Walp, I'm past the party creation screen now. I found one that fits comfortably -- it's effective while being challenging. I just completed the first episode (you know, up to the point where you track down the ___ and the ___ shows up to ____ __ Sa'Sani so you have to ____ ____), with (AFAICT) all of the sidequests, including a couple of fights that were right bastards. And I'm having a lot of fun doing it -- played as a spreadsheet game, SoZ rules.
My party:
* Abu Jihad the Gold Dwarf Fighter/Neverwinter Nine/Dwarven Defender. He tanks, and his Greatsword of Thunder and Lightning works most impressively.
* Dunya the Half-Drow Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer. She spots, searches, listens, heals, survives, makes armor, makes alchemy, and sticks things full of arrows at a pretty impressive rate, using her Mighty Composite Longbow.
* Hussein the Aasimar Cleric. He's old and gray and balding and has Str 8 and Con 8, so he doesn't do any fighting beyond using his sling; instead he and his trust black panther do support work -- buff, de-buff, dispel, heal, raise. He's also the designated diplomat.
* Asif Ali the human Rogue/Swashbuckler/Invisible Blade. He bluffs, taunts, tumbles, parries, opens locks, disarms traps, forges weapons, and strikes like an adder with his Searing (acid/fire) and Freezing (cold/sonic) daggers.
With Umoja (wielding the Thundering Obsidian Spear), and that halfling swashbuckler (now swashbuckler/duelist) wielding a Shocking Dagger of Cold as support, we're having a grand time tearing through the jungles of Chult. Umoja's dinosaur friend is now Awoken, which means he/she/it makes some major mayhem when unleashed against the Enemies of the Faithful (of Kelemvor).