Welcome to the party, pal!

Greetings Adventurers!

In this new series of articles, I am going to explorer different (and sometimes unusual) ways you can build a party in Maladum from the traditional “Heroic Adventurers” group to more thematic builds such as a party comprised entirely of Maladaar.

As of now (prior to the release of Forbidden Creed later this year), there are fifteen different characters in Maladum and twenty unique classes. This results in 300 different character/class combinations. Expand that out to a full party of four Adventurers and you are looking at over a thousand possible party combinations!

So, what kind of party should you make?

Before choosing who, or what, to take on your adventure it is worth taking some time to look at the distinct roles a character can fill. Of course, these are not set in stone. One of the most enjoyable aspects of Maladum is the flexibility the game offers and any character can fulfil any role as any class. There is absolutely nothing stopping Moranna the Barbarian from grabbing a Great Axe and mowing down hordes of Revenants in combat.

Before we dive in with specific party builds it is worth taking a moment to familiarise ourselves with the traditional roles you might find in a typical adventuring party in your favourite book, movie, video game etc. This setup is normally built around four core roles.

Tank:
                Role: The tanks job is to take a beating. This is normally a character with a large health statistic as they will be on the receiving end of a lot of attacks. They are usually equipped with the best armour to reduce the beating they are going to take.
                Ideal Characters: Brahm, Grogmar, Hendley, Kriga, Nerinda, and Syrio make for great tanks in Maladum.
                Recommended Classes: Blacksmith, Guardian, and Paladin are good classes to choose as they all have access to Impervious (to increase their armour) and Steady (which can force enemies to remain in contact and even force them to attack you instead of someone else).

Healer:
                Role: The job of the party healer is to keep everyone else alive by restoring health. However, that is not always a full-time job, so they also need to be good at removing status effects and providing benefits such as Bless or Invisibility to help the party.
                Ideal Characters: Artain, Beren, Emmerik or Moranna are all good options due to their high Magic statistic.
                Recommended Classes: Druid or Eudaemon would be the best options here as they both have access to Healing Hands and a broad selection of Vicarious Spells.

Damage Dealer:
                Role: Their job is simple. Deal as much damage as possible as efficiently as possible to take out the enemy.
                Ideal Characters: Brahm, Callan, and Galen, Hendley, Kriga and Nerinda are all excellent choices for a damage dealer that is not a Maladaar as they all have a combat related skill on their Character Board.
                Recommended Classes: Melee focussed characters could be a Barbarian, Contender or Sellsword while a Ranged combat fighter could be a Marksman, Ranger, or Strategist. Maladaar also make good damage dealers when paired with Magus, Prymorist and Rook.

Support:
                Role: While the first three roles are focussed on one aspect of party life, support characters are the classic “jack-of-all-trades” types. In Maladum these characters have a large Skill statistic so that they can perform a variety of useful tasks that are not necessarily combat focussed such as Barter, Distraction, Persuasion. Or specific combat feats such as Disarm or Trick Shot which are less about dealing damage and more about combat utility.
                Ideal Characters: Ariah, Brahm, Galen, Greet, Hendley, Kriga, Nerinda and Unger are all ideal characters to fill a support role.
                Recommended Classes: Assassin, Curator, Maestro, Rambler, Rogue, Scavenger, Swindler each offer a diverse flavour of support that can change the outcome of combat in creative ways.

How do these roles translate to Maladum?
                While it is helpful to think in terms of these traditional roles, it is important to remember that Maladum is a game that thrives on flexibility. No character is locked into one job, and no role is meant to operate in isolation. In fact, the most successful parties are those where every adventurer can adapt to the ever-changing challenges of a dungeon.

Take the Tank for example. While the job of a tank is to soak up damage, effective tanking is also about smart positioning. Since enemies in Maladum always target the nearest adventurer, a well-placed character can “tank” simply by stepping into the right space at the right time. This means your designated tank also needs to be able to deal out damage when they are not needed to be a punching bag.

Healing is not something you need every single turn. Most healing in Maladum comes from the Rest action. That means if you take a designated healer they should also be ready to contribute in other ways, fighting when needed, casting utility spells, or removing status effects. A healer who just stands back waiting for someone to fall over is about as much use as Grogmar in a diplomatic conversation.

If the room is clear or enemies are out of reach, damage dealers need to step up with support skills, solve puzzles, or interact with the environment to keep the party moving.

The broad skillsets of support characters make them ideal for plugging gaps, sometimes they may even turn out to be the better tank or damage dealer in the right circumstances.

In short, every character in your party should be ready to deal damage, pitch in with a support skill, take a hit when necessary, or help the party progress outside of combat. Building a well-rounded party does not mean staying focussed on fixed roles but it is a good framework to work from. However, understanding how each Adventurer can contribute in multiple ways will make overcoming even the most difficult of obstacles a lot easier.

Now that we have a better understanding of the roles our Adventurers will play, we should look at how they apply to the recommended first game party in the Rulebook.

The recommended party consists of:

Callan the Sellsword
Greet the Rogue
Moranna the Prymorist
Syrio the Ranger

Callan the Sellsword starts with Weapon Mastery and Frenzy. Both skills increase his potency in combat making him a damage dealer. Weapon Mastery also allows him to use Shield Block as an effortless action so he can also tank if the party finds a shield.

Greet the Rogue is in every way a support character starting with Distraction and Tricks of the Trade. She even has a support Spell in the form of Open Door. If you give her the Axe she can also fit into the role of damage dealer.

Moranna the Prymorist starts out as a damage dealer/support. With only three health she won’t make a viable tank any time soon, however if she picks up Natural Remedies as she gains experience she’ll also help with party healing.

Syrio the Ranger is very much a damage dealer with both Ranged Expert and Ready for Anything. However, he also has a defensive re-roll which makes him a viable tank until Callan finds a shield.

As you can see, this party doesn’t have rigid roles for every character. Instead, if one falls, another can usually step in and cover their responsibilities. Avoiding over-reliance on a single character is especially valuable in the early stages, when simply entering a dungeon can mean imminent death.

Next time we’ll look at building our own classic hero group before we dive into the weird and wonderful party builds later in the series.