One of the first and biggest decisions you need to make is party size. The original BT1 only allowed 6 characters plus 1 "special" slot for summoned/joined monsters. BT2, BT3, and the new Trilogy all allow 7 characters.

So... 6, or 7?

That depends on whether you're playing one of the games, or doing a run through the entire trilogy, and how you feel about benching one of the characters for a period of time.

In the first game of the trilogy, there is absolutely nothing that prevents you from running 7 characters - there are no places where you need to have an NPC in your party. On the other hand, it is probably the most useful game to have an NPC. Compared to the later games, your characters are just starting out, and having a powerful monster in the party can often give you an edge. I'm thinking here particularly of the Wind Dragon summon, whose breath can reliably slay whole groups of enemies well into the end of Mangar's Tower.

It's more complicated in Bard's Tale 2. There are several puzzles in the game which require the presence of an NPC to complete, and in fact, one Snare of Death which needs 3 NPCs to complete! By this game, your party members have largely come into their own, and the added muscle of an NPC is less helpful. Wind Mage is a great early summons - it sometimes casts Mangar's Mallet, which is fantastic at taking out enemies through most of the game, and getting an 80-point spell cast once every combat or so for the price of one summons is a fantastic deal. By the end of the game, summoning a Kringle Bro becomes a better choice - it has a breath weapon that does the same damage, albeit to only one group, but has some decent HP, can critically hit in melee, and can't be instakilled by the enemy casting Disrupt Illusion or something similar.

The third game presents perhaps the strongest argument for a 7 character party. To the best of my recollection, there are no circumstances that require an NPC slot. Hawkslayer can join you in several locations, but frankly, he's not that great compared to a well-equipped party member. There are also many, many, MANY locations which cause your NPC to initiate intra-party combat. If you can find a Kato's Bracer (I never found one) that's not such a big deal, otherwise get used to casting Camaraderie a lot - or simply skip on having a monster NPC.

So what do I suggest? After completing a trilogy run through with a 6 member party, I am starting to wonder if the optimal approach might be to run with 6 characters through the first and second games, and add a 7th character at the start of the third. The third’s starter dungeon gives you a chance to get that character leveled up to a useful level before your adventure proceeds very far.

In light of the above, what's the ideal party composition?

Before we can answer that question, we again have to think a bit about how the three games differ, and specifically, how you kill things.

In BT1, even end-game enemies seem to rarely have more than 200-300 hit points. Most lower level damage spells do passably well for when you get them, and even at the end, a couple of high-level casters spamming Mind Blade every round can reduce even the toughest hordes of foes quickly. Your hunter can critically hit fairly reliably by the end of the game, and your Pal/War/Monk types all reliably do a few hundred points of damage, which is usually enough to one-hit kill anything they’re fighting.

This dynamic changes along the course of BT2. By the end of 2, there are foes in the Destiny Stone which have 2000 or 3000 hit points. At this point, spells, even Mangar’s Mallet, become less directly effective. The balance of power shifts towards needing to be able to perform one-hit kills against especially deadly foes, and here abilities like critical hits and stoning really begin to excel.

This gets magnified in BT3, with endgame enemies there having over 16000 hit points – even NUKE, which does around 2000 hit points of damage, become fine for crowd control but largely a waste of time against especially tough foes.

So, the humble hunter, with his less-than-ideal armor selection, becomes the king of fighting classes. Sure, Paladins and Warriors can wield stoneblades, Rogues get Death Daggers, and a Bard can use the Spectre Snare, if you picked that up at the end of BT1 before importing your characters to the 2nd game. Where the hunter really shines, however, is that the critical hit ability is innate to his attacks, which means that the hunter can throw something like the Sword of Zar or Aram’s Knife to 80 or 90 feet and critically hit foes, every round, while other classes using items that provide instant-kills can only do so in melee.

So with that out of the way, here’s the party I completed my play-through with:

• 1 Paladin, turned into a geomancer in BT3
  
• 1 Hunter
  
• 1 Rogue
  
• 1 Bard
  
• 1 Con/Sorc/Wiz/Mag in 1, turned into an archmage in 2
  
• 1 Mag/Sorc/Wiz/Con in 1, turned into an archmage in 2, and chronomancer in 3.

I went with the progression for the mages I did because getting a sorcerer online quickly is extremely helpful in BT1, and to a lesser extent, wizard. I go with Paladin over Warrior mostly because the Paladins get better saving throws. I’d actually never used a Rogue before. They’ve made them more helpful in the new trilogy than they were in the original games, but they still feel like dead weight. The only reason I included it was because I intended to do a trilogy run-through and knew I’d need a Rogue for the 3rd game.

What might my party look like in my next play through?

• 1 Paladin
  
• 1 Hunter
  
• 1 Monk, turned to geomancer
  
• 1 Bard
  
• 1 Con/Sorc/Mag/Wiz
  
• 1 Mag/Sorc/Con/Wiz
  
• and at the start of Bards Tale 3, add a Rogue as a 7th party member.

I’d go with this configuration because Wizards are less useful than I remember them, and you spend a lot of time gaining XP after you’ve gained your spells. So as a result, you spend a lot of time gaining levels in your last class before becoming an archmage in BT2, and if I recall correctly, wizards get better hit points at level up.

An interesting variation on the above might be to drop the Paladin or Monk for another magic user. More spellcasting ability is rarely a bad thing to have, and beyond direct damage spells, spells that heal, improve AC, provide magic resistance, or improved to-hit can still be quite beneficial even when foes become very tough and/or magic resistant.

One bit of conventional wisdom I'd like to push back on is hobbits being more useful than other guides have suggested they are. Hobbits are the only race that can start with an 18 dex. Particularly in BT1, this can be huge. Rogues obviously benefit from being able to hide in shadows before the enemies get a turn, but I'd also like to sing the praises of high dex hobbit bards. When equipped with a fire horn or similar instrument, that 18 dex hobbit bard can lay waste to groups of enemies before they even get their turns. Using this approach to fight some of the fixed, reoccurring groups of a single type of monster in the Catacombs is a fantastic way to quickly level your party if you’re just starting out, and never stops being helpful. Going first, when combined with thoughtful target choice, can absolutely make even tough fights much easier and safer for your party.