At the moment I am still bumbling around assembling my party at level one in chapter one and have 5 out of six members.

Normally I use the full cannon party so this time I am making an effort to use an entirely new party.

My current MC is a human fighter I plan to DC into a thief for BG2, then I have Viconia, Garrick and Neera as 100% keeping no matter what for this run and my current fifth is Safana for a thief ( although I may swap her for Skie or Alora later)

I am think of using Xan in the final slot but I am not sure if another front line fighter would serve me well and if so who to use?

I have a few different questions so I will number them off.

1: My main and most iportant question is who should I use as the sixth member, will Xan fit well or should I use someone else.

2: Should I stick with Safana or switch over to Alora or Skie later for my thief?
2a: If I do switch thief should I use console commands to get them now to take through the entire adventure with me.

3: Lastly, if the sixth member is not a Front line combatant does anyone have advice to turn Garrick into one, DC him maybe and if so into what and when?

Thank you for your time and help.

are you going to move right to bg2 at the end or play SoD in the middle?

1. personally I'd leave slot 6 open to try some of the different characters i.e, do their quest and move on to the next person

2: if SoD then Safana is much better but otherwise Alora is ok as a 'good' thief and Skie can be a mage and Tiax has a strong pet

2a, if you want to cheat then go ahead its only your game

3 Bards are not front line fighters... they can tank but that takes skill and is really a late game or blade subclass option

Currently I have no plans to go through SoD and will more than likely go straight to BG2,
I know bards aren't traditionally frontline fighters but Garrick has decent ish dex for attack or charisma and I wondered id duel classing him into a fighter or paladin might make him good on the front lines.

In the Enhanced Editions, first recruitment of a party member will give them an experience boost that should help them match the rest of the party. As long as you don't spend permanent stat boots on NPCs you plan to abandon, acquiring one late should be fine.

Paladins cannot dual class to another class, nor can any other class dual-class to a Paladin. Therefore, you will not be making Garrick a Paladin. Additionally, Bards may not dual-class, so you will not be making Garrick anything. If you really want a Paladin, you could pick up Ajantis. No comment on whether he is a good fit for your party.

for front line bad ass its hard to look past Dorn and he gets along just fine with Viccy which is more than I can say about the other pally

p.s, the fact he has Nerra is why I assume EE but the new character quests can be hard for first time players so beware and come armed if you want them

p.p.s, Dorn has good charisma... which is something I find odd from a story point but handy

With your current team comp, you could use another front line fighter. Minsc or Ajantis would do. That'd be the easiest option. If you're more familiar with the mechanics of the game, you could take another mage (Edwin or Dynaheir) or thief (Imoen or Skie or Coran later). Kivan can double as both an archer and a frontline fighter.

In the end, who else *should* you take also depends on your play style - are you more a brute-force player, or a sophisticated magic/mechanic player. Personally, I prefer to have at least 2 mages, even 3, but that's more for the second game, cause mages are not so powerful in the first game and are way more fun in the second. I tried a party with 2 pure thieves once (Safana and Imoen) and it actually was fun and powerful too due to the constant backstabs. Parties with more mages and bards/thieves (low brute force) tend to be more challenging, but they're also more fun than fighter-oriented comps, as long as you're familiar enough with the game's mechanics, so if you're comfortable with that, go for it.

Despite how many times I've played this game, I haven't played with Alora much, cause she appears too late in the game and is way underleveled by the time I get her. I think that's no longer a problem with the EE game. From what I can tell, Alora is a utility-heavy thief, and won't be as strong as Imoen or Safana in combat. On the other hand, Coran would be ideal if you need a combat-heavy thief.

Generally, the level range of the first game is so low that I wouldn't even consider dual-classing anyone, except main character if I plan to export him to BG2.

Viconia might be able to help tank if decked out in good armor; you may need to find some way to boost her strength though. Deck your fighter out in the best possible armor and he can probably handle most of the tanking you need regardless. You can also keep a couple summon spells on hand if you need extra bodies to take hits.

As far as your 6th character, think about what you want from the slot. If you want damaging arcane spells, then Evocation-less Xan is a bad fit. Xzar gives up Illusions for Evocations, so he would be an option (just have your party murder Montaron). I'd suggest Edwin except it looks like he'll get in a fight with Neera, and you've indicated you don't want Dynaheir. If you want more melee power, then Kagain should serve well; Ajantis might try to eliminate Viconia.

For reference, I had a Dwarf fighter, Ajantis, Kivan, Branwen, Imoen, and Xan. After getting fully decked out, my fighter was able to handle most of the tanking, with Ajantis stepping in if enemies were coming from multiple direction. Xan was sufficient for my magical needs, able to Dispel Magic and debuffs in the harder fights.

In AD&D 2nd edition, bards can't dual class. (The only legal dual class options are the combinations that are allowed as multi class for non-human races. Don't ask why. Those are just the rules.)

Actually, AD&D 2e has no such restriction; if the classes don't have conflicting requirements, you can dual class any combination you want (though I think there may be a rule against repeating the same class), with as many classes as you want.

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and Icewind Dale, *do* impose such a limitation, but that's only to simplify the implementation (so that they don't have to program in every possible dual class), and not a rule inherited from the system.

In summary, this rule is imposed by the CRPG you are playing, not the TTRPG it's based on.

Also, in AD&D 1e, dual classing is mandatory for bards; the only way to become a bard in that system is to dual class. As far as I am aware, no CRPG has implemented this. (The closest I can think of would be Dragon Quest 3's Sage class, which has special requirements and isn't available to new characters, but that game is not based off any D&D edition, and the class change system there lacks the "temporary loss of former class abilities" mechanic.)

Montaron and Dorn would fit well to your party.

I looked it up and it seems you are right. I guess you start misremembering the rules when you haven't played 2E in p&p in 15 years.