[Jack Simth]

Narf:
I can see why you might want the characters a little in advance: balancing the campaign. You don't want a situation where my character casting Ghost Hand completely negates the puzzle you spent an hour laying out. Likewise, you don't usually want to include a puzzle/encounter that isn't solveable with the skillset available. Having the characters initial state available in the initial planning stages allows for eliminating both extremes.

As for your character, depending on what Eorg decides to go with, it might be better for you to pick a rouge. So far, the list is:

Alneyan: Sorceror(Wizard?)
Jack Simth: Bard
Eorg: Fighter(?)/Wizard(?)

So we have a spellcaster, and someone who can pick up a healing spell after a level. If Eorg picks Fighter, all that's needed to round out the skill set is a Rouge (for the traps). Also, the "creeping rouge" issue matters a lot less if it is the DM's filler character who is afflicted.