Can you help put my next party together

[bladedog]

Hi all, sorry theres a few of these threads around not no-one else is quite in my position to get ideas.

First time through I completed with 6 standard characters from the default list:

Liz Fighter - Excellent throughout, wish I'd known about beserk earlier. Major damage with Fang & Diamond Eyes, regular ranged criticals with bow. Never died.

Hum Ranger - Good ranged criticals (though not as many as the fighter!), loved the autosearch but otherwise not too cool. Died or was made insane/turncoat/posioned etc. regularly. Was also the character kidnapped and I chose him to go with Al Sedexus poor sole.

Hum Bard - Excellent throughout, great ranged hits with sling & medusa stones, music skills very useful. Died rarely if ever.

Hum Monk - Poor to start with but in fairness I didn't set to open hands straight away. Later on was hitting 3 x 3 per round ave 25 per hit. Died rarely if ever.

Dwf Priest - Excellent throughout, really tough, only died once, hardly ever affected by anything. Divinity well over 250 by the end. Didn't realise I could store up spell picks so wasted lots early on by picking crap or needless spells.

Fai Wizard - Poor to start, got killed every 5 minutes due to low HP. As with priest didn't realise I could store spell picks. Great buffs etc, offensive spells were poor to start, excellent midway, not strong enough later on.

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I want to create a party of 4 this time. Based on the last game I think I need:

Pick Locks
Pick Pocket
Missile Sheild/Soul Sheild/Magic Screen
Kick-butt melee damage givers
Healing
Decent ranged damage/effect givers

What would you guys recommend?

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

3 Gadgies should do the trick! Really, 3 of these guys with a priest should be tried.

[Scatter]

Lord, Bard, Bishop, Samurai. Because you haven't had most of them.
Or a Rogue instead of the Bard, and/or a Gad of the Sam. Or a Gad instead of the Bard and a Rogue instead of the Sam, unless you can forgo PP.

[Target]

This is a tough question, so many different options.
For the magic defense and healing you could go with a bishop, will get all in one. And with a party of 4 rather than 6 you get more XP so will level up faster.
For a damage giver you have a wide choice, fighter, or lord, (lord for the healing regeneration, fighter for berserk) or later on a Rogue will cause big damage and has lock picks and pick pocket. I like Samurai’s and monks but it takes a while to turn them into big damage givers.
So how about
Lord – poss a Dragon(sp) or some other race – Healing, Damage, with a good bow or X-bow should be good at range
Rogue – Hobbit – locks, pockets and stealth plus damage, give bloodlust and thieves dagger, that will be good at the start.
Bishop – Choice of races, poss human. Magic bluffs, healing, range damage with spells, plus can un-curse so can remove bloodlust from rogue if needed.
1 left…
Maybe a bard but you used one, a gadgeteer, good at range but need to carry lots of ammo…or a Samurai, that way your bis can do the psi and alc realms with lord and sam doing divine and wiz. The lightening strike of the Sam is useful to! As for a race…I’m currently using a Dracon Sam, he’s quite good.

Hope this helps

[Randall]

I don't think it's that worth bothering with characters with Pick Lock and Pick Pockets skills, Pick Pockets involves far too much saving / reloading for my liking and I never seem to get much good items this way anyway and all locks can be opened if you have 2 characters able to cast Knock Knock and a few items which boost Pick Locks skill. Obviously though take a Rogue / Bard / Gadgeteer along for their other skills though if you want.

I'm having a lot of fun at the moment with Monk, Samurai, Ranger & Bishop, the Samurai does a lot of damage armed with Bloodlust and all 3 critical hitters are starting to critical hit regularly. The bishop is obviously the main spell caster but I am using the other 3 magic as much as possible so they can all take support casting roles enabling useful spells like Haste / Insanity / Soul Shield / Element Shield to be cast in the first couple of rounds while the monsters close instead of waiting for the Bishop to cast them.

[Scatter]

Not Dracon for Lord; Rawulf!!!

[killerTeddy]

I would suggest trying a Gadgeteer. Personally i don't like them, but they are a specialty of Wiz8, quite a good idea i think. Although you have to know where to look for the Gadgets! Else they can be really disappointing... (gadgets are harder to find than instruments, you mostly need 2 items to create them - instruments are ready for use).
And take a bishop! Some psionic (mindread, hypnotic lure, eye for an eye!) and alchemist (razor cloak, quicksand) spells are really nice.

[Ziggurat]

Gadgeteers are fun but they take awhile, especially the range weapon. I agree with Teddy on that. I have to get in the mood to have one. They take work to develop more than most.

In the related topic on parties, I have a lev 19 party of fae sam, fae ninja, elf lord and gnome? bishop with which I have stopped exploring. At the sea caves. I will probably go back to it at some point but it is not as strong as it should be. Mainly, susceptable to psy attacks but great fighters. All the best weapons except *light*: haven't been to the Rapax yet but the "romance" of the game is not there. Hard to define the feeling.

Current party is lev 9 and more rewarding: hum monk, hob bard, mook ranger, hum bish. It seems odd, but I take a sign of a good party is that you get some breaks (assuming you aren't doing a solo, etc., where challenge is always there). This game is still surprising to me. Finally got the Soulful Sax, but can't use it yet.

[Target]

bladedog, what did you decide to run in your latest party and how's it going?

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Originally posted by killerTeddy: I would suggest trying a Gadgeteer. Personally i don't like them, but they are a specialty of Wiz8, quite a good idea i think. Although you have to know where to look for the Gadgets! Else they can be really disappointing... (gadgets are harder to find than instruments, you mostly need 2 items to create them - instruments are ready for use). And take a bishop! Some psionic (mindread, hypnotic lure, eye for an eye!) and alchemist (razor cloak, quicksand) spells are really nice.

Yes, but you have to be certain lvl to use some instr. same as the gadg. The gadg are far better in my opinion anyway. I've played 3 Gadg. and the 3 Bards and I'd take the Gadg any day. There are only 2 gadgets you have to search for, the rest are easy to find. Plus they can wear Tinkers's.. very handy!