Ahh, BG2. Nice game. I have only played it once, although I only got the final "battle" of ToB. Still have the save game and will finnish it one day (or simply replay from start).
I bought ToB at the same time as SoA and installed both. Apart from gettin ghte bug fixes (no need to install the patch), there were as I understood it a few small changes/additions as well to gameplay. Not sure I recall them all, but one was that you could actually delete spells from your spell book if needed. Reading the manual, it tells about action feedback, that is, the text at the bottom of the screen that scrolls will tell what your characters actually do. You can also remove (if you want) the no pause on map screen. I liked that since it helped you navigate faster, especially in town and such were there is nothing new or dangerous to bump into. Some more small things. Not much but some are nice.
As for the added area, the Watcher's keep. It is reachable allready during the SoA play. You don't have to wait for the game to proceed to the actual new ToB to access it.
Without spoiling to much, it consists of several different areas of which the first 2 or so is playable allready during the SoA part. YOu can go there (and return there) pretty much at any time and when it gets to tough, just leave and come back later. After the first 2 or possibly 3 areas you really should wait until you are in ToB since you need high level chars to manage.
In addition, there is actually a few items to be bought there (without puting you into any danger so don't be affraid to visit it even with a low level char) of which I think one was a new item one that hold potions (pretty much as a bag or quiver but for potions, it is great!!!). I think there was some good weapon too but it is quite expensive.
Otherwsie it won't change the actual SoA at all as far as I know.
So yes I would definately get and install ToB before starting to play. As for the actual ToB, I liked it. It is much more linear in is play than the original but stil very enjoyable and the story continue and tie in very well.
My own playing of the game (it was right after BG 1 by the way) was in much affected by me realising I would probably not play the game more than once and thus wanting to maximise the experience so to speak.
My party selection was in part based on that. You can normally not have more than one romance going (at least not after having had it to a certain point). However, there is a download that allow you to run them all in parallell. After a while (it IS fun watching the scenese when they "fight" over you and you have to decide and such) I used the download and could thus pursue all three romaces in parallell if for no other reason to see them all out. I admit that Jaheira and Viconia are the most fun. I think Jaheira has several quests related to her too although you might get some without a romance, no idea.
That of course limited my party choices since you can't lkick out your romance. I am pretty much a fighter by heart, so picked the Paladin myself (and I like his personal quest reward although some other classes has what appear to be more fun class quests). For some reason Minsc is cool too and I liked having two good fighters. That left me with one slot to rotate between other characters to get as many quests as possible. I used Yoshimo (is that his name?) as the "main" character there, and basically let him go (and ocationally Minsc depending on what was needed) to get in other chars for quests.
Note that quests related to various chars are triggered in two ways. One is ingame delays of days. The other is actual play time delays. After a while I simply looked at some walkthrough to see what chars had quests left and how long you had to wait and such. An alternative is to dump them and then occationally go and pick them up and change area in town or so and if nothing happens, dump them again. Some quests are related to areas though so you might still miss them.
You WILL come back to the town later in the game though. And at that time you can continue to do the town quests, so don't worry about having to do them all before leaving town. It will be a LONG jurney though :) I still think you should try to do quite a few of them before leaving though as it helps having gained a few extra levels and items before leaving town.
Obviously Imoen will be back in the party later as I consider her an intgral part of the whole story.
I never tried the new character in ToB, but if I replay I will definately go with an evil party and have him as part of it (and I still get to romance with Viconia :) ).
I don't remember much to write the "don't do this" stuff. And most was of the type that I went to far into some areas too soon (in chapter 2, hard to do it later when you leave town). Just try to always have an escape rout ot of places and you should be fine. I would definately do some of the chapter two areas outisde town in a different order than the first time, but you seem to have allready played much of it no?
As a general idea I think one could manage fine with just one "tank" character in the party though. As oposed to BG1, magic is SO much mroe improtant (you won't manage withouth it, and that gets more true the more you go into the game). One usually manage fine with just one heavy tank character and a few support ones. Viconia or Jaheira for example manage well in many fights and so on, yet in important battels can cast spells. A full tank character (I had basically two, me and Minsc) can become a by stander in a magic battel at times though.
So, except for the fun of a MOnk and being a melee player, I would probably have picked a Sorcerer of the two you sugested, but it depend on what your party would look like. Minsc is one VERY good fighter by the way.
