I don't know why, but it seems like having a strong leader of the party affects the whole group. In every case, I get bows for everyone ASAP, and use the four beginning horseshoes (New Sorpigal and Ironfist stables) to boost everyone's bow skill to 2, so they'd have a better chance to survive the beginning battles. With a Paladin or Knight leading, the puny little Cleric and Sorcerer(s) are able to down Baa-ites and goblins with one or two shots, even when their might is a weak 5. But with a Druid or Cleric leading, it's a different story. As an experiment, I created a DCSS party, and boosted everyone's might up to 8. As usual, I got bows for everyone, and bow skill 2. And again wasn't able to sit down afterward, for lack of a body part necessary for same. The arrows seemed to bounce off the enemy, without causing any harm. I only managed to survive by gasping out my last points of magic on destructive spells, then running like. . .
well, you know. So two questions: how come this result? And what are the optimum stats for creating a DCSS party (and does order make a difference, as in CDSS?) and with what starting skills?
When I used to play 90% might - 10% magic, the big, dumb Knight was awfully handy for necessary "junk" skills like Perception, Disarm, Identify, Repair, Merchant, and the like. Now it's hard to sacrifice spell point skills for any of these. But then without Disarm and Perception, you miss out on a lot of treasure chests that might yield enough gold to buy another spell or skill. . . .(I surely do miss the old 6-persons-in-the-party games! Didn't some even have 8?)
