Dungeon Master Forum

I'm curious: which character do you think is the best character in either/both DM/CSB? What do you look for in your characters?

On a related note, which characters have people used to complete the game by themselves?

To answer my own questions:

I find that after all these years of playing DM, the most important stat is stamina. Everything else can be built up with levels and training much faster than stamina. That's only my most recent idea, however. Thus my current party consists of Hawk, Leyla, Stamm, and Halk, the characters with the four highest staminas (all reincarnated, of course).
The only character I've used by himself so far to complete DM was Hisssa, reincarnated as Shath. But then, I'm partial to lizardmen.

I have to say i'm probably a very superficial guy when you start talking about stamina!!!!
I've always played with Gothmog, because he looks the coolest (DM&CSB). You have to admit the only way to play DM is with Gothmog in the full armour of Darc, cloak of night, while you batter the dragon to death with Hardcleave!!!!!
Which begs another question... (see above thread)

Yeah, I've played with different sorts of parties:
* the all-freak party: Gothmog, Hisssa, Daroou, and Wuuf
* the all-female party: Leyla, Sonya, Syra, Chani
* the all-mage party: Boris, Elijah, Tiggy, Nabi
* the low-mana party: Halk, Stamm, Sonja, Hisssa
...but I've never played with Gothmog by himself.

My favorite team is: Darou Leif Elija Chany

I agree with Oldman, always played DM/Chaos with Gotmog. Looks way cool.

BTW, did you know that Gothmog is the name of the lord of the Balrogs in The Lord of the Rings?

My favourite team is Linflas, Leif, Mophus and Chani
if I have to play with just one, it would be Chani.

My first team was Hissssa, Daroou, Wuuf and Gothmog, I think, and it was years ago, on my good old Atari 520 STF. After that, I probably have tried about 30 different teams (all magic, no magic etc...) I have finished the game casting only the zokathra spell in the whole dungeon (not even a vi potion). For solo dungeons, I have tried only Daroou (most hit points) and Tiggy (less hit points). The most fun I had was with a no-magic adventure!

You do need at least two spells: the Zokatra and another one. Quizzzz.. what is the other one ?

"Cast your influence, cast your might"?

Hmm...you don't need any others, do you? The zo spell is needed only for one puzzle (avoidable), the des ew spell isn't essensial either (monster blocks and vorpal blades take care of ghosts, etc).
I'm stumped .

Not the zo spell, so maybe fluxcage and fuse? I got it! The Magic Footprints in the "Beware my twisted humor"...

But is the magic footprints spell *necessary* to finish the game? I suspect that there may be some spell you need to use to get the firestaff that I'm not remembering...really, what is necessary to finish the game? Ra Keys, the firestaff, the zokathra spell, right? What element of those needs another spell?
Hmmm.

Seeker19 got it right. Zo spell is a must at a place where you cannot reach a door because of an open pit. It is at the level with cavern creatures blue ogrees, the matrix, the guardian, time is the essence, "Cast your influence" : Your Zo spell, opens the door, there is a pressure plate behind. Throw a club on the pad to close the pit. It will give acces to a key. I believe there is one more of those keys abolutely needed. With this second thought, the Zo is not stricly needed. I am sure that the footprint spell is not needed to finish DM. A better help is to drop stuff on the floor to solve those sneaky noiseless teleporters. I believe now: Only the Zokathra spell is needed. Your twinfalls.

Yes, I'm afraid the Magic Footprints is totally unnecessary! BTW, apart from Vi, Ful, Ful Ir and Des Ew spells, are there certain spells you use very much? (I'm fond of poison spells and clouds, personnally, and almost never use OhKathRa - lightning- spells. And I create lots of Ma potions, as I always forget to feed my party

Heh, on the old amiga, you could actually (with accurate mouse work) click on the push button 'cast you influence...' door before falling fown the pit. God bless slow computers. And you can have two gold keys spare, so nope, you definaely don't need the key there.
I ALWAYS use Ma potions as I run the party constantly without rest, plus it is the quickest spell to practise, and des ven bolts as a cheaper than fireball way to kill gigglers.
Hey, Bro potions are, while not essential, quite handy too...always some wasp/scorpion manages to tag you.

