Could you recommend which party members to take with me? (I can create them one by one) I was thinking of bard, sorcerer, fighter and cleric? But there's a problem. I hear that harder difficulties make my main character gain more experience? Or I should only alter difficulty level in options?
I would love to hear how I can gain more experiences.
(I'm still didn't finish OC, but I just made a brief pause. It's just very hard and I need time to finish it.)
My main suggestion would be to fit a ranger or druid in there somewhere. A character with high Survival and other skills like Spot and Listen makes life on the overland map much easier. That said, there is a druid NPC available early on, but I don't know how he does as party leader on the overland map.
I don't know about that. Wouldn't that make game too easy and I will get less experience? If I pick ranger and druid, it would be cleric, sorcerer, bard, ranger and NPC druid or fighter, sorcerer, cleric, ranger and NPC druid, but I really want to hit level 30 (I think this is possible, right?).
I wouldn't worry about that - you can always go after the random encounters if you want to grind and avoid them when you don't. I don't thinking taking both a ranger and a druid is necessary - if I were tweaking the party you initially suggested, I'd go fighter, druid, bard and sorcerer. (Mind you, when I did it I had a paladin as well as a druid, so all my divine magic needs were already taken care of.)
(I'm still didn't finish OC, but I just made a brief pause. It's just very hard and I need time to finish it.)
not to be a bummer here but compared to soz the oc is a cakewalk one shouldn't have problems with at all.
It's just that I want it to be perfect.
OK, maybe to go fighter, druid, sorcerer and bard. Would I reach level 20 with four companions?
1) Experience is always the same regardless of difficulty. Just play on the difficulty you enjoy the most.
2) SOZ isn't an epic module. In theory, you can grind forever and get to level 30 (which will take A LOT of time for nothing), but realistically, expect to finish somewhere between level 15 or 20, depending on party size and sidequests/grinding.
3) Always make your overland map (OM) leader your first character in the party. Otherwise, you can run into undesired encounters as the game will auto-switch to the first character when transitioning to the OM. The OM leader doesn't have to be a ranger, but ideally, s/he should have at least the following skills: either Spot or Listen, either Hide or Move Silently, Survival and Search. Those will let you find enemies, hide from enemies so you can choose when to fight instead of being attacked all the time, move faster in swamps and the like, and find stuff more easily. Other skills may come in handy to find hidden places/items (Spellcraft and Lore findings tend to give XP whereas others give crappy items), but those are the main ones. It's also recommended to have some kind of natural speed increase (ranger, barbarian, monk...). If you don't want a ranger or similar, just take a level on it or another class with those skills and the feat Able Learner. Same for rogue, since you'll need a character who can deal with locks and traps. You can mix both on the same character, or between two of them.
4) Back to the topic, party suggestions: A balanced party with the four main jobs (warrior, rogue, healer, mage, probably giving the warrior the OM tasks) works fine if you want to keep it simple. Otherwise, it can be completed by almost anything. I find warlocks with the invocation Flee the Scene very useful due to the nature of the OM (buffs run out in transitions so the infinite casting is pretty handy, AND they can enchant anything as long as you take the proper feats). Same for bards as their inspirations are infinite as well. Archers are also pretty good in SOZ since you can enchant both your bows and arrows. Personally, the party I enjoyed the most was a ranger/rogue/SD archer, bard, cleric with animal domain and dinosaur companion (which basically adds an extra party member) and warlock. That lacks a wizard/sorcerer, though, which may be useful in some fights. Anyway, go with whatever you like. Just remember to have the skills you need and not rely too much on long buffs since they will be auto-dispelled on the OM.
It's just that I want it to be perfect.
While that surely is a valid approach, I just want to say that my playing of SoZ was fun even though it was far from perfect. I made so many mistakes with the game, since I started it very early in my NWN2 experience (like you, before I finished the OC), and I made many poor party member choices. However, I ended up replacing my own party members for the recruitable companions along the way, erasing my poor class choices, but the tradeoff was that I was constantly taking handicaps with lower level party members. But that was fine! It made the gameplay very interesting and varied.
Also, once you get to a certain stage in Crossroad Keep, there will be a place where you can pay to train your party members to match your main level, if you'd rather not play with a handicap.
You will never hit level 30 in this campaign. It's set up for around lvl 20. I routinely get to 21 but that's with a couple mods installed (one on the vault, one of my own) that add lots of higher level encounters. Adding the Christmas expansion can get you a few more XP but probably not more than one extra level (plus, I wouldn't recommend that mod on your first playthrough because many of the added areas lose immersion - that is, they don't really fit the mood or the storyline).
... In theory, you can grind forever and get to level 30 ...
I'm not sure even this is possible. At some point in D&D, you get zero experience for encounters when your level is too much higher than the opponents'. I've never tried it out in NWN2, but if it does apply ....
[edit] In retrospect, it's probably theoretically possible even if the encounter XP drops to zero; there may still be rocks to turn over on the OM...
More generally, don't worry about trying to get more XP by going with a smaller party. The campaign is pretty well balanced for a party. Bring in your full four characters and grow them. If at some point you want to go with a smaller group, you can always leave the spares behind - there are no forced party members, unlike the OC.
Someone mentioned you should have a ranger or druid. Well, maybe. First, there are a druid and a ranger NPC available to join almost from the start, so don't let that deter you from your personal preferences. Second, I wouldn't even put a druid in that "must" category - a rogue is better. Stealth and searching skills are what's called for; the only thing a rogue misses out on is faster overland movement, but he can put points into Survival skill and do alright. Also, a rogue will turn up more and better loot, which matters early before your ship comes in (okay, make that "before your fleet comes in"). Possibly consider a rogue/ranger hybrid.
