This is what works best for me: Sword and Shield Fighter fully specializing in longsword to take advantage of the powerful +2 longswords that you get early, and to use all of the nice armors and shields that you find. CG Two-handed-weapon fighter to use the Frostbrand, and Frag/Scather. Longbow fighter with longbow feats and a +1 longbow crafted up to +3, Holy, Frost, etc., also using the Elven Chains. LG Cleric of Heironeous to use heavy armors and shields once the fighter gets better ones, crafting holy weapons and stat-boosting items. Wizard crafting +'s, stat boosting items, Flaming and Frost, wands, etc. ---------------------------------- Four clerics with strenght as a domain and choose any other you want. One should be good and I generally like the war domain, but that is me. Max str and make wisdom a secondary stat (should be at least 15 though). 2 Clerics should be chaotic good which is what the party's alignment should be. Last character I would make is a wizard with craft wand, craft wonderous items and craft arms and armour. You good cleric should also have craft arms and armour. This party is tough to beat. One of your clerics should be chaotic neutral and have negative energy (great for those pesky undead fights). Your clerics will all be tanks and you will slap everyone down as your main strategy --------------------------------------- Although I picked a Paladin my first time through ToEE, it didnt really work as I expected, so Pal is out. So: A CG Fighter with Specialization/Focus on Longswords, and Cleave/Greater Cleave. You could try Dual Wielding here, but it doesnt work for such a low level game. A CG Barbarian, which has the potential to become a very strong single-weapon character. You could use a Reach weapon with him, and clear out battlefields from a distance. A Ranger with all the ranged feats. He is not a heavy hitter, but does decent damage in every single round. Not to mention that you can give him a level or two in Fighter, to get additional feats. A LG Priest, and aim for offensive spells. Healing spells do squat in this game, so its actually no use. However, some of the more powerful Priest offensive spells are quite nice in this game (because you only face evil enemies). And of course my favorite, a Sorcerer. It would be nice if you could get a CE Sorcerer, but unfortunatelly the game does not allow you Evil characters in a Good-aligned party. Give him some offensive spells, and watch him destroy your enemies. You could always go for a Wizard who would be your craftsman. If you really want to ridicule the enemies, you should craft some of the most powerful items or enchant the best weapons.... --------------------------------------- Well the best party has to be the rogue party of one, mentioned earlier. But the party to get you through the whole game is the quickest and easiest manner without using NPCs: Human Cleric of Pelor specialising in Good & War. Gets free Weapon Focus in Longsword. Human so that he has decent Turn Undead and doesn't need to waste a feat improving it. Half-Orc B1/F4/R5. Isn't worried about thief skills, except hide and move silently, specialises in Greatsword for Frostbrand eventually. Gnome Wizard - hard to hit and extra HP make this the most survivable wizard. Elf Druid - area effect spells par excellence and a pretty good archer too, and that enlarged, buffed Polar Bear is a nice extra in any fight. Half-Orc B2/F8 or Cleric with Strength Domain - will wield Fragarach or Scather with Power Attack to the max. ------------------------------------- The Half Orc Ftr8/Brb2 is pretty effective with a 2-hander, Fragarach or not and so is a pure classed Sorc with Empowered Fireballs and spell focus but I guess other players have found pretty much the same. Some have mentioned that a pure Rogue does tons of sneak damage with Improved Two Weapon Fighting but I've think they may have problems hitting higher AC enemies in the first place. I had a Rog6/Ftr4 and while he did indeed do incredible damage Vs low AC foes like Ogres when flanking, his damage output wasn't so great with high AC opponents. By contrast, a Barb build above with Str gloves, a good 2-hander and Great Cleave can really dispose of opponents fast, especially if you have weakened them first with a Fireball. ---------------------------------------- Ok, just finished the game with a couple of leet chars that ive had in mind for a while, in only a party of three (start to finish): Wyard Dragonherder Chaotic Good Human Fighter 8/Barbarian 1/Sorcerer 