For making it easier, I could also use a DOSBox variant with savestates.

Does this work with GOG games? I would install a special DOSBox -X and then the GOG game and the latter uses DOSBox-X? Or is the standard DOSBox already kind of included in GOG games and they don't look for a DOSBox instal?

Actually, to address one more of your original questions, Britannia47, cleric spell combat spell casting times are generally longer than magic-user combat spell casting times. It seems in general what the gold box designers did was take 1st edition tabletop spell casting times and divide them by 3 for the computer games.
You played through the games on champion?! I've been playing gold box for even longer and don't think I would ever have tried that.

Yes, you can use a different version of DOSBox than the standalone version GOG supplies. In fact, this is what I do with all of GOG's DOS games*. However, you need to go into the game app GOG provides and pull out the actual game folder and add that folder to your desired DOSBox. (At least I know it works this way on a Mac).

*I actually use ScummVM instead of DOSBox when it's supported because I prefer it, but it's mostly only for point-and-click adventure style games.
Most certainly. I wanted the max XP, and a bit of extra grinding enemy HP and/or redoing battles was worth it!

DOSBox-X works, so I might give it another try now being able to use save stats.

If I do, I might go with more magic. Maybe human knight, dwarf fighter and then more (Qualinesti) elves due to dual class, higher class max and magic resistance (cannot be resurrected, though, but I anyway tend to reload when losing a character)

One slight thing that is not really (I think) relevant to the Krynn series but is relevant if you play any Forgotten Realms gold box games: the terms "multi-class" and "dual class" in 1st edition D&D refer to different things that work with very different mechanics. (2nd edition, too, so it's also relevant to the Baldur's Gate series and Icewind Dale 1.)

"Multi-class" in these games refers to non-humans who have more than one class at the same time (usually 2 classes but a couple of 3-class combinations are possible in the gold box games) and who advance in all their classes at the same time. Experience is divided evenly among the three classes (even after one class hits the racial level limits) and thus advancement is notably slower than for single class. Hit points are also divided among all classes in multi-class resulting in potentially lower hit points than for single class.

"Dual class" means humans (only) who have stopped advancing in one class and switched to another permanently. The human in question now only advances in their new class in all ways and is allowed to use the abilities of both classes...eventually. Until, the human's level in the new class surpasses the old one, that human may only use the abilities of their new class (although I think some of the gold box games have a bug that allow some old class abilities even when they're not supposed to). Afterward, they may use both classes equally. Well, almost. Most dual-class humans with a magic-user class may not wear armor and cast magic-user spells at the same time. The one exception is a dual classed ranger and magic-user. However, other dual-classed magic-user combos (such as fighter and magic-user or paladin and magic-user) can get around this by using Bracers of Defense and Rings of Protection instead of armor. (Neither of those magic items are considered "armor.") One more thing: dual classing requires very high ability stats in the prime requisites for both the old and new classes. If you are below minimum (which I think is something like 15 for the old class and 17 for the new) you can't dual class with that combo.

On the other thing you mentioned: I know elves in 1st edition cannot be brought back from the dead with the raise dead spell (although temples can do so in the earliest gold box games, perhaps due to a bug), but does the resurrection spell work on them?

So I'm really talking about multiclass.

Could CON 18 make up for potential lower HP for multiclass?

When talking about maximum level and multiclass, then the maximim is for each class, right? So in CoK an elf can be fighter 8 / cleric 8, not just fighter 4 / cleric 4.


Or maybe I join the clerics with rangers. The manual is not clear about the difference of fighters and rangers except the latter get a bonus against giants. But I remember from Baldur's Gate that fighters get more attacks per round as they advance.


What could be done in CoK about poison? The 2nd level cleric spell just holds it for an hour, might not be enough to travel to a temple. I guess real healing is with 4th level spell but they don't get it until char level 7.

That's how it works in every AD&D CRPG that implements the mechanic, to my knowledge.

That is not, however, the actual tabletop rule. In tabletop AD&D, a dual-class character can use the abilities of their old class before surpassing their old level, but will forfeit the XP gained from, I believe, the adventure where that happened.

Non-AD&D CRPGs that implement a similar mechanic (like Wizardry 1-7 (except 4), Bard's Tale 1-3, and Dragon Quest 3) don't have any restriction like this, but typically only some abilities of the old class can be used. Most frequently in these older games, it's magic that you keep (so there isn't much benefit to change from Figher to Mage in Wizardry 1, for example; you keep your HP but not your fighting ability, and HP growth will be slow until your level catches up). Bard's Tale only implements this mechanic for spellcasters, and there there's a rule that you can't return to an old class, one that's not present in the Wizardry series or Dragon Quest 3.

It certainly can't hurt :)!

Correct

Rangers also get access to low-level Magic-User and Druid spells at high levels. Rangers do gain extra attacks at high levels, as do Knights, Fighters and Paladins. Fighters gain extra attacks faster than Ranger (due in part to needing fewer XP to advance), as do Paladins.

Correct. Before you have access to 4th-level cleric spells you will need a clerical scroll with Neutralise Poison (found as treasure, I don't think you can buy them anywhere) or you're screwed.

