I needed help on character creation

[steelsoldier]

I am a bit of perfectionist and I tried different combinations in the character creation, 2 fighters in the front row, 1 rogue and 1 mage at the back seems to do the trick.
My question is, what traits should I pick for specific characters.
I ran a party before where I had a human fighter, minotaur fighter, insectoid mage and rogue lizardman, I proceeded to max strength on both the fighters and spend the rest of the points in vitality, the insectoid I maxed willpower and invested everything else into vitality, the lizardman everything into dexterity and vitality.

My thought process was having 2 melee fighters in the front row and a rogue capable of using a bow in the back while having a mage supporting with area of effect damage.
My question is, should I organize attributes in another way and what skills and traits should I get for each one of the characters.
I am playing in hard mode, played until level 5 but I am a bit unhappy about the party, screwed up a few skills and stuff.

[Pyros]

Semi spoilers and stuff.

If you're planning on a bow/throwing weapon backline rogue, then do not drop everything in dex. Instead drop everything in strength, as this is the only attribute that affects damage and since ranged weapons do not miss, the accuracy from dex isn't necessary(and obviously since backline the evasion isn't either). It's a bit counterintuitive but all damage comes from strength, dex only increases evasion, accuracy with melee weapons and resist fire/lightning. The min max choice for an archer is a mino with max str, rest in vitality(or dex whichever doesn't really matter), the mino only trait for AP with skulls and either agressive for more AP or skilled if you want to reach 50 without using a book on him. And every single point in missile.

For the frontline, matter of taste, but my unarmed rogue is a lot tankier than any other character. 2points in dodge, rest in unarmed to get the +20evasion from 30points asap, human or lizard(I made human so it was slightly faster to get unarmed 30), lurker's armor set. Does good damage and will outtank any warrior spec. For frontline warriors I'd also not pick a mino but a human/lizard simply because they have better evasion. If you do pick a mino I'd focus on raising dex to acceptable levels so you don't miss and can evade a bit at least. Armor to 16 for heavy armor and everything else in a weapon skill. I'd say do armor to 8 first, use Chitin armor, then upgrade to 16 once you start finding valor plate armor.

The main thing to understand about frontline is that evasion is insanely better than protection, especially one hard mode. So dex is generally more valuable than str, and damage shouldn't be too much of an issue if you level only one weapon skill and put most of your points in it. You can also cut down on vitality some, or entirely if it's in favor of dex. I'm about 3/4 into the game on my hard mode party(2nd playthrough), and I use 2frontline with 10starting vitality, one rogue one warrior. The warrior gets killed every now and then if I tank hard mobs, but generally is fine as long as I play well, the rogue is more or less immortal to melee attacks.

[steelsoldier]

Thanks for the tips, might actually try 1 fighter 2 rogues 1 mage then, I guess investing into evasion traits on the guys in front might work well then.

[Pyros]

Yeah both my frontline used Evasion and Skilled traits, don't feel any other is really worth it besides Agressive if you want more DPS(or mino skull one if you don't have a mino backline and want more DPS as it's the biggest DPS trait by far once you progress a bit).

[steelsoldier]

Wow this is great actually, rolled agility and evasion and maxed dex humans in the front row, one rogue and 1 fighter and it works extremely well, only played a few minutes, but I already noticed the potential,I think that perhaps getting 5 points early on the fighter really enhances his survivability, still unsure if I should scrap vitality or not, might influence 1-2 or extra hitpoints gained each level though.

[Velvetwinter]

I just finished the game with an evasion rogue, can I recommend not maxxing dex? I would instead split between str and vit to start. The evasion you get from dex is negilible compared to getting it from armor and 24 points in dodge. I think I had 88 evasion at the end and I started with 12 dex. She never gets hit as is.

The extra hp from vit to absorb some magic damage and carry capacity of str are infinitely more useful than the little bit of dodge you get from dex.

[Hissssa]

I think you're much better off with dex and strength for your fighters (rather than dex and vitality). For one you can carry more, hit harder and more often. Most fights can be won with strafing.... which you cannot do if you are carrying a heavy load.

If you want more vitality throw some points in athletics. You WILL get more hitpoints for putting a few early points into that tree.

There is only one place in the game where my build has had trouble but that is because i have two mages.

SpoilerShow

the fighter challenge

The Minotaur rogue is a crazy awesome idea as you completely negate the accuracy problem and their lack of defense. But I still like my double mage build as the burst damage is insane and the resists are extremely helpful. Plus you don't have to be careful where you launch spells like you do with projectiles.

[steelsoldier]

Alright, I will have to think about it then, if anyone has any other traits that tried or specific attributes they want for, please share.