Running into troubles in BG2

[Shade]

And I have something else to ask about BG2.  The first time I played, I did with 6 characters.  Then to challenge myself, beat the game with 4 characters, and surprisingly, I had an easier time than with 6.  I heard it is feasable to make it with one characters, I just want to know if any of you have done it and can relate the experience, briefly or in detail, as you whish of course.  I'm guessing a Mage/Thief would be the ideal candidate for such a task.

Thief- you just need all that lock-picking, hiding in shadows, trap detecting goodness, not that spells cannot do it, but it's way more convinient as a thief. (Oooh, did I mention backstab??  :ph34r: )
Mage- General use of defensive/offensive magic, and Tenser transformation to deal some physical roughness!

Since I haven't played in a while, I'm just gonna do a 4 people party, and after I might just attempt soloing.

-D

In fact, just any class is good to play alone. Personally, I soloed BG2+Throne with Figther/Mage/Thief (that char also soloed BG1) and Figther/Mage (3 different duals - Fighter 7, Fighter 9 and Figther 13).
In original BG2, Fighter/Mages were unstoppable. In Throne, F/M/T just slaugthered anything because of his backstab. I can cleary imagine soloing game with Thief/Mage (dual or muliticlass), and I recall that someone soloed game with Sorcerer (no multiclass obviosly).
First thing to remeber playing solo is - do not leave home without potions. And second thing is just the same.
One good advantage of playing solo is that all experience from monster killing is going straight to your character. That means if you solve most subquests before going to Underdark your mage will be able to cast numerous TimeStops without resting. (read - clvl 18-22).
Bad advantage is if someone paralyzed, mind-controlled or petrified your character - you are dead meat. Load autosave.
One fact is simply annoying - your inventory is limited, your Strength isn't great, and closiest Bag of Holding is in Asylum (sp?). Variuous Gem Bags, Scroll Bags and Potions Bags (Throne only) are godsend.
Also, first time I played BG2 I soloed it with that F/M/T char. Got huge chunk of challenge, and missed 1/3 of the game simply because I didn't bother talking to NPCs (never liked Immoen anyway).


But, good thing is - mage is so flexible that with right spells you can take down any single enemy. Bad thing is - if it is high level enemy - you are forced to rest after each combat.
Some useful defencive spells for soloing are Stoneskin, Fire Shield (very useful against backstabbing enemies), Spell Immunity, Protection from Magic Weapons, Contingency, Chain Contingency and Time Stop.
Some useful offencive spells are Magic Missile, Cromatic Orb, Greater Malison, Breach, Khelben Warding Whip (my favorite), Cloudkill, Abi-Dalsim Horrid Whiting and maybe SpellStrike.
Good general purpose spells are Find Familiar (having more hps cannot hurt), Identify and Knock.
Usual tactic is the following - immediately after rest cast various buffs on char, remove protections from enemies, hit 'em hard with heavy stuff. Rinse and repeat.
Thing to remember - multi and dual - classed mages cannot cast spells while wearing armor. This restriction doesn't apply to shields, helms, elven and drow chain mail.
I hope this helps you