Perfect Balanced Party

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Just thinking of what the ultimate party setup might be? I'm thinking Cavalier, Monk and Barbarian as tanks. Then Jester, Gnome I/T and some cleric/druid combo.

 

Perfectly balanced for what? You can finish the game with just about every party.

 

3 fighter/mage/thieves and 3 fighter/mage/clerics

 

I see I posted this and never followed through with it. I'm going with the first 4 but am miffed at the last 2. This sounds like something xomi would love to reply about

 

Heh, it does. I can dance on the head of a pin, as well.

Regarding the party composition, it can for sure go a long way, but there are some things i would switch around.
I would personally probably have replaced the barbarian with a human Berserker, planning to dual him to a cleric at level 9 - this way you'll get to have a druid and cleric in your party at the later levels so you can split buffing and healing between the two.
Fighter/Cleric is also a good alternative, though that would give you another character with delayed leveling, the trade-off being a stronger character later on in the game.
I would probably also switch the Cavalier for an Undead Hunter, undead enemies being such a big part of the game.

My first impression on why you like the Paladin/Monk/Barbarian and Jester the most, is because they do their job proficiently right out of the gate, whereas both the Gnome thief/illusionist and cleric/druid need to grow into their roles.
Multiclassing does create a bit of a bottleneck, you will be waiting longer on getting higher level spell slots and class bonuses since experience has too be shared across two or three classes.
Since you will be relying solely on your cleric/druid for most of your divine spell casting, and on your thief/illusionist for all your arcane casting, it's mainly the spell department where you are falling short since they will always lag a bit behind in spell progression.

The good news is that IWD has a rediculously high XP cap, you can reach level 30/30/30 on a fighter/mage/thief for example, though it would take you several playthroughs to get there.
This means that even though multiclass characters start off comparatively weaker at the start, they will experience much more of a powerspike as the game goes on.

My tweaks to this party would be :
1. Jester, proficiency in longbow to be able to wield the Messenger of Sseth and The Hammer +4 longbows, both adding to your attacks per round to boost combat ability while not singing. needs a good 90+ roll to get plenty of intelligence and charisma as the party face.
2. Undead Hunter, start off with 2 pips in long swords and shield+sword style. try and get as high a % strength roll as you can.
3. Dark Sun Monk, the only evil character of the bunch, i just prefer them over sun soul, though both kits can do well. put a pip in one handed weapon style and katana (hoarding all items in the 1st map gives you enough to afford the katana at pomab's shop for 635 GP.)
4. Fighter/Druid, put 2 pips each in quarterstaves and twohanded weapon, aiming for the Staff of Nature's Wrath (allows you to cast Flamestrike and Entangle) and later on the Staff of Moradin's Breath. (allows you to cast Resurrect)
5. Gnome Illusionist/Thief - pips in any ranged weapon, i'd probably pick crossbows, also 1 in daggers for when you need to fight in melee range. pick up apsel's dagger and learn spook, magic missile, armor at character creation. loot sleep and chromatic orb from pomab's shop upstairs.
6. Fighter/Cleric, 2 pips in two weapon fighting and 2 in flail/morningstar. the gain of additional cleric spells more then makes up for the loss of the rage ability. Start off with Bless, Protection from Evil and Sanctuary.

 

I think I'll take your advice on the Undead Hunter because I don't remember my first go through 10 years ago

 

Like i said in chat, i'm running a game myself with the party i suggested. I'm currently in the vale of shadows, and love having an Undead Hunter along.
he's really become the vanguard of my party, currently at level 4. he mows down skeletons/zombies/ghasts like grass.

Some things i have noticed so far :
- My monk has been the one i have needed to heal the most, her increased movement speed means she is the first one into battle and gets focused a lot. On top of that, since she cannot wear any armor, her AC was not the best.
This does get better with time however, I currently have her equipped with the ring of protection +2 (can be pickpocketed from oswald in kuldahar) and she is at lvl 4 as well for another -2 to AC, so she's sitting at armor class 1 now, which is decent enough.
- The Jester is fun to use, but completely useless in the Vale of Shadows and the tombs it contains. My bard song does not seem to do anything to the undead, they seem to be immune to the confusion effect.
Luckily, my Fighter/Cleric's Turn Undead works just fine, and at least the Jester levels up quickly, sitting 250 XP away from lvl 5 right now, well ahead of the rest of the party. Currently he has been delegated to poke the enemy with arrows and being the one to talk to people, courtesy of his high INT/CHA.

 

Looks like I have a snow day tomorrow so I finally started rolling Paladin is first because hardest, I think I'm settling for an 18/97. Got an 18/00 for a cleric/ranger waiting on opinions for racial enemy. Screw the jester I forgot about the War Chant of Sith! Updates coming