cJohnOne

i'm a lousy player but did you hire an adventurer at the first town? You should have found a Paladin companion where your headed. That should take care of any tanking slots. I think I like three melee and three ranged. You have 2 melee and 4 ranged? So you can swap out the Chanter for the Paladin. I just started act II so I haven't a clue what's to come.

I was going to say the same as KDubya. Dump Intelligence to 3. Constitution is 10. Might is 16 to 20 range. Dexterity 15 or 16. divide the rest into perception and resolve. You can use a large shield with 16 deflection if you use a spear with accuracy.

I like 2-handed with a dps fighter. You can have heavy armor for damage reduction. I use dps barbarians with hide and they have low deflection.

If your playing on normal there are encounters you will probably want to skip and come back to with more people. The priest they give you has more hit points than what I could create. I set him on ranged. He can come in handy at times. I get 1 hireling. I think you can swap him out for another character later in the game. I've restarted a bunch of characters and haven't finished act I yet. Sometimes I find that I'm confused as to what to do first. Early game I just take every companion into the group.

How about 15 strength 12 Constitution 15 Dex. and 15 Perception? Use a medium shield and heavy armor.

16 Might, 16 Con., and 15 Dex. I want Constitution for additional hit points. 15 dex. to compensate for having medium armor speed. I plan on using a small shield with 8 deflection. I think I will steal the fighters armor for 7 damage reduction and I think piercing immunity. I sort of wanted to get more deflection but it's only 1 point per deflection for Barbarian so it didn't seem worth it. Any advice? should I get a medium shield? More armor? DW or 2-handed? I'm playing on easy until I get to town and then on normal.

After Might and Dexterity increasing perception to 14 increases your reflex score and deflection. Not that big a deal but it's nice. Plus a bonus to interrupt.

I don't think at the start of the game it matters that much defensively because there isn't that much difference between 5 and 9 or was that 10. I use a small shield for 8 deflection. Since I'm assuming I don't get the accuracy hit with a small shield. On a bow ranger I personally want high damage so I go with lighter armor but I don't like the look of hide so I go leather. I think fighters get a talent that makes them pause less with their armor.

I started a Barbarian with 10 Constitution. 17 Strength 17 dexterity. ended up using a stiletto, fast pokey thing but I'm still using a torch in my off hand which I should change to a mace. Anyways, I keep restarting and now I'm doing a Ranger with 18 Strength and 18 Dexterity. Don't know how long I'll play that character. Barbarians are great have nice health and stuff. if you like melee it has better DPS than fighter and paladin.

It's probably not important but I did have to load a save to get out of the room and had to redo the battle.

I like melee so I'd take the Monk first than according to ease of use I'd go cipher, druid and wizard. But Wizard looks cooler with their book and wand.

I hired a Paladin with my Barbarian because one of your companion is a fighter and Paladin's have good deflection. And I don't know when I'm getting the Paladin companion. Since I'm not micro-managing my group it's one of easiest. If you are getting a Paladin companion later why not a Barbarian hireling?

Okay now I want to build a Barbarian with 10 Constitution and high reflex like Alpha_Omega. I don't understand why I would want higher Dexterity over Perception?

I think I will take the wizard early on but not take the priest. I guess I could ask the Wizard to leave when I get to the Ranger companion though I don't know when that is. I'm assuming that not having a Wizard will greatly simplify the game for me and I like simplified. I don't mind not finishing on my first few characters in the game.

Oh that an interesting idea to not take the priest and the Wizard companions than I'm pretty sure I'm playing on easy if I do that but early game the wizard can just pew pew with his wand or whatever you call it. Yeah that's a good idea but I'd only have four men at the beginning if I only have 1 adventurer. One fighter, me(barbarian) a chanter and a hireling. I'm pretty sure that would be on easy mode though.