Thanks for your inputs guys. But is not better to get as many people as you can into your party for strength until you find a replacement over having one or two short?

Not really, since you'd be wasting xp on a character you inted to dismiss soon. This isn't like newer games where NPCs lvl up relative to you. Besides, if you need a cleric you can use Aerie or Anomen, both of whom are encountered before Viconia.

Gotcha! Thanks!

The only reason you might want to try to recruit everyone is so you can do their personal quest, cause who doesn't want more XP? After that, you can drop them if you don't want them. Just keep in mind that in order to start most of the npcs personal quests, they have to be traveling with you for a while