Never Finished ToB; Let's do This

I've beaten BG1 and SoA multiple times but never got around to going through ToB. Now that I have BG2EE I'm going to remedy that. I don't have time for marathon playing sessions like when I was younger so I don't want to have multiple games or multiple restarts this time.

Help me choose between a couple of ideas I have for my current play through.

Option 1:

Charname Skald
Korgan, later replaced with Keldorn
Minsc
Yoshimo, later replaced with Imoen
Aerie
I'll use the sixth spot for npc's when I do their respective quests but probably only keep five for chapter four and beyond.

Option 2:
Charname thief/mage multi class
Korgan/Keldorn
Minsc
Aerie
Then use npc's for their quests and eventually pick up Imoen.

I've beaten SoA with an Inquisitor, Archer, Kensage, and a Kensai/Thief. As you can see, the characters I created before were usually getting over 80% of the kills. I was wanting to use a character in more of a utility role this time for something different.

I know I could beat SoA with the groups I mentioned but was wondering if they would work well in ToB.

Thanks for any advice.