Party with 4 human mages

[Orthocone]

After I finish the game once, it's time to go find new path.I think about :

Front

1. Earth Mage : Designed a bit of a fighter. Willpower only 10. Max DEX, Rest VIT. Full Lurker Set. Staff Defense, One hand throwing (or shield ?). I think he'll not cast often. Maybe it's the guy who'll get the 3 skill books, because staff mastery plus all party poison resistance (also spellcraft) needs a lot of skill points.
(Skilled, Evasive)

2. Ice Mage : Designed as the guy above. Full Chitin Set. Staff Defense. Shield. Priority Ice Magic.
(Skilled, Cold Blooded)


Back

3. Fire Mage : Max WIL, Rest VIT : Fire Master, Rest Spellcraft, Shield (or bombs)
(Skilled, Demon Ancestor)

4. Air Mage : As above. Air Master, Rest Spellcraft , Shield (or bombs)
(Skilled, Aura)

I think I don't need to rest often, only for the stories sake. (There are many crystals and the energy of 4 mages will be enough for a combat. I think they're not exhausted often.) There is so much food, during my first walkthru I throw most of the food away. Of course it will be a bit hectic, clicking all the runes. The missing strengh will also be a problem. I'll have to think about a good resource management. The good items unfortunatly are found deeper within the dungeon.

It will take some time to learn about how the party works, so I'll post more if I created a group I like (and think they'll make it down to the cube).

Of course, comments are always welcome.

[Isaac]

Four mages could be fun; or three mages and a rogue.
Toorum mode isn't bad... It's a trade off that lets you play a very fast fighter/mage, at the expense of having four safety nets [PC deaths] instead of one.

If you are going to play Grimrock again so soon, then consider playing this [mod] as a change of environs:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6453
It's as big as the original game; and took us over a year to design and test it.

[Orthocone]

@Isaac : I'll think about it.

I found out there are some mistakes within my first plan. (Big mistakes.)

If I want to reach elemental protection +25 for all realms, I can't max out staff defense for my earth mage . Even with 7 skill points at start, and all 3 books. Pity. Maybe I need to sacrifice "Skilled", Evasion" and "Aura" for poison resistance. So my earth mage don't need to spent 32 points into magic and can stop learning earth after he gets the poison shield.

All other mages can get up to 32 points as quick as they can.

I think the greatest problem will be the Goromorgs. They cast offensive spells of all realms, so my guys need a good allround elemental protection against everything." Fire Torc", "Amulet of Cold" and "Serpent Bracers" for the guys with the lowest resistance in the special realm.

I'll give the backrow mages bows and crossbow (if magic is exhausted).

Maybe there a some more mistake.

Edit :

Just remembered that I wrote a story once about 4 insectoid mages. Maybe I should resurrect them ..

[Orthocone]

I lost my first attempt. Got killed within the herder's room. It wasn't easy to get there ( 7 death) but It was easier than I thought before. I never was in danger to lose the game.

In the room I made too many mistakes. I had problems running around to prevent surroundings, looking for a free way to move and clicking the right runes for the best spells. Because this room is the only part in the game that's really dangerous (imo), I'll think about ignoring it. A mages group has nothing to win in the area and a player don't need it to reach the temple.

I have to think about the starting skills, too. Evasion not really made sense. And I have to think about "staff defense". One mage hat the chitin armour, but he was the guy who was killed most. Next weekend I'll give it another try.

@Isaac
First I want to win. I'll try mods later.

[Dr.Disaster]

1. Earth Mage : Designed a bit of a fighter...

2. Ice Mage : Designed as the guy above...

no no no no no *shakes head*

If you want to go with an all mages party then play them like mages, not replacement fighters. Mages need much more Energy than Health. Evasion is welcome when it comes along with dex or gear but it's not worth spending precious stat or skill points for.
-> stat points go max Willpower rest Vitality
-> traits go Skilled (+3 skill points) and Strong Mind (+2 Willpower) or Aura (+15 Energy)

In the early levels earth+air+fire mage seem to be forced to do close combat since all they have are short ranged spells. Ice mages seem to fare a bit better because their starting spell Ice Sparks has a medium range. Yet there is all this throwing stuff around like rocks and knifes and shooting stuff like rock+sling and bow+arrows so .. close combat? Really??

As soon as all mages got their long range spells (earth magic 7, air magic 14, fire+ice magic 13) and their throwing/shooting stuff for those out-of-energy times there is no reason to let any enemy ever come close again. Once this point is reached which thx to the Skilled trait is as early as your mages reach character levels 1 (earth) respectivly 3 (air+fire) any investment into Staff Defense becomes truely pointless.
-> skills aim for 32 points into the elemental magic skill, 18 into Spellcraft and 0(!) into Staff Defense

Of course there is one thing you need to pay attention to: enemy immunities. You already learned during your previous game that no monster is immune to air magic. Yet this is not true for the other elements. For example skeletons are immune to poison because they are already dead. You'll notice an immunity by a spell hitting with 0 damage.

[Orthocone]

Sorry, Dr. Disaster, I disagree.

My party wasn't not a perfect one. That's true. But I bet, without the mistakes in the herder room, I finished the game with this group. The greatest problems were the (hectic) wrong clicks on the runes. Not missing energy or missing HPs.

I also don't know what can happen without evasion (my 1st mage had evasion about 50). F.e. the crabs didn't hit often (2 dead). The monsters mostly killed the 2nd mage with the armor (5 dead). And my resistances were very good with the exception against poison. With a higher poison resistance maybe I had won. But that's only theory .

I'll think about some changes, but basically I'll stay on my path. I agree armor is no need. BTW : The idea of a fighting mage died early in my game. I also dropped all the bows and crossbows, because even with my lower spellpoints I never ran out of energy. And if that happened : A crystal was always near. Oh, and I forgot the bombs.

As mentioned : I'll change something, but I've to think about it. (I'll update the 1st post then)