I decided to give MM7 another go. And of course, planning my party is taking some effort.

My current idea is goblin knight / dwarf ranger / human monk / elf sorcerer. The knight beats stuff up, the sorcerer handles elemental magic and the ranger and monk handle "priestly" magic between them in addition to miscellaneous skills.

Another idea is a goblin paladin / human archer / elf druid / ???. I'm not sure whom I'd put in the last slot in such a case. Any thoughts? Would those parties be able to beat the game without too much trouble?

You might be a little light in the priestly magic department. The highest level that a Ranger and Monk can attain is Expert once they are at their career pinnacle and even that is constrained by your Good/Evil pick.

Only Sorceror and Priest can GM Light or Dark magic. Usually it is my Priest as the Sorceror has their hands full GMing Elemental magics.

It all depends on the amount of challenge you want. I favour magic heavy parties.

My advice on KRMS is "Don't do it". Bring someone that can at least Master Self magic. Ditch the Ranger for a Cleric or Druid, or even a Paladin if you must. Magical healing is incredibly tedious otherwise, and you can't always sleep.

Ranger seems decent on paper with its ability to dabble in pretty much everything, but in practice that dabbling means it is only truly good at swinging an axe.

You can win with a KRMS, but there's going to be some slogging to do. I've taken a KMRA through the game, so your sorcerer should make your life easier. Copious Lloyd's Beacon + Town Portal can give you healing between fights, just be aware that all damaged monsters will be back at full hp when you come back.

PADx should be fine with basically whatever for the 4th slot. You cover all magics except Light and Dark to Master, and you've already got a good spread on equipment. Ranger could fit in here if you really want to try a Ranger. A Thief could deal with traps for you. Either a Cleric or a Sorcerer would give you Light and Dark and some GM spells. A sorcerer might be the strongest addition to this party, but GM Protection From Magic is very amazing.

I love archers and would like to give this a try. How do you handle only expert disarm and no ID item?

usually get the infinite ID companion on starter island, for the disarm I usually just don't open chests until I've cleared a dungeon and then rest to heal between getting fisted.

Currently doing the 3 archer/cleric run. I keep forgetting about npc's. Thanks for the tip. Found the ID item guy and another who adds +6 to disarm. Got a belt with an additional +5 and a ring with +3. Currently running expert disarm at level 18. Still setting some traps off but with perception kicked up it's not much of a problem. It's been challenging. I don't think I've had more fun with mm7.

bump from edit

I don't think the belt and the ring stack since both give item bonuses. Might stack if one were an artifact/relic?

It would be something to check. Check the skill to see what the bonus is, then remove one and check the skill again. Just to compare, check the skill after the removing the other, and finally after removing both at the same time.

Speaking for myself:
I really want a Druid for black potions (Warlock promotion is daunting though).
I really want either a cleric or sorcerer for dark magic.
I really want a Thief for Disarm Trap and Perception.
I think I'll fill the void with a Knight for some more close quarters power.

Good variety of skills. But I have no wants besides the Druid. And I'll get a Scholar NPC for ID item.

What are your reasons for that party/your choices?