Old School Baby, It Never Goes Out Of Style!

Greetings Adventurers!

Welcome to the next instalment of our series of articles that looks at party composition.

Today we are going to be building a true classic. The traditional four-adventurer heroic adventurer group.

What is it and why build it?

Since the earliest days of mainstream fantasy, two core party compositions have shaped the worlds we love:

Party 1: Barbarian / Wizard / Elf / Dwarf
Party 2: Fighter / Wizard / Rogue / Cleric

These iconic lineups appear either as full adventuring groups or as parts of larger teams, serving as the blueprint for countless heroic journeys.

Party 1 draws heavily from the grandfather of modern fantasy, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. When fantasy gaming surged in popularity in the 1980s, titles like HeroQuest and Dungeons & Dragons reinforced these archetypes and introduced us to the now-classic combination of party 2.

To this day, these dynamics echo across books, games, and films, shaping the way we imagine adventuring parties.

With that in mind, we are re paying homage to these timeless compositions by crafting our own version for Maladum.

Step 1 – Adventurer Selection:
                The world of Enveron has no Dwarves or Elves, however, it does have Dwella and Eld. Hendley and either Syrio or Galen would be perfect options here.
                Since both classic parties feature a Wizard, we are also going to need a Maladaar so a adventurer with a good Magic statistic is needed.
                This leaves us one final spot to fill. Maladum does not really have a dedicated “Cleric” class as most healing is done through the Rest action so our fourth spot will be a melee damage dealer to act as our Barbarian / Fighter.

Hendley:
                With a Health statistic of seven and a Skill statistic of six, Hendley makes for a perfect tank for our party. He can take a beating and has enough Skill pegs to provide incredible utility.
Smithing rank 1. Allows Hendley to repair broken common items during a Quest. This can be useful for the party if they have a lot of weapons with Forceful Hits as they do not have to worry as much about them being unusable if they break.

Onslaught rank 1. Provides Hendley with extra attacks beyond his normal two actions.
Night Sight. Darkness can be a hinderance to a lot of parties, Night Sight lets Hendley keep swinging in combat with no penalties.

Unger:
Unger is an interesting choice for our Wizard. With a Magic statistic of four she does not have the magical firepower of Moranna or Beren, but she has more Skill pegs than any other adventurer with higher magic. Making her a Maladaar with Power Manipulation can leverage this trade off as she can drop those extra Skill pegs into more powerful spells without the need to spend lots of Magic pegs. Prymorist or Rook are our best options here as they also have access to Malacyte Mastery for some helpful Magic peg regeneration.
Persuasion rank 1. This is a very useful skill to have in any party regardless of composition as it helps when interacting with Denizens. As it is on her adventurer board this means we have more options when choosing our classes later. The fact it can be increased to rank 2 for an additional die in Persuasion checks as a passive ability just makes it even better.
Detect. Anything that gets the party access to more loot is never a bad thing. We probably would not base our adventurer choice on this alone, but it is a nice bonus, nonetheless.

Kriga:
Kriga is going to be our Barbarian/Fighter adventurer. She has a good Health statistic so can help tank if needed. She has a Skill statistic of six, which, like Hendley allows her to use a lot of combat Skills. We are going to make her a damage dealer though because she has Relentless.
Relentless. Unless you are crafting the Blitzhammer, taking Kriga is the only way to get access to this skill. If Kriga attacks the same target multiple times in the same Adventurer Phase each attack after the first lowers the targets armour (assuming she hits it). This is a fantastic skill for taking out targets with armour 1 as long as Kriga uses both of her actions to attack. Enemies with more armour are still a challenge for her as she only has two actions, so we are going to need to give her a Class with access to Skills that allow extra attacks.

Syrio:
Since we need an Eld to round out our party we have either Syrio or Galen. Either one of them would be a great addition, however, since we are trying to replicate the classic adventuring group, we probably want our Eld to be an archer and Galen’s First-Strike ability means he leans more towards melee attacks. Syrio is also cheaper to include, as we have already spent a lot on our party and we still need to buy equipment.
Reflexes rank 1. Ranged weapon fighters need to stay unengaged, so Reflexes is the perfect Skill for them. It allows them to take less damage from Attacks of Opportunity or even remove themselves from combat entirely.
Fast. A lot of ranged weapons in Maladum are better at medium range. Syrio has +1 move which enable him to get into that preferred range a lot easier.

Step 2 – Role/Class Selection:
                Our roles for this party are pretty much already set out for us by emulating the classic heroic group, all we need to do is find a good Class for each Adventurer that fits.

Tank:
We already know that Hendley is going to be our tank, we just need to decide which Class to give him. Since he is quite expensive to recruit at G75, Guardian is a good choice as it is it the cheapest option available to us that has Impervious and Steady. It also provides Hendley an additional Health peg as well as more ranks of Onslaught. Weapon Master and Frenzy just add more damage options for him to utilise his Skill pegs.

Healer:
Since we are only taking one Maladaar and ideally, they need Malacyte Mastery and Power Manipulation, we do not really have an option for a dedicated healing Eudaemon or Druid. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Prymorist has Natural Remedies and Cocoon so Unger can help the party Rest as needed.

Support:
With three dedicated damage dealers, there should not be many obstacles that cannot be overcome with brute force. Unger brings Persuasion to the party to help out in those encounters where words are needed and not swords, and Prymorist has some useful support Spells like Open Door and Protect.

Damage Dealers:
Kriga wants to hit things as hard as possible as often as possible and Weapons Master rank 2 allows her to make an attack as an effortless action. Guardian would give her Onslaught as well however Hendley already has that Class and doubling up on it would take away some utility. Contender offers the same two skills as well as the ability to Channel for an extra attack die. Contender also has Acrobatics and Reflexes which will help get Kriga where she is needed most in a fight.

