Been meaning to play this forever but I'm neurotic about a starting party. I'd like to use a ready made one rather than starting from scratch, but I'd also like to pick or change the names of the characters I start out with ... is this possible?
To the best of mu knowledge no, unless you're good at delving into the various console commands and trying that. My recommendation would be to go ahead and create your own characters and create more than one party as well. That way, you can get a feel for each of them and decide if you want to continue with them or not. As an aside, if you go to the front desk of the inn in Hommlett or Nulb you can read the guest book and access the character creation menu, where you can add a new 1st level character to your party if one of them has been killed or if you started the game with less than a max number of heroes in your party. I usually have at least 2 different alignment parties going at once and just switch between them depending on where I am in the game...
There are pregenerated characters, but no pregenerated parties. And while you can rename characters you create, you can't rename the pregens. (Without some hex editing anyway.) You might be able to appeal to the membership here to make you a pregenerated party and upload the character files somewhere though. Then you could rename them after you add them to your game.
IMO creating the party yourself from scratch is one of this games best features, the myriad of character creation options available is vast, and everyone has their own individual taste and style of play to consider also. A party concept that works for me may be completely different to one that works for you. Moreover once you start gaining levels and advancing your characters development your way, the characters that were created would be practically unrecognizable compared to how I would level the same character. I understand that party creation is time consuming, but in it's own way, can also be a lot of fun, especially with the selection of goods available on the shop map. There are plenty of threads here discussing party creation, I'd personally recommend you to search them for some ideas if you are stuck, and create your own party.
TOEE is a Dungeons and Dragons based game, meaning your understanding of DnD, (rule set 3.5) will determine your ability to make the most advantageous decisions when creating a character or dealing with in game situations. I recommend reading up on DnD 3.5, or reading the users manual that comes with the game for a quick look into the very deep and detailed rules that govern the game. There is also an excellent guide here on this website that has a plethora of information on DnD and how it's used in TOEE and what to expect while playing the game. Here's a link TOEE Game Gude and Walk Through
