Party

A party is a team comprised of one to six Characters.

There are many ways to build a party, some good, others that pay off eventually, and some that are aboslutely horrible. The headings below provide some guidelines for party building.

The Starter
This is the party that comes pre-loaded and equipped when you boot any Wizardry game. As you would expect from a pre-fab team, it works. The Fighters soak damage, the Cleric tanks a bit and heals, a Thief is a necessity unless you never want to improve your gear, the Mage gives enemies standard status ailments or spreads damage across multiple monsters, and the Wizard/Bishop learns some Mage and Cleric spells and identifies items you find in the Maze.
 * 1) Fighter
 * 2) Fighter
 * 3) Cleric
 * 4) Thief
 * 5) Mage
 * 6) Wizard/Bishop

The Safe Team
This is the team for people who find their Cleric getting thrashed for being in the front lines. An extra Fighter offers a united front of low ACs due to Plate Mail, and the Wizard/Bishop isn't missed much. In fact, you can leave him in town and have him identify anything you bring back, as long as you don't mind spending some time doing it, because at Level 1 he won't be too good at it.
 * 1) Fighter
 * 2) Fighter
 * 3) Fighter
 * 4) Cleric
 * 5) Thief
 * 6) Mage

The Plan
This team is FRAGILE. However, once they get to level 13, you can swap the Mages into Clerics and the Clerics into Mages and have a team full of characters that know both Cleric and Mage spells. In fact, if a Level 13 Mage class changes into a Level 1 Cleric, you have a Level 1 Cleric that can cast up to 4 Tiltowaits--and you have THREE of them! Once the characters reach Level 13 in their second class, it's time to start making them into Lords and Samurai, and you'll have an easy time of it seeing as how from the first time your Clerics hit Level 13 you have a chance at every level between 1 and 13 the second time to learn Ihalon!
 * 1) Cleric
 * 2) Cleric
 * 3) Thief
 * 4) Mage
 * 5) Mage
 * 6) Mage

The Final
This is the party to aim for. This is your endgame party. The Lords will strike down everything in their path and eventually gain 9 spell slots in all Cleric spells. The Samurai are there for their 9 Titltowaits, and the last slot is a toss-up. On second thought, it's not. Thieves can open locked doors (and I feel they're better at disarming traps), but your Samurai can just cast Destro and open any door you need. I guess a Ninja is really the only choice--plus he doesn't need any equipment, so he's the man to hold all your quest items.
 * 1) Lord
 * 2) Lord
 * 3) Lord
 * 4) Samurai
 * 5) Samurai
 * 6) Ninja/Thief