[Davros]

OK, firstly no priest or bishop means no heal spells till level 5 (when your hybrids like Valk, Monk, Ranger qualify), which means that you would be almost out of the lower monastery (with a 6 man party). That will mean an enormous reliance on heal potions. I think you could do that with a two or three man party, but in the 6 man case you are likely to run out. You will be heavily dependant on resting without encountering monsters. A better option than dropping the bard wiould be to go with 5 levels of priest or bishop before changing that character into a monk (focus on divinity). A Bard is too useful for the locks and trap skill, and the invaluable Lute (played myself unconcious in nearly every battle.

I'd recommend standard game with expert settings first. Then we you know more, go the Ironman game with 3 or 4 characters and no NPC's.