what party do you use?

[Dark Mage]

i recently discovered that a lot of people play with "weird" parties, like just mages, or go solo...

i always played with the default party!

a human soldier, a nephil archer-thief, a slith pole-berserker, and a mage and a priest, and in exile whit a hybrid mage.

i hope that in avernum 4 the 6 characters parties come back

[Chief Spider watching The Simpsons]

I always use custom characters:

Human melee warrior (who also happens to use the lockpicks), Slith pole-weapons warrior, Priest, and Mage. Pretty generic and absolutely pathetic, but it works the way it should.

 

By the way, the six-character parties are not coming back for A4.

[Arch-Mage Solberg]

I always use 4 custom characters

Human Male Warrior-Elite Warrior, Toughness

Human Female Warrior-Elite Warrior, Fast on Feet

Human Female Priest-Divinely Touched, Strong Will

Human Male Mage-Natural Mage, Good Education

This combination is pretty much the first one I used and I've modified it and this is the ending result. It works great...for me anyways.

[Alorael at Large]

I use four custom characters and tweak specifics a little bit differently every time, but the characters are basically two fighters and two casters. I've raved about the joys of having two characters who are both mages and priests before, and I don't think I'll do it again here without prompting, but let it be known that I approve of mage-priests.

 

—Alorael, who also approves of Natural Mages.

[Ephesos]

I also go with the two fighter, two caster party. Usually one fighter has more assassination and bows skill than the other (who is simply a tank). When possible, I give both of them some basic spells. For the casters, one's focused on mage spells and one specializes in priest spells. The mage gets some ranged skills, and the priest gets some melee skill.

 

It's worked fairly well thus far.

 

EDIT: How many times has this thread been started?

[Synergy]

Party formation is probably one of the more interesting discussions to have around here, because there are so many possible variations, making for very different kinds of games.

 

I'm trying a new experiment replaying Avernum 1. We're going to be good little PC's which means no nasty mage magic is permitted. There will be no stealing things which are Not Yours. I have a melee fighter, a pole fighter, an archer/thief, and a priest. The archer gets nimble fingers. The melee fighter gets fast on feet and the pole fighter gets strong will.

 

The two fighters and the archer are all sickness prone which leaves them with around +5% level up. The priest is sickness prone and has brittle bones--having no need to be a natural mage. I think his level up rate is around +30%! He is going to ramp up levels at a lightning pace and become very powerful.

 

Everyone will have decent levels of bow skills eventually. I find archery to often be very effective and useful in Avernum, contrary to a number of opinions stated otherwise here. I understand archers were less effective in Exile, which may be part of the reason they get neglected.

 

This party idea falls one short of another idea I have, and I wonder if anyone has attempted or suceeded with it: making a party of all fighters and NO magic at all, using only potiions perhaps. Can it be done? I may have to find out after this jaunt. All brute force and physical skill.

[Ephesos]

I imagine it'd be possible, just not very fun. Think about playing Lord Putidus for the length of A3, except everything around you can still cast magic. Not to say that it isn't an interesting concept, it'd just cause migraines.

[VCH]

I use four human boxers. They have no weapons no armour and no magic of any kind. Fists of Fury.

[Drakefyre]

I've done a no-magic party and singleton in Exile III. There were no scrolls, potions, wands, magical items, etc. at all.

 

Occasionally I would buy a magical item if it was required for the plot.

[Chief Spider watching The Simpsons]

Does that include, like a "magic" class sword or something?

[Arch-Mage Solberg]

Synergy67- 'The two fighters and the archer are all sickness prone which leaves them with around +5% level up. The priest is sickness prone and has brittle bones--having no need to be a natural mage.'

That sounds like a lot of work trying to keep them healthy., but I do see what you're doing.

[Synergy]

The nice thing about Sickness Prone is that it doesn't seem to make any significant difference but you get the experience point boost.

 

Drake--you had a no magic singleton, or were you describing two different parties?

 

The first game I played before I got better at differentiating certain skills had the usual two fighters, a priest, and a mage, but the mage and priest wound up with good melee skills and ten strength and were quite useful at hammering away at foes. I often didn't bother to use magic at all in combat by that point. When using truly four physical fighters, some of the fun and challenge is focusing more on what it takes to get powerful weapons and armor. You save money not buying spells and Magery too.

[Niemand]

I always use a slith pole-weapons warrior, a nephil archer, a human mage, and a human priest. I then go on to make sure that they all are reasonably good at melee and archery, train the nephil in some mage a priest skills, and develop the priest's potions skill.

I realize the massive redundancy with this party, but I'm rather paranoid, and want them all to be able to do anything they may need to.

[BobbyNoFace]

I generally have two human fighter-archers, a mage and a priest. Archers are fantastic, you never need worry about enemy spell casters again

[Thralni]

I tend to usualy use the default party, only I change the races a bit: a human warrior, Nephil archer/thief, human sorcerer and a human mage.

[Drakefyre]

I had a no-magic singleton. That was possibly one of the toughest parties to beat Exile III with, along with the single mage.

[Arch-Mage Solberg]

I have just started a new party for A2.

