Hello - I have played around a bit in MM6 and read through some guides and walkthroughs. I am thinking about starting a custom build, very similar to the default party, as follows:

Paladin:
M23 I5 P12 E15 A16 S10 L5 Total 86
Sword (No Choice about this - It will be dumped for Axe)
Spirit
Chain (Dump this skill for Axe if going to Ironfist on January 1)
Shield
(Plate, Shield, Axe)
(Merchant and maybe Diplomat)

Archer:
M12 I12 P5 E15 A21 S16 L5 Total 86
Bow
Air
Fire
Sword (No shield, so the choices are dual wield Daggers, dual wield Swords, or 2H wield Spear)
(Chain, Dual Wield Sword)
(Repair and Disarm)

Cleric:
M10 I7 P21 E15 A10 S10 L12 Total 85
Mace
Body
Mind
Spirit
(Chain, Shield, Mace)
(Perception)

Sorcerer:
M10 I21 P7 E15 A11 S12 L9 Total 85
Dagger
Fire
Water
Earth
(Leather, Dual Wield Daggers)
(Identify)

One start would be to go to Ironfist and pick up armor skills, armor, and bow, then go to Misty Islands and pick up learning skill, then return to New Sorpigal and clean up now that everybody starts with a bow. The alternative is to stay in New Sorpigal, clear up Goblinwatch, level to 4, clear up the Abandoned Temple, then go to Ironfist and Misty Islands. I think the difference amounts to a few days in the calendar.

The next part of the plan is to complete the Pilgrimage of Might. The attributes are chosen to visit the Fountains of Luck, Speed, Accuracy, Might, Personality, and Intelligence, then visit the Altar of Might before the end of January. Essences will be used after reaching 15 in an Attribute.

One NPC will be a Banker, the other NPC will be a Merchant. Lots of gold is needed. The Merchant may be switched out possibly for an Explorer (Sailor, Guide) if travel times appear to be critical, and more likely for a Gate Keeper to more easily get to Silver Cove and Free Haven.

Testing this out, I have not been able to find the ship going to Silver Cove, or the Coach going to Free Haven, and I have checked the travel schedules.

Any feedback and further advice? Would switching out the Paladin and Archer for a Knight and Druid be a good idea?

Paladin, Archer, Druid, Sorcerer

dump the Cleric for the Druid - this is only good in MM6. Having 3 characters casting elemental magics is fantastic in early mid and late game. you really don't need two characters with light and dark. In MM7 and 8 you will want a Cleric as they nerfed the druid.

definitely would keep the Paladin over the Knight. The Paladin gets all the offense of the Knight, less hp but he becomes your second healer and can also do offensive magic to the stuff that can't be hurt by weapons (where your Knight just stands there). Having the second healer is so nice when you get the dead status which can't be cured by resting but can with magic.
Paladin still worthwhile in MM7 but the Knight got a bit better. In MM8 you have 5 characters so you take a Knight and a Vampire (what they replaced Paladin with).

as for the weapons, you'll want Paladin with a Sword in left hand then a spear in right hand. archer gets sword in left and axe in right. this is important because your weapon skill comes from both skills. ie if you have 10 points in sword and 10 in spear and have both equipped, you get +20 damage/chance to hit from your skill. if you had 2 swords equipped its still only +10.

druid and sorcerer both dual wield daggers. it's getting late - my brain has me thinking druid might be able to go mace in right instead... either way get expert dagger for both druid and sorcerer for some dual wielding.

money is super tight in this game. you will want everyone to get up to master merchant (yes the level ups get THAT expensive). make sure you pump water and air magic on the asap - for travel spells like fly and town portal, and for the best way to make money...
- enchant item. buy armor min value 450, or weapon min value 250, cast enchant item on it, sell it back to the vendor. if your merchant skill is decent you can make a hefty profit. eventually you can buy and sell and cost.

Druids are too powerful in MM6 in my opinion. I agree they were weakened a little too much in MM7--and it's just sad they aren't included in MM8--but with a druid in MM6 you don't really need a cleric or a sorcerer ever expect for light and dark magic. Between the two, light magic is much more useful, and it's especially nice to play the whole game through without ever "being evil", should you try to be good. You have to do evil, and get your reputation to "notorious", to master dark magic, and the offense it has isn't that much greater than the elemental spells.

