Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Dux]

I'll take that advice to heart when I start the Krynn trilogy.

 

[Ruhfuss]

Interesting that you used characters from GSF, somehow I forgot you could do that...

GSF is IMO the weakest of the fantasy-themed Gold Boxes, but it made my first (seriously!) run through the "real" CotAB easier, since I could keep the items from GSF. I played with a party of 3 Paladins and 3 Rangers, and started dualling around 50% through SotSB.

Did you use any additional software like the Goldbox Companion?

I'm a pure Linux user, so no. While I think GBC is a cool tool, needing to use WINE and the windows version of DosBox is not (that's more like really crazy). It's not so bad, however, because some of the stuff that GBC does can be replicated with a hex editor.

Tools used: Memory, meta-knowledge and the clue books.

There's this endgame fight in Treasures of the Savage Frontier with a lot of enemy fighters, as well as about ten or so spread out high-level clerics who all get to bombard your party with Hold Person before you even get a word in edgewise.

Pre-buff with invisibility to negate the enemies initiative advantage?

I love Pool of Radiance as much as any grognard, but GSF > COTAB > TSF > SSB > POD is probably a better story and more coherent timeline.

Though you can always do POR > GSF if you don't mind being horribly high level for GSF. That packs in as much goldbox as possible.

One can only move PCs between games with a similar enough engine version, or by importing from a direct predecessor. The longest possbile chain to my knowledge is:

PoR -> (Curse) -> GSF -> Curse -> SotSB -> (PoD) -> TSF -> PoD

 

[Incendax]

PoR -> (Curse) -> GSF -> Curse -> SotSB -> (PoD) -> TSF -> PoD

I didn’t have any problem going from Curse > TSF > SOTSB, except for some minor item corruption when an item didn’t exist in an earlier game.

 

[Ruhfuss]

I'm pondering around another party for a Krynn run-through.

I used to think of the Krynn games as being more flexible for party composition, since the non-human level caps aren't so braindead as compared to the FR games. But it's really hard to overcome the lust for MOAR POWAH after completing PoD with 6 (essentially) demi-god-dual-classed-munchkins, 4 of them being active mages... *sigh*

So I want to try playing the Krynn games without memorizing FB or DBF. Evah.

To compensate, I'll allow myself to cheat a bit more than just maxing stats. Envisioned party:

1. F | Human | Knight
   
2. M | M-Dwarf | Fighter
   
3. M | Q-Elf | Fighter/Red Robe
   
4. F | Q-Elf | Fighter/Red Robe
   
5. F | Kender | Kiri-Jolith Cleric/Thief
   
6. ? | S-Elf | White Robe

WTF? Why?

0. I like to have chics around. For purely aesthetic reasons, I assure you. Feminism is a plague, that has spread its poisonous influence throughout the multiverse, and has also infected Krynn. So the warrior-chics'll go to the gym until they achieve gender parity with STR 18(00). That's where a new tinker gomnish invention comes into play, the so-called "hex editor".

1. It's a Krynn game, so there has to be a knight. She'll limp around at level 18 for a long time (reading books about druids in Toril), but that's the price to pay for a multi-class-in-disguise.

2. To compensate for shorty's male deficiencies in height, he'll acompany the chics to the gym to become a small hill giant. +1 testosterone(*). Screw feminism. Also, he'll be a fast levelling meat grinder with a shitload of HP and the best saves around. (*STR 19)

3./4. Stuck at level 14 as fighters in DQK, but only leveling a bit slower compared to a FR magic-user as red robes. Good enough.

5. I ditched her last time after DKK, because she sucked in DQK. And not in a good way. To keep her around this time, I'll upgrade her WIS to 18 and will try to circumvent the level cap with hex-editing. First choice for Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

6. Fast-leveling nuker vs. draconian magic resistance. Unsure about the portrait in DQK, so sex may change depending on mood. I think I'll call it Edwin(a).

After proof-reading, I think I'll realize that I need to get drunk really fast now.

 

[Ruhfuss]

PoR -> (