I don't recommend fighter/druids because of their inability to use decent blunt weapons, a huge liability in IWD due to the sheer number of monsters who take little to no damage from edged weapons. Fighter/druids are even worse in Heart of Fury mode due to their inability to turn undead, an underrated ability that eventually lets you destroy high-hit-point mobs of undead at will.
I wouldn't recommend cleric/thieves either due to their low attacks per round. You generally want your thief to be able to cast invisibility (so he can ignore stealth skills) and stoneskin , and once you're multiclassing thief with mage, you may as well go fighter/mage/thief so you'll have enough attacks per round to be a viable melee combatant.
As for the party paladin, a lot of people with fond memories of BG2 like to go with inquisitor. It was the best paladin in that game, for sure, but is terrible in IWD for a couple of reasons. First, turn undead is huge in IWD and you lose that ability as an inquisitor. Second, mage encounters are much simpler in IWD than they were in BG2 leaving you with little need for the inquisitor's ultra-powerful dispel magic ability. Undead hunter and cavalier are much better choices though I slightly prefer cavalier since level drain (a key undead-hunter immunity) so rarely comes into play in IWD.
Can't emphasize enough how useful sorcerers are in IWD due to the paucity of spell scrolls in the game. Especially on higher difficulty levels, you'll often level up as a mage only to discover you have no spells to fill your highest-level slots with and no ability to purchase scrolls of that level either. I know some people complain about the low number of spells-per-level that a sorcerer can know, but in practice you won't find yourself casting more than a few spells per level anyway so this doesn't turn out to be much of a liability.
If you for whatever reason don't want any sorcerers in your party, I'd recommend:
Cavalier Ranger/cleric Half-orc fighter/cleric with 19 strength (too few scrolls in the game to justify making him a FMC) Fighter/mage/thief (who mainly casts self-buffs like stoneskin) Berserker dualed to mage Skald
Couldn't disagree more about Fighter/Druids. They have some pretty nice spells (ironskins in particular) that make them very good, they can use scimitars for slashing weapons and clubs for blunt (there is at least one +3 club that Conlan sells). They don't need turn undead when another party member has it, such as my Undead Hunter or Fighter/Cleric.
In Lower Dorn's Deep just before the final battle, I find that I almost never use my sorcerer despite having some good spells.. Typically she just ends up throwing a few buffs like Haste and personal buffs then sits in the back and slings. Very rarely find a need to chuck a fireball or even a web out to deal with monsters. Might be better in HoF mode, though, with even more levels. Two Sorcerers seems like overkill.. I don't even have another arcane caster in my current party. Though I was thinking about dumping my Archer and adding a Fighter/Mage instead, simply because I'm tired of my Archer running out of arrows with the Repeater longbow. Although the Archer simply does not miss, with 5 attacks per round and a THACO of -8. Just wish there was a quiver of plenty +1 or +2 or something.
Comments
Cavalier
Ranger/Cleric
Fighter/Mage/Cleric
Fighter/Mage/Thief
Sorcerer
Sorcerer
I don't recommend fighter/druids because of their inability to use decent blunt weapons, a huge liability in IWD due to the sheer number of monsters who take little to no damage from edged weapons. Fighter/druids are even worse in Heart of Fury mode due to their inability to turn undead, an underrated ability that eventually lets you destroy high-hit-point mobs of undead at will.
I wouldn't recommend cleric/thieves either due to their low attacks per round. You generally want your thief to be able to cast invisibility (so he can ignore stealth skills) and stoneskin , and once you're multiclassing thief with mage, you may as well go fighter/mage/thief so you'll have enough attacks per round to be a viable melee combatant.
As for the party paladin, a lot of people with fond memories of BG2 like to go with inquisitor. It was the best paladin in that game, for sure, but is terrible in IWD for a couple of reasons. First, turn undead is huge in IWD and you lose that ability as an inquisitor. Second, mage encounters are much simpler in IWD than they were in BG2 leaving you with little need for the inquisitor's ultra-powerful dispel magic ability. Undead hunter and cavalier are much better choices though I slightly prefer cavalier since level drain (a key undead-hunter immunity) so rarely comes into play in IWD.
Can't emphasize enough how useful sorcerers are in IWD due to the paucity of spell scrolls in the game. Especially on higher difficulty levels, you'll often level up as a mage only to discover you have no spells to fill your highest-level slots with and no ability to purchase scrolls of that level either. I know some people complain about the low number of spells-per-level that a sorcerer can know, but in practice you won't find yourself casting more than a few spells per level anyway so this doesn't turn out to be much of a liability.
If you for whatever reason don't want any sorcerers in your party, I'd recommend:
Cavalier
Ranger/cleric
Half-orc fighter/cleric with 19 strength (too few scrolls in the game to justify making him a FMC)
Fighter/mage/thief (who mainly casts self-buffs like stoneskin)
Berserker dualed to mage
Skald
In Lower Dorn's Deep just before the final battle, I find that I almost never use my sorcerer despite having some good spells.. Typically she just ends up throwing a few buffs like Haste and personal buffs then sits in the back and slings. Very rarely find a need to chuck a fireball or even a web out to deal with monsters. Might be better in HoF mode, though, with even more levels. Two Sorcerers seems like overkill.. I don't even have another arcane caster in my current party. Though I was thinking about dumping my Archer and adding a Fighter/Mage instead, simply because I'm tired of my Archer running out of arrows with the Repeater longbow. Although the Archer simply does not miss, with 5 attacks per round and a THACO of -8. Just wish there was a quiver of plenty +1 or +2 or something.
Human Undead Hunter
Dwarf Fighter/Cleric
Half-elf Fighter/Druid
Halfling Fighter/Thief
Half-elf Sorcerer
Elf Archer
Druids have a very good spell selection, and I remember quite good scimitars.