1 Required Stats: 18 Str, 17 Dex, good Con and Cha Main Skills: Tumble, Concentration Minor Skills: Spot, Listen etc Level Breakdown: 1) Barb1: Exotic Proficiency:Bastard Sword, Two Weapon Fighting [Fast Movement, Rage 1x] 2) Sorc1: [Call Familar, Spells:Enlarge Person, Shield (Level 0's dont matter)] 3) Fighter1: Weapon Focus:Bastard Sword, Power Attack 4) Fighter2: Cleave 5) Fighter3: 6) Fighter4: Weapon Specialization:Bastard Sword, Great Cleave 7) Fighter5: 8) Fighter6: Improved Two Weapon Fighting 9) Fighter7: Improved Critical:Bastard Sword 10) Fighter8: Greater Weapon Focus:Bastard Sword Final Equipment: Dragon's Breath/Dragon's Tail (crafted Mastwork Bastard Swords +3, Flaming, Frost, Icy Burst), Dragon's Crest (crafted Masterwork Breast Plate +3, Spell Resistance 13), Gloves of Giant Strength +6, Boots of Speed, Generic Helm, Cloak of Resistance +3, Amulet of Health +6, Ring of Protection +3, Ring of Freedom of Movement Does fine duel weilding his bastard swords (yes even with all the big bad penalties.. did someone just let all the air out of my tires?.. oh its just everyone gasping) so anyway, he does just fine normally, when theres a large battle coming up or tough oponent(s), Enlarge Person + Shield buff him just enough to kick some ass (not to mention he looks so damn cool).. at low lvls or at very hard/big fights you usually need just a bit more, Rage takes it that bit further (rarely I needed to use a bulls str potion around the 2nd/3rd temple lvls, but then I made some gloves of giant str +6, which were more than enough for the rest of the game) I did this to proove once and for all that duel weild OWNS! (I also had Fragarach and Scather for leetness, and with them at lvl 10, I took Iuz down in 2 rounds, 1 on 1, no help from either of the other chars.. how embarassing, now all the other gods are gonna laugh and throw sticks at him.. sigh, gods can be so cruel ;c (also, strangly, i found the balor to be harder than Iuz.. well hes way harder than zuggtmoy too, maybe he should've done a coup de tat and taken over )) Baranar The Redtiger Chaotic Neutral Human Fighter 6/Sorcerer 4 Required Stats: 18 Str, 13 Dex (more is better, 16-18), 13 Int, good Con and Cha Main Skills: Tumble, Concentration Minor Skills: Spot, Listen etc Level Breakdown: 1) Fighter1: Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Focus:Ransuer (I took Ransuer, but any polearm can be used, Ransuer's just look the best ;p) 2) Sorc1: [Call Familar, Spells:Shield, True Strike (Level 0's dont matter, true strike isnt't needed, just had spare spell choices)] 3) Sorc2: Combat Expertise 4) Sorc3: [Spells: Expiditious Retreat (Again, not needed, had spare spells, chose the most useful I could think of)] 5) Sorc4: [Spells: Mirror Image] 6) Fighter2: Spring Attack, Whirlwind Attack 7) Fighter3: 8) Fighter4: Weapon Specialization:Ransuer 9) Fighter5: Combat Reflexes 10) Fighter6: Improved Critical:Ransuer Final Equipment: Baranar's Claw (crafted Ransuer +3, Flaming, Frost, Icy Burst), Baranar's Steel Fur (Blue Elven Chainmail, Spell Resistance 13), Gloves of Giant Strength +6, Hedrack's Plate Boots, Red Bandana, Cloak of Resistance +3, Amulet of Health +6, Ring of Protection +2, Ring of Freedom of Movement Tumble + Mobility + Spring Attack + Whirlwind + Shield + Mirror Image + Polearm = unkillable crowd control 'nuff said ;x his dmg with the crafted ransuer was nice for boss type fights as well, but with only 2 attacks at lvl 10 hes best for crowd control/minion detail and then an air shield (between the first char and the mean boss.. if he's still standing that is) Last character was just a normal sorcerer, only use he was for was talking for quests etc and crafting items, other than that I never really needed to relly on his spell casting much past the first few lvls, he mainly just threw some healing potions around ocasionally, though the odd fireball here and there was nice (A wizard for more crafting possibilites wouldve been better, but I was hasty to start and just chose a sorc I already had created for a previous game ). I was hoping these chars would turn out great and they went way better than I expected, as with an only 3 char party, lvl 10 would come earily and I was worried they were gonna find the lower lvls of the temple hard.. not a chance as it turns out On a side note.. at lvl 10, my sorc couldnt add Flaming Burst to crafted weapons, I had Fireball and everthing, am I missing something or is this a bug? --------------------------------------------------------------