PT 3 Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Have your mage toss Chaos or Confusion into the middle of them. Have Jaheira cast Entangle (in BG1 it "only" affects the enemy). Have your cleric cast Defensive Harmony first then follow up with Hold person the next round. Have Imoen or someone with a bow use Arrows of Biting (IMHO the nastiest missle in BG1 or 2) and target different enemies each round. Some may save vs poison, but some will not and the poison will keep interrupting them for several rounds (spellcasting or trying to follow and attack you). Can't remember if Jaheira has Insect Plague in BG1 (it is 5th level) but if you have a single class druid cast that spell and watch them squirm. May be able to recall more the next time I pull up BG1, but hope these ideas help.
PT 2 had to break this into smaller chunks. For Cleric 2 excellent defensive spells are Prot from Evil 10' Rad & Defensive Harmony. Prot Evil 10' gets applied differently in the various AD&D games by Black Isle but basically works the same. It either raises your AC by 2 or drops the enemy to hit by 2. Spell will apply to every party member within range of cleric. Def. Harmony is better in 2 ways, worse in 1. Spell takes only 1 segment to cast (was designed for emergencies like this) and it boosts every party member's AC by 2 or 3 (again slightly different in each game). It's worse in that it only lasts for 6 combat rounds. Def Harmony is great to give you that extra round or two to get your party in order. Save any and all Wands of the Heavens you find or can buy. Usually only have a few charges. But sell 1 to a merchant and then buy it back. It will have either 50 or 100 charges now. Give one to Jaheira and one to your cleric as they can both use them.
Hello Andy2h, PT 1 Sorry to be this long in replying. Haven't been to GameBanshee in the past few days. For your mage, I would recommend having at least 1 perhaps 2 (depending on how many 4th level spells your mage can memorize) Stoneskin spells combine this with a mirror image or two and your mage should be safe for the duration of a single fight. If your mage is wearing the Boots of Avoidance (they reduce the enemy archers to hit by a whopping "6"!) with stoneskin and mirror image they are practically unhittable by the archers. Pretty much takes a roll of 20 to hit you. Remember Nimbul in Nashkel? ;) I usually have my PC wearing those though as they up front and most vulnerable to the archers.
