So I thought I'd give this another go. I played this through way back but don't remember much.
Tried twice in the past few years, but gave up for reasons.

I'm thinking of a small party, as that seemed to be a more fun approach.
Now I'm not going to totally min-max powergame, but I'd appreciate a bit of commenting.

Party of 4.
Avoiding my usual human-centric ways.

Deep Gnome fighter.
To get the +4 armor and spell resistance. + 3 levels is a big deal but maybe survivable.
Originally I thought I'd do 2 weapon fighting, but 2-hander for main tank seems universally recommended.
Are there limits to that, can a gnome wield a greataxe in IWD2?
Weapon focus maybe maces, or axes or both. Any particularly must feats?


Drow, Wizard/Thief
Kinda maybe crap, but maybe works a bit? You can get by with few rogue levels in IWD2?
Maybe can melee a bit with mirror images, some protection buffs, a shield and a sword?

Aasimar Cleric
Going pure cleric, +2 to both wis and cha offsets the +1 level. Any particularly spectacular deity choices?

Wild elf Sorceress
Pure sorcerer, main bombardier.

I checked item description somewhere, unlike NWN there is no weapon size. That remind me my dwarf fighter swing a greataxe long ago. I think the deep gnome can wield that too.
I used to create pure class party in 3rd edition so cannot give much comment in other area.

I'm almost sure though, that some weapons can reach further. Maybe all 2-handers or what?

That's normal, dwarves are considered medium creatures.