Very few people seem to realise that Poision Clouds are the most effective offensive spells. Both Poison Clouds and Poison Bolts are far more effective against a large number of creatures than Fireballs or Lightning, particularly the Animated Armours which die pretty quick with a few poison spells lobbed at them.
Try it and see!

Favored Spells (for DM & CSB):
Vi Vi Bro (Master of Vibrations!) Oh Ew Ra Oh Kath Ra Oh Ven Des Ew Zo Bro Ra Ful Ir Zo Kath Ra

The Zokathra spells in particular make great markers and they're fun to throw. How many people, playing DM for the first time and trying all the combinations, cast Zo Kath Ra early in the game (2nd level, for me) and then spent the rest of the game trying to use it for *SOMETHING*? Oh, it was so satisfying to finally find a use for it.

A lot of people have their favorite offensive spells; most people seem to favor FUL IR, since that's one of the lower-cost spells and more viscerally satisfying than the "squoink!" of DES VEN, but it is true that different spells are more or less effective with certain creatures. I find that the scorpions seem to be more susceptible to lightning, for instance.

the fireball has an advantage: clik 3 times at the same point and you've got a EE fireball ready... Very handy when you're suddenly face to face with a scorpion with no way out...

When I first started playing, I favored the more magical people. It wasn't too long before I noticed that they died too easily, and couldn't hold much stuff. Now I pick people with lots of strength and plenty of health. They can learn magic on the way. Hissa is ALWAYS the first member of the team =)

Regarding favourite characters, I completed DM for the first time using Daroou, Gothmog, Wu Tse & Wuuf. There is a nice blend there and once I got to the regenerated screamer room, I had lots of fun building up their levels anyway. It didn't really matter who I put at the front or back for the rest of the journey because they all had master fighter, ninja, wizard and priest levels with plenty of health, stamina & mana!
Another point is if you re-incarnate characters at the start, what do you like calling certain characters?? Daroou seems to get called 'Ugg' quite a lot.

I tend to name reincarnated characters one of two ways: either after characters in other RPGs I've played, or on the spur of the moment as I ponder their image and come up with a take on their character background.
This way, Hisssa is almost always Shath, The Talazi (an amphibious creature in a space operatic game I played many years ago), and Leif and Hawk (for instance) can end up as Erik and Darius or Pyotr and Doul Mangwanani.

The best character has got to be Hawk. He learns the spells very quickly, ends up with huge strength and stamina points and for some reason never seems to get poisoned when fighting scorpions, spiders, flying snakes and worms. What a guy!

Well, up front I have Gothmog, which I renamed ...Gothmog, its a neat name. And then there is Daroou, and I named him Quijibo. In back I have Tiggy, which I renamed FroMan and I forget who else. Maybe Wuuf, but I think his name is the same.

I think the best thing about these two games was the charactor editor that came with CSB I've to this day got a drawer filled with disks of charactors I've created and save games. My favorite was Hisssa Lizar of Maken. I've won the game with several different single charactors. But my personal favorite group was Darroo, Halk, Hisssa & Stamm. I'd lock up the screemers in a room (real fans of the game will know just which room I'm talking about) on the worm level & the rats in a room (Same as above) on the rat level, and then wait for the room to get so filled with screemers/rats there was hardly any room for them to move and then lock myself in with them and kill them all usually with daggers so as to do little damage but to get much experience. Ahh those were the days... There was one thing I never did though... I never did kill the dragon. I kept it as a pet... and then took everything I ever found in the dungeon and stacked them neatly in piles for my dragon to protect for me. It's nostalgia all over again.