[Gimli]

Hey - I recently picked up the "Collection" edition for $9.99 and installed IWD, HoW, and ToLM (plus some of the ease of use mods that deal with inventory). I am looking to make a party I'll be happy enough with to take through the whole game at Core level of difficulty. I want them to be strong and well-rounded enough to get through without feeling gimped, but also want to have a strong RP feel so that I'll enjoy playing them.

So far I have three characters I am pretty set on having, they are:

Dwarf Fighter -> Axes (melee and thrown)
Human Paladin -> Great Sword, Bow
Halfling Fighter/Thief -> Dagger/Club, Crossbow

For the remaining 3 characters, I want one to be mage-esque and one to be cleric-esque. I am really torn over how to make them though considering the multi-class and dual-class possibilities. I want at least one character to have some Ranger levels for the Tracking and for RP purposes, so I am thinking of something like either:

Human Ranger->Cleric (what level should I switch over at?)
or
1/2 Elf Ranger/Cleric

Either way I'd go with Maces/Sling.

Then for the Mage I have been leaning towards an Elven Fighter/Mage who would be a sniper-type and would hang out in the back casting spells as well as using a bow (and probably large swords if melee called). I have a few questions though about such a character. Can they cast spells while using a shield and/or helmet? Is there any elven-chain type armor they can cast while wearing in this game? Am I going to really regret not having a better melee type devoted to large swords? I know a dual class Fighter->Mage would probably be a more powerful character but I don't feel too comfortable with that choice from a RP perspective.

For the 6th character I am still very much spinning my wheels. Some possibilities I've thought of were:

1/2 Elf Cleric/Mage - to be a field medic and use most of his mage spells in a buffing sense before combats, then put on armor. How are cleric/mages in this game? This guy would probably go flail/sling.

Elf Fighter - to really have an awesome sniper and someone to use the large swords. Maybe also an Elf Ranger, which could change the Cleric/Ranger type above to a Cleric/Fighter.

Or some kind of Druid for the summoning possibilities - I wouldn't mind a Human who duals from Fighter to Druid for this and think it might be a pretty powerful choice. Would it be better to go for large swords (ie scimitars) or staves here?

I'm totally open to suggestions to change the last three characters too - I just don't really like Bards too much from a RP point of view so that's about the only class I don't want to take.

Also in general, if I want to use shields with some of the characters, will it make me switch into their inventory like IWDII does to switch to ranged weapons? Thanks in advance for your insights!