Newbie questions about IA Options

[Dementia]

Hi everybody!

I'm new to Improved Anvil and have heard a lot of good about it.

I have a few questions before playing:

i) I see a lot of talk about playing mage or vagrant, but I really like playing some kind of cleric ie C/R or C/F or a pure cleric. Can I enjoy IA without playing vagrant or mage?

ii) I don't consider myself a very good tactician, can I enjoy IA without being too frustrated. I accept reloads. But I would hate to sit a whole day not getting further. I would skip very tough challenges like the slaver compund but otherwise follow the plot and most else.

iii) I do like the banters of NPC does IA change that?

iv) Will I have to make custom NPC's? I would prefer to use Bioware's NPC or a few other like Xan, Auren or Kivan.

v) I never played ToB before, well I remember years ago I tried the big dungeon (I don't remember the name) but I didn't come through. Will that matter if I intend to play IA?

ahh well I think I got most of my questions. Thanks for your help in advance

Dementia

[Ryel ril Ers]

The weapon masteries are privilege of pure class fighters. The multi class fighters split their learning time two part so they never able to be as good then their fellows who follow the path of sword. The multi classes very powerful in the vanilla game so they need rebalancing not more power.
In IA they get HLA-s later, and the the multi class grandmastery is not recommended because balancing reason, but the true grandmastery is suggested so the multi and pure fighters are in balance.

If you like the Bioware NPC's then use them.

Your party seems good.
The vagrant is the best protagonist.
I think Jaheira is good as Fighter/Druid too. She can use clubs what are very good weapons in Anvil, and the blunt damage is the best. She isn't the ideal chacter in Anvil but i think she is usable. Later you can specialize her to two weapon style for club+scimitar or two handed weapon styl for staff+spear.
I think you choose her because the romance.

Anomen, Nalia, Imoen are one of the best Bioware NPC-s for the Anvil.
I think there is enough good item usable by rangers to equip two of them, not only one, so choose Valygar.

The blades are very powerful in the vanilla game and in Anvil too. They could get a godlike armor in anvil what give them clean aura (permanent improved alacrity) and their huge casting level protect their spell from dispelling sometimes and give them chance to dispel enemy protections, this is their biggest advantage over fighter/mages.

[Raven]

The weapon masteries are privilege of pure class fighters. The multi class fighters split their learning time two part so they never able to be as good then their fellows who follow the path of sword. The multi classes very powerful in the vanilla game so they need rebalancing not more power.
In IA they get HLA-s later, and the the multi class grandmastery is not recommended because balancing reason, but the true grandmastery is suggested so the multi and pure fighters are in balance.

Yes, also there is another reason why multi-class grandmastery is not recommended - none of the many multiclass fighter/x enemies in IA have more than 2 points on any weapon. So it would be unfair if the multiclass party members could gain more proficiency points.

I would recommend taking a single or dual-class cleric (like Anomen) because some high level divine spells (e.g. Regeneration and Greater Restoration) are really useful. It'd be hard to manage with a multiclass cleric as your main healer.