Can I re-install this mod with different customizations for the included NPCs without having to reinstall the whole game? For some reason I feel like I need to play a certain character that will synergize well with the rest of them. Is the charm this mod adds worth the loss of potential "power play"? And come to think of it, which class is best suited to being player1 with the included npcs? I chose a mage but I am terrible with mages. Thank you for any help.

Without the MOD, I didn't care about my party one bit, and didn't really enjoy the game. With it, I loved Icewind Dale - yes, I think it's very much worth it, uless you prefer power gaming to atmosphere.

And you can uninstall/change any components of the mod anytime, just keep in mind that the changes won't reflect in game in progress

To re-install the mod,run the exe Setup-IWDNPC in the game's folder.
Speaking of "power play", the bard gets a particular song at later levels that heals his companions... very useful! I don't think you need any "power play" builds with that skill at your disposal.
Since the companions seem to be quite combat oriented, I chose to play as a wizard.

Heh, healer is basically a support wizard that can kick evil's ass using weaponry AND may wear armor and cast. If I planned on getting a 6-man party, I'd prefer cleric over wizard anytime.

Also, I don't think an another good fighter could ruin anything.

You don't have to play a wizard, a bard in the party covers the important spells.
If you choose the standard classes for the NPCs you don't have anyone to cast healing spells at the beginning, so healer is a good idea.
Human cleric9/illusionist is the powergaming choice. Dump cha to the minimum, take 16 con and 18 in all other stats. If you can't get a roll that good reduce wis down to 15-17. Dual the dualclassable human NPC to druid.
Ranger/cleric or fighter/druid multiclass with maximized physical stats is also an option, in this case dual the human fighter to the other priest class at level 3, 7 or 9.

The main drawback of the mod isn't that the NPCs don't have powergaming stats, it's that you play someone else's party, you give up the freedom to create and play your own party according to your imagination and play someone's else's party with someone else's interaction instead.

Yeah, but without the MOD you have no interaction whatsoever. That's the whole point of it.

Without the mod you're free to imagine whatever relationships and interactions among your characters with as much depth as you like.
The mod takes away freedom and gives entertainment.

Look, I LOVE imagining stuff. I do quite a bit of creative writing myself.
However, you're not discovering the characters, you're not building their relationships, you just... Sort of ... Know everything about them, with no room for discovery or surprise. It's like I told you to sit in empty room and imagine a fantastic conversation: It'll be fun for like 10 seconds, then you'll just leave.

I also loathe powergaming. I'm roleplayer all the way.

I'm saying all this to tell you just how much I LOVE imagining stuff. But I sort of got bored of imagining stuff by myself for myself when I was about 10 years old.

And... Yeah, I sort of play games for... You know... Entertainment.

My thoughts on it exactly. I'd like to be surprised and discover new things once in a while. With a party entirely made up by myself, even the fun of it became imaginary after a while :P

As I see it, it's not about freedom and entertainment, it's about complete control or interaction. I suppose both have merit, but for me, complete control becomes very sterile after a while, while interaction stays fresh.

It likely depends on whether you RP a character or a party as a whole (no idea how you'd RP a party though..) Most people likely create "their" character and regard the rest of the 5 slots as companions who may or may not agree to whatever it is "their" character is doing. Which adds a lot more fun and entertainment to a game imo.

Personally i always RP a single character and consider the rest of the party as "coming with me for their own reasons" ;P

From that standpoint, IWD1 and IWD2 without their relevant NPC mods are to me incomplete games... (IWD2 with NPC mod is even better than IWD1 with NPC mod ,p)