Recommended Party Composition Options

[Kraitok]

This will be my first time through and I have a question about setting up a party. From what I've heard, melee tends to be the way to actually kill things late game, while your casters are more of a debuffer and utility class rather than damage dealer right? With that in mind, what would you recommend as a basis for #fighters, mages, clerics? Keep in mind, I prefer to play a thief but it just doesnt seem like a good idea at this point.

[Shadan]

Your party is not bad, however I have suggest some changes. Anoen is far better in IA than Viconia. Viconiawith only 1 attack is not too good in melee, and you will see usually melee with a dual cleric is far better than offensive cleric spells in IA.
I prefer a ranger > cleric dual, since if I dual him just after game started, he will be lvl7 ranger, which means he got 0,5 attack from his 7th warrior level. It is not too much time to bring him to level 8 cleric, so not too much delay in high level cleric spells. He can cast all druid spells also. With a melee cleric, you will not need too much druid spell, but the Iron Skin is valuable, especially in 1st run. So ranger7>cleric beats all cleric in IA imho, however Anomen, or any berserker/figher>cleric dual is good.
I suggest to take Nalia, her ring is very good and when you forged it, she is better than Edwin. Change Edwin to Imoen in Spellhold, for roleplaying reason and a sorcerer is better than Edwin when you have another mage (and bard) in the party.