[StarVid]

I've always played with six character/class parties, but I'm looking to create a small party (4 classes max, though dual classes at relatively low levels only count as one class), and I'm looking for tips on builds for those. I have some ideas and want some critiques as well as hear some of your own ideas. I plan this party straight through without exporting and restarting the game.

1st idea:
Paladin (longswords, flails, x-bow? and later axes (+2 thrower))
Human thief dualed to mage when thief skills are pretty much maxed.
Dwarven Cleric
Elven Druid

I think this party might not have enough frontline support, but I find a lot of the druid spells really useful and wouldn't want to play without one. Furthermore, I think I might be pretty screwed while my mage is trying to catch up to my thief levels with regards to traps and locks.

Paladin
Elven Fighter/Thief
Dwarven Cleric
Elven Druid

Here I cheated and have 5 classes, though making my Thief and effective frontliner. Furthemore, the extra class won't screw up the leveling of my other 3 pcs (because all xp is divided equally ad then split for the multis of course), and I'll be sacrificing faster leveling as a thief (though it doesn't matter) in exchange for a solid fighter (which is a big deal) Also, I have no mage. This could be very bad, no?

This is pretty much all I have for ideas. I consider the druid and the cleric to be very different classes due to their spell sets, and I'd like to have one of each in the party if possible, single-classed so they're as maxed as they can be. I think that spellcasters are much more effective if they are singleclassed because the faster they acquire spells, the better they can be.

What do all of you think? Post you builds here, or make suggestions for changes to what I posted.