We already know we want Syrio to be a ranged weapon damage dealer. As such we are going to want something with Ranged Expert so that we can make a ranged attack as an effortless action at rank 2. This means we are looking at Marksman, Ranger or Strategist. Strategist is just too expensive at G20 and Ranger has no additional Ranged Skills. This leaves us with Marksman and Bullseye, Counter Shot, Quick Shot, and Ranged Expert. We also get Hawkeye which allows Syrio to shoot at any range without fear of hitting his friends.

TOTAL PARTY COST: G326

Step 3 – Starting Build:

Starting Equipment:
We haven’t left ourselves much to cover our starting equipment. A rather paltry G24. About half the recommended amount. Due to some clever choices during Adventurer and Class selection we can actually get away with such a small amount. Syrio is going to be our biggest expense as he needs a good ranged weapon. We’ll take the crossbow instead of the short bow as he has Skills that can offset the fact it has Preperation. He is also going to need some ammunition so two lots of arrows is a smart investment. Since we are using nearly half of our starting equipment cash on him, making sure he has backup ammunition in case he runs out is a smart choice. At this point our only option for everyone else is a club. Since Hendley has Smithing rank 1, everyone can swing with Forceful Hits without needing to worry too much about their club breaking. This is a party that will need to run Of Coin and Glory before the main campaign, however since Unger has Detect we should be able to find a lot of useful equipment quite quickly. Since we only have a stash of G1, this is going to be a huge bonus for us.

Starting Experience:
Hendley:
To make Hendley an effective tank he is going to need Impervious rank 3 and Steady rank 3 so investing in these skills straight away is the best option for him. We could take Onslaught rank 1 to combine with his adventurer board for some mobility, however Syrio and Kriga should do enough damage between them he should not need it right away.

Kriga:
We’ve already looked at how extra attacks benefit Kriga so Weapon Master rank 1 is our first experience spend. She only starts with two skill pegs and since Weapon Master grants an attack just for using a Skill peg it is just slightly better than Onslaught which requires an attack to hit As such we cannot get as much utility from Onslaught rank 1 just yet. As soon as she gets Weapon Master rank 2 and can make an extra attack as an effortless action without using a Skill peg, we can start buying ranks of Onslaught. Reflexes rank 1 is a good investment as it allows Kriga to take less damage from Attacks of Opportunity if she needs to reposition to save someone. Tactical Gift rank 1 adds some interesting combat dynamics by giving the party access to Vicious.

Syrio:
We bought Syrio a crossbow, so his first experience needs to go on Ranged Expert rank 1 to ready it as an effortless action. Reflexes is a smart investment as it will allow him to use it at rank 2 thanks to his adventurer board so that Syrio can move away from an enemy that engages him and shoot them at the same time. His third experience is probably best spent on Trick Shot rank 1 as this gives him the option to perform an additional attack with a re-roll if needed.

Unger:
Since Unger’s role is going to be healer/support, with only two experience Natural Remedies rank 1 and Cocoon are a good starting point for her. We could take Malacyte Mastery rank 1 to give her access to all level 1 spells but that uses a Skill peg as well as a Magic peg and she only starts with two of each.

Party Progression:

Hendley:
We’ve already looked at Hendley’s need for Impervious and Steady rank 3 so this should be his focus. Impervious allows him to remove status counters, increases his armour, restore health pegs and even become completely immune to damage. Steady rank 3 is the ultimate tank Skill. It prevents enemies in contact from moving away and even lets him change the target of an enemy attack to himself in the right circumstances. Pushing these to rank 3 as fast as possible is going to make his job a lot easier. Quick recovery is a nice Skill to have as it allows Hendley to restore Health pegs and at rank 3 he can remove a Fatigue counter at the start of the turn which combos well with Ready For Anything rank 2 which allows him to make an extra action but become Fatigued.

Kriga:
Kriga wants Weapon Master rank 2 as soon as possible so she can start investing in Onslaught without a huge Skill peg cost when she uses either Skill. Intimidating is a great Skill for any party with a dedicated tank as you can choose the target for enemies regardless of who is closest to them. This can force them into taking Attacks of Opportunity, keeps them away from Syrio and Unger, and puts them next to Hendley. Pushing Tactical Gift to rank 3 provides a multitude of tactical options for the party in the form of free actions and even stalling the Dread Tracker.

Syrio:
Ranged Expert rank 2 is our priority. Any Skill that allows an attack as an effortless action should be picked up as soon as possible. It also lets Syrio throw any item he is carrying for a two dice ranged attack. Syrio’s Skill progression after that is largely going to depend on what ranged weapon he has equipped. Trick Shot rank 3 is great for anything with lots of attack dice. Ranged Expert rank 3 is good for weapons that use Shot, Counter shot allows him to make attacks as a reaction.
Fleet of Foot rank 2 is worth pursuing if he gains any equipment that goes in his armour slot as he will lose Fast.

Unger:
As Unger only has a maximum of four Magic pegs, she needs to pick up Malacyte Mastery rank 3 as quickly as she can so that she regenerates them. Power Manipulation rank 2 lets her use Skill pegs to increase the power of her Spells including beyond her normal rank so should be an early pick up. Persuasion rank 2 will be useful for the passive plus one die to Persuade rolls when dealing with Denizens. Spell wise, we are going to want Open Door as we do not have anyone with Tricks of the Trade and falling short in a quest due to an inability to unlock a door would be just embarrassing for our Adventurers.

Conclusion:

We have managed to include four Adventurers that give us the look and feel of our classic heroic team. Balanced across defence, damage, support, and utility, this party is ready for anything Maladum throws at them.