party question

[PKantos]

hey all I'm new to dragon quest and iv got a couple of questions. I'm trying to get a idea of what kind of party I would like to start with also what personality is suited best.
I'm a big fan of grinding and trying to make the strongest characters possible.

How many times can you change party members vocations?
What is the best personality for party members?

what is the best ideal starting party members and personality?

[Atomic Kid]

you can change infintely once you reach the location you can class change but the main character cannot change class ever (but they are quite good so you dont mind) and you must be a mininum of lv20 to even be able to class change. You cannot change to sage unless you are a gadabout at lv20 or using a words of wisdom (which is consumed). Characters lose stats when they swap classes but keep things like spells.

I find for the main character, vamp or tough cookie is the best. If you are running a glass party team like I was aka Thief, cleric, martial artist, picking tough cookie will greatly increase the bulk of the main character but he will tend to go last with that but at least he can tank for your team better.

Having fast team members helps when you run into annoying enemy formations that will greatly annoy you, for example my thief has been invaluable the moment I handed him the whip that uses the coins (only needs 2) and he continues to get new whips and boomerangs to aoe hit, he is a glass cannon unlike older games so you have to hide him in the back a lot.

I personally think after looking at other posts that monster wrangler is really good in the early game with aoe healing and well a move that allows 2x turns for 3 turns, its so good that im considering swapping to that. I didnt take it as i wanted a fast team to start out to swap to other classes. For example my thief who always goes first pretty much will swap to my sage and be the fastest sage ever, my martial artist who is pretty fast will swap once i get my 2nd book. My cleric might go damage dealer once she gets all the healing i'd need.

It usaully is a better idea to go female on your team mates as vamp is a good personality trait, it boosts everything a little bit, i'd only consider tough cookie on frontline tanks or if you are running glass cannon teammates like I was. Tough cookie on hero or warrior is just so good, they are pretty slow to begin with and giving them so much defense and hp keeps the rest of your team alive. But if you have a more balanced party then making your main character a female with vamp personality is good for a more balanced level up mc.

[Some Rando]

Originally posted by Atomic Kid:

you can change infintely once you reach the location you can class change but the main character cannot change class ever (but they are quite good so you dont mind) and you must be a mininum of lv20 to even be able to class change. You cannot change to sage unless you are a gadabout at lv20 or using a words of wisdom (which is consumed). Characters lose stats when they swap classes but keep things like spells.

I find for the main character, vamp or tough cookie is the best. If you are running a glass party team like I was aka Thief, cleric, martial artist, picking tough cookie will greatly increase the bulk of the main character but he will tend to go last with that but at least he can tank for your team better.

Having fast team members helps when you run into annoying enemy formations that will greatly annoy you, for example my thief has been invaluable the moment I handed him the whip that uses the coins (only needs 2) and he continues to get new whips and boomerangs to aoe hit, he is a glass cannon unlike older games so you have to hide him in the back a lot.

I personally think after looking at other posts that monster wrangler is really good in the early game with aoe healing and well a move that allows 2x turns for 3 turns, its so good that im considering swapping to that. I didnt take it as i wanted a fast team to start out to swap to other classes. For example my thief who always goes first pretty much will swap to my sage and be the fastest sage ever, my martial artist who is pretty fast will swap once i get my 2nd book. My cleric might go damage dealer once she gets all the healing i'd need.

It usaully is a better idea to go female on your team mates as vamp is a good personality trait, it boosts everything a little bit, i'd only consider tough cookie on frontline tanks or if you are running glass cannon teammates like I was. Tough cookie on hero or warrior is just so good, they are pretty slow to begin with and giving them so much defense and hp keeps the rest of your team alive. But if you have a more balanced party then making your main character a female with vamp personality is good for a more balanced level up mc.

Also, females seem to get better equipment options in this game.

Hey, wouldn't vamp be pretty ideal, since it has no reduced stats, and if you plan on changing vocations a lot, it's arguably a decent personality for all for that reason? Though full disclosure, I haven't looked at any other personality. Vamp is also the hardest personality to permanently change to.

