My original party group, before taking into account Nightmare difficulty and talents, was going to be Fem Hawke with Anders, Sebastian and Carver. Sort of a dark past theme with Anders as a LI, Sebastian because he's a cool customer and Carver as bodyguard and/or over protective brother. Unfortunately i'm a power gamer at heart, but my "buds" are matching up ok with my initial character plans:
Lady Hawke - Battle Mage: Spirit and Arcane trees maxed with fully evolved Stone Fist and Rock Armor. Definitely hoping Blood/Force Mage Specializations synergy well with the above.
Sebastian - Disorienting Rogue: Archery and Sabotage maxed to make him a disorient specialist, triggering extra damage from Hawke's Spirit talents and Stone Fist. The rest of his talents will be geared to high damage vs. one target to trigger Walking Bomb (which seems extremely dangerous now more so than in DAO).
Anders - Healing Mage, but probably not: Hopefully he's still a good healer, but his specialization seems more like a demon rage thing. If companions get a second specialization it will make it a lot easier, since I will just slap Spirit Healer on him just like old times.
Aveline, Fenris or Carver - Tank: I originally wanted Carver as a tank, but it seems Aveline out classes everyone (even warrior Hawke it seems) in that regard. If I do make Hawke a pretty solid armored Mage, then I will take Carver or Fenris for massive threat generation with 2-handed and throw barrier on him when a Walking bomb is about to go off.
/Power Gaming Off