Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks How should I build my party?

Here are the important points:
1. Plan for either two spellcasters, or one with Glass Cannon and Lone Wolf. I'm assuming you're playing Hard, and if you're playing Hard you won't be able to go Glass Cannon without some other talent which increases your Vitality back up to acceptable levels.
2. If you're going for two spellcasters, you want one to be Pyro and the other Geo. You do not want both on the same guy, because how are you going to Fireball and Deadly Spores on the same turn with just one guy who doesn't have Glass Cannon?
3. If you're going Pyro, try to go Man-at-Arms too. Explode is good, but you'll need to stack fire resistance to use it. Strength and Man-at-Arms are the keys to efficiently stacking fire resistance. If you can't do this, it's okay, but you lose out on Explode.
4. Splitting Pyro and Geo onto two different characters makes a lot of sense, but you probably want all of your casters to know both Hydro and Aero spells. Especially Feather Drop. I'd even say all casters must have 3 ranks in Aerotheurge and 16 Intelligence (for cooldown reduction) by endgame. Feather Drop is just that good.
5. Get Expert Marksman 1 on pretty much everyone, so you can get Tactical Retreat on pretty much everyone. It's only one ability point and it's awesome.