A good set of characters for a group

Xarlaxis

I'm sure this has been discussed before and it is probably buried deep in the discussions. I'm gathering info on what the best characters to go after to make the best of it. I am currently running:

Khalid
Ajantis
Yeslick
Imoen
Jaheira
Me as a pure mage

This mix is okay but It doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Xarlaxis

Oh and I pissed off Dynhaier (sp?) so she left and took Minsc with her. Can I get Minsc by himself back?

Humanoid_Taifun

If you pissed them off, they are probably gone for good.

In general it's difficult to have just one part of a pair, but not the other, unless you are prepared to enact a "tragic accident", or, if you are more the kind of person to inflict long-term suffering, lock the unwanted one up so he (or she) can't reach your party to tell you that you are a really big meanie.

As for your question about the party make-up. That really depends on you, I would say. How am I to judge what would make you feel warm and fuzzy? Other than Alora of course.
Do you have the BG1 NPC Project installed?

Xarlaxis

No I don't have that installed.

Humanoid_Taifun

Then I suggest you look into it. It gives your Baldur's Gate 1 party much needed depth and interaction.

Xanatos

I played through without it, but the NPC project was a great add-on. Really gave the characters and the game depth.

Imoen on her own doesn't have a lot of dialogue unfortunately, due to being a later addition to the game before release.
Khalid and Jaheira will at least banter some, and they have a funny dynamic together to spectate.
Ajantis and Yeslick strike me as two generic good guys

Alora is a lot of fun but you get her later in the game, and I've always liked the brooding ranger Kivan. In my head I have this narrative about him and Ajantis really being "good cop/bad cop"

Skatan

Bard or Archer Ranger.

Bard because bards are cool. They can sing, sling spells and use ie the xbow of speed.
Archer Ranger since you have few dedicated ranged characters (though Khalid is good) and ranged is king in BG1.

If you dual Imoen to Mage you get

Khalid: Fighter, melee and ranged
Ajantis: sword and board melee
Jaheira: Melee and slings as optional
Imoen: Thief and potential dualed mage
Yeslick: Fighter/Cleric (he comes late though, bare that in mind)
Charname: Bard, support arcane, songs and wands. Or Ranger: Pew-pew-pew!

If you choose the latter, you'll have 50% of the kills by the end of the game. At least. :P You could go shortbows and let Khalid get first pick on longbows, Ajantis could have a xbow on a secondary weapon slot perhaps. Imoen is a decent archer as well of course, but can't compare to warrior class THAC0 and APR.

Very_BigSword

The problem I think is a lack of personality and a lack of balance in your party composition. Unfortunately you are in the latter half of the game and it is late to change things up, maybe Alora for Imoen and Quayle for Yeslick could bring some flavour.

The unbalance is not so much the mix of classes, but instead the similarity of strengths and weaknesses in stats. All of your fighters lack either Str, Dex or both. If playing a good mage as the protagonist a nice party mix would have been:

Khalid as Archer/Melee depending on the needs of the encounter. He will get strength gauntlets later and switch focus to Melee/Axe throwing instead of bows.
Jaheira as Melee and heals taking most of her spell slots. She will need dexterity gauntlets "The brawling hands" to be viable, all the best AC improving items on her and using shield too.
Kivan as Archer/Melee depending on the needs of the encounter
Coran as archer and thief, replacing Imoen once you have reached Cloakwood
Xan if you want a second mage (focus spells on enchantments and buffs and use extra wands), or Branwen if you prefer a cleric (focus on combat casting, buff and summon spells leaving healing to Jaheira)

A very elvish group, oriented to good/heroism, superb ranged attacking and magical versatility. This group will power through the game and they have reasonably engaging personalities except for Branwen.

If you find them too powerful keep Imoen and skip Coran, swap Imoen for Alora when you get to Baldurs Gate.

Dharius

@Xarlaxis the mix you mentioned might not make you feel very warm or fuzzy but it’s a very well balanced set that will get you through the game without problem, if you like playing good aligned parties. You have both a druid and a cleric which is nice, and warriors are well represented. No need to dual Imoen or do anything too fancy.

Interesting that you chose Yeslick as he crops up later in the game than the others. Branwen is available earlier and is a reasonable alternative.

Xarlaxis

I ended up replacing Yeslick with Branwen and Montaron with Alora. I’m already into chapter 6 now I think so maybe my new subs are not great but everyone gets along. I did have Viconi but I gave the angel skin ring to the guard for his loved one - the guard in the flaming fist compound. She hated that and took off. As well did Montaron. I was now 2 short. I wanted a pure cleric and a pure thief hence Branwen and Alora. At least everyone gets along... so now it is Khalid, Jaheria, Ajantis, Me (pure mage), Branwen, and Alora. I’m not sure if my choices were great but I wiped the floor with the Iron Throne baddies with some difficulty but everybody stayed alive. I’m still trying to get used to using a cleric. I played a very successful cleric in World of Warcraft but those skills don’t always translate to BG1. Perhaps the fundamentals of keeping your group as healthy as possible does.

Dharius

That’s an excellent party you have right there, and you’re probably better off without the evil characters, as there’s a chance that they could have a conflict with Ajantis sooner or later, owing to his class.

Xarlaxis

The only test this party has had is the battle in the Iron Throne compound on the top level. They had three casters, two melee, and at least one archer. I’m going down into the Candlekeep dungeon so maybe a good test will be there.