Here is my party. This is the party I want for better or worse. It is only the last slot I am not sure of. Please note that I am not carrying this party over to Curse of the Azure Bonds.

FIGHTER
FIGHTER
FIGHTER
FIGHTER\THIEF
MAGE\CLERIC

Ok, for the last slot do I want another Mage\Cleric or just a Mage?

The pure class mage will be maxed out at 40,001 XP and after reaching 80,002 XP (which will be very late in the game) the cleric/mage will be far superior.

But pure class mage can be fun nevertheless, you get spells like fireball earlier and also experience the weaknesses of the class.

I suggest a Cleric/MU. If you only have one cleric and he goes down during a battle, you have to rest a day to get him back up to 1 HP so he can heal. If you have two characters with clerical abilities, you are likely to have one to heal the other back up, should he go down.

A pure Mage will get Stinking Cloud and Fireball sooner. So I'd got for a Mage and a Cleric/Mage. I'd also multi at least one of the fighters to Fighter/Mage and one to Fighter/Cleric. More multis means more Sleep and Cure spells.

dont forget, characters can advance into the next game in the serial, so there is HUGE benefit, to a pure class mage in PoR.

To answer the question...2 Clerics.

H M Ftr
H M Ftr
E M Ftr/Mage/Th
H F Cl
H M Cl
H M Mage