When do you steer away from the main story and do some sidequests?

[Klorox]

For me, I wait until I get my party together the way I really want it, unless it's a very easy sidequest and I don't plan on going back there (The dagger in the mines, for example).

[LordTerror]

I wait until I get Coran before start doing side quests.

[DaemonJ]

I try to get my party setup as much as possible before doing any quests in an attempt to be able to allocate proficiency points and spells the way that I want.

[wise grimwald]

I do some as soon as possible before even Imoen joins. Perdue's sword, spiders in Bergost, Melicamp, Bassilus, archaeologists, Brage, in that order. Then you have gone up a few levels before you make your party and they join at a higher level. I know this means that you do not have the choice as to where points go, but I find that in general they go where I would want them.

[Pellinore]

I like to do the side quests which land me my NPCs and then do all the possible side quests in a slow and methodical process. I never rush through the scenarios and I generally do only one area per day unless I am really close to a level or something then I continue until I level up.

[Celacena]

Originally Posted by Pellinore

I like to do the side quests which land me my NPCs and then do all the possible side quests in a slow and methodical process. I never rush through the scenarios and I generally do only one area per day unless I am really close to a level or something then I continue until I level up.

wow - restraint!

I usually carry on until time dictates that I should stop - I often do a few areas in a session and then when I have finished a chapter or something, I go back through areas in which I may have left "fog of war" and check out that all sensible quests have been finished.

at the moment I am at the XP cap and wondering what to do next.

[Spaceman]

Personally, the first thing I do before anything else, dontchaknow, is to assemble my final party. I always pick my six before I even start the game, and make sure they're people who are close at hand (ie not people in Cloakwood or BG). Once I've assembled them, I usually go straight on with the little old plot until the end of Nashkel mines, to get a certain toughness to them, then start hitting the sidequests like a sweating alcoholic who's been waiting all day for opening time.