The party? What party? No, just no, you don't need to have four retards doing what two Lone Wolves can do.
Fixed that for you.
I must admit, the way the books work does make reducing the size of your party more appealing to consider.
With Lone wolf you still get no more than 5 skills per character. Dude, stop grasping at straws....there is nothing you can say in the defense of the broke-ass leveling system this game has.