An advantage to taking BG1 characters into BG2 is that you can shape them as you wish. This isn't a big deal though. Main thing is probably whether you dual Imoen or not. My Imoen started as a pure thief because that's how she was in BG1, but I've no idea what she will be when I relocate her. Other than that it will be down to proficiencies and spells. The latter isn't a big deal either, and probably not the former either. Could be a decent deal for Minsc, though, depending on how you want to shape him throughout BG1. He can be specialised in different ways after all. I've also implemented "Real Weapon Mastery" or whatever it's called, so with five pips you get serious benefits (as well as enemies I assume). Korgan already starts with five in axes, which is quite nice.

Don't think any of my characters have gotten new profiency points yet, so for those you wonder about:
Jan: Crossbow (1), Dagger (1), Quarterstaff (1), Short sword (1)
Jaheira: Club (2), Quarterstaff (1), Scimitar (1), Sling (1), Sword and Shielf style (1)
Korgan: Axe (5), Warhammer (2)

Fairly soon you'll be looking at a lot of XP to get a new level, so it doesn't matter a great deal if you start BG2 with 161k, 250k or even 400k. The trek to ~750k takes a while in all cases, and ofc beyond.

One thing I don't like with my current party is that none of them can use a bow, and I really, really like those. I'll continue to specialise Korgan in Warhammers so he can eventually wield the Crom Faeyr, and I figured Viconia could take up the Flail of Ages. She can only have one star in it, but somebody ought to use it. Jaheira is a little more tricky as I don't like clubs, but ofc there are some good ones with niche uses.

I'd play with whatever party you want to play with, though. I do like the idea of taking some people into BG2 and thus continuing their story, but ultimately it doesn't matter too much as there is lots of scope throughout BG2-ToB to shape them whichever way you want. Would be much more crucial if you could recruit a sorcerer, as spell choices there matter a great deal more.

Keep in mind Minsc though, if you want him in BG2. You may get three new proficiencies for him in BG1, at level 3, 6 and 9 (without XP cap), which enables you to shape him. His starting proficiencies have always felt a bit strange to me.

She'll still be a pure thief - your decisions are kept. You'll just get her back with a 'catch-up' xp-boost.

Thanks a lot for the reply. I'm currently in Beregost (so at the start of BG1) and Jaheira has 2 points in quarter staff and 2 points in sling, is that normal? And I might take Minsc, so I'll keep that in mind.

That's odd. Looking at her files, the distribution changes between the level 6 and level 7 files. Guess they decided to change her in BG2, like how they changed some attribute points in some NPCs too.

lvl2: sling (2), staff (2)
lvl4: sling (2), staff (2), scimitar (1)
lvl6: sling (2), staff (2), scimitar (1)
lvl7: sling (1), staff (1), scimitar (1), club (2), swordshield (1)
lvl8: sling (1), staff (1), scimitar (1), club (2), swordshield (1)
lvl11: sling (1), staff (1), scimitar (1), club (2), swordshield (1)
lvl12: sling (1), staff (1), scimitar (2), club (2), swordshield (1)

So is this going to change if I keep her? And what about if I don't take her and then pick her back up in BG2? It's very weird. I used this guide, so one of those might have changed it, I guess.

Not in BGT, no. She travels with you, as she is, on the transition to BG2. Then you will get whatever BGT and specifically the other mods (BGT Tweaks etc.) have done to her. It's impossible to know without knowing every single mod you've installed, and which options per mod.

That's quite a list of mods, but shouldn't matter for Jaheira in BG1 vs BG2. She is changed on my end too. Black Isle probably just decided to build her differently in BG2. If you keep her in BG1 and take her into BG2 via the final battle, then she should start BG2 with the same skills, proficiency and XP as you ended the game with. If you don't want to use her in BG1 and have a particular problem with her BG2 build, you could always change it yourself with ShadowKeeper. I'm not a big fan of clubs, there are so few decent ones, but I don't have her using a staff either, so for me it still fits okay.

I've played quite differently from before so far, doing quests where my fancy takes me, and have just travelled to Windspear Hills as roughly level 10-11 (500-700k xp). Jaheira still has a non-magical scimitar in my game, but for the time being can still hit most things, and should get a better one soon-ish I would imagine.

What party are you thinking about playing with in BG1, and in BG2?

Have you installed all those mods and mod-parts from that site btw? I've used a much 'slimmer' approach, following the sticky thread from GOG. Basically BGT + fixpack + some tweaks (mainly bottomless bags, max HP on levelup, true grandmastery, NPCs with BG2 attributes) + NPC Project + UB.

I was thinking of playing with a party consisting of Imoen, Yeslick, Kivan, Minsc and Dynaheir, but I was also thinking of a party consisting of Imoen, Edwin, Viconia, Kivan and Kagain, but I wouldn't know if I could keep them all happy, so I'm not really sure yet. This could all change to be honest.

