rocommendations on a well rounded group?

*sigh* The darn frogs at the Moat House keep killing me. I know that all my folks are 1st level and all but I mean really? 3 frogs??

Here's what I've got

Dwarven Cleric
Human Fighter
Elven Wizard
Elven Ranger
Gnome Thief

That to me seems like a well rounded group although in retrospect I've tried a similar group like that about a half dozen times and never gotten very far. I assumed it was because the older un-updated version of the game was just too flawed to play.

Any help or advice would be great.

Oh also wondering if it's worth it to actually buy my starting equipment or just go with what the game gives me at the beginning.

Thank you in advance.

 

You might want to try advancing very slowly to trigger the frogs one at a time.

 

I would definetly buy the best possible starting equipment. Your group seems to be well rounded. But personally I don't like to leave the rather safe areas until I'm lvl 2. With lvl 1 the fighters just hardly ever hits and the wizard and cleric have too few spells to choose from. So there isn't really the opportunity to choose some strategy. You could do some of the 'errand jobs" in town, try some random encounters until you level up or try Welkwood Bog, which is intended to be the starting adventure for a lvl 1 party. For any more tips see:
"Game Guide & Walkthrough For The Circle of Eight Modpack", in Forum: Temple of Elemental Evil/ Sticky threads.

 

I agree with oleg, even if you get by the frogs you will encounter other enemies that are way to tough for a level 1 group.
There are 2 fights that you need to be level 3 or maybe even level 4 to clear so you can't finish it in one go anyway or at least i will be hard as hell.

The Errand quests in hommlet will get you to level 2 with 5 characters, that is the perfect start, then do welkwood bog if you feel like it, that will get you halfway to level 3 and if you rest there after completing it you will get some good random encounters, that might be considered xp farming but you wont have to reload quite as often if you start the moathouse at level 3 or close to it.

 

Well, you do have the core of any well-rounded in your party there already (being a fighter, a thief a cleric & a spellcaster).

But sometimes it is not the core which is the problem. In this case, it's the fight you pick.
Those frogs are indeed quite nasty when you just barge into their trap.

But it is not impossible. The key here, is in your spellcasters. Forget the damage-dealing spells, they do you no good here. What you want is spells that boost your damage dealers.
Enlarge your fighter(s), bless your party, let your thief flank & backstab. That's your only ticket to victory with humanoid characters in your party.

I don't say it will be flawless... Some of your partymembers will suffer greatly, or maybe die. While the XP-setback for your dead character(s) is not that bad at lvl 1, the price of reviving them will be too steep. So if anyone dies, just reload & recommence the battle.
Anyhow, maybe this time, you'll be able to pick them off one at a time.

Don't feel ashamed to run off to safety inbetween toads if your hitpoints are running low. It's the smart adventurer who gets to live, not the bravely stupid

So if you absolutely want to deal with the toads as a first encounter, be sure to have prepared the right spells.

 

Sometimes it's best to sing any large creatures a lullaby ... "go to sleep, go to sleep my little <insert creature name> ... and then coup de grace them.

I find this extremely effective with the eight legged type.

 

Thanks folks. I went back and redid my characters and bought starting equipment instead of the generic package that is available. I also added in a Paladin in place of the plain fighter. Took my time and killed the frogs without any loss of life and even managed to clear the first level of the moat house so far. Will be trying the sub floors here in a while.

I try to avoid using walk throughs when I can since it's more fun for me to figure stuff out on my own. I'll probably use it to finish all the darn side quests in Hommlet though, there are about 6 of them that I haven't finished.

One last (and possible strange question) is it possible to run ToEE with just one character? Just a thought for the next time around.

 

Yes you can run it solo, but it's not easy. I would advise taking a few NPC's with you.

 

For a well-rounded group I tend to run:
Fighter
Theif
Divine Caster
Wizard/ Sorc
as my core group of 4,
with the addition of a second fighter- type (often Pal/Barb/Ranger) in slot 5, and possibly a second divine caster (usually the 'other type', ie Cleric vs Druid) in slot 6.
Any more than that and I find someone gets neglected in terms of what I do with them (I played with a Monk in addition to a similar set-up to this for one go at the game and she did nothing except stand around at the back with the Sorceror and a little bit of bar-room brawling).
Current set up is Celtic-themed- Druids, Bard, Nature-type clerics (no fighters as I'm trying to explore what the others can do in combat without them) and I've previously done a 'Mage's guild'/ Circle of 8 style with 5 Arcane Casters, a Druid and a Cleric of Boccob (which was literally a blast, with many fireballs).
Will probably go Stealthy next time- no heavy armour, no evocation magic, rogue levels all round, perhaps a monk in the front row of combat...

 

I've actually found that cross-class skills plus elven cloak and boots are more than stealthy enough for a Fighter/Barbarian. Of course, if you're doing it for the stlye points, don't let me stop you.

 

Hi Daryk
The monk thing is to get a handle on how to play with one- if I go with a fighter I know that he would always be the one in the thick of things, with the monk behind (and probably behind a combat orientated cleric, too). I know how to work a strategy where the fighter holds the doorway while the mage throws fireballs into the room, so I'm after a different style of play, as you say.

 

If I include a monk in my party I make sure to never stray from the monk path and let her develop fully into the awesome fighting machine she can and will be.

Oh, don't forget to give your monk cleave and greater cleave, it blows circle kick away.

 

Any advice on whether a level or so of another class first is of use. 2d6 of sneak attack might be helpful but it would limit top-end unarmed damage. But am I better off with a weapon anyway? Or can I get axiomatic holy fiery burst gloves somehow?

 

I haven't tried it in ToEE, but four levels of Fighter before going Monk the rest of the way should get you an extra attack at 20th level (+16 BAB), plus you could specialize.

 

I stand by my statement ... a monk is best used when it is a pure monk, in the later levels it will do so much damage unarmed it will almost feel like cheating.

In just a few levels she will do the same damage with her hands you do with a longsword.

A strong monk with high wisdom and dex is a killing machine.