I've been playing a melee wizard, and recently dismissed Aloth from the party (making room for Pallegina) because I was beginning to see little point in him.
Perhaps I'm judging too quickly. When I played Pillars years ago, I actually remember him being quite useful as a ranged spell-thrower (I was playing on "normal" difficulty back then). Now he feels like a liability more than anything, since he's always getting attacked by flanking enemies. Since I'm playing on "hard" of course, I can only rest twice, which might be making me a bit more reserved about using his spells frequently (which could be a big part of the problem). Some of the best spells need special positioning to be cast effectively (like the flame cone spell), which are risky to maneuver Aloth into. Enemies regularly disengage from whichever party member they happen to be fighting, just to run over and squish him whenever he's around. Then, obviously, there's the redundancy of him being the second wizard in the party.
Got any thoughts on Aloth?
While we're at it, should I drop Sagani once I'm done with her Persoq quest? She's not much of a heavy hitter herself.
Naturally, this is leaving me thinking: Should I want a ranged character? If there is a strong choice for that role, who (and of what class/build) would that character be?