I really like the way you made your plans and wrote the character info here. I'd say it's best to go to Ironfist right away, then to make your way west in search of Kilburn's Shield and a maiden in distress. Without giving away anything, in Free Haven you can do some nice things even at 1st level, and while you won't be tough enough to fight most things you come across, you can run past them enough to stay alive and really it adds to the realism because most enemies come in big groups, and you should have to run from them.

Once you travel around a lot, you will collect a list of quests, and you'll get a sense of the whole game and its many opportunities. The hirelings you get can make a big difference. A Gate Master lets you teleport between towns, and a Scholar lets you identity everything for free and adds to your experience.

I sat down and figured out how to get the most use of the the Fountains and still make it to Bootleg Bay for the Pilgrimage of Might by the end of January.

Thanks for the feedback. The Paladin got tweaked a little bit, reducing Might to 21 and increasing Speed to 11. I will dump the Cleric for the Druid as advised, but I am not dumping Serena. ;)

Druid
M10 I16 P16 E15 A10 S10 L9 Total 86

It looks like the consequence is losing chain for leather and losing Dark in exchange for another Elemental. The druid can wield a mace.

Paladin - Sword / Spear
Archer - Sword / Axe
Druid - Dagger / Mace
Sorcerer - Dagger / Dagger

Question: Does this mean I have no real need for Shield Skill?

Another Question: How do I get from Misty Islands to Silver Cove without hiring a Gate Master? I have not had much luck finding the boat that goes there. The same holds for finding the stage coach going from Castle Ironfist to Free Haven.

"Another Question: How do I get from Misty Islands to Silver Cove without hiring a Gate Master? I have not had much luck finding the boat that goes there. The same holds for finding the stage coach going from Castle Ironfist to Free Haven.

You can take the boat from Misty Islands to Silver Cove on Monday & Thursday.

In Castle Ironfist, the coach goes to Free Haven on Tuesday and Saturday.

According to the strategy guide, you're not supposed to be able to get to Silver Cove or Free Haven before walking there. However, it's only worked for Free Haven. You still get a twinkle when you walk to Silver Cove, but you can get there by ship or coach once you've reached Free Haven.

With respect to whether you need a shield at all, I think the way to go is to have everyone who can get at least 5 or 6 ranks in shields, and use them whenever you think you could use them. Given that you're playing with three elemental spell-casters, you also don't need to have two weapons in use at once because you'll be casting spells. The druid or the paladin in your group can be designated as the main healer, and these two should both use shields when in tough fights or when facing many attackers of less strength.

There is no answer for which starting group is "best". It's just a matter of what you want.

hello, just thought id share a few ideas for party creation:

KDCS
good newbie party - solid, versatile and interesting. its got a big guy to stagger out of fights, 2 heals, 2 water mages, 2 black mages, 2 white mages. each character plays a different way and it uses all the equipment in the game

SSSD
if you look at the fora, consensus is this is prolly the elite build; they all use daggers, you got 4 'port mages, massive area damage. the only real weakness is theyre a bit skinny - watch them health bars

SSSC
essentially the same deal as SSSD - use whichever one you prefer. gets up a bit faster than SSSD, has 4 armageddons, 4 shrapnels, only 3 fire mages, so less area damage at low/medium levels. cleric's prolly a bit more robust than drood, but they are boring

DSSD
interesting variant on SSSD - two heals is a bit more robust for the newbie player. on t'other hand due to the less damage output, you tend to spend twice as much time healing

PPPS
havent tried this one yet, but it looks good - 3 heals in cracking armour, any weapons you want, mana not bad once you promote them and you do have 3 of the guys. a mage for 'ports and buffs - what more could you want?

KKKK
for the cereal-munching racists among you. just because. havent tried this one yet but theyre big! theyre mean! theyre tough! major downfall is theyre probably only for the patient; you want to heal you visit the bottle shop a lot and pick many many flowers.

may get around to a basic walkthrough in the fullness of time

namaste', geoff

Re: KKKK in MM6

Four knights would be--difficult. In MM7, it was funny. Just wacking everything. (Come to think of it I do munch Cereal. I do have a problem with the Goblin Race. My favorite weapon, the Tire Iron.) But MM6 is so tilted to magic that it would be one long game. The Liches in Freeport would be tough. But how would you finish "That Place."

