I have a Cavalier Paladin I made that I love. Sword and shield all the way! That being said, I
have never been able to get into party based rpgs due to the management required. I always play Divine Divinity, Sacred, Eschalon, etc. But I really want to play my Pally! I need some advice.

1) Can I play reasonably with a party of two others max, and who would they be early game?

2) Too many spells - damn!! Can someone help me out here? Maybe a handful of useful ones based on my party or something?

3) I collect craploads of stuff early game and don't know what to keep, because I've never made it far enough into the game to get to someone to sell it to and am unsure what is worthwhile.

I appreciate all help!

well the game is made for a full party at the start i wont be a problem but later on you get to fight very tough monsters and some roles you really need.
But if you still want to try maybe multiclasses will help even if they are weaker then the full character, just plan it that most roles are filled you need some specific people who do that.
You need a crowd controller because sometimes you get attacked by weaker but large groups. Someone who can take a beating. Someone who can heal and someone who can dish out damage. So you need a cleric, thief, a warrior type and a spellcaster.

Dont know all the spells but i can tell you wich i liked to use and wich i think was annoying.

Sleep can be very handy since you can the crows a bit thinned out (not all monsters does it work tough) magic missle for monsters who are hard to hit and since magioc missle always hit. I havent try this spell yet since i dont have an enchantr charm mage in the party but it often is used against spells that cause fear and confusion.

Cleric have handy spells as wel and not just healing they can cast bless wich gives you bonus to attack wicjh is very handy early in the game.

Wich npc you take in the group all depends on wich character you want to play.

This is much i can tell you i hope it helps.

SPOILERS (ok so not much but it still doesn't hurt to say ahead of time) 1)

Would have gone Inquisitor or Undead Hunter myself for a paladin but Cavalier still can be a solid class to play. One thing you need is a mage. Here in your case it can be tricky, especially if you are really into the having 19+ reputation at any point, as the best mage in the game is a remarkable evil man who like all evil characters will leave you if your reputation exceeds 18.

Since you are only looking at having three party members I would recommend against keeping any of the people you run in to in the initial dungeon as party members. You already are basically a fighter (which is what Jaheira and Minsc are). You could keep Jaheira permanently though to serve the role of a healer, however instead I would go with aerie (she's a mage/cleric multiclass you can find in the circus tent near where you emerge from Irenicus's dungeon. She won't learn mage or cleric spells as quickly as a pure cleric or mage would (or given her stats as many spells), but with a few items like the Robe of Vecna (you can get that from a merchant in the back of the adventurer's mart a store that is in a building near the irenicus dungeon exit) and the staff of the magi (google that to find out about it but you should be a high level for that fight) will make her an excellent mage/cleric.

For another character I would consider Jan (you run into him in the Government District) if you want a ranged character/illusionist who also has some thieving abilities or Keldorn (in the sewers of the Temple District) if you want another paladin who is tactically very useful especially against magic casters. That choice I will leave up to you but keep in mind that these are just suggestions.

The others you find in Irenicus's dungeon, Imoen (who initially greets you) and Yoshimo (a bounty hunger you run into in it) won't be much use to you for much of the game, which sucks since both are solid characters. There are many other party members to be found, so I'd suggest reading into it yourself more.

2) party boosting spells are good, especially ones like chant, bless, draw upon holy might (just effects one person but good for your paladin to know), remove fear, negative plane protection (not needed initially though). Healing spells are good to have too for your cleric (who lets say for simplicities sake is aerie). Summoning spells are good too. For mages magic missile is an excellent spell, so is haste, slow, fireball, dispel magic, melf's acid arrow (trolls need to be killed with fire or acid), mirror image, improved invisibility, any monster summoning spell. I also like melf's minute meteors but thats mostly just because I just like the idea especially when trolls are about. Cloudkill is useful as well (many of the spells i've listed work best when you know their area of effect by experience, so i suggest you experiment). I've deliberately kept the level of the spells I've talked about at level 5 or less, namely since part of the fun of the game is figuring out what spells are useful when. This is off the top of my head, so you should look into other spells as well.

3) Keep any wands you find either to use or to sell. Keep anything with an enchantment to sell if you can (gets more difficult later on). Buy the glasses of identification in the adventurers mart, just because they are handy. There are so many items in this game i can't begin to describe what is good for what. Just be sure to read the description. also, were you fortunate enough to carry with you the Golden Pantaloons from BG1 you should keep them (not worth restarting for but their use is interesting). Good luck.

You can even solo the game with your character (and not few players think the game is easier this way), so small parties aren't a problem. Just do as you wish, pick up or dismiss whom you like, no need to bear annoyances just because some players have personal opinions about NPC powers.

please note that RoV is available with bonus merchants only.

Ha...Jan and Aerie are pretty annoying dialogue wise I admit.

I believe most of the charm for BG series and PS:T plus NWN2 is the interaction with the NPC, the sort of storyline "friendship"that is so unique either in gameworld or real life, most (i assume) who love these game were mesmerised by the sort of companionship in an epic adventure where you can only found in a movie/story book.

By playing games like BG grant us the opportunity to "involve" in such companionship ourselves, if BG is about how great ONE single hero slash through the world him/herself, it won't be remember after 10 years+ of its release.

Me myself found it amusing and warm to hear all my followers "chit-chatting" or arguing around me, when in the end i realise deep in my heart, they were the reason why i assemble a group of naive individual for a fool's errant...LOL

and from feedback through other channel like YouTube, some of us agree that our "friends" in BG or PS:T are friends that we actually longing for after mixing with too many hypocritical faces in real life:D

the fun thing is in bg i expierence sometimes that i had a hard time dismissing a npc because you want that other 1 like those babblin married couple since you need to get 1 for the other and trade them in for someone you hadnt got in your grp yet.

Sleep is extremely useful in BG1, potentially ending entire encounters in one spell! Unfortunately it has a HD limit, which means that the stuff you face in BG2 will quickly become immune.

Magic missile is extremely useful because you can use it as a counter spell if you're quick. Any damage that a wizard takes during the casting animation will make them fail the spell. Magic missile casts very quickly and always hits, so if you time it right you can use a 1st level spell to stop the enemy from casting something much worse.


My personal thoughts for a non-evil 3 member party... a Paladin, Jaheira and Jan would cover all the bases pretty well.

For me, the most useful of spells are Invisibility , Disintegrate plus the summoning spells.

i got 4 casters(including myself) in my party, so invisibility was able to be cast in every members, and i turn off the AI, so basically i can sail through a hostile territory, and arrive in a strategic place before launching my first strike (Invisibility had no time limit unless you make the first strike)

And disintegrate can destroy a lesser boss in the first round including a dragon;-) For me, the most touching moment is when my main character inquire whether my "friends" were willing to continue following me, knowing that they might sacrificing themselves for nothing, i was surprised these sort of communication trees come out and they were willing to stand by me till the end, i was touched in the sense that i had never knew friends in real life that are as faithful as them...LOL

I agree, invisibility spells are very useful. You just need to keep in mind what kind of actions will break the effect. And yeah, the Summon Monster line of spells is great. A wand of summon monster is what got me through the final fight in BG1.

Some more thoughts:
-At higher levels project image can be used in some really abusive ways.
-Mirror image and stoneskin are always safe bets as well. Good defensive spells.
-Eventually you will find yourself needing Breach. It's extremely useful for removing spell protections from enemy mages.