. The characters will level up faster, the micromanagment will be somewhat decreased, and the battles will be more challenging. Worst case scenario, you don't enjoy it and simply pick up the discarded NPCs anew.

Try making a few of your own NPC's so the kills are evened out. Simply make a multiplayer game and create the characters. Once you're done, make the game, save it, and move the folder from multiplayer to singleplayer so it's less of a hassle. I don't suggest making a whole party though; there are too many NPC quests to do that. Two or three is a good amount. Try to make them all distinctly diffent classes to, or they will seem like clones. BTW, I found soloing to be very boring, so I don't recommend it. Hope this helps :).

Here's a party combo I found very useful:

PC (any type fighter/ranger/paladin/monk)
Minsc (great in melee combat)
Anomen (good in melee combat, cleric spells)
Jaheira (good with a sling, druid spells)
Nalia (best good aligned mage in game)
Jan/Imoen (both excellent mages and good thieves)

Or, if you don't like either Anomen or Nalia (like a lot of people :)), try this:

PC (any fighter/ranger/paladin/monk)
Minsc
Keldorn
Jaheira
Aerie
Jan/Imoen

Or, if you want an evil/crazy themed party, try this:

PC (fighter, fighter/mage)
Korgan
Viconia
Edwin
Jan
Haer'dalis/"S" man (for ToB)

These are all very powerful, balanced parties that have worked well for me.