I've been messing with solos lately and fancy playing a game with a 4 char party. My initial thoughts are a party as follows:-

-Fighter with Staff of Doom (truly awesome melee for most of the game)
-Ranger using Ranged and backup Polearm (I like Scouting and the auto search and an extra Portal spell later in the game)
-Bard with Bloodlust, then Fang and L Sword if available.
-Bishop magic only

I'm not a fan of Gadgies, they are fantastic the last 10% of the game but for most of the game they are pretty weak. I like chars that develop but also that contribute throughout the game, and thats one of the probs with FNinja, until CoC they are pretty much a waste of space.

My favourite 4 char party was:
Front:
Lizzie fighter with SE wilderness sword and a shield.
Hobbit bard with dual thieves daggers and instrments.
Middle:
Faerie bishop with maybe staff of doom I can't remember, concentrating on all four realms.
Back:
Hobbit gadgie using only omnigun and gadgets of course.

In my experience this was a really powerful party. Between the two reusable heall all spells and rest all the total number of deaths was only 2. And those happenned on the Arnika road.

@dplax; How did you get the Bard to equip the Thieve's Daggers???????

@Mr Creosote; I like that, but i'd prolly give Doom to the Bishop and sword/mace to the Fighter.
My own favorite foursomes have been mostly Bard and 3 hybrids (like Ranger, Sam, Lord)

I'm a fan of the Staff od Doom in a melee chars hands, its an awesome weapon and wasted on the occasional hit with a Bishop, IMO of course.

I have no real favorites, but this 4-party was pretty unstoppable:

Lord (dual weapons bonus)
Rogue (backstab and thieving)
Bard (good fighter with music spells)
Bishop (protections, all around magic)

Each party I have tried has its own character, it depends on what you enjoy doing.

Edit: I meant to add the healing power and Portal spells of Lord as pluses.

[ 03-05-2004, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

The bard and bishop definitely. I also like having a ranger, but having already played the game a couple of times (and the first part of the game more than I care to mention), you should know where everything useful is. Ammo could be a problem. Instead of the fighter, I'd take a Lord or Valkyrie for extra healing, esp. if I'm trying to get through without dying.

So mine looks like:
Lord (or Valk)
open ... ranger, ninja, samurai, valkyrie or maybe another bish
Bard
Bishop

My mistake. I meant poison dagger.

Sam- Human Ivory Blade
Nija- Hobbit Staff of doom
Monk- Felpurr Zo-Bo
Valk- Dracon Dread Spear

You get 4 that can fight well and cover all the Magic books.
Make them all females so you can use the Necklace of Endurances.

[ 03-06-2004, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: rbeane1 ]

Im pretty sure i answered this before, but my party is much like rbeane1.
Lord, - sword + diamond eyes
Samurai - samurai type sword + enchanted wakashai
Ninja - Dual nunchakas
Monk - dread spear / zatochi bo later

2 bishops elf
1 priest dwarf dualed much latter to lord
1 lizard fighter