I'm approaching the end of the PoR. I was planning on creating a new party in Curse since most of my current party comprises of demi-humans. Though I guess I could carry over my fighter/thief. Anyways, what's a solid party to create?

Human Paladin
Human Mage
Human Cleric
Dwarf Fighter/Thief
Human Ranger
Human Fighter or second Ranger

Dual one or both of the last two to Mage.

Human Paladin
Human Ranger
Human Cleric
Elf Magic-User (18 int required to reach level 11, human works too)
Thief (any race)
Elf Fighter/Magic-User (18 str and int)

This party includes all classes with their strengths and weaknesses, if you want an easier game you can do some dual- or multiclassing like

Human Paladin
Human Ranger
Human Fighter 8 > Cleric
Human Cleric 9 > Magic-User
Dwarf of Half-Elf Fighter/Thief
Elf Fighter/Magic-User

Thanks guys for the suggestions. Are single class characters pretty weak in this game compared to dual or multi class?

Another reason to make new characters for CotAB is that your previous characters from PoR will be too high level, making the game too easy.

Also, it can be helpful (but not necessary) to have at least one female character for CotAB.

My preferred party for CotAB: 5x Elf F/M, 1x Human Cleric

However, this party would be unsuitable to transfer to SotSB.

Yes, I love F/M :)!! It's often a balance, especially with MU, because multiclass will reach the more powerful spells a bit slower and have fewer of them available.

In CotAB you start hitting level caps which make multiclass a bit more unsuitable too (most notably the Cleric), and by SotSB the multiclass characters will be more underpowered.

I never dual-class (just because I find it too cheesy for me personally :D), so I can't comment on that.

I agree I'm not a huge fan of dual class but will do it from time to time. I do like single classes a lot. I guess I like having specialist characters that have strengths and weaknesses as kmonster mentioned. Is a fighter thief much better than a single class thief? I know you get higher strength going multi class but does that higher strength help with backstab damage at all? Also do the fights in this game contain as many enemies as in PoR?

if you are not going to transfer character to Secret of the Silver Blades multi-class Elves will be good. But in the long run Human single or dual classes are superior, except for Thieves.
Fighter/Thieves are superior to Thieves because they get better THAC0 and an extra half APR after Flighter lvl 7. STR helps with backstab damage. Ove my mages are lvl 7+ are thereabouts, I prefer to have my Fighter/Thief under a permanent Enlarge spell. Having 19-22 STR + doing a backstab = massive damage which regular Fighter types can only dream of.

There are generally fewer enemies in in each battle in CoAB, but overall the game is more difficult than PoR. Transfered characters will not be overpowered IMO.

And a whole party of Fighter/Mage will be pretty ineffective in the most difficult part of the game.

If you are not going to hack around the sexist strength limit rule, I recommend that that character be a cleric, thief or mage: The human female strength cap is high enough that it only affects characters who start as fighter-types. (Note that dual-classing into a fighter-type will not give you exceptional strength and will end up with a character with lower HP, so I don't recommend it.)

Also, don't dual class right away. From what I hear, after the very beginning of the game, you lose access to a place to train, and if you just dual-classed, you will be stuck at level 1 (and hence be very weak) and will be wasting a lot of experience (because training up a level causes you to lose all XP in excess of what would be needed to level up again).

Edit: Also, if you plan on transferring to SotSB, you will probably want to have a single class Ranger. Rangers get extra damage against giants, and SotSB has a lot of them.

Okay, sounds good. Now I'm currently running an elf fighter/thief. I don't plan on having my fighter/thief wear anything other than leather for role playing reasons. Is an elf a better way to go due to higher AC since I will be making judicious use of backstab? Or does the Dwarf's higher strength a better trade off?

Dude, you are tiresome. Elves can get 19 DEX, Dwarves only 17. STR can always be adjusted by items or spells, so statswise the Elf is the winner. I prerfer the Dwarf myself, since Elves can be hard to bring back to life if killed, and Dwarves can get a couple of extra Fighter levels.

I will admit that I've played CotAB a lot fewer times than I've played PoR :)!

Perhaps I should have said "Another reason to make new characters for CotAB is that your previous characters from PoR will be too high level, making the game too easy, at least at the beginning."

When I played CotAB the most recently (a few years ago), I originally kept all of my characters from PoR (except my C/M). I got just a little past Haptooth and then restarted with a party of new characters, because it was just way too easy.

Hmm...I always though the last part of PoR was way too easy, but parts of CoAB is very difficult. Some battles in the Tilverton Sewers can be very difficult with a sub optimal party, Hap I've always found brutal and one of the most difficult areas in the entire series, and the warzone in Yulash is swarming with high level Zhentarim terror teams.

Correct.

I finally got out of the sewers and the fire knives guild. All I want to find is a merchant where I can sell and identify all this crap I'm carrying around. I can't find one. I just keep running into fight after fight. Gamebanshee told me to go to Hap. Well I'm still using the basic gear I started with and simply can't find a damn merchant and now I've got drow patrols constantly attacking me. Is there a merchant anywhere in this place?

EDIT: Nevermind. :)

Found a place. What is elfin chain? Is that 'elvin' chain I assume? Should go magic user I imagine?