NPC_EE VS refinements

You might want to try NPC_EE for character tweaking. Lets you change classes, kits, and stats.

NPC EE: Equivalent in functionality to Level 1 NPCs and SCS’ NPC customization, this mod equips all joinable NPCs with an item which, when activated, allows you to change their class, kit, stats, and/or proficiencies.

I'd be willing to bet it was Lvl 1 NPCs, given that iirc it's supposed to de-level NPCs to let you reset their class/stats. I've been using NPC EE instead and it's been pretty foolproof, in my experience.

I'd recommend NPC EE in lieu of Lvl1 NPCs, personally.

EEkeeper hasn't been properly maintained for awhile and it may not be the most reliable method for a heavily modded install. Supposedly there can be issues with certain variables and effects not getting properly saved. Dual 2 kit works fine, or you can install the NPC EE mod and use one of the kit tomes for yourself - eg, cheat it into your inventory with this code: C:CreateItem("d5_ckit") and then use the item it spawns.

Although I've always used 'BG2-ToB Refinements' mod (its fork is found here), I've never considered the meta or analysis of the HLAs.

Refinements: HLA overhaul, originally with the intent of better differentiating each class’ HLAs. I haven’t touched this in years – if anyone has some up to date comments on how it works and if you’d recommend it, I’ll edit this accordingly.

The current Refinements mod apparently works on EE??

Yes, there's a mod which revamps HLAs, it's called Refinements: https://github.com/UnearthedArcana/refinements