I've installed everything except for BGSpawn System and SCS. It's really not that much more compared to the stickied thread on here, it's just a much larger guide because the creator gives his thoughts on what you should and shouldn't install to keep it as close to the original games as possible.

You won't keep those two happy; they will eventually fight to the death. That's an oxymoron. With those mods, the game couldn't be any farther from the original. BGT alone takes it almost there...

The second party you mention is the *exact* same group I had in BG1, and it was a lot of fun. Despite what Hickory says above, they didn't fight to the death in my game, and I didn't include a "party members never fight" part of a mod (Edwin killed Dynaheir when we found her). There may be some special circumstances in play, possibly from the NPC Project mod, but at some point I was basically given a choice to mediate between Kivan and Viconia, or to let them fight it out.

The guide you linked to probably looks more thorough than it is, but as Hickory also says/implies, there are some major changes included, like TobEx, Ascension and SCS. I've not tried any of them, so can't comment much, but wouldn't use such mods unless you've played through the game a zillion times and need much more of a challenge to keep you interested.

You know what I meant... his guide attempts to recommend only the mods that have substantial impact on gameplay quality while remaining true to the balance, lore, and content vision of the original series.

I'm still not completely sure. What would you recommend for a party to take through BGT as a Paladin? I really want Edwin, especially because he'll also be in BG2, but I'm still not 100% sure.

I don't have enough experience with different parties and PC builds to recommend much. I played through the whole saga with a good party and a mage/thief. That was fun. Great to move around in shadows and throw fireballs or cloudkills at groups before vanishing out of sight before they spot me.

A paladin should be a good PC, though, as party leader with high charisma, and of course there is a rather decent piece of metal in BG2 for paladins only. Just found it myself, and that fight... my Bhaal, so epic and fun!!

What speaks against playing with a paladin is that there is a great one in BG2, so if you want to play with a paladin I'd just take him instead. Did that the first time through the game, and he's excellent with the Sword o'OP and True Sight galore.

There are sooooo many options for how to play this game, particularly for the player character, so that's the main thing you need to figure out. During my previous completed and abandoned paths through the game, I discovered I really like spellcasters, so am therefore playing with a sorcerer now. They're more limited in how many different spells they can use, but they're also more versatile in combat. If you need a pack of skulltraps or fireballs, you can use that, and if you need a load of Melf's Minute Meteors instead (good against golems as they hit as +5), you can do that. Without knowing in advance exactly what foes you are up against and thus memorising the "right" spells.

Pure magelings are tricky to keep alive in the beginning of BG1, though. I died more times in Candlekeep than so far in the rest of the saga (with the PC) :D

As Pangaea666 says, a Paladin is a "Good" aligned character and Edwin is definitely evil. They will have opposing goals the entire play-through. And you probably don't want a "Fallen Paladin" as your main character. The Paladin will want to do the "good" avenues to complete a challenge, which will lead to a high reputation. When your reputation hits 18, Edwin will leave your party unless you have a mod that makes characters stay. Edwin will also constantly complain when you do the "good" options. You should probably decide to either change the player-character's class OR forget about recruiting Edwin.

In my current BG2 EE playthrough after beating BG1, I had the idea of having my Paladin fall. I never have subscribed to the idea that the Paladin must be a stick in the mud, always listening to authority, preacher type, but instead the type of person who will do what is right no matter the cost to themself and the type of person who will fight unjust people or laws furiously. Aka, lawful to ideas and gods and the concept of good or evil rather then laws by man themselves.

So my idea was I'd have him fall after what happens at the opening of BG2, taking a more "ends justify the means" type of character; wanting revenge and to free Imoen; Intentionally doing "evil" acts to further his goals towards what could be considered "good". But when I was looking into it, there is no benefit whatsoever to having a fallen Paladin. You just become a really crappy fighter with no upside that I know of.

So I kinda shelved the idea; it'd be a really cool idea thematically but it'd just make the game harder on myself. Suppose you could use an editor to change the class to fighter or Blackguard or something, but that feels like it'd be cheating.

Have come to the point where Imoen comes back, and it looks like the XP boost to catch up is more fitting if one follows the main story much sooner than I did. She got a 305,000 XP boost, which is considerable of course, but still meant she was about a million behind the rest of the guys. I like to finish most of the missions in and around Athkatla before going after her, though, so that naturally plays a part.

Don't know if 305k is static, or if it can change depending on various factors, but if it is 305k no matter what, then I would recommend to go after Imoen fairly quickly, without tying up most loose strings in the city first. I hadn't planned to use her anyway, but being 1 million xp behind, it was certainly easier to ditch her, even if it as usual feels difficult to ditch NPCs. Seriously, did they really need to insert such lines every time you kick out a party member? It's just missing something about kittens dying in droves.