Jonesy89: How feasible would it be for me to ditch all my companions? I am already a level 8 Avatar with Int maxed out and with Strength and Dexterity at 28/29, and am armed with a morningstar and a magic axe, so if spellcasting becomes impractical, I can always execute a long range attack while defending myself. I ordinarily would love to keep my companions, but they are all at far lower levels than I am, and leveling seems to be taking forever, even with dungeon raids and troll grinding; the wizard in particular is having a hard time of it, since he only gains experience from killing without magic, which is easier said then done for him.

Jonesy89: In that case, what kind of party setup would you recommend? I currently have 2 bards, 1 wizard, and the rest are fighters.

ncarty97: It's been so long that I probably can't give a good recommendation, but I'd say that a thief might be a good addition, unless one of your other characters is good enough at picking locks and disarming traps on loot.

Jonesy89: Thief? I thought there were only the three core classes in Ultima 5?

Strydent: When I played U5 back when it first came out, I ditched my party members, killed town guards till I was lvl 99, then zipped around on my flying carpet and climbed over mountains in the underworld with my grappling hook.

mondain98: I beat U5 many times when it came out back in 1988, and I always ditched my companions as soon as I was able. The game moves much faster when it's just you.

Armed with magic axe and lots of invisibility rings, you don't need companions. 95% of the enemies in any situation will die after one hit (with invis ring on), so 1 person can clear any dungeon room very quickly. If it weren't for that fact, a one-person party wouldn't work.

Ditching the team also saves on food (less to feed every day), reagents (less casting for cure poison, etc).