Etrian Odyssey Nexus Hero question.

[F O E]

Hi, I have started playing Nexus and I put a hero in my party thinking the afterimages would be put in front of the frontline (Like summons in EOV).
So now I am wondering if it is alright to have 5 party members, or if you should only have 4 or less party members so hero can summon more clones with Dark Image.
Is the afterimages damage affected by using melee skills from the backline?

[Pickleton]

No idea in Nexus, but back row does impact clones in 3.
Pretty sure that's why the Ninja's class ability removes the back row penalty, though you have to main class Ninja to get it (can't just subclass it).