The latest new party....

[Wereboar]

For whatever reason, my bishop, 3 hybrids, gadgeteer and bard just can't get the job done.

You tried a very slow developing party. Hybrids will become quite strong, but are quite weak until level ~12 in my experience.
Bishop will get many good spells, but levels slowly. In addition, since he doesn't get bonus to the realms, he'll have problems to reach skill 30 until level 5 (and 45 for 8), to be able to learn the better spells. (this is for 'expert' setting; in normal, skills raise much faster through use, so it probably is no problem)
The gadgeteer gets very powerful very late, but is weak until his omnigun gets repeater, and you have better ammo.
Bard is the only fast developing character in your party; at least if you use him for music mainly, not for fighting.

The one thing I see this party missing is someone I can rely on to throw bombs, etc., when the time comes. I'm trying to build up the priest and mage through combat practice, but it is slow going.

You don't need to throw bombs. I rarely do it; only when using a rogue with cursed weapons. Most other classes have some ranged ability.

Don't waste time to train your spellcasters as fighters. The mage will use spells nearly all of the time. Use a sling early; later, you'll rarely need it.
Learn 'make wounds' with the priest. I didn't in early games, to save the spell points for heal spells. But the attack spell raises the skills very fast.

Unrelatedly, I am considering taking this party to the Umpani camp before Arnika (to get some modern weapons and ammo, and some of the better spellbooks for my mage).

Arnika has many good spell books, too. And you shouldn't go for modern weapons with a fighter IMO. The advantage of modern weapons is that you don't need high strength for good damage, but you fighters will build up strength anyway. And don't listen to talk about the phaser; it's easy to get when reloading, but rare otherwise (< 10% in my experience), so you probably won't find it with your playing style.

[Wereboar]

Tyros, you've listened to the others and here you are starting over. Trust me; go with three. Just go to lvl 7-8ish and see how things look from there. You'll lvl up twice as fast (that makes sense, right) and your party of 3 will be much better.

In early game, halfing the party size gives you *one* extra level, since the xp you need doubles for each level.
In late game, you'll have 3-4 more levels (with double the xp for each character).

He didn't make it far into the game yet. So it's better to use a large party, and even RPC's; you have a much better chance to survive, and learn more about different professions. After he finished the game once, and has a feeling for the different classes, he can play smaller parties.

And forget about the ironman sh@t! Play easy! ... Don't worry about the protection spells that you can't cast; they're over rated in my opinion.

The protection spells are very valuable when playing expert. When you play easy, its clear that you don't need them.

[Riftmaker]

3 fighters is like 2 too many. You only need 1. With the natural high HP of a fighter, plus the Vit/Str bonus, he'll never ever die. You could go with 2 if you hate passing up all these good weapons that you never use.

I'll tell you right now that you are going to want a bard. Once you get the Dulcimer of Mending, it's like impossible to get killed by damage. Mage&Priest is a good combo, but you'll have to rely on physical strength to deal with later enemies, which is fine, but battles can take a while without Death Cloud

[Klutz]

3 Fighters... *shiver*. On the one hand, I agree that the party would be overall stronger replacing one of them with a Bard. On the other hand, that's a LOT of melee power... could be quite fun! Bards are quite fine on the front line, by the way.

You can live without throwing. I wouldn't worry about it at all. Your Priest will gain a fair amount of throwing proficiency from using slings anyway since they have fewer attack/disable spells, and you don't need Priest buffs in all battles.

You can go straight to Mt. Gigas after the Monastery, but it won't be delaying things much at all to go to Arnika, shop/equip there, and then go straight to Mt. Gigas after that. Without anyone with Alchemy to mix potions you won't be able to shop as much as you would otherwise, so remember not to spend all your money in Arnika if you want specific spellbooks (and of course guns & ammo) from the Umpani.

[Riftmaker]

My bard rocks, using fang, and lots of high level instruments. Granted, my fighter is unmatched in pure melee power, with Sword of 4 Winds, beserk skill, 100 str, and >75 power strike.

My current party is actually kinda similar to yours:

Fighter
Rogue
Bard
Gadgetman
Priest
Mage

I really miss Death Cloud, but I can live without it. Lots of great weapons that your characters can use.