To take each question separately:

18 Constitution will help a little, but hit points are still divided among all classes after constitution adjustments are added. This will still make it lower than single class usually.. Multiclass can still be worth it to get all the classes you need covered in your party.
-A couple of other points to note: only warrior classes (fighter, paladin, and ranger) receive bonuses to hit points for higher than 16 constitution; everyone else's bonuses stop at 16 constitution. Also, random hit point gain with constitution adjustments at level up stops when a character reaches a predetermined level which varies by class (generally between levels 9 and 11, I believe). After that, the character gains a flat, predetermined 1-3 hit points per additional level (again varying by class) with no constitution adjustments. This flat hit point gain is again divided for multiclass. However, every character always gains at least 1 hit point per level, regardless of anything else. This includes every class level for a multiclassed character.

On maximum levels, a multiclassed character can achieve whatever the level limits are for their class and race. For example, an elven fighter/magic-user could go up to a level 7 fighter and a level 11 magic-user (the latter if they had 18 intelligence, that is). Maximum class levels are not divided by number of classes, although experience points gained are (again, even after reaching the level limit in one of your classes). Of course, keep in mind that a given game such as Champions of Krynn might impose its own level caps (which can vary by class) before the maximum level allowed by the D&D rules is reached.

I'm not totally sure about all the differences between fighters and rangers in the gold box games. There are far fewer differences here than in the tabletop game. You are right rangers do extra damage against giants, which actually can be quite helpful if you have to fight giants. However, as I recall, the main giants in Champions of Krynn are hill giants which can be randomly encountered in difficult overland fights, which I believe you are most likely to get if you venture to the far east near Kernan. Ogres count as giants for this rule as well (I think) and there are a lot of them in this game, but by the time you have to fight them, they are not very tough. (Also, not all ogres in this game are enemies...) In addition, rangers are allowed to cast a few low-level druid and magic-user spells once they reach level 9, but that is likely to be after the CoK level caps and, in any case, I don't believe many players view that as a particularly valuable ranger ability in gold box. Aside from this, I think rangers might get their extra attacks per round at different levels than fighters (and , yes, rangers and paladins get multiple attacks per round eventually, just like fighters), but I'm not sure if that's correct or what the exact difference is. Can someone help me out here? Is there any difference between rangers and fighters that I've overlooked?

Poison is a considerable difficulty in gold box games, based on 1st edition as they are. I would be very careful about using the Slow Poison spell. It lasts, as you noted, only a few hours. What is not obvious is that in gold box, if the Slow Poison wears off, the character will die "for real." What this means is that Neutralize Poison will no longer work and the character must receive Raise Dead with all its attendant limitations (like no elves allowed). Because of this, only cast Slow Poison if you are sure you can cast Neutralize Poison before Slow Poison wears off. Since in the early game, you must go to a temple for Neutralize Poison and pay their fee, it's best to avoid Slow Poison altogether, IMO. (Also, in CoK you generally need to return to an outpost to use a temple. This means crossing the overland, which takes huge amounts of time. Therefore, what I said goes double for any game where crossing overland is required.)

Worth noting that, unless the character has a fighter-type class, 18 CON doesn't provide any more HP than 16 CON.

(Fighter-types are Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, and I believe Knight. (Would also include Barbarian and Gladiator (maybe Monk?), but those classes aren't in this game.)

Rangers get an extra hit dice, but only get d8 rather than d10.

So, at level 1, a fighter has 1d10 HP, while a ranger has 2d8.
At level 2, a fighter has 2d10 HP, while a ranger has 3d8.
And so on.

(Interesting side note: In early Wizardry, Samurai are like AD&D 1e Rangers in terms of HP.)


One other thing worth noting: At single digit levels, XP requirements typically double with each level. Therefore, a multi-class character will typically be only one level behind a single class character.

This changes when you reach double digit levels, as every level requires the same amount of XP. As a result, level differences will grow larger at such levels, until a cap is reached, at which point multi-class characters have a chance to catch up. (Note that this last point is not the case in the Baldur's Gate games where your total XP is capped rather than your level; in those games, multi-class characters never catch up, though given that many things stop improving at high levels and the way the HLA mechanic works, that isn't that bad.)

If the only character with Neutralize Poison dies from poison, could you have your Paladin or Ranger cast Slow Poison on them, then have the Cleric cast Neutralize Poison on themself?

Just looked up some things about the game, and there's some important things to mention:
* Rangers do not get any extra attacks, mainly because they can only reach level 7 and the rules don't give them their first extra half attack until level 8. (Other classes can reach level 8.) (Note that Rangers do get extra attacks later in the series, but are still behind other fighter-types until the third game.)
* Knights get the same extra hit dice at 1st level, only they actually get d10 rather than d8.

Because of this (particularly the first point), I really can't recommend a Ranger for this game.

I just remembered, pretty sure you can also Pool all funds after each battle in order to redistribute.

Probably DOSBox has it's own folder somewhere, and it's looking for the saves in that location. I don't know the location for Windows or for DOSBox-X as I don't use either of those. I'd recommend starting a new game using DOSBox-X just enough so that you can save a character, then search your drive for that character.

Actually, I might want to dispute her recommendation a bit.

You said you were thinking of playing the whole Krynn series. According to Stephen J. Lee, there is less experience available in the Krynn games than in the Forgotten Realms pool series (maybe much less). In light of this, it may be best to plan your party for the whole series ahead of time and then stick with those exact characters for all three games. I don't know how feasible starting a new character is later game is given how extremely difficult the last game is.