KHHill91: Okay - I just got my party back to Nashkel. Everybody, including Dynaheir, got picked up at Level 1 and we got through the Bear River and Xvart Village just fine.
I was able to avoid face tanking the Ogre Berserkers just fine. The trick appears to be to load Jaheira up with Entangle spells instead of Cure Light Wounds. I went with 3 Entangle and 1 CLW. A couple of Blindness spells helped too.
For the Xvart village, I let Minsc go to town with the Longsword +1 and Ankheg Plate Mail and Gauntlets of Dexterity. Runners are a problem, since the Berserk Minsc will keep chasing him as he flees from one group to another. Eventually Dynaheir had to use a sleep scroll to take some heat off. I also did not know that a sleeping monster does not count as a target for who the Berserker chases next.
My main character has just hit Level 3. I can either go Master with Blunt Weapons, or go Master with Missile Weapons. Khalid, Jaheira, and Minsc are not that far behind. I am still tempted to make Khalid an archer instead of a main tank and go Master Bows, but nobody who has posted here favors that strategy. Minsc will go either Bows or Missile Weapons. (18/93 Strength = +5 Bonus to Sling damage?) Jaheira can either go with that dagger in Beregost or the Scimitar +2.
I will be playing tonight. Next stop is Nashkel Carnival and then Nashkel Mines. So all the decisions above will be set by this time.
Suggestions are valued. Objective is strong party - fun to watch. The other objective is to learn to use a mage better.
Don't worry too much about mages as they don't play a major part until level 4 (when they can throw a couple of level 2 spells) or level 5 (when you have access to some serious firepower). For now, a sleep spell here and there would be fine.