initial party concept

[qwerty1971]

I am new to the game and I am initially thinking about creating this 5 person party:
1. 1/2 Orc Barbarian/Rogue: still undecided as to what kind of weapon to give him. He will be Barbarian centric with a few Rogue levels added in.
2. 1/2 Elf Ranger/Bard: I do not know if I want to go the 2 weapon route or the Bow route. How tough are rangers as a front line combatant? Bard levels would be used to make him the party spokesperson.
3. Wizard/Rogue: Levels will be spellcasting centric with a few Rogue levels to help out party needs.
4. Cleric/Fighter: Heals for the party, and an additional melee person.
5. Either a Sorcerer, Wizard or Cleric: not sure which one yet.

Constructive criticism would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Lord Plothos]

I've found that multiclassing with casters is a bad idea. Adding two levels of rogue sounds nice, but when you realize it means your spells lag two levels behind, it's just not worth it, IMO.

I usually have one wizard and one cleric.
My party spokesman is usually someone who starts as a rogue up to level 3 and then adds fighter from then on. 3 levels of rogue is usually enough to handle the rogueish and spokesman duties, and combat-wise it gives you +2d6 sneak attack when you flank for only the cost of some HP and 1 less BAB.
Round that out with whomever you like.

Reach weapons are very nice in this game, as they enemy will move around a lot and provoke attacks of opportunity. So fighters are nice for all the feats they can use in conjunction with this: combat reflexes, cleave, and great cleave, for instance.

Spoiler Alert (highlight to read)
I'd suggest giving monks a look, as you're going to find some nice cleavers along the way that are the best weapons in the game and which for some reason are treated as monk weapons. You can even dual-wield them.