And yeah, I love my MW. If nothing else, for the fact that I can collect monsters with it. I didn't think that I'd enjoy that as much as I do, but I do. (I was also under the impression you'd need monsters for field abilities to get loot for some reason ala Paper Mario or something, so I was pleasantly surprised that doesn't seem to be the case from what I've seen.) But also, MW is a decent vocation that I can use for damage or healing, though I only just beat Robbin' 'Ood. I'm still early on.

[PKantos]

Originally posted by Atomic Kid:

you can change infintely once you reach the location you can class change but the main character cannot change class ever (but they are quite good so you dont mind) and you must be a mininum of lv20 to even be able to class change. You cannot change to sage unless you are a gadabout at lv20 or using a words of wisdom (which is consumed). Characters lose stats when they swap classes but keep things like spells.

I find for the main character, vamp or tough cookie is the best. If you are running a glass party team like I was aka Thief, cleric, martial artist, picking tough cookie will greatly increase the bulk of the main character but he will tend to go last with that but at least he can tank for your team better.

Having fast team members helps when you run into annoying enemy formations that will greatly annoy you, for example my thief has been invaluable the moment I handed him the whip that uses the coins (only needs 2) and he continues to get new whips and boomerangs to aoe hit, he is a glass cannon unlike older games so you have to hide him in the back a lot.

I personally think after looking at other posts that monster wrangler is really good in the early game with aoe healing and well a move that allows 2x turns for 3 turns, its so good that im considering swapping to that. I didnt take it as i wanted a fast team to start out to swap to other classes. For example my thief who always goes first pretty much will swap to my sage and be the fastest sage ever, my martial artist who is pretty fast will swap once i get my 2nd book. My cleric might go damage dealer once she gets all the healing i'd need.

It usaully is a better idea to go female on your team mates as vamp is a good personality trait, it boosts everything a little bit, i'd only consider tough cookie on frontline tanks or if you are running glass cannon teammates like I was. Tough cookie on hero or warrior is just so good, they are pretty slow to begin with and giving them so much defense and hp keeps the rest of your team alive. But if you have a more balanced party then making your main character a female with vamp personality is good for a more balanced level up mc.

ty for your insight.

ideally Id like to send up with Thief, Monster wrangler and sage as my complete party members

[alex010300]

Well I got a healer in my party because it’s best to have a class that can heal your party. I have 1 gadabout female because I want a sage class at level 20.

[Atomic Kid]

Originally posted by Some Rando:

Originally posted by Atomic Kid:

you can change infintely once you reach the location you can class change but the main character cannot change class ever (but they are quite good so you dont mind) and you must be a mininum of lv20 to even be able to class change. You cannot change to sage unless you are a gadabout at lv20 or using a words of wisdom (which is consumed). Characters lose stats when they swap classes but keep things like spells.

I find for the main character, vamp or tough cookie is the best. If you are running a glass party team like I was aka Thief, cleric, martial artist, picking tough cookie will greatly increase the bulk of the main character but he will tend to go last with that but at least he can tank for your team better.

Having fast team members helps when you run into annoying enemy formations that will greatly annoy you, for example my thief has been invaluable the moment I handed him the whip that uses the coins (only needs 2) and he continues to get new whips and boomerangs to aoe hit, he is a glass cannon unlike older games so you have to hide him in the back a lot.

I personally think after looking at other posts that monster wrangler is really good in the early game with aoe healing and well a move that allows 2x turns for 3 turns, its so good that im considering swapping to that. I didnt take it as i wanted a fast team to start out to swap to other classes. For example my thief who always goes first pretty much will swap to my sage and be the fastest sage ever, my martial artist who is pretty fast will swap once i get my 2nd book. My cleric might go damage dealer once she gets all the healing i'd need.

