That is something with the mibbit site's certificates.  The only issue is that the cert is self signed, which shouldn't be a problem.  Click the "I understand the risks" link that should be in the error message page, and then click "add exception" link that should be shown after.  Give it time to load the certificate then click "store this certificate" (going from memory... this may not be the exact name of each link, but the general gist should be apparent.)  This is going from memory with Firefox as the browser.  Other browsers my have other ways of accepting the self signed cert.

The .bic files are stored in the same folder as the regular NWN created .bic files.  If you're not seeing them there, I'm not sure what to say... the game sees them if I read your post right, so they must be there.

The folder is a subfolder off of the main NWN folder.  It's like the "module" folder contains third party modules, and the "hak" folder contains .hak files.  I don't remember the name of the folder, but it's probably either "bic" or "characters" or something to that effect.

Go to the directory where the installer is located (don't run the link on the desktop) and run it from there.  When you run it there should be an option that mentions the OC fix (it's a .hif file) that needs to be applied to the OC modules to correct these kinds of issues.

I'll be doing some updating of the outdated static pages for the manual.  This is on my "to-do" list, but I haven't gotten it finished yet...  I'll try to get this taken care of asap.

You would have to edit some .2da files and tlk entries at the very least.  Honestly, it would probably be better to just say "For the purposes of our setting, this class is known as X, so if you take levels in it, don't call yourself by the class name, but use X instead in conversation."

Every casting class requires the correct level in the primary attribute for that caster's spells in order to take more spells of a given level.  The one exception that I know of is Favored Soul.  It's primary casting attribute is charisma, but you need wisdom for the spell levels themselves.  So it has a split attribute issue.

For your concept, a Paladin/Lasher is probably more in tune with the Castlevania feel.

I think this may be because when you "conjure" summon an animal or elemental companion, you are moving it from its natural home to "you" to be your servant for a short duration.  When you "evoke" summon the dagger, you are creating something from nothing and imbuing it with a personality, but again only for a short while.  Both are "summons" but the way the summon is executed changes which school it belongs to.  Also, it may have been to provide someone who is restricted from taking conjuration a chance to have a summon of some kind.  In any event, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.