Best party

[Wurmwood]

I ran my first party till level 7 in the dungeon. They consisted of a Human fighter (sword fighter), Insectoid rogue (unarmed specialty), and 2 insectoid mages (Earth/Ice). They can pretty much wipe the floor clean.
Started a party on Hard mode with a Mino Rogue (unarmed), Lizard Fighter (mace), Insectoid Mage (air), and Human mage (fire). So far they are doing well (only at level 2)

[Grimrocker]

Didn't think the "Skilled" trait was all that useful. Just gives 3 extra points at character creation. You get 4 each time you level.

[Mychaelh]

Higher vitality and willpower will give more HP and Energy points at every level gain.
The skilled trait helps to improve vit and will at start.
High HP and High Energy is what you need when playing at hard.

[Dalnar]

Seems I have made some very odd party...

Front:
Human Fighter - Mace/Armor/Athletics
Human Mage - Staff defence/spellcraft/fire (wields sword and staff for the style of battlemage hehe)

Rear
Lizardman Rogue - Missile weapons
Minotaur Rogue - Throwing weapons

That minotaur is a little odd, but with headhunter and agressive and several heads, everything he throws hurts like truck ))))

[footwo]

But the MOST IMPORTANT IS to understand COMBAT TACTICS and to LEARN 'CIRCLING': -> Hit, Slide-Turn(Move), Hit, Repeat...

If you can 'circle' right, good Party stats and equipment are not THAT important, it just makes combat easier and faster!

Can you elaborate on this method, are you talking about constantly circling around the enemy in a 3x3 grid with the mob in the centre so they can never hit you or something?

[fan]

If you want the "best" party, make sure to use a Lizardman Rogue with Throwing Weapons. Put him in the back row and don't skill anything else until you have Throwing Weapons maxed out. Even on Hard they're insanely good.

[s3lla]

it's 2x2 grid is enough or just moving back (not working with some big monster due their charge).
And yes, doesn't matter what your party are if you know this moving trick ;/ real-time based combat makes it the only way.

[Mychaelh]

Can you elaborate on this method, are you talking about constantly circling around the enemy in a 3x3 grid with the mob in the centre so they can never hit you or something?

Basically yes. Also a 2x2 room is good for basic melee.

But it's not that easy. Monsters move also.

You hit with your first fighter row, and instantly after that slide to the side, so that the monster attack goes on the now empty tile you where standing before.

Next you turn, to face the tile you where standing before and wait till the monster enters it - and attack it in the side (with your back row/ reach attacks, because your fighters normally still 'recharge' for their next strike) ... then slide away again.

Repeat till you have won, or disangage when things go bad.

That's the reason I play on hard, right with the first play-through. If you can 'melee-circle' it becomes boring and not challenging, when monsters are slow, not aggressive and doing not much damage.

There are of course a lot of variations, with going back to make space for magic / distance attacks, trying to get behind the monsters to make a backstab etc. Depends all on the actual dungeon layout where you are fighting. That's why it is so important to plan and choose where you want to fight.

Also Monsters not always react in the same way, you have to watch them. The more free space for melee, the more better.

Also corners are good, because monsters present you their side for a short time - when they enter the tile before you (waiting behind the corner)
'Circuits' (3x3 room with a wall tile in the midle), basically give you 4 corners to pull this trick continuous

One has to try what's good against a certain monster species. Also the skills of the own Party have to be considered...

The basic idea is to spent as little time as possible directly next to a monster that is facing your direction.
Monster with charge-attacks, missiles or magic make things harder of course and demand more adjusted tactics.

[mazuffer]

I finished the game a couple of hours ago.

My party was:
Minotaur Fighter: 18-12-17-7, Agile & Head Hunter, Armors & Axes
Lizardman Fighter: 12-20-12-9, Skilled & Agile, Swords & Athletics & Armors
Human Rogue: 18-12-12-10, Aggressive & Athletic, Throwing Weapons
Insectoid Mage: 8-12-12-19, Poison Resistant & Skilled, Fire Magic & Ice Magic & Spellcraft

The party worked really well, except the minotaur was pretty bad before he got his axe skill up and found a few skulls. Aura would maybe have been better than Poison Resistant on the mage, he seemed to run out of energy constantly, even at the end when he had 233 energy .

What level were your guys by the end?

They were all level 13, the minotaur would probably only have been level 12, but

SpoilerShow

I let him use the +25% exp necklace to catch up with the others.

[Devil]

I'm currently playing normal mode on floor 8 using:

Human Fighter - Pumped str then half half on dex / vit - Agressive + Tough - Pumped swords - hes a damage machine, I give him all the armor i can find and he does take dmg, but most things die before he does
Human Rogue - Pumped dex then half half str/vit - Fist Fighter+ Evasive - pumped unarmed - lower dmg then swords but is untouchable, avoids everything and anything, only character to survive fighters challanege
Insect Mage x2 - Pump willpower, rest on vit - Aura+Tough - fire magic on one, Ice magic on the other up to 24, then 18 in spellcraft - nice burst and freeze makes monsters into cannon fodder.

So far I've been coasting thru the game quite easy, I had to figure out the spells by experimentation as it is ages until you get fire bolt / ice bolt scrolls.

As a side note, 2nd play thru I'll be replacing any Aura and Tough traits for their +2 vit / +2 will as they give you more benefit in the long run.