Originally posted by Pagans Faery
Well, who do you prefer - Yeslick or Jaheira?
*SNIP*
I didn't include Coran in my party (instead of Imoen?) 'cause I heard (somewhere) that he was not good at finding traps - was that a "fault"? I knew where he was and passed him by without talking to him - can I make him join up later perhaps?
PF
The really short answer to NPC choices is: please yourself. You can do the game with succesfully with a wide variety of parties, and no one party is necessarily the best.
But, anyway, I'd keep Imoen, as she is a very good rogue - Yeah Coran's 20 Dex is cool, but...pfft, Immie all the way IMAO, especially as you control her skill ups from the beginning (almost), and she's, like, your sibling, eh?
fwiw, I played a similar party to yours entirely of twosomes in BG
Me, also Ftr/Cleric
Imoen
Jaheira
Khalid
Minsc
Dynaheir
I thought it worked pretty well, despite Dynaheir's intense suckiness. (Yes, Khalid IS annoying, but with decent gear, he really is a kickass melee) You could susbstitute Xzar & Montaron and/or Eldoth & Skie and still maintain that approach, but to answer your main question, I liked having two multiclass priests a LOT. It helps if you have TotSC installed, as the higher EXP cap really favors dual & multi-classed characters.
My playstyle is fairly melee-heavy, so it worked well - beat the stuffing out of whatever you're fighting, and then have the priests heal up after, as well as buffing/debuffing and summoning the odd pet.
Some NPCs can join at any time (like Kagain), but for most it's now or never - generally, you want to get your party together as soon as practical in any case, so that they all level together.
Hope this helps!
I have given up all lesser evils as inadequate to my purpose.