Hi all,

It's been a while since I've played a Might&Magic game, but I remember really enjoying MM4 and 5 back in the day.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a custom party for M&M3? I've read over the faqs, shrine fan site, and cluebook that are out there on the net, but, I thought I'd get some ideas here too.

Just for starters, I was thinking about the following party:
Barbarian (maybe knight or a slim chance of a paladin)
Ranger
Ninja
Cleric
Sorcerer
Sorcerer

I figure this covers all three schools of magic, thieving skills, and provides reasonable fighting power. Might be rough going at first, but I went for two sorcerers because I remember various late game sorc spells being pretty brutal...implosion for example. I was thinking I could round out the party with "warrior" type hirelings later on (or maybe early on when the going is rough) to further balance it out.

I could be all wrong on this, so I'd be grateful for some comments or advice!

I never take sorcerer unless I'm playing a theme of some kind. They're weak to hit, suffer penalties to their HP and can't wear decent armor. Their only benefit is they get better MP bonuses.
Archers, on the other hand, have some reasonable hitting power, regular HP, better armor, and the same spells as a sorcerer, the only downside being less MP. Early in the game, you don't have enough spells to warrant needing lots and lots of MP, and late in the game even an archer has so much MP it's hard to run out.
Swap your sorcerers for archers. Make sure to go to the map maker to learn cartography right away: the only other benefit of a sorcerer is they know cartography by default, but you can buy it in Vertigo so no real benefit.

Your party is fine. The only drawback is that you can't wear plate armor, but that's not a real disadvantage. Barbarian is by far the best melee class, the ninja can use all the weapons ranger and barbarian can't, offers attack power like a knight and enough thieving skill, especially if you choose a dwarf.
All spell schools are covered, you'll do well with or without hirelings.
I'd replace one sorcerer with an archer since two of the same kind are boring, but if you like sorcerers that's ok.

Thanks for the replies all. It's appreciated.

You are referring to World of Xeen. Is this still true in MM3? I haven't played MM3 myself yet, but in MM1 and MM2, archers are not able to get the higher-level sorcerer spells. If they have the same limitations in MM3, then taking Sorcerers is likely a good plan.

The classes in MM3 are like in WoX. Archers get all spells, but only half the spell points mages get.

Ninja is a good choice if you want to have thievery skills without using a certain area to get all skills. You may want to consider Ranger for the Walk on Water spell or keep an eye out for items with that spell ability.

Yeah, my mistake with the Virtigo thing. Same advice applies to MM3, I just got the name of the first town all mixed up.
(it is Fountain Head, derp)

My personal favorite party is

Paladin
Ranger
Archer
Robber
Cleric
Sorcerer

Downside is that is costs a mint to keep them in spells, but with two solid healers four fighters two arcane casters and a ranger tagging along for waterwalking it makes for a pretty solid lineup.

Really, the only class I don't care for is the Ninja. Not enough of a combat boost over the Robber to be worthwhile and he's a pretty terrible thief.

Ninjas get more than sufficient stealing skill. The difference to robber are only 15 thievery which can be evened out by a single item. A pirate ring alone grants +25 to thievery and with all the items you find and levels you get even 50 thievery less would be enough to open everything on the long run.
The difference in attack power is as big as between knight and paladin and the thief doesn't get spellcasting for the attack loss, he only gets +15 to thievery. Guess what's far more useful.
Especially in a party without barbarian or knight like yours a ninja would fit perfectly, his attack power would be superior to all the other party members'.

In the early game, when you don't have that pirate ring, and a single trap can wipe out most of your party - particularly if you've gone for those low HP classes - that 15 point penalty to thievery can be pretty annoying.

Also aren't Ninjas limited in what weapons they can use? When you say the ninja's attack power would be superior to the Paladin's, I'm wondering if that remains true due to a limited selection of weapons. I bet there are some high-level ninja weapons that are quite good but I'd worry that earlier in the game it would be harder.

Really, though, I bet that a wide variety of parties would work for the game, and might have interesting strengths and challenges. Try them out!

Ninjas have quite some weapons they can use: halberd, bardice, naginata, katana ..,, a lot of weapons almost no other classes can use, thieves have to fight with rangers, barbarians and archers for their weapons.

Whether a weapon does 53-68 or 54-70 base damage doesn't matter much since also strength bonus and buffs are added, extra attacks per round do make a huge difference on the other hand, so ninja is far superior to paladin when the number of attacks starts to differ.
Your ninja doesn't start with a naginata, but your paladin doesn't start with a flamberge either.