What to do next

[Target]

I’ve nearly finished my current game and have been thinking about what to do for my next one. I must say I’m quite tempted by the solo character idea, as I’ve not tried that. As I’ve always used a party of 6 before will going down to 1 be a major shock or should I pick 2 or 3??
Also as I’ve never used a ninja I though I would take the fairy ninja, but I’ve no idea what’s the best way to develop one? What is the best way to develop one and where do I put those skill points…
Cheers

[Scatter]

heh...Faerie Ninja is a bit of a challenge for the first solo attempt. None of my solo's have been FN's; thier armor and weapon restrictions make them real hard to survive all the way to the C o'C. But if i did that i'd start by running Stealth up by practising, then in Attributes i'd feed my Dex 3 every time so i could get Reflextion asap, and train it, too. Until Dex was 100, i'd alternate 2 in Str and 1 in Vit with the reverse of that. Once Dex was up, i'd start with 2 Spd and 1 Sen. Your Mana regen bonus will help cover for not adding to Int or Pie, and Dex will help you learn Alchemy fast enough. I would also train the Alchemy quite a bit.
For combat, i'd start Dual Wield by using Shillela as soon as i got it, maybe even buy one from Burz and use two. You have some interesting choices for your secondary to the Cane: Sprite's Dagger, Which can take a number of tries to get the Sprites to give up; Nunchaka, a Mace/Flail, with 15 KO; and Rod of Sprites, a Wand, also really hard to get, but Winter Wand, its little sister, works well. So you can pick; the easiest to prepare for is the Wand because both your weapons will be in the same class. But you can drive Dagger up pretty fast using 2 Doublestrikes...
My only solo Ninja was a Human, who spent 8 levels as a Bishop to get Magic Screen, Soul Shield, and X-ray (among other things). I also played that one on an early patch and used PP.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

I've been using 4 the last two games and I like it much better. more exp and more practice for everyone!

[Ziggurat]

I like four the best, as well. But sometimes you like the six or seven for the comments, etc. A good four-party, if balanced, gives you the quick experience and challenge.

[Scatter]

It's interesting, when everyone talks about party size--it seems the more times you go with a smaller party, even smaller gets more interesting. When i had about a dozen finishes, i was raving about 4-member parties; when i got past 20 finishes i was raving about trios, and now all my current games (probable finishes 29, 30, and 31) are solo or duet...(Monk-Bishop, Bard-Gad, and solo Bard-to-Ranger)

[Target]

Hmmmm so many different things to try and so little spare time to play!!! Frustrating!!
Might hold out on the solo for a while, tempted by the 4 party idea... ...think I'll give the fighter, rogue, priest and mage quartet a go...
But what races?? Need some ideas please!!

great choice, targ. i'm a big fan of the four man parties.

here are my suggestions for races, and some reasonsings, but i'm sure you'll get dissenting opinions from the chorus.

for the mage, i'd go elf. good starting int and pie and extra points to go around. i prefer the elf to the faerie because you can wear some of the better items in the game, once you get to ferro.

for the priest, i'd consider a mook. their high starting intelligence offsets the extra bonus points high piety races (ie dwarf/rawulf) get. plus, they have good strength and senses, which will help with their bashing and initiative. their major drawback is low dex. consider developing mace and shield so that you can use the extended maces from ferro. (i prefer shield to the two-handed staves for priests, as they need the defense)

for rogue, the best choice by far is the hobbit. with 60 bonus points you can tailor it to any style. basher? go 60 str, 75 dex, and 70 spd. something more sneaky? how bout 60 int, 75 dex, and 70 spd. or how bout a samurai wannabe wielding dual dagger? 75 dex, 70 spd, and 70 sen. felpurr is next best. they have a higher starting speed and only 5 fewer bonus. but they start with 10 less vitality and a penalty to water magic (ie susceptible to paralyze. okay with shields not a big deal, but...).

for fighter there's lots of choices, depending on fighting style. however, you'll probably want a real tank to supplement the small party, meaning lizardman, dracon, and dwarf are the only serious choices (due to high starting strength and vitality). the other three races we've chosen all have no magic resistance penalties. so it might be within the theme to pick a race not so penalised, meaning lizardman is out. personally, i'd go dracon. they have better physical stats and the penalties to mental/divine (-5% each) are relatively small. and, if acid breath is your thing, they could be nice to have.

my two cents.

[Target]

Cheers Sultan, Good ideas, I'm looking forward to see what others think... I've never thought of a Mook as a priest, always used them as bards and rangers before interesting idea.

the selection of a mook is driven by the idea of picking a race that is complementary to class, as discussed under the dwarves thread.

[Scatter]

Problem with the Mook Priest, unless you switch to Lord or Fighter later, they can't use the Giant's Sword, which is my only reason for ever taking a Mook in the game at all...

My favorite foursomes were almost always mostly hybrids: Ranger-Lord-Sam-Bard was one i liked a lot. The big advantage of having fewer is to level faster, so the 4-level delay on getting spells is no longer very important, and i usually started the Ranger as Alc, for a vast boost to the Alchemy skill; with a Hobbit you get enough Att's left over to qualify for Ranger and also have a big Dex advantage. Or maybe Fighter-Rogue-Monk-Bishop; that one worked out nicely, too...