Freeport? It is nice to meet another possible fan of EverQuest, but there is no Freeport in MM VI. Perhaps you meant Free Haven, but it doesn't have much Liches (not in the dungeons as well).

Liches aren't that dangerous. But anything with Instant Death attack is - Spectres, Supreme Titans, all kinds of Medusas, etc.

LOL. Right on both counts. As for the Free Haven Liches. I usually took them out with Boulders with a bank shot into the room with the coffins. Once the number was reduced and the remaining wounded, finish off with fire or electricity.
I was thinking with 4K's, you would have to get them with corner shots. Liches tend to move to the walls near the Doorways. Using the door jamb as protection, Knights could take them out.
But in the Mire of the Damned, how would you remove the curses, insanity, sleep etc. Plus the need for health potions. Is there enough space for the all the potions you would need. Slow going.
Little Protection from Magic (Almost no Town Portals for the fountain in Blackshire). Wow. As you said, the instant death from various creatures (All those Minotaur Kings in Kriegspire). Slow going for sure. I'm not sure how fun it would be. Minimum, every Knight would need wards against sleep and insanity spells.

LOL. Right on both counts. As for the Free Haven Liches. I usually took them out with Boulders with a bank shot into the room with the coffins. Once the number was reduced and the remaining wounded, finish off with fire or electricity.
I was thinking with 4K's, you would have to get them with corner shots. Liches tend to move to the walls near the Doorways. Using the door jamb as protection, Knights could take them out.
But in the Mire of the Damned, how would you remove the curses, insanity, sleep etc. Plus the need for health potions. Is there enough space for the all the potions you would need. Slow going.
Little Protection from Magic (Almost no Town Portals for the fountain in Blackshire). Wow. As you said, the instant death from various creatures (All those Minotaur Kings in Kriegspire). Slow going for sure. I'm not sure how fun it would be. Minimum, every Knight would need wards against sleep and insanity spells in the Mire.

Sorry for the double post. Not sure how it happened.

Insanity is the one condition that a Knight WANTS to have unless they are actively trying to complete an Intellect/Personality challenge (or the picture change bugs you). Insanity boosts might, endurance and speed, while lowering Intellect and Personality. All bonus, no penalty in terms of stats.

Afraid is another condition you might consider leaving, if your accuracy is still effective afterward (bonus might and speed, reduced accuracy).

A knight will want any other condition cured pronto.

Four twisted Knights. Maybe I will try this Party. LOL.

I thought I'd chime in, even though the OP probably long finished their game xD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ Use a Duper instead of a Merchant. The loss in reputation is not a big deal, and those two points of Merchant skill make a huge difference in the prices of late game areas. Plus, if you have a total of Master 16 in Merchant, you can buy and sell at cost anywhere, so with a Duper hired you only need to get Master 8 Merchant naturally to reach that. Bam! Profit.

When you're ready to get Light Magic mastery, just get to the second-best reputation level available, then dump the Duper. As soon as he's gone, you will shoot up to where you would have been without him - that is to say, he only takes a reputation level for as long as he remains hired. In fact, you could hire a Bard instead of him to shoot up another reputation level if needed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ I agree about adding a Druid, but I think it's better to ditch the Paladin than the Cleric. You will be a bit weaker, but at least all your character will have good damage spells. It's surprising how often I found that my paladin wasn't really doing anything while my other characters were blasting enemies from a distance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ Spear + Sword is the way to go, but it doesn't quite work the way you think. You can't just add the damage from both skills, it only uses it from one regardless. That said, sword skill doesn't add damage anyway - only the weapon itself does. Read this for more detail (especially the section on dual wielding): https://sites.google.com/site/sergroj/mm/mechanics
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ Actually the same trigger is blocking travel to both of them. Once you've gone to Free Haven, you can go to Silver Cove. If for some reason you went to Silver Cove first, then that allows travel to Free Haven as well.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ And once you're done having fun with that party combination, you could try this one:

K---

That is to say, drown your other 3 characters at the start of the game and complete everything with just the one Knight. Savescumming allowed (and very nescesary)! I haven't actually done that myself, but people have done it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------