IWD2: Making odd characters

[Aerich]

So I am thinking about running a party (once I've finished my current one, of course ) that contains strange characters. I've got two set so far:

A Paladin of Mystra/Wizard - this one is tough. Any suggestions on stat point allocation? I'd either use aasimar or drow for this one, as I'll need the extra points. I'd play the character in the "Supplementary Tank #2" role, so roughly a ratio of 1:2 for paladin/wiz levels.

A Deep Gnome Illusionist[5-7?]/Dreadmaster[1]/Monk[x] - I'd like to see if this will actually work. It's impossible to get the maximum benefit from the mix-in classes (e.g. early access to illusionist spells for buffs, mid-game access to dreadmaster for extra Wis) without taking an XP penalty, which is really painful for a 3-ECL race. I'm thinking illusionist levels first, followed by dreadmaster, then monk. Illusionist will focus on self-buffs (Mage Armor, Shield, Blur, Mirror Image, Blink, Ghost Armor) with a few disrupter/damage spells (Snilloc's, Burning Hands, Shocking Grasp, maybe Laerloch's MD, Magic Missile).

Has anybody done this monk mix-in combo? What's your feedback? I'm thinking of starting stats as 8,20,12,13,20,1. Obviously it's entirely powergamed, with a bias toward avoiding damage. Should the levels end up as 6/1/23 (Ill/DM/Mk) or 7/1/22 or something different? I'm trying to figure out if there's any 4th level wizard spells this character really needs. I considered the fire shields, but I don't know how much this character will get hit - they could be very useful for HoF. With a fairly low Con (for a tank), I might have to be a little more tactically careful than I usually am with a monk. Further, can anyone tell me if Minor Mirror Image is at all useful such that I might want to actually memorize the scroll instead of selling it? [img]smile.gif[/img]