I know there are a ton of threads around asking the same thing. I've always done a 6 man team and was thinking about trying a smaller group though I don't know if that's a good idea or not. Maybe just turning the difficulty up would be a better way to go. At any rate just looking for some ideas for an interesting makeup of classes to play. Had a few questions though:

1. Ranger/Clerics are pretty sweet. I've always played them multi-class. Should I try dual-class this time around? If so should I dual after say level 3 or so?
2. Is a pure mage or fighter/mage the way to go?

That's all I can think of at the moment. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

You want to try to make sure you have the bases covered (healing, locks, fighting, spells), so you'll need a mix of multi or dual classed. I did a party of three that included a dual classed Human FTR 3/Druid X, a dual classed Human RGR 3/Cleric X and a multiclassed Elf Mage/Thief.

Don't recall any major issues. I do remember way, way back, I was thinking of trying a party of three Gnomes, but never got around to it.

Thanks for the reply. Level 3 seems to be a good time to dual class in general. I was going to go with a multi class fighter/thief. Am I better off dual classing that as well you think?

No, multi is fine. I believe the benefits of going extremely high in Rogue levels don't make it worth it, so multi is better since you'll still get some of the higher level Fighter benefits as well.

Increasing the difficulty level won't make the game more difficult, you get more XP and level faster this way.
The best level for dualclassing ranger to cleric is 7, this way you can specialize in 3 weapon types, get access to level 1 druid spells like sunscorch and the extra half attack warriors get at level 7 for the cost of only 75,000 XP. Works well in combination with cleric7-9/mage or another cleric or druid multiclass who can cast healing spells early.
If this is your only priest you have to dual earlier however. The only benefit you get from ranger 2 to 5 are extra hitpoints.

Thieves are best multiclassed, the main mage should be pure or dualclassed unless you can't stand reaching spell levels before finding scrolls, specialist is also nice.

If you seek a challenge disable max HP at level up and don't create characters with more than 14 dex and con and 17 str, aka play like a real roleplayers and don't powergame.

You could play a party consisting of pure class thief, cleric, druid and illusionist and play without summons so you're forced to use the different strengths and weaknesses of those classes.

Thanks for the info guys. Is it even worth going with a smaller party? I know the game is balanced around a 6 member team. I've always gone with 6 and just thought 3 or 4 might be cool. Besides the fighter/thief, is taking a multi class fighter/druid worth doing in a 6 man team? I guess my whole concern is leveling too slow. I guess that's why I was thinking maybe a smaller party might be better.

The game is designed with a 6 member party in mind. As such, it will prove to be the 'better' challenge with a 6 character party (since you'll level at the rate expected by the designers). Taking a smaller party will present a challenge with respect to fewer resources at your disposal (i.e. spellcasting, fewer characters to perform attacks, etc), but you'll level faster and this more than compensates. I had no issues that I can recall with my 3 character party.

If you want to level faster just change the difficulty level to very easy or very hard, this way you get double XP.

You have finished the game before, only you know what you liked and what you want to try out on your second attempt. Since you've already shown that you can beat the game there's no need to play an optimized party, weaker choices might yield better challenges and more fun, many powerful options in the game are often overlooked since there are sufficient other options available.

To find a reason to justify an optimized party you could go ironman style, write how many reloads you needed into each save game slot, so you can remember when and how often you failed and be proud at the finish if you had to reload less than a dozen times.

Fighter/druid multiclass is okay, he'll reach druid level 11 and 12 even before a pure class cleric reaches level 10 and 11. If you want to try out the water elemental form and the level 7 spells you need pure or dualclass druid. Fighter7/druid who mastered scimitars and slings is nice since the extra half attack you get for fighter 7 applies to shapeshifts too and scimitar proficiency affects to hit bonus and damage in polar bear form.

Having seen mention of Solo character run throughs in the Mod topic I am giving it a shot. Currently I have a 7th level paladin (nearly 8th) just starting the temple of the forgotten god. It's okay but more often than not I have had to reload a scene/level after the first time go back and buy the potion I need to avoid the spell affect used to croak me and try again. On the plus side I was 2nd before finishing the town quests and 3rd (maybe 4th) before the vale.

I definately feel you should go with a small group rather than 1 character as everytime you retry a scene the treasure appears to go down. I had thought I got less from the vale but I know the Defender bow from the temple is only there on the first attempt.

Warren

PS I am thinking of trying A Fighter/Theif and Fighter/Mage/Cleric Dou.

The random treasure doesn't get worse when retrying, you just had bad luck. You can pump up your paladin's saving throws by using the protection from evil spell and special ability at the same time.