Well I finished my 4C party so I'm trying a bad party game, At least to arnika!
The other thing I might try is never rescue Vi!? see what happens I seem to
remeber long ago about Vi helping the Dark Savant @ the C.C.?!

well here is my Bad party!

Rosie F Elf Fighter (Thought about a fairie but wasnt sure they could use swords)
Goodie M Dwarf Bard ( doing ok with the sword)
Light Hands (L.H.) M mook Rogue ( he is doing well also)
Beenie M hobbit Psionic ( he is doing real well I made him because I never played
a hobbit or a Psionic.)
Fellcat F felpurr Bishope (She is fast on the spells)
Hiss F lizardman Mage ( been ok good with darts)

So fae we have all but completed the fist floor of the lower monistary.
No deaths so far.

hey, that's neat.
I always leave all the RPC's right where they are except Saxx, who just lands in a different spot in the bar after i get his Saxophone. The only time i've used an RPC was my first party of 3 when i thought RFS would be nice to have through MB. Dumped it just after the millipedes, though; it needed healing too much. All of the RPC's have wasted however many levels they have as far as my way of developing char's is concerned. And now that i'm doing solos, there's no way i'm letting any of them get half the XP's.
Good choice, not to use a Faerie Fighter--too much stuff they can't use.
Liz Mage sound like a blast...

excellent concept around building a bad party. tink was playing a 6-faerie party some time ago but hasnt updated us in a while. interestingly, the *sleep sticks* they use sounded totally effective, especially en masse.

if bonus points are any consideration, a baaad party might include

lizardman bishop (-40)
dwarf ninja (-15)
lizardman gadgeteer (-15)
faerie lord (-15)
dracon monk (-15)
dwarf samurai (-5)

alternately, i read a discussion recently that noted that 6 of the same character (eg 6 lizardman mages) might very well be the most difficult party, as they would totally overlap in every way, and level up slowest (as opposed to a solo lizzie mage, for example)

keep us posted rb!

Finished the lower monistary! only one death Rosie the elf fighter
lost it fighting Geggor the giant cockroach! The bard and the rogue
are level 5 everyone else is level 4. came close to a couple of deaths
when I ran into 4 night bats and 3 plain L2 Bats. one guy was down to 2
and another was down to 4 !

You guys are crazy! ...count me in!

Finished the upper monistary with no problems!
nothing even close to any excitment. I even double
checked to make sure I was in normal and not novice,
because my last game I played in novice with a party of
4 and the monsters were brutal. for example the little courtyard
just before you me the Cosmic lords robot "A#$%^" in this game
there were 3 seekers in my 4C game there were 5 or 6 seekers and
3 posion seekers. I also ran in to plauge rats last time this time
just a few rabid rats. so I'm wondering if not leveling up last time
drew out tougher monsters to force you to. This time I'm leveling up almost
at once.

The monster numbers are almost random when entering an area for the first time, but leveling up after entering an area would tend to make them easier, IMO.

Well I made it to arnika with no problems. was running around plundering the town
when I ran into 7 level 8 androids. Lost my mage and psionic in the battle.
got them back with some resuretion powder. I'm not going to rescue Vi this
game to see what will happen. On another note I almost fell off my chair laffing
when after one battle my my female snakeman mage goes " don't forget to pillage
the bodies!!!"

A quick update for those that care!?

Finished up all of arnika and then decicded to make a run back to the monistary
to get the "demon items" would have been wipe out by a lage group of rogues
and to sieges <sp> but decided that hiding in the little nook across from the
umpani house by the cross roads was the better part of valor. all went well till we got to the crypt and the 2 heads. had a rough time as i do not have soul sheild
yet and they drove my front line guys insane! luckly for me they also parilized
them also so my magic users finished them off. I went and got the resurection
powder in the waterfalls and ran into some nasty slimes in the lower level of
the monistary. My rogue is starting to kick ass with the bloodlust sword!
we then went and got the diamond and swung by and got the umpani flag. After that
they went to vist BOBO's cousin in the cave. that took about 3 reloads, as i
usualy just stand up fight and kill him. Had to sleep him and use hynotic lure.
Then got the items and ran. we then decided to do something real stupid and
go vist a certain flying creature that hangs out by the gate to AP. Geting to him
was easy only had to fight 7 flying snakes. but geting back was rough had to
fight 5 leaf sprites then 5 more leaf sprites then 7 more flying snakes. The poor
psionic died 3 times. thought about make a dash down to the water falls but i saw
8 or so more flying snakes and decided to go back over the bridge to safty.

it sounds like you're not satisfied just struggling along with a bad party, rb - you want to do it the hard way!