[Ziggurat]

I used a fighter once. Never bothered since. A rogue or a Lord/Valk is close enough with more other skills thrown in as a bonus.

I agree with the strategy of keeping a full party until you solve the game once or twice, it is easy to forget how hard it is.

My current party:

Felpur Samurai M
Lizardman Valkyrie F
Mook Gadgeteer M
Elf? Psionic M

Now at lev 10 in Trynton. Starting to get easier since have all major protections except Elemental Shield. Gadgie is weakest by far.

[Flamestryke]

Mook - Male - Fighter (Specializing in Sword and Modern Weapons)

If you wish to dual weild, swords are not the best choice for a fighter. There is no offhand sword for a fighter. You may wish to consider Mace & Flail, there are decent weapons for this skill with a very nice secondary hand mace later in the game.

I do like some modern weapons but as was pointed out Bows and Crossbows are a better choice for Fighters since you will usually be developing strength. However, for the sake of variety, which I assume you are looking for, the plan to go to the Umpani Camp first is a good one, for all the reaons you mentioned.

Just note you can get a "free" modern weapon to begin practising with when you agree to do as Rattus asks. You don't have to follow through with the request but you do get a free gun and a bit of ammo. If you're still in the Monastery buy the Musket Balls from Burz every time he has them. Keep them in the chest near him until you are ready to leave.

Dracon - Male - Fighter (Specializing in dual weapons and Sword)

Again the dual weild and Sword thing. If you plan a sword and dual weilding skill then you need to plan another weapon skill as well. Mace and Flail, Dagger, Staff & Wand, or Axe.

Secondary weapons for all those skill are not impressive with the exception noted above for Mace and Flail. Some wands have nice status effects though.

I think I would advise forgetting the dual weild and go for either Shield skill or just use a two handed Sword. They are easy to come by early in the game. Their damage output is very impressive.

Lizardman - Male - Fighter (Specializing in dual weapons and Axe)

The better Axes of this game are all two handed. The Beastslayer, though less damage, is a fairly interesting Axe to take to the end of the game. I have done it. It wasn't doing damage to write home about but it wasn't too shabby either. The secondary weapon axe, the Bearded War Axe, isn't very impressive.

Again perhaps forget the dual weild aspect and opt for a Shield or one of the two handed axes.

Human - Male - Priest (Mace and sling)

God choice. Don't forget to train Shield as well. A shield is a good friend.

Felpurr - Female - Gadgeteer (Lockpicking)

Just be sure to develop Vitality, Strength, and Piety. A Felpurr, though I enjoy using them for this profession too, is not really cut out for stamina draining professions.

Faerie - Female - Mage (Darts)

Since you replied that you wanted to train the skill faster by using the darts by all means use them as you will. Just swap darts for the doubleshot sling when you can, it has the same effect.

I do not agree with a previous statement about always casting with a Mage. I prefer a Staff and sling on Ascension Peak late in the game when magic is close to useless on the monsters. So training it now is a good idea. I always cast most of the time but do allow the mage to throw as well.

Your concern about throwing bombs was nicely answered already. Let the Priest use them. I always have either the Bard, Priest, or Psionic throw bombs early in the game since their offensive magics come late.

A Psionic has no real area effect spells so that is why I like them tossing bombs. When launching sneak attacks it gives them something to do besides standing around with their thumb in their ear. [img]graemlins/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ 09-16-2004, 12:14 PM: Message edited by: Flamestryke ]

[Nightwing]

I'd switch one fighter t a Ranger and use bow only. Latter you can give him a polearm but you won't want to. Rangers get crits like crazy with a strong bow 6% and mystic arrows 15% IIRC. Or the gadg. could make a tripple shot crossbow for him and load up on hunter quarrels until you get lightning bolts and watch out. Also you would be able to cast Alchemy spells.

[Scatter]

There's nothing wrong with a Light Sword or Fang plus Diamond Eyes. The thing about dual wielding is having a bonus, either in Dual (Lord) or Close (Fighter) to make it so you fight even better with two than with one once your bonus goes over 100. The only reason to use two like weapons is to develop your related Weapon Skill. Which goes up fast enough with unlike weapons if you use them all the time.

The reason i like two Maces is because one of the best maces (well, it's reall a Flail...) has a Mace/Flail bonus, which really makes it fun.