So I was wondering what sort of adventuring parties the rest of you form. It makes the game a lot easier but it also seems more fun to travel in a group sometimes instead of constantly wandering in solitude. (err… a state of isolation I mean, not the city… which rather perplexingly is actually full of people)
I typically like to have a group of 3-4 adventurers.
Right now its my character (Ser Psycho), some priest of Arkay , a drunk I won in a barfight in Markath and Barbas my faithful, immortal and totally vicious daedric dog. The drunk’s position typically rotates through various sellswords as they don’t have quest imbued immortality and Im pretty free with my fireballs.


My other followers were Sven (immolated by an errant fireball) and Lydia (allowed her to retire to Whiterun as I didn’t want to accidentally roast her alive). My next meatshiel… err… adventuring companion is probably going to be that mercenary from the Markath bar, He’ll never know what hit him buu hahahah!!

Anyhoo.. here's my current line up.

Party
Mage (leader): Ser Psycho
Fighter: Drunk guy
Healer??: Priest of Arkay
Team Mascot: Barbas the Dog


Im having a lot of fun with this little group.

Spoilers duh!

Erandur and Faendal have been accompanying my battlemage Empyreal for a while. They've both grown on me so much, they're decked out in better gear than my character. Travelling with a group is by far more fun than going solo. I've cranked up the difficulty to compensate, but the fun adventures we have together outweighs the fact that the game is easier.
Here's a few pics from our most recent outing.

http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m349/PINKEMPYREAL/2012-10-14_00017_zps9dbce25e.jpg
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m349/PINKEMPYREAL/2012-10-14_00019_zpse417e4f7.jpg
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m349/PINKEMPYREAL/2012-10-14_00021_zps5c383401.jpg

Lydia traveled with us for a while too but I got tired of her lip and sent her packing on back to Breezehome.

Sir Psycho, sir Psycho YEAAAH

Anyways, on my latest character I've been using Illia as a follower, she's a very capable mage, and isn't such a pest as Lydia.

Pretty scary 3-man band you got going there. Faendal looks particularly intimidating... and the Thalmor wizard get-up doesnt help either heh.

Sounds like the start of a theme song or something.

Now, I'm not on PC, so I can't have a bunch of followers by choice, but personally, I don't like to have large parties. They tend to get confusing (two quest followers, an ordinary follower, a couple of summons and a dog is simply too much, IMO). I have one follower, period. Almost all of the time, I don't like travelling alone, and I need packmules. I sometimes let Meeko tag along, but usually he ends up getting in someone's way, which always leads to his death.

I can, however, use summons. So when my mage summons his two Dremoras/Atronach, has a follower, and the follower summons something (even warriors like Staff of Zombies!), the party gets quite big anyway. Luckily, the summons don't mind getting killed in the confusion and summoned again.

Generally, I like to pair mages up with other mages or archers (they don't get in my way, and Dremoras can act as meatshields), and my warriors with anyone. I usually RP the long-term followers as my characters' BFF or love interests:
My Breton (2H warrior) - her husband Vilkas and her friend Marcurio.
My Nord (sword-and-board + archer) - her good friends Annekke, Vorstag and Jordis (her love interest isn't available as a vanilla follower).
My Imperial (mage) - his good friend Erandur and his wife Brelyna, currently his housecarl Argis, but even though Argis does a good job, it isn't a perfect match since I hit him with my spells all the time. I think I'll have to switch back to one of the others.
My Dunmer (my own definition of witch, basically a sneaky destruction/restoration mage with poisoned daggers and a little conjuration as back-up) - her BFF Jenassa. Later on she will use her love interest Erandur and (after that) her husband-to-be Marcurio.