Human Male Warrior- (all important skills up to 32)

Human Female Warrior- (same as Jerry except up to 28)

Human Female Priest- Priest spells and bow skill (just in case)

Human Male Mage- Mage spells and Javelins skill (just in case)

[Dark Mage]

why people doesn't like archer?they are cool and in avernum thet hit a lot unlike exile.and they are a cheap ranged weapon so in dungeons they can be very useful if your mages are drained

about the missiles i have nothing to say because i dont like very much because they run out so quickly not like arrows.

[nikki.]

Archers ARE a good thing. I don't agree with using valuable skill points to make casters able to use bows, since Intelligence is always more handy, but I always have a archer/thief. Nephil's perform that role magnificantly.

 

Then, I have a Slith fighter. Pure tank, with occasional outdoorsy skills. High pole weapons, no ranged weapons. Lots of assassination.

 

Then, two casters. One, a priest to start with, has all the potion making skill points, and eventually mage spells. The opposite is true for the mage - eventually she gets priest spells and Arcane Lore.

[Espionage]

I am not sure why, i have always used the same party...

i always use:

Slith Warrior/archer (pole, elite warrior and fast on feet)

Nephil warrior/archer/theif (melee, fast on feet/nible fingers

Mage/priest (natural mage/good educatoin)

Preist/mage (natural mage)

 

I find that both casters by endgame have the best spells from each group which means mega SP because if you have lvl 18+ mage, lvl 18+ priest and 10+ intelligence = ALOT

Also i give no melee skills at all to my casters, apart from some anti-encumburance skills (defence/hardiness)

 

Archers are so useful, i find great benefit from having both warriors being adept in them, they cost nothing as you pick up plenty of good arrows.

 

i think that i should try something new, this page has given me a few ideas.......This always happens, just as i am half way through a game i decide that i want a different character line-up, or i want to play with 2 etc. and then i end up stoping

[Skribbane Freak]

i use

 

Nephill Worrior

Slith Preist

Nephill Archer

Human Rouge (or mage)

 

thats all my partys from A2 to BoA

[Foley's Body]

I play with any, depending on what difficulty it is on and how many people are playing with me(yes, strange huh? Well you gotta do something when you friends are over).

 

If i'm by myself or with 1 friend on easy, I use a Nephelim Mage/Warrior and a slith/human Priest/Archer

[Marak]

For A2: 4 Human Customs, normally 2 males and 2 females. I go supremely magic heavy, with EVERY character able to cast both Priest and Mage spells, and at the highest level you can start with (usually 6 Mage/5 Priest). I neglect all stats except the Big Four, Mage and Priest spells. One character gets Tool Use, one Potion Making, one Arcane Lore, and one Luck.

 

Oh, and every Character ALWAYS has Natural Mage and Sickness Prone. Uber Mageness for a 5% XP hit? I can handle that. It's fun to slaughter everything with a party that's able to Haste themselves and cast 8 attack spells per round. Sure, buying all those spells gets expensive, but you never need to buy equipment in Avernum, so what else are you going to spend your coins on? Other than the occasional Special Skill, that is.

 

For A3: because Melee characters aren't totally worthless in A3 like they are in A2, I make a Party much like my A2 one, but with 2 characters that put a few more points into Melee/Pole Weapons and Strength. That way I can have 4 casters, 2 of which are also able to fight fairly well (and take the hits a bit better) at the expense of having 18 Mage/18 Priest by the end of the game.

 

I also give everyone a scattering of points in Hardiness and Defense, and the 2 Fighter-types get a point or 3 in Assassination. Works pretty well. The lead character can smite things out of combat if need be, and everyone can wear heavy armor (thanks to Natural Mage and Hardiness).

 

As for names, I have a few favories:

I pick 4 of the following names for my Custom Humans: Taya, Lanea, Marak, Rallen, Mortred, Mallis, and Nema.

 

If I put in a Slith of Nephil (I normally don't), I give them bizarre names like Sh1tzu (a breed of dog, har har) and Zard (short for LIzard, get it? Tee hee!). Yeah, I have a Human bias, sue me.

[Radix Malorum Est Cupiditas]

I play either a 2 character party (A2/3/BoA)

slith spear/tank sluggish/sickness prone

nephil bow/tool use sluggish/brittle bones

 

or 1 character (A1/2/3/BoA)

human mage/priest natural mage/comepletely inept

 

huge amounts of exp, levels go by in minutes, pretty soon the disadvantages disappear beneath piles of skill points.

 

EDIT: i mixed up the game I was playing at the time (for variety) with the one I like playing as.

[Erika Maroonmark]

I've never tried a singleton, or actually anything less than 4 characters. ^^; Two mêlée men, one a straight swordsman, the other an archery/lockpick/trap-disarmery kinda guy, plus a mage and a priest. I always name the mage Claire after myself. *hearts mages*

I liked the 6-person party in Exile a bit better, because then I would have another mage and another priest, doubling the fireballing/healing action. And, of course, the more mages, the merrier.

[Joseph Stalin]

ive always had the party simple one fighter,1 archer,1 mage,1 priest

[Suspicious Vlish]

A good party is 2 mages, and 2 priest/mages. Although you spend a LOT of cash on magery.