As a previous poster said, there are many oportunities for xp on the Eastern side of the map. The tombs are easy enough to get you through lvl2 and a bit, then do grove fight and quests, harpys and owlbear. Should be lvl3 then head west to Blighted Village most of the goblins are neutral but there are a few encounters which start hostile, clear them and head to north central gnolls, Zhent quest, "paladins" and clear the road of more gnolls. By then I was lvl4. Can pick up more xp if you head to Waukeens Rest, try clear Blighted Village, kill the Ogres there, kill the Gith to the NW or even head down South and explore the bog.
I'm sure there is enough xp in the early access areas to hit lvl5 and be well into 6. Even further if you kill everything you see/accept some of the more genocidal quests.
As for difficulty, spend your gold, there are traders everywhere. That extra +1 attack, damage or AC is huge. merchants have many upgrades for sale andyou can usually buy two upgrades when you meet the first one, I haven't run a high CHA character so maybe you could gear up quicker. Run Gale and learn Magic Missile, prevents so much frustration, it's easy to get Lae'zel a 1d12 or 2d6 weapon ASAP, Astarion is a bit harder to gear, Shadowheart come pretty well kitted at the start and doesn't need much to be effective. There is a stupid reliance on high ground in the game, a carryover from DOS2 I hear though I never played the game, try to start fights from high ground and give everyone a light/heavy crossbow, try get to highground with your weaker characters, move-take action-repeat.
Once you hit the later areas there are stupidly powerful items available which make the game a cakewalk. Look for The Sapphire Spark Amulet and Staff of Arcane Blessing. Those two items themselves make the game easymode. Shadow of Menzoberranzan helmet is great for scouting out fights and setting things up.
