Very good stuff, thanks again!! RL has kept me from creating them today (was supposed to be able to work from home today, which did happen, but only after regular hours in the office, it was a nightmare) and may delay me all weekend
But on the bright side it gives me more time to think about the party.
I definitely would have missed the 17 CHA requirement for the F->D (that's going to be a tough one to roll up). I am going to dual him at 9th and go for a high Dex and hope at Core level he'll be a passable tank.
For the ranger I will go with large swords, I agree it is better from a RP point of view - also if he doesn't use a shield which I don't want to switch to the bow easily anyway, he will get the extra 1/2 attack as well as the elf bonus. I think the way "dual wield" works is weird tho, wish you could just actually use 2 weapons. I'll start the Paladin off with great swords and build his large swords as he levels up.
One other concern I just thought of - considering my lineup is looking pretty set now, are there any alignments I might want to avoid for the ranger, fighter, fighter/thief and cleric/mage? I have seen some posts where people lament the alignment they chose because they can't use certan magic items. The Paladin and F->D are hard-coded so there's no choice to make there, but for the other 4 I wanted to make sure I don't choose anything I'll regret later.