My favorite character in the 2nd game is jahiera cause she gets so powerful if you stick around and she can hold her own with the other tanks if you use her right. Shes got cool battle cries too and a cool past.

My favorite character in bg1 is shar-teel cause she represents what i feel is an evil character through an through. Sexist, bloodthirsty, chaotic, but badass all the way. Every time i have her in my party when i go through bg1, she gets almost all the kills and can hold her own.

BG1 canon party
BG2:Jaheira,Minsc,Viconia,Nalia,Imoen.I was going to include Yoshimo but you know...

Favourite party in BG1, using the BG1 NPC Project:
Xzar.
Montaron.
Branwen. Possibly replaced by Viconia later.
Kagain. Possibly replaced by Shar-Teel later.
Coran.

Also Tiax and Quayle as temorary member, just for the lulz.

In bg 1;with tu tu
Me swarchbuckler
Dynaheir
minsc
Kivan
Coran
Branwen

And finished that game, because ranged was very powerful in 1 kivan and coran were a very deadly combo expacily with the items that i gave them that gives you bonus as an archer.
Those 2 got the best thaco as far i can see in the game, 2 they killed almost everything before the enemy even had a change getting close.

LOL! Five female cat fight!? :D

I prefer archers, so I picked up Kivan early in the game and kept Imoen in the team. I also teamed up with Minsc and Dynaheir, as Minsc is a powerful fighter and Dynaheir a decent mage, The protagonist is an Inquisitor as I played BGT. If I were to add a sixth teammate, it could be Alora, but I really didn't need her anyway. You can see that I have effectively three fighters who need good armors and weapons, and fortunately I'm able to find an Ankheg Plate Mail early on and if I spend my gold wisely I can buy another one from the iron smith in Beregost. Actually there are also two Full Plate Mails in the game, one from the Bandit Camp and one from the same iron smith I talked about above, so that I do not have trouble protecting my fighters. Note that the combination of Full Plate Mail + Ring of Protection +2 is the most powerful defense in BG1, not the Full Plate Mail +1 from Tamoko.

As for weapons. I gave Minsc the Spider's Bane and Kevin the Longbow of Marksmanship. Imoen can use the Light Crossbow of Speed and I'm holding the Long Sword +2 plus a Large Shield +1. The team's target is to go through Durlag's Tower before entering Baldur's Gate so that I really need some good equipments. I'm not sure how much the list costs, probably a lot considering I also need to purchase good arrows and lots of potions (some magical potions are limited and quite expensive), as well as amulets and rings and scrolls. I constantly have trouble balancing the budget until I finish the Bandit Camp part, where I find lots of good equipments (Full Plate Mail, Boots of Speed, Longbow of Marksmanship, etc.) and plenty of gold.

This is a nice necro! By now I'm also involved in BG2. I've got 5 campaigns running and these are my most favourite npc's in them:

I usually have Keldorn or Minsc as frontliner, where Keldorn is my most favourite, because of his free True Sight castings: never worry about invisible opponents, True Sight's always there.

My most favourite spellcasters:

Aerie doubling as the second divine caster (two of my protagonists are divine casters, for those who aren't I have Anomen or Jaheira to bring the total to two healer/buffers).

Jan Jansen doubling as the company thief and (tripling) the humorous stories. He's one of my most favourite BG2 characters, especially when annoying fellow party members.

I like Ascam's (As Single Class Advancing Mages) as my main caster, but that might be either Nalia (with Imoen finding her own way home), rescued Imoen or Xan. Xan is awesome, but I only have him in one campaign, most campaigns of mine are all-Bioware thus far.

I´m currently doing a BG1 > BG2 playthrought since i never played BG1 before, but in BG2 i normally go with this party:

Protagonist (Elf Mage/Fighter/Thief)
Keldorn
Jaheira
Anomen
Nalia
Imoen

During the time Imoen is absent i rotate all other NPCs on the slot until i finish all their quests and only after finishing the NPCs quests i get Yoshimo and go to Spellhold.

I've only played BG1 (without TuTu) so far. My favoured party is:

Main character - fighter dualled to cleric at level 6 (so he can reach level 8)
Minsc
Ajantis
Coran - best archer in the game and an excellent thief (if you max out Imoen's trap-finding before you dual her)
Imoen - dualled to illusionist (I think - some specialism anyway) at level 6 (so she can reach level 9)
Dynaheir

That's by the end of the game, of course. I had Khalid and Jaheira early on, and then Branwen so I had a cleric before dualling my main character.

In BG1, I always pick up Xan, Kivan, and usually Viconia. The rest is a bit up in the air, but Imoen is almost always there, and I absolutely love both Garrick and Eldoth.

In BG2, it's a bit hard to say which is my favourite party, because I've been through it so many times I've tried everything. Again, I love Viconia, and Keldorn is amazing. Edwin is also simply awesome (as always).

I always hated how Baldur's Gate 2 had so many fewer options in so many ways.

Probably

Me (Conjurer)
Imoen
Jaheira
Minsc
Aerie
Keldorn

Its not the most original party admittedly, but its a good straightforward party that you can stick with for varying parts of the game. That is of course if you are doing a good party.

Finished BG1 (vanilla) last month, with:
Me (single-classed Thief)
Ajantis
Minsc
Branwen
Imoen (dualed at 5 to Mage - might have left that a little late)
Dynaheir

From way back when I first played BG1 I thought *no-one* could possibly like Jaheira and Khalid. He was like some hen-pecked sitcom cliche, not a brave warrior for the Harpers (twelve years down the line, I'm not calling that a spoiler). She's just so annoying with her self-important comments and constant belittlement of those around her. Ugh! I couldn't believe that people kept them around, let alone that they were meant to be 'canon' party members. Still, turns out it was (pretty much) just me..... maybe I hate elves? :P

Ajantis is someone who has made his way into my party every time I've played BG1, even when I was a Paladin myself! I make sure I get him early, as soon as I get to the Friendly Arms Inn, in fact, rather than when your path would take you to him normally. Paladins are just great :)

Branwen I take coz I have a deep-seated need for a cleric in the party (from my old-school tabletop days) and Branwen is the only non-evil single-classed cleric in the game.

Dynaheir.... well, I didn't *need* her, and probably never have whenever I've kept her in the party, but Minsc wants her there, and Minsc stands tall as one of the greatest NPCs in gaming legend so I can keep her around.

I don't need to explain why I keep Minsc and Imoen in the party. Everyone gets it already :)

BG2 (which I'm kinda doing currently) I'm finding it hard to put together a party that suits my Thief main and remains good. Last time I played BG2 I went with Keldorn, Minsc, Anomen, Aerie and Nalia/Imoen. This time round, I want to avoid some of those (not Minsc, obviously) but can still see me ending up with Aerie and Keldorn.... I'm trying to use Cernd and Jaheira (I like her more without Khalid around). I might go with Mazzy instead of Keldorn, just as soon as I can get her.

I'm currently doing an evil run through of BG1+2 on BG trilogy.

My evil party just got to Baldur's Gate and it consists of (in no particular order)

Me - (Named Drizzt- an Elvish Swashbuckler)
Kagain
Shar-Teel
Edwin
Xzar (Montaron was killed by me)
Viconia

No-one using mod npc's as must-haves for their party? For me (in BG1) Finch is more often used than Branwen as my cleric. For BG2 I don't have a 'canon mod-NPC' yet.