My party

[Troll-Loki]

This is what I like best

The whole party dualclassed figthers at level 9
1 F/Thief
1 F/Druid
1 Ranger/Cleric
3 F/Specialist mages

Start the game with 6 characthers. 1 is the real the rest is just for the cash

You only use one for a while with some temporary help of a cleric or thief that you delete before a figth or experience gains.
Continue so until you reach Kuldahar. There you add another figther and continue with it until you have done the forgotten temple or what the name was.
When you get to the dragon eye you add a third character and a longterm temporary cleric. Only use the three other slots temporarily for either thievery or mules.
When you are about to go for the Severed Hand you should the other two characters. Well inside the Hand after awhile your first figther is now ready to dualclass. Do it ( a prefer to dual her to a thief). The second in line will now be the tank. continue with this until the Hand is finished. At that time your two new characters are good figthers and your first three have been dualclassed and gained a good ranking.

Now when you enter Dorns Deep then get rid of your cleric and add the last member. Chose either a cleric or specialist mage type for that one.

When the Dorns deep is ended all your characters are both dualclassed and are able to use both proffesions.

Why doing this
Well Figthers at 9 level have the possibility to have 5 points in a weapon class. They have also received the big bulk of their hitpoints
Upto level 9 you can receive 14 hp per level. After that its only a few points. Up to level 9-12 in any classes level increases when expeirience doubles. After that you have increases with 50% extra etc
The most benefits with figthers is received with level 9.

About 250000 exp points is needed ot reach that level so when you double class a character in Dorns deep then expect it to get above the figther level very soon.

Also imagine a Thief tank with 3 mages and 2 clerics or a mage tank that has buffed himself up with various magic shieldings and protections when he goes for the boss.

A pure figthers biggest problems isnt to get hurt but be stopped by webs, entangle and charmsspells etc. A dual classed Figther mage stops that easily