Some questions about a no-reload run.
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If you want, you can justify anything: from the fact you can justify the OP character because it's a no-reload run and thus hard enough already to the fact you can justify the weakest character available because if you are on a no-reload way you shouldn't accept standards that are lower than the highest ones.
So, it's completely up to you.
My opinion, however, is the following. I don't remove the XP Cap because otherwise it makes my game easier. One thing is to defeat Sarevok at 161k XP and absolutely another thing is when I'm several levels higher and have, for e.g., spells from the 6th level of magic as a sorcerer.
I don't like high rolls and tend to have my characters more humane. I like characters with some flaws that I can overcome during the playthrough - I have to think about them and have to plan.
I feel unnatural to start the game from BG2. To me, every character should start at the Candlekeep.
In the same time I'm not against editing NPCs, using level 1npc mod because if, for e.g., you had 20 runs with Jaheira as a simple fighter/druid, maybe it's fresh to have her as a totemic druid.
I'd respect the XP cap. In my current installation it's removed but I still don't go beyond 161k for BG1 / BG2 starting XP. One exception is a current Ranger->Cleric playthrough where I accepted my Charname to go to accumulate 185k so that I could dualclass at level 7 and get my Ranger levels back in BG1.
As to editing NPCs and their kits, I think few people would consider this cheating. I do it all the time, to give flavor to my companions or to be able to play a class/kit I like and have a liked NPC along whom I'd not pick otherwise for having the same class. In the playthrough with the Cleric->Ranger I might change Anomen into something different (perhaps a Fighter who becomes a Cavalier or Undead Hunter upon passing his test).
I normally go for high stat rolls (unlike @bengoshi) and realatively realistic roleplaying. Since true roleplaying is often suicidal in no-reload playthroughs, especially with difficulty-increasing mods, I allow myself the benefit of good stats. It doesn't feel like cheating or metagaming to me because it's something you do before the actual adventure begins. However, 108 is having all stats maximized. I've never allowed myself this. My Charnames' stats are usually in 90-95 range (with very few exceptions in 96-98 range).
Imo all true no-reload runs should begin in Candlekeep. Did you play with the BG1 NPCs Project mod? It offers more banter and even romances.
Bard would be an excellent choice for a Charname. A very versatile and entertaining class.
Still, if you are playing no-reload, I would restrict myself somewhere between 300.000 and 700.000 xp because you would have avoided a few hard quests to survive.
I feel you when you say you always tweak your charname to have the same stats than your highest previous character. I also find it extremely hard to aim for less than 102 nowadays, because I already rolled a few characters like this with the autoroller and I also rolled manually a 100 once.
Honestly it won't change much and I won't mind, difference between a 100 and a 108 character for example is going to be the difference between Wisdom 18 and 10 on a Fighter/Mage, it will just gives you +10 to lore.
A Fighter/Mage with 90 points is still as effective as a 108 one, you just need to put 9 in Wisdom and in Charisma, but it won't change anything mechanically. You will still have too much money and you will still identify anything with the proper spell.
But like @bengoshi I also feel unnatural to start by BG2. To my mind, Baldur's Gate is a single game, not a trilogy, it starts from Candlekeep and it ends in the Throne of Bhaal. It will also influence the power of some characters, like the Kensai/Mage. If you start a Kensai in BG2 with the tomes and 1M xp, of course it will probably be easy. But all the difficulty in the Kensai is about going through BG1 without any armor or spells.
In my opinion it is like some kind of trade. If I start with BG1, I will have the Tomes, If I start with BG2, I won't have them.
I'm completly okay with editing some of the NPCs, to add some flavour or anything.
But the most important rule as previously stated is to have fun and to play the game the way you want
Good luck !
If you start by BG2 like you said earlier, I would chose the Kensai/Mage with a limited party (3 or 4 characters) of evil alignment. And the monk for the good alignment party
As to possible classes or kits, much would depend on which companions and how many you have in mind for your party. Should you go for a Warrior/Mage combo, then I'd recommend Berserker/Mage rather than Kensai/Mage. The enrage ability is something like a "save life button" and as such is much more valuable imo than the higher physical damage output a Kensai/Mage will offer you. (Or why not create something really unique, like a Half-Orc Barbarian/Mage? Could be a very interesting character also from an RP perspective, even though the Barbarian rage isn't as all-encompassing as the Berserker's.)
The other options you mentioned are all pretty solid as well. However you feared boredom for lack of micromanagement with a Monk. The same might happen with a straight Barbarian or an Inquisitor (who have no spells except Dispel Magic and True SIght). For that reason, I'd recommend a Bard, a Thief/Mage or a Warrior/Mage character. Cleric/Thief is a bit underappreciated but a lot of fun and very versatile.
EDIT: Do it! Start from BG1, and see your character grow from a hapless nobody into somehting epic! The classes I mentioned before shouldn't have unreasonable difficulty with surviving. (Careful with Bards though, no helmet = no protection from ciritical hits.)
As to your difficulty level, if you've only done a few areas on easy I wouldn't restart. You could maybe load your autosave from before you went to the Dryad area, and do that fight on 'Hard'?
As for the second question, if your goal is to do a no-reload on hard, you failed. You can still do most of a play on hard, though ;D
Good luck with any new attempts
I didn't know that SCS gave him his stun gaze so I attacked him normally at level 3 and he stunned me.
But that's the only thing he did, he didn't move or attack, he simply stun again and again and again. Because he can do that 5 or 6 times per round, I had to wait about 5-10 minutes for Proesis to make 6 saves in a row to drink a Potion of Invisibility.
Considering difficulty, if you played on Easy instead of Hard, it means you took 75% of normal damage instead of 150%, so you took half as much damage as you were supposed to take. So if you were at half HP at some point when you played on Easy, it means you should have died. If instead you never dropped to less than 80% of your hp for example, then playing on Hard wouldn't have change anything.