Making the perfect party--including alignment

I started the game and restarted it again after a few levels deciding my party was not ideal. One question I have is alignment--are there items that are for evil only or neutral only, and will my party have trouble if some members are evil and some are good, like in Baldur's Gate? I would think they wouldn't, but I worry about that. What racial enemy is ideal for a ranger to have? I'd like it to be something really tough yet not uncommon. Giants? Spectral undead?

Here's what I have so far:
Paladin (seems sort of lame to never get mastery at weapons--maybe make a pure fighter?)
Ranger--who could dual class to cleric (at what level should I dual class?)
Fighter/Thief (for range weapons)
Cleric--who could dual class to Fighter (she has str 18, will she get a 18/XX number when she dual classes?)
Bard
Necromancer (the only evil member in the party)

Please give me your suggestions. I'd hated to go a few levels into it and restart the game again and spend more hours rerolling the characters.

Personally, I believe that you should have a pary with NO multi-classed people (except Fighter/Druids, they are the exceptionally powerful multi-class). It sort of make you weaker and you advance slower than other classes. Ranger should not dual class to clerics, as I think rangers are best at using bladed weapons which they can swing rapidly with a pseudo dual-weapon handling (3 attacks a round with no shield, but what is a shield for when you are using bows as primary weapon).

About items, yes, there are items that good people can't use, and items that bad people can't use, like the Giving Star (great stuff) and the Baleful Mail (a magical mail with 3 AC and immunity to mind affecting spells). There are no alignment contradiction between party members, so don't worry about that until you got BGII (I am really looking forward to the game, son of Bhaal)...

I believe that you should have a party listed below. Try to have all the races. Racial and alignment harmony is what I believed in. I played the game with the party and boy was I having a great time... (okay okay, I know that this party is extremely difficult to create, but it is really worth it!)
(weapon proficiency, WP, in numbers)
(ability scores, if required, in the order of strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma)
(alignment in starting letters)

Paladin, human, LG
WP- Great swords 2, Crossbows 2
AS- 18/00,18,18,3,15,17
Ranger, elf, NG
WP- Bows 2, Long swords 2
AS- 18/00,19,17,8,13,9
Fighter, dwarf, CE
WP- Axe 2, Mace 2
AS- 18/00,17,19,7,8,4
Cleric, half-elf, CG
WP- Hammer 1, Missile Weapons 1
AS- 18,18,16,5,18,8
Alternatively:
Fighter/Druid, half-elf, TN
WP- Missile Weapon 2, Long swords 2
AS- 18,18,18,9,18,15
**this is tough to create, but be patient
Illusionist, gnome, LN
WP- Missile weapons 1
AS- 18,18,16,19,11,4
Thief, halfling, CN
WP- Missile weapons 1, daggers 1
AS- 17,19,16,11,12,4

The reason why I chose a gnomish mage because they got a 19 intellect status and illusionist school of magic, where necromancy is the opposition school. If you count carefully, there is the least number of necromancy spells, and they aren't particularly good either.

This party optimizes the advantages of the different races and has nearly every class. I never played with druids or bards, but I will look forward once I complete the game once with my superb party ( and it is going to happen soon....)

I rolled up a:
Fighter-Druid
Ranger
Fighter-Cleric
Fighter-Thief
Illusionist
Bard

Now that I think of it though, it seems like a good idea to replace the fighter-cleric, make a ranger and immediately dual class her to cleric. That gives her weapons and missile proficiency and a racial enemy.
Back to the drawing board...

Here is what I use and the order I place them in (I may have forgotten how many weapon skills each gets at the start so bear with me)

Fighter, Dwarf LG
WS 2 axe 2 hammer
This is my leader. For your leading character you need good charisma, and I'm not going to waste my time spending hours til I roll all High Numbers like some people suggest. I do wait until I get a perfect 18/00 (the trick is to raise the strength to 18 on each roll and reroll when you get something like 18/32, not wait until it shows up by itself, that could take hours). Once you get that, raise his Constitution,Dexterity and Charisma to Max. Who cares wbout Intelligence and Wisdom? We are not role-playing, we just want cheap goods in a computer game!

Fighter, Dwarf LN
WS 1 Great Sword, 1 Halberd, 1 Large Sword, 1 Flail
This guy I give multiple profs to so you can use any good weapon lying around (note the Neutrality as well). Give the same attributes to him as the dwarven leader except nix the charisma.

Ranger, Half-Elf LN
WS- 2 Large Swords, 1 Short sword, 1 Bow
Extra healing spells for when you need them later in the game.

Druid, Human N
WS 1 Mace 1 Missile Weapons
Umm, I'm rather unimpressed with the druid, I would probably change it to a standard Cleric if I could go back. Obviously you need the priestly "magic", but I don't like his inability to wear decent armor.



Thief-Illusionist, Gnome CG
WS 1 Bow, 1 Dagger
This character is the key to my party. I am unsure as to why more players don't use this combo. I've seen people using an ordinary thief. Why? They are a waste of space. A thief is already a weak character, so why not give him magical ability? Being a gnome he gets some extra "thiefiness" and his specialty as an illusionist is balanced by having a Necromancer. Consider this a thief with more boom.

Necromancer, Elf LE (I believe if impossible then I used LN)
WS 1 Missile Weapon, 1 Quarter Staff (If there is 2 profs to start)
A nice counter balance to the Gnome. Why an evil elven character? Well his elfy intelligence helps his work as a wizard, being a Necromancer gives you access to the spells when in tandem with the gnome, and you have two mages with the specialiaztion bonuses. These two characters work kickass together.


When playing with this party use the three fighters to stall the evil hordes while the mages and druid pummel them with long-distance weapons and spells.

Good Luck!