Grimrock

I went with an all human group with the assumption that I'll be more of a high skilled and agile group.

Male Human Fighter
High armor and maces
High Str

Female Human Fighter
Axes, Evasion
Dex

Male Human Rogue
Bows, Dex

Female Human Mage
Fire and general spells so far

I hope to see how this goes and then get much more interesting the second time around. It seems likely that they could make dozens of new races in the future since they are just minor stats changes.

My first party:

Human Mage - Front - Tank - Staff Defense/Earth Magic
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Minotaur Fighter - Front - Tank/Damage - Armour/Maces
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Human Rogue - Back - Damage - Assassination/Daggers
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Insectoid Mage - Back - Damage - Spellcraft/Air Magic

I went with a bit different setup for my first party, but it's working really well so far, the mage has higher tanky stats than the fighter atm, and the fighter is in heavy armour while the mage is in light.

My second party:

Human Fighter - Front - Tank - Unarmed/Armour
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Lizardman Fighter - Front - Damage - Axes
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Minotaur Rogue - Back - Damage - Missile Weapons
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Human Mage - Back - Damage - Ice Magic

Quite newly created but working well so far.

Minotaur Fighter
Used stat bumps to recover racial Dex penalty, then added to Str and Vitality
Athletics 2, Armors 2 (no weapon skills)
Skilled
Headhunter

Human Female Fighter
Fairly balanced between Str, Dex, Vitality
Athletics 2, Armors 5
Skilled
Aggressive

Insectoid Mage
Max Willpower, some vitality
Ice Magic 1, Spellcraft 2
Insectoid Armor
Deamon Blooded

Lizardman Rogue
Mostly dex, some str and vitality
Assassin 6
Skilled
Agile

If I had to do it again, I'd have taken Skilled for the Mage instead of Deamon Blooded, and given him enough skill points so he could actually cast a spell. As it was, he was unable to cast anything until midway through the 2nd dungeon level (and he leveled slowly, because the only damage he dealt was through thrown rocks). I'm happy with everyone else, particularly the Rogue. I dumped every skill point into Assassin each time he leveled, and now he can attack from the back rank (with his dagger) as I'm about to head into dungeon level 3. I don't regret his high Dex because I think the Accuracy bonus is worth more than a few extra points of damage, particularly because when he attempts a backstab, I *really* want it to hit.

Also don't regret not giving the fighters any weapon skills. They do decent damage, and the Athletics and Armor skills really add to survivability.

Zere (Main), Human Fighter
Gwynedd, Human Rogue
Rantar, Minotaur Fighter
Qirab, Insectoid Mage

My main is focusing on sword'n'board style, Gwynedd is throwing and dagger specialized. Rantar is using spear + skull in offhand, and lastly Qirab is using staff in main and torch in off-hand (Torch is brighter than "Light" spell, so I use them prefer them more). Don't know which is the best magic tree, so I did put points randomly on spellcraft, fire, ice and earth.

Interesting choice to put minotaur in back rank: the Evasion penalty from -Dex is mitigated, and you can focus on Str for damage. Although, with no Spears skill tree, I worry that you'll never be able to get your Acc high enough to hit.

Also, the skulls don't have to be equipped. Just put it in the Minotaur's inventory, and he'll get the bonus.

I went with two human fighters, a lizard rogue, and an insectoid mage.

I like it so far.

My first party has been thus far;


Fefe Minotaur, Female
Fighter
Armor - Vitality Focused


Zazar Lizardmen, Male
Rogue
Dexterity - Dodge Focused


Runedropper Insectoid - (unknown)
Mage
Willpower - Fire/Spellcraft Focused


Eliazar Human, Male
Mage
Willpower - Air/Spellcraft Focused

That is my first and current party - the ones I hope can pull off surviving!

Minotaur - Fighter lvl 6 (Armor 19/Vitality 2) (Str:20 Vit:18)
Human - Rogue lvl 5 (pecker from 6) (Assasination 16/Daggers 1/Dodge 2/Missle 1) (Dex:18 Eva:21)
Human (male) - Mage lvl 6 (Fire/Ice) (Will: 20)
Human (female) - Mage lvl 6 (Air/Earth) (Will:20)

roughly what I went.... oh and playing hardcore mode.... no maps and no weak mobs...

I went with minotaur fighter/lizardman rogue/insectoid mage/human mage.

I just reached the 5th level of the dungeon and the party has worked out well for me so far. My front ranks mostly exist to soak up damage. The fighter with heavy armor and vitality, the rogue with dex and evasion. Both carry shields. The rogue's backstab is nice, however, he doesn't really stand out. Without the need to pick locks or disarm traps I have to wonder if I wouldn't have been better served with another fighter.

Haven't really bothered with ranged combat much. In a pinch it can be useful, but so far I haven't seen a reason to raise my skill levels. You never miss. Mostly I avoid it, but sometimes if there's a particularly tough fight it helps.

Those of you with only one mage are missing out. Really enjoying the spells and I'm glad I can invest in every school of magic between the two mages.

This is my first and current party I wanted to try out an Insectoid fighter due to the 'hardened carapace' Having one as a wizard tho just seemed natural. Food hasn't been a problem thus far (and I've back tracked a lot.) The combination also seems to work nicely as the rogue can attack from the back while the two fighters just wail on people for massive damage. The mage dropping ice to freeze enemies and then poison cloud/bolt, followed by a barrage of fireballs. At level 10 and still descending!

Insectoid Fighter (heavy armor and axes)

Human Fighter (light armor and swords)

Human rogue (assasination)

Insectoid wizard (poison, fire, ice and lots of spellcraft)


Loving the game so far ^^