Legion
8/1/2009 1:54:46 PM | When you recruit a new class of characters, its worth taking a few extra minutes to make sure they will all survive to 2nd level and beyond.
My most recent recruiting session gave me 7 characters. Right off I was thinking I'd like at least 1 each of wizard and mystic, since they are the most powerful high level characters given their magic abilities, as well as the hardest classes to promote given their low starting hp. A healer is essential to any group as well, so pencil in anyone who takes life magic at level 1.
In fact, I needed two, since it is very unlikely that 7 characters will form a party, unless you get very lucky with charisma scores and alignments. So, if I have two healers, I can make sure one is in every adventure while still bringing up the whole crew evenly. As a further aside, with 8+ recruits I will try to form two distinct groups to advance separately, but with 5-7 I assume I will be rotating them each adventure, always bringing the 4 or 5 with the least XP so that they advance as a group. Often the "lowest xp" requirement gets trumped by the need for certain classes in each group, or more likely, the need for someone with the leadership skill to ensure I can get that 4th or 5th person in the party -- but I will always make sure no one is indispensible or else they will start to pull away in XP to the detriment of the others.
So back to my recruiting class. 7 characters, I'm looking for a mystic, a wizard, and two healers. That leaves just 3 fighter-types, which is rather low, so I'll hope one of my healers can be a shaman or paladin with healing magic.
Now I'm ready to create them! First up, 5 strength, 5 constitution, 12 intelligence, 16 willpower. Clearly my wizard or cleric, the low constitution and strength are really going to hurt either one, and the higher willpower points me to cleric, since their SP/level are modified by willpower whereas a wizard is intelligence. She gets 9 hp and 14 sp. Thats great! I equip her fist and choose life magic, saving the other point since I'm not sure if she'll be needed as a party leader or not.
Next up is a grunt, he ends up with 12 hp. He has a 9 charisma so its a pretty sure bet I won't need the leadership skill, so I pencil in tank, which is what all first level fighter-types must get if you hope to protect your vulnerable spell casters. Note that I don't actually select their skills until they're all created since I'm never certain who will need leadership until they're all made.
Third, another grunt. Not looking good for my plan! Note that tourist and wimp are never considerations, so for these people who only qualify for grunt, thats what I get. This grunt gets 18 hp! Wow! He also has a 17 strength so he will be a powerful addition. The 6 dex means he will be hit a lot, but thats fine, he has the hp to take a beating. Because his charisma is only 5 it is clear he will not need leadership and I go ahead and take tank immediately.
Next is another cleric or wizard. Even though his willpower is one point higher, I feel I need a wizard and I'm running out of recruits, so I pick wizard. He ends up with 2 hp, which makes skill selection especially difficult. He will never survive any encounter without the toughness spell, which is body magic. However if I can get other characters to cast that on him I would be able to use his skills for lightning (to win the early battles more quickly) and air (for the crucial shield spell!). Again, I wait on skill selection.
Next I get a candidate who qualifies to be a mystic, so I don't hesitate in choosing him. He ends up with 28 sp which gives me a lot of leeway. Again I wait on skill selection.
Sixth, I get a guy with good attributes and many options. A 17 strength and 13 dex/con mean he will make a great fighter. However he also qualifies for magi, wizard, or shaman. This is perfect! Here is my "fighting cleric" I was hoping for. I choose shaman, the only choice that will allow me to choose healing at first level. Sadly, he only gets 5 hp, and 14 sp. Now I face a dilemma, as he too will need body magic and the toughness spell to survive, and he can't get both life and body. I wait again.
My final character is going to be either a grunt or a fighter. I choose grunt, since they get cheaper tanking and toughness skills than fighters, and the whole purpose of the fighters in this group is to make sure the spell casters will not get hit on their way to the higher levels. Unfortunately he gets only 8 hp, and 15 charisma. He and the shaman both have a 15 here, meaning they will be my leaders, and thus both need the leadership skill to make sure my groups will be as large as possible. He chooses leadership.
Now I go back and fill in my missing skills. The shaman needs leadership too, and chooses body magic as his other skill so that he should be able to survive. This means my second healer will have to be my mystic. However I don't like that option, since remember my wizard has only 2 hp and will also need a toughness spell. Since the shaman does not have enough sp to cast toughness twice in a battle, the mystic will have to get body magic to protect the wizard. I reluctantly forgo a second healer in order to get the mystic body magic. He also chooses communication so that every adventure can begin with an alarm spell, giving me a critical extra turn to try to flee from hard encounters. My wizard is now free to get more useful skills, since the mystic can cover his toughness needs. He chooses air and lightning. The only characters I have out of the 7 recruits with at least 10 hp are two grunts, who both have chosen tank. Now I'm ready!
As you can see, a little extra care in character generation will ensure you have balanced groups with the best chance of survival. Make sure your leaders have leadership skills, and that you have enough body magic to cast toughness on all your characters with 6hp or less (it is uncommon to meet monsters doing over d6 damage in level 0 adventures). Anyone with 10 hp or more who can tank should have it. Hopefully your groups will all contain a healer and attack magic character. My party will, sadly, not always have these as they rotate in and out of the active group to keep their XP moving up uniformly.
Now I'm ready to adventure! Every adventure begins with setting tanks to tank, shaman to cast toughness on himself, and the mystic to cast alarm (followed in rounds 2 and 3 by two toughness spells on the lowest-hp characters). There are no exceptions to this, as even a single misstep can result in death. I will flee from anything that could potentially kill a character without even waiting to see how many there are.
Sadly, the wizard did not make it to second level, as a lucky hit did him in despite his shield spell and toughness cast by a friend. The other six went on to reach second level and beyond.
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