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Well, as for party balance you want at least one full healer (cleric or druid), one full thief, one full mage, and the rest should be fighter types (fighter, ranger, paladin) for the first time through the game. It's fine to have two or even three rangers in your party, btw, as they are powerful fighters.
Another consideration is whether you intend to play a party of good/neutral alignment or a party that includes some evil characters, i.e., a mixed alignment party. I don't want to spoil you but the latter option does place some restrictions on how you play, and requires a fairly high level ability level in one particular attribute for your protagonist, in order to keep such a party together.
For a very strong good aligned party might enjoy:
you/ranger
Imoen
Minsc
Kivan
Branwen
Dynaheir
Ajantis, Coran, Minsc, and Kivan can be used more or less interchangeably as good aligned fighter types--any of those four will do, really. Ajantis is the weakest of the four, though, IMO.
There is a way to break up NPC pairs so that you could use either Khalid or Jaheira separately, although something like that is implausible from the roleplaying perspective. Up to you--let me know if you want to know how that's done.
For a mixed alignment party you might try:
you/ranger
Imoen
Kivan
Garrick; replace with Coran
Viconia
Edwin
As an evil cleric, Viconia eventually will have the ability to assume control of the undead, and her high dex makes her a good shot with the sling. Edwin is the strongest mage in the game. And Kivan and Coran make a very powerful archer duo. Coran's 20 dex makes him an amazing archer, especially when he's equipped with items that improve those skills. maybe you can try Garrick out to see what bard skills are like until Coran becomes available. If not, then Shar Teel or Kagain are both good tanks you could use.
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