Sorry. Human Bishop is what i wanted to say. I edited it now.

I did a 2-man party once, with a Bishop and a Ninja. Didn't play for too long with them, but I stricly wanted to have these 2 guys in my party, since it covers most skills (especially all magic skills) and is not reliant to drops or shop Inventories, which means you can sell all your heavy stuff which tend to overload small parties quite quickly. Then I spent 3 hours to powertrain the ninja's lock & pick skill by constantly analysing the chest on the other side of the moveable bridge. As NPC I choose generally Vi. Saxx and/or Madras (I didn't play far enough to gain access to RF-81)

And yes, their Stealth Skill is way enough to compensate for the Lack of armors, and their Weapons (if you choose to wield any) tend to make some nasty effects. And then there's their critical strike ability...

Currently playing this:

Lizardman - Samurai
Lizards have great stats for any fighting class. Especially the high VIT is usefull in the beginning. Get to Arnika, put Bloodlust on your high-stamina Samurai and he will soar through anything for a while.

Hobbit - Rogue
The best damage dealers after Fighters. Not nearly as boring, And they use daggers, wich means more variety in who uses what in your party.

Human - Monk
Never cared much for the android npc. And never played my own Monk before. Usually take a (throwing) ninja in this spot.

Hobbit - Gadegeteer
Every (full) Wiz 8 party should have a gadgeteer. They're that usefull!

Mook - Ranger
Gadgeteer lights em up, Ranger takes em down! Like to keep this guy in the back row and train sword skill later on.

Elf - Bishop
The one and only spell caster you'll ever need.
Also raise alchemy first and mix potions for some easy money early on.

Why Sword Skill? For a Ranger, the axe skill seems better to me considering they can use all the best axes in the game but misses out most of the good swords (exept in your case the Giant's Sword, best non-random Sword and limited to Mooks)

Nice idea. Might try that. But yeah i usuall go for giants sword.