Someone also suggested making your stealth/searcher your lead character. Again, I differ. While it is no doubt helpful at some points, those points are rare and can be avoided. The forcing of your lead character onto the overland map only happens when you come out of a significant encounter area (such as a town or monster labyrinth), so make sure there aren't throngs of monsters wandering nearby when you go into such an area; also, remember that there are ways to evade undesired encounters; and make use of the plentiful Stones of Alarm, and never go out onto the overland map at death's doorstep.
On the other hand, non-hostile interactions happen all the time; I always put a charismatic spokes-model type in the lead position to save having to switch (literally dozens, if not hundreds, of times). That character will have to sink some skill points into non-traditional Skills (spot/listen and survival) and should have a couple of Feats (Point Blank Shot and Weapon Finesse/Sneak Attack) which are probably useful anyway; that's if you want to take full advantage of the Adventurers' Guild.
...
p.s. The opening scene can be very rough without a full party. Since you want to be perfect, know that there are bonus XP and a Feat available for getting through it unscathed.
p.p.s. You won't be "perfect" in any case - that requires a gimmicky character to get the "Favored of the Road" Feat.
p.p.p.s You're not going to be anywhere near "perfect" without a rogue, in any case; and there isn't a handy NPC rogue available until halfway through the game (and she's not that great without some remedial training).
Thanks guys. I played Storm of Zehir a little bit and now I'm level 6.
Decided to play with bard, barbarian, favored soul and rouge. My main character is bard. Bard has big intelligence, so he has high hide and listen (as well lots of other skill), barbarian has decent survival, and rouge has decent spot and move silently, as well other important skill. Favored soul is the weakest, but I played a bit with these characters and favored soul is doing quite well.
I started with a favoured soul, too, but I quickly came to dislike the lack of the Turn Undead ability. There's a cleric companion available in the game, but only much later, so I ended up just multiclassing my favoured soul into cleric, which is possibly the worst optimised choice I made in the game, but I still got through it.
Well, yes, "only". But you'll be switching control your OM leader whenever you are on the OM anyway.While it is no doubt helpful at some points, those points are rare and can be avoided. The forcing of your lead character onto the overland map only happens when you come out of a significant encounter area
That's fine, but as I said, you don't need to have all those skills spread among several characters. I'd put all the main OM ones on the same character, perhaps all the conversation ones on another, and then spread the rest among all the members.My main character is bard. Bard has big intelligence, so he has high hide and listen (as well lots of other skill), barbarian has decent survival, and rouge has decent spot and move silently
I never take a cleric or favored soul at all. My party has always been roughly the same, The lead is a fighter turn weapons master. Usually with enough int not to embarrass himself in a conversation. Then a ranger (scout if K's pack in on board), he/she dips into rogue to get a few d6 of sneak attack and lock picking and traps. Lastly a mage to keep the home fires burning. The ranger looks after the mage, the fighter keeps a wall at the front. The fourth slot is for npc's until they annoy me too much which is generally quite quickly so I play with the three most of the time.The combat is never very tough so that usually does it for me.
[edit - the mage is my speaker the ranger mu OM lead, the fighter mostly looks tough at the front and takes on the occasional convo]
PJ
Well, yes, "only". But you'll be switching control your OM leader whenever you are on the OM anyway.
It's a minor detail and YMMV, but I personally prefer switching to the speaker in a town, rather than to the OM leader every time I'm on the OM.
Hmm. It seems like it might be new tricks for old dogs time. If you're stepping out onto the OM and you don't want to be seen, control your rogue/ranger and have him step on the portal. 95% of the time, he appears on the OM. He can even be in stealth or search mode. As I said, only when leaving huge areas does it force your lead character "out front" (I suspect it relates to loading a new module file).
Why does this matter? Pretty simple - you just may not want a PC ranger type* (I notice Naeryna didn't take one); and you can't get an NPC into that no. 1 slot.
* or even an NPC, for that matter; there's no reason you should feel bound to have one.
I reached level 9 in first chapter. I was doing pretty well, started a mod when I was level 6, but didn't like the mod, actually. Then, when I was level 9, I deleted the game. I will start over.
Start over with the SoZ campaign, you mean?
Just make the standard party of Fighter/Paladin/Barbarian, Cleric/Favored Soul, Rogue, Wizard/Sorcerer. Get a Bard and Ranger/Druid NPC. (Both NPCs can be found in the first town you start in.)
You can also combine Rogue/Ranger in a character so you don't need two people, with Able Learner.
My run through with was a full Drow party with Kaedrin's pack. I also edited the game to make a party of six from the beginning.
Fighter/Weapon Master with a Falchion.
Pure Cleric of Lolth with appropriate Domains. Leader.
Rogue/Scout/Shadowdancer. Really, a swish-army knife of a character. Dungeons, overland, traps, sneak attack, archery, dual-wield. He did everything.
Wizard/Pale Master.
Warlock/Hellfire Warlock. Blaster and battlefield controller. Nasty damage.
Bard. The only good party member. Everyone else was evil.
Each member corresponding to a dark elven god (Dark Seldarine) guess which is which. Quite easy. 
No Daylight Adaptation, no crafting, on Very Difficult and Tony K's AI on and a 2 Level Adjustment for everyone.
We also sacrificed every single NPC.
A party that could do anything, skill-wise, very versatile, following a theme and we kicked ass.
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