Recently replayed POR
Now going to replay Curse for 1st time in years
Not using my POR party and not going to carry this party onwards

Was thinking of not dual classing anyone but using elf F/M instead
I think I used to do a
Human Paladin , 2 Rangers, magic user, dwarf FT, Cleric,
Then dual one Ranger to Mage at the very start, sometimes the cleric to mage and a ranger to cleric a little later after a few levels. I tended to dual a lot but it took forever

Thinking now of doing
Paladin, cleric, Ranger, dwarf FT, and either a magic user and elf FM or 2 elf FM
Since I am not carrying onward the level cap isn't bad from what I remember. Is not having a higher magic user at start going to mess up.winning the early sewer fights? I remember them being a little annoying without fireballs
Thoughts?

Elves are one of the few viable non-humans in Curse. You can take a multiclassed fighter/mage, fighter/thief, or fighter/mage/thief all the way through to the endgame battle. They can reach the game's level cap in both thief and mage, and they can reach a high enough level in fighter that they remain useful. In the long run, if you're importing a party into the later games, a dual-classed ranger/mage is a much better choice, of course.