I bought ToB at the same time as SoA and installed both. Apart from gettin ghte bug fixes (no need to install the patch), there were as I understood it a few small changes/additions as well to gameplay. Not sure I recall them all, but one was that you could actually delete spells from your spell book if needed. Reading the manual, it tells about action feedback, that is, the text at the bottom of the screen that scrolls will tell what your characters actually do. You can also remove (if you want) the no pause on map screen. I liked that since it helped you navigate faster, especially in town and such were there is nothing new or dangerous to bump into. Some more small things. Not much but some are nice.
As for the added area, the Watcher's keep. It is reachable allready during the SoA play. You don't have to wait for the game to proceed to the actual new ToB to access it.
Without spoiling to much, it consists of several different areas of which the first 2 or so is playable allready during the SoA part. YOu can go there (and return there) pretty much at any time and when it gets to tough, just leave and come back later. After the first 2 or possibly 3 areas you really should wait until you are in ToB since you need high level chars to manage.
In addition, there is actually a few items to be bought there (without puting you into any danger so don't be affraid to visit it even with a low level char) of which I think one was a new item one that hold potions (pretty much as a bag or quiver but for potions, it is great!!!). I think there was some good weapon too but it is quite expensive.
Otherwsie it won't change the actual SoA at all as far as I know.
So yes I would definately get and install ToB before starting to play. As for the actual ToB, I liked it. It is much more linear in is play than the original but stil very enjoyable and the story continue and tie in very well.
My own playing of the game (it was right after BG 1 by the way) was in much affected by me realising I would probably not play the game more than once and thus wanting to maximise the experience so to speak.
My party selection was in part based on that. You can normally not have more than one romance going (at least not after having had it to a certain point). However, there is a download that allow you to run them all in parallell. After a while (it IS fun watching the scenese when they "fight" over you and you have to decide and such) I used the download and could thus pursue all three romaces in parallell if for no other reason to see them all out. I admit that Jaheira and Viconia are the most fun. I think Jaheira has several quests related to her too although you might get some without a romance, no idea.
That of course limited my party choices since you can't lkick out your romance. I am pretty much a fighter by heart, so picked the Paladin myself (and I like his personal quest reward although some other classes has what appear to be more fun class quests). For some reason Minsc is cool too and I liked having two good fighters. That left me with one slot to rotate between other characters to get as many quests as possible. I used Yoshimo (is that his name?) as the "main" character there, and basically let him go (and ocationally Minsc depending on what was needed) to get in other chars for quests.
Note that quests related to various chars are triggered in two ways. One is ingame delays of days. The other is actual play time delays. After a while I simply looked at some walkthrough to see what chars had quests left and how long you had to wait and such. An alternative is to dump them and then occationally go and pick them up and change area in town or so and if nothing happens, dump them again. Some quests are related to areas though so you might still miss them.
You WILL come back to the town later in the game though. And at that time you can continue to do the town quests, so don't worry about having to do them all before leaving town. It will be a LONG jurney though :) I still think you should try to do quite a few of them before leaving though as it helps having gained a few extra levels and items before leaving town.
Obviously Imoen will be back in the party later as I consider her an intgral part of the whole story.
I never tried the new character in ToB, but if I replay I will definately go with an evil party and have him as part of it (and I still get to romance with Viconia :) ).
I don't remember much to write the "don't do this" stuff. And most was of the type that I went to far into some areas too soon (in chapter 2, hard to do it later when you leave town). Just try to always have an escape rout ot of places and you should be fine. I would definately do some of the chapter two areas outisde town in a different order than the first time, but you seem to have allready played much of it no?
As a general idea I think one could manage fine with just one "tank" character in the party though. As oposed to BG1, magic is SO much mroe improtant (you won't manage withouth it, and that gets more true the more you go into the game). One usually manage fine with just one heavy tank character and a few support ones. Viconia or Jaheira for example manage well in many fights and so on, yet in important battels can cast spells. A full tank character (I had basically two, me and Minsc) can become a by stander in a magic battel at times though.
So, except for the fun of a MOnk and being a melee player, I would probably have picked a Sorcerer of the two you sugested, but it depend on what your party would look like. Minsc is one VERY good fighter by the way.
There are three types of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't.