I like magic-heavy parties. I prefer them to pure magic ones because I find it gives me more pleasure if there is one character who can make use of a weapon other than staffs, maces and daggers. So my preferred party is a Light path party comprising Archer, Paladin, Cleric, and Sorcerer. For the Dark path, I swap the Paladin for another Sorcerer.My reasons are as follows. Light magic is primarily defensive, so I want two characters who have halfway decent melée skills. The most important Light path combat spell IMO is Paralyze, and all 4 characters have access to that. The Archer gives me halfway decent disarm, can cast Meteor Shower, and has passable melée skills. The Paladin is my "tank." He can wear heavy armour, and can deal out a fair amount of damage - not as much as the Knight, but he's not bad, and for my style of fighting, his spell ability more than compensates for reduced melée skills. The Cleric is there because of Power Cure and GM Protection from Magic - invaluable. The Sorcerer has the best combat spells, and has LB - again, invaluable.
Dark magic is agressive, and has the most damaging spells of all. A high level Shrapmetal at contact range is the most deadly of all one-on-one combat spells, so, 2 Sorcerers - plus a pile of healing potions and scrolls for when the Cleric gets knocked out.
But you must make your own choices, and pick the party that suits you.
