Recruiting Your Party
Picking the right companions to save the world is vital; the right adventuring party turns weaknesses into strengths and offers something that is exponentially greater than the sum of its parts. Faerun, as much as we love it, it a dangerous fucking place, hero. So while we absolutely recommend assembling a party that vibes, we also recommend making sure that your party has the skills to survive this most difficult quest.1
That all sounds intimidating, but... hero, honestly? There's no one 'correct' party. We've adventured with groups that were a mess of randomness and still saved that Faerun, so don't get too hung up if your final party doesn't follow our recommendations. We've had some truly strange combinations and we've still managed to save the world! Just have fun, and message us on Mastodon if you get stuck!
Recommended First Party
For your first Honor Mode adventure, we recommend having the following:
- Melee Combat Specialist
- Healer
- Arcane Magic User
- Wild Card
Most of these are pretty straightforward. Someone to smash, someone to heal, someone to spell and someone you feel.2 For the last one, the Wild Card, you can pick pretty much anyone! You can use them to shore up a weakness in your style or your party, offer a skillset that your other party members lack, or even adds someone for you to romance. You are a hero, after all!
And yes, hero... if you want to romance someone, do it! This is your heroic quest, not a corpo office job!3
Roles to Classes
If you're feeling a little bit lost, it's okay! Assembing a group of adventures can be difficult under the best of times... when you're choosing people to accompany you in the "any mistake can lead to our death" game of Honor Mode,4 it can be difficult to know what to do.
We't got you, though!
Melee Combat Specialists
We recommend filling this position with a Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Paladin or Ranger. These five classes represent what the most traditional melee combatants, capable of dealing a lot of physical damage.
Origins Picks:
- Karlach as a Battle Master Fighter
- Lae'zel as a Gloom Stalker Ranger
Non-Origins (Spoilers):
- Minthara as a Vengeance Paladin
- Minsc as a Hunter Ranger
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Minthara can get in the bin. |
Healer
For your healer, we recommend a Cleric or a Druid, both of which are powerful choices. Bards can also serve in a pinch, especially if you have other party members who can offer healing (but bring potions!)
Origins Picks:
- Shadowheart as a Life Cleric
Non-Origins (Spoilers):
- Halsin as a Druid
- Jaheira as a Fighter / Druid
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We Druids are more aggro in our approach. If you like healing and ripping apart your enemies, Druid is the best choice of healer! |
Arcane Magic User
Your best options for an arcane magic user are wizards, sorcerers, bards, and warlocks. Lore bards are especially good at being flexible arcanists, while warlocks make managing magic more... manageable.
Origins Picks:
- Gale as an Illusionist (Canon!)
- Wyll as a Hexblade
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Wizards are the most flexible arcanists, and they end up one of the most powerful heroes if you make it to the end of your quest. But none of the arcanists are |
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Wild Card
The wild card can be just about anyone. If this is your first time Honor Mode adventure, we recommend picking someone who either compliments your play style or mitigates a weakness in your party.
Origins Picks:
- Astarion as a Rogue (Thief or Assassin)
| Thinkers may like to add a rogue; their sneak attack can make a difficult fight a lot easier. They're also good at picking locks, which can be really useful when you need to get into places you're not supposed to be. Assassin Rogues are great at ambushes. Our friend Runar- |
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Runar can ambush me any time... |
Equipment & Party Building
Adventurer, there is only so much "best" gear available. When you're recruiting your party, you should be giving this at least some thought because you're going to want to make sure everyone is reasonably well equipped for your harrowing quest.
Okay, an example... if you have a party of multiple fighters, then they're going to squabble over the best armor, the best weapon, the best... well... everything. multiple wizards? Same. Bards? Same.
Look, we're not saying that you shouldn't recruit the party you want. There's plenty of "not the best but pretty good" gear to find, and you don't need the best equipment to succeed.5 Just be aware that if you're going to try to adventure with a party of four fighters, you'll need to work with your party so no one gets upset and wanders off.
Ultimately, your gear matters less than your ability to think approach your quest with the wit and intelligence we know you have!
Homogenous Class Workarounds
You can work around some of these issues by being creative. For example, if you have two fighters in your party, having one specialize in melee combat and one in ranged combat would reduce the overlap in each of their "best gear" options. For overlapping arcane magic users, having a (for example) warlock and a wizard would mean that they'd each prefer different gear (different casting stats) and would fill different roles.
| Pairing a wizard (Intelligence based) with a bard, sorcerer, or warlock (Charisma based) is probably the easiest way to limit overlap for arcane casters because their "best" stuffs is often different! |
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And for Healers, Clerics and Druids don't use a lot of the same best gear, so you're safe having one of each! |
- 1. If you have to choose between a safe choice that doesn't vibe and a less safe choice that does, though, always choose the one that vibes. Vibe matters more than optimization.
- 2. Not like that Vul! Vul what are y..... oh. ohhhh.... spicy tiefling noises
- 3. Wait, am I not supposed to get spicy with my coworkers? Oh... -Elle
- 4. Or life...
- 5. It does help, though.