...are the wolves at the start of BG1 supposed to tear your flesh from your bones so easily? I know games are supposed to be easier nowadays, but whoa. I can't even get near them.

Yup, they're tough. Just run away if you can. Try to take them one at a time. There is an option somewhere to turn on "Pause when enemy sighted", usually when that's active you can run away before the monster sees you.

Take Imoen, and try to get those two other guys(montalban and his mate) as wolf fodder until you get some better characters or get a bit stronger.

LOL! Dude, it's the BEGINNING of the game! Yes, you're supposed to suck! In fact, you don't even know you're a Bhaalspawn yet!

This is not a 1st-person-shooter game, mate. It's a role playing game. So what are you supposed to do shortly after your foster father is butchered right before your eyes? Do you (A) go a-hunting for wolves which didn't do anything to you nor are you well versed in life outside of Candlekeep (and even if you can kill'em, you'd be ruining the ecology if you take too many of'em)? Or (B) let Imoen follow you, meet these potential allies Xzar and Montaron who are headed the same way as you're supposed to (to the Friendly Arm Inn), and stick to the roads while doing so?

:O)

I think it's a bit late for that now.

@james, thanks for the advice. I assume the first level/s are gained from fetch sidequests and the like as opposed to direct combat?

You can defeat the wolves if you and Imoen fight them one at a time from the distance with bows.

Hmmm, more like a combination of fetches and combat. You don't actually get that many XP for fetches either. You're not going to be levelling up quite as quickly as you'd be used to in recent games. You'll need to find some easy combats to supplement your XP rewards: go looking for some wild dogs, gibberlings and hobgoblins. Remember also that your combat effectiveness is determined by the quality of your equipment as well as the level of your characters.

There are a few good guides around that will help get your play style ready for BG combat. The first couple of things you should do are to equip all your characters with slings or bows, and to go into the game options and make it auto-pause when an enemy is sighted.

Yeah, I've got all the auto pause stuff set up. I'll try the ranged combat thing, see how that goes. Failing that, I suppose I'll just have to leg it to the Friendly Arm. :P

Auto-pause on Enemy Sighted is the single most useful Auto Pause, IMO. The rest are nice, but Enemy Sighted is crucial. It's often very hard to actually spot enemies when they appear on screen with the older graphics and UI. This will also allow you to start shooting at enemies immediately.

I loved using Montblan and Xzar as cannon fodder.

Also do Auto-Pause on Detect traps, nothing sucks more then seeing the trap pop up and be too late to stop your thief from walking on it.