It usaully is a better idea to go female on your team mates as vamp is a good personality trait, it boosts everything a little bit, i'd only consider tough cookie on frontline tanks or if you are running glass cannon teammates like I was. Tough cookie on hero or warrior is just so good, they are pretty slow to begin with and giving them so much defense and hp keeps the rest of your team alive. But if you have a more balanced party then making your main character a female with vamp personality is good for a more balanced level up mc.

Also, females seem to get better equipment options in this game.

Hey, wouldn't vamp be pretty ideal, since it has no reduced stats, and if you plan on changing vocations a lot, it's arguably a decent personality for all for that reason? Though full disclosure, I haven't looked at any other personality. Vamp is also the hardest personality to permanently change to.

And yeah, I love my MW. If nothing else, for the fact that I can collect monsters with it. I didn't think that I'd enjoy that as much as I do, but I do. (I was also under the impression you'd need monsters for field abilities to get loot for some reason ala Paper Mario or something, so I was pleasantly surprised that doesn't seem to be the case from what I've seen.) But also, MW is a decent vocation that I can use for damage or healing, though I only just beat Robbin' 'Ood. I'm still early on.

I'd say vamp is the best in the game easily, it is a little bit to every stat with no downsides. Tough cookie more then doubles your hp at lv1 (i had like 52 hp mc at lv1) and sets your defense so high you take 1 damage from everyting for awhile and it stays that way for quite a while. At just the area before the class change, my main character is the only one that is taking single digit damage (Except from magic), he does go super late in the turn order but i luckily enough had my thief stole so many seeds of agility hes now my 2nd slowest.
Theifs are just amazing at seed farming they steal so many of them and basically everything else you can think of and they make an amazing base for class changing as since they grow their agility like crazy, no matter what you promote them to, they will be amazing going super early in the turn order (yes even if you went warrior promtion, that warrior will just be very fast lol) but i tend to make my theif my sage as a fast caster is always good and theif gains good mp and wisdom.

I have been looking into MW as well, if you do not have one the monsters will run from you then join you which makes that part of the game annoying and their moves get better and better the more monsters you befriend. Eventually getting a 2x turn move buff which breaks any class. Their healing is pretty awful due to not scaling with wisdom but at least being ok in the early game. They will be amazing in the mid game when you are recruiting monsters for that arena part of the game. Not having them run from you is nice to have and once you swap off of MW, 2x turn self buff is broken on any other class esp damage dealers.

[Some Rando]

Originally posted by Atomic Kid:

Originally posted by Some Rando:

Also, females seem to get better equipment options in this game.

Hey, wouldn't vamp be pretty ideal, since it has no reduced stats, and if you plan on changing vocations a lot, it's arguably a decent personality for all for that reason? Though full disclosure, I haven't looked at any other personality. Vamp is also the hardest personality to permanently change to.

And yeah, I love my MW. If nothing else, for the fact that I can collect monsters with it. I didn't think that I'd enjoy that as much as I do, but I do. (I was also under the impression you'd need monsters for field abilities to get loot for some reason ala Paper Mario or something, so I was pleasantly surprised that doesn't seem to be the case from what I've seen.) But also, MW is a decent vocation that I can use for damage or healing, though I only just beat Robbin' 'Ood. I'm still early on.

I'd say vamp is the best in the game easily, it is a little bit to every stat with no downsides. Tough cookie more then doubles your hp at lv1 (i had like 52 hp mc at lv1) and sets your defense so high you take 1 damage from everyting for awhile and it stays that way for quite a while. At just the area before the class change, my main character is the only one that is taking single digit damage (Except from magic), he does go super late in the turn order but i luckily enough had my thief stole so many seeds of agility hes now my 2nd slowest.
Theifs are just amazing at seed farming they steal so many of them and basically everything else you can think of and they make an amazing base for class changing as since they grow their agility like crazy, no matter what you promote them to, they will be amazing going super early in the turn order (yes even if you went warrior promtion, that warrior will just be very fast lol) but i tend to make my theif my sage as a fast caster is always good and theif gains good mp and wisdom.

