Baldur's Gate I & II - Gather your party before venturing forth

Thanks, I'll post my progress here. 

I'm a long time BG fan, but I usually end up defaulting to the same characters (clerics or the various warrior classes) whenever I play. This time, I've decided to push myself and try a bard PC. I've played them a couple of times in NWN, so I thought, sounds like fun! And then I remembered how different 2nd edition and 3rd edition bards are...

I'm not ready to give up on my bard yet, but I'm hoping to get some advice from the community about the best strategies for playing one. I've already learned that bard song is way less useful here than in NWN, so she's basically just an archer at this point. I just got to level two, so I can learn a spell, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable ditching my armor while she's still so squishy. What are your best bard tips and tricks? Thanks in advance!

(FYI, I'm playing the original games, not the EEs.)

Thanks! Good to know that there's some hope for me in BG2! The stronghold quest did seem like a lot of fun, so I'm really looking forward to that. I also just picked up an Identify scroll, so I now have a use for her spell slot! 

In an effort to further increase the variety in this playthrough, I'm trying to take companions I don't normally choose. One of my first-time party members is Viconia, and I've noticed that she sometimes resists healing magic with her drow magic resistance... Is this a feature or a bug? I bought the games off of GOG (my dad still has the CDs, so now that I'm an adult I had to finally get my own copy of the game ) and installed the original versions instead of the EEs. Are those versions fully patched, or do I need to download and install the patches separately?

TBH I like her Siege of Dragonspear portrait the best 

EDIT: can't get this damned image to work...

Here we go, found one that displays

Sweet, I didn't know Use Any Item was in 2nd edition! I love that sword, but it's super frustrating that Keldorn is the only NPC who can wield it. (Hence why he's one of my party defaults.) This definitely opens up some new options for BG2! Thanks for the tips, everyone!

Has anyone done an evil party PT of BG1/SoD/BG2?

I never have and since I'm thinking of replaying this I might try something I never tried before. Any suggestions or tips?

I'm thinking of playing a Fighter/Cleric half-elf or Blackguard (suck that it's limited to human).

I can confirm that you really want to be careful with the reputation, especially in BG1. I tried to introduce my husband to BG1, and he immediately tried stealing everything in sight (this is very easy in the Divinity games, not so much in 2nd edition D&D). Civilians got mad, so civilians got killed, and we literally could not go into any city without being attacked. We gave up by the time we got to Nashkell. So don't go too evil too soon.

If you don't have the enhanced edition, you could probably get away with adding some of the neutral characters like Jaheira, Cernd, and Jan to round things out (even though Viconia and Edwin fill those roles pretty well). Maybe Anomen if he fails his test? (can't remember if he turns neutral or evil) And then there's Sarevok in ToB, of course. I've never been able to commit to a fully evil party, but the idea of adding him to my party is extremely intriguing. 

From what i understand if you have viconia, dorn, and baeloth in you bg1 party you can do as many side quests as you want and never get a reputation higher than 14. Due to their respective permanent -2s. If your at risk of hitting reputation 5 or less then you can donate to a temple to raise it and thus avoid flaming fist pursuers.

Have no advise for bg2 as i haven't gotten round to playing it even though I've owned it for ages

I think you have to lug them all the way back to Beregost, unfortunately, and sell them to Taerom.

They're so dang heavy, too! I'm pretty sure I've left a bunch of them scattered across the Sword Coast on this playthrough. My current party is a bit lacking in the Strength department (seriously, why in the Nine Hells does Viconia only have a Strength of 10?!?)

I have made an error it seems 😆
I dualed imoen to mage at lvl 7 then promptly took evidence to Duke Eltan and got teleported to candle keep, now I'm in a catacomb that the npcs have suggested are full of traps - unfortunately imoen was the one with trap finding skills (my mage/thief has focused on lockpicking and sneaking).

My first instinct is to just lump it and keep going (possibly checking if any of my spells can help find traps), but it feels like the story might be getting close to the end? Will the game open up again if i proceed, giving me the chance to do the sidequests and maps i haven't done yet? Or will I go straight to the finale with imoen as a lvl 1 mage?

If the latter then it might be best to load an earlier save and drag my heels more before taking to Eltan 😙