I have been looking into MW as well, if you do not have one the monsters will run from you then join you which makes that part of the game annoying and their moves get better and better the more monsters you befriend. Eventually getting a 2x turn move buff which breaks any class. Their healing is pretty awful due to not scaling with wisdom but at least being ok in the early game. They will be amazing in the mid game when you are recruiting monsters for that arena part of the game. Not having them run from you is nice to have and once you swap off of MW, 2x turn self buff is broken on any other class esp damage dealers.

This is such a good post, I gave it two awards. I bet you can make a mean fighter with that 2 turn buff.

My starting party was the priest, MW and gadabout. Admittedly, I kind of screwed up, because I could've gone something like MW to fighter, gadabout to sage to merchant to thief to warrior (edit, originally fighter, meant warrior.), and finally thief to sage. Hope I didn't forget a vocation. Lol

[PKantos]

So i decided to start with martial artist, mage and priest, mainly because I don't want to play as any of those so I will be changing those classes. all vamp personality. martial artist is a male and the rest including hero are female.

[Atomic Kid]

Originally posted by PKantos:

So i decided to start with martial artist, mage and priest, mainly because I don't want to play as any of those so I will be changing those classes. all vamp personality. martial artist is a male and the rest including hero are female.

Thats a good team, you have to wait a bit to get your martial artists first weapon, then the 2nd one comes even later then that, or if you want to be risky you can take the golden claw after you finished up the pyramid as it makes encounters really high while in that area. Once you reach promotion you can hold off on it and promote him later to a caster class or whatever and they will end up ok. Early game when you cannot equip weapons on them they will seem like dead weight but you'll get a claw sooner or later and their crits are so nice to see and couple of the new moves for marital artist is quite nice.

Mage is going to make the game much harder for sure but at least when you reach class change you can promote it to a sage and have one of the highest wisdom sages of the bunch and probably oomph (double damage buff) which you get at around lv21 (though it can come later since learning spells is random, but you usually get the spell at the level it supposed to be learnt or up to 2 levels later)

and priest is a godsend, good stats, gets mid heal earlier then the hero so you have a good healer soon, and he can backup the mage with woosh line spells. They also get good gearing options but no attack skills (they at least get attack spells though). Later on you can promote him to a faster class like martial artist and have a super fast healer that can beatdown enemies. I tend to make mine tough cookie cause as the healer i dont want him to die lol, and it does pay off if you pick tanky ones but that does cause him to heal later in the turn until you can agility seed him back up. Then later you can use a vamp book or genius book to fix his other stats.

if you dont have a monster wrangler, then you need musks, padfoots, or fading jellies to get the friendly monsters to join you, mw bypasses those req so if you are getting annoyed at them running, you can make a lv1 mw and put him in the party if you find a friendly monster but dont want to use items to get them to join you.

[atmasabr]

You get pretty dramatic results when you give a character a personality that boosts their highest stat, but personalities with balanced high stats are good, too. The basic choice you have to make is whether to focus on your best stat or make sure your most important slowish-growing stat gets some help.

I ran two Mages, one with Clown, one with Genius, to Level 11. Genius had 12 fewer HP and 27 more MP, not a very big difference in anything else. Which do I think is better? I don't know!

When it comes to a party, I think you should have the following:

At least 1 character with good to great Agility (Thief, Martial Artist, Monster Wrangler, Mage).
At least 1 character with good to great Stamina/HP and Attack (Warrior, Merchant, Martial Artist)
At least one caster (Priest, Mage). Nope, you don't need both.

Which combination of these traits you choose will give your party its own unique flavor and strengths. Yours is a very recommended party by veterans in the NES version.

However unbalanced parties work. Hero and Monster Wrangler can substitute for casters. Mages and Priests' supportive spells can substitute for speed, physical attack, and defense. Many fighter-types' special abilities can substitute for the traits they lack. Gadabouts... probably not (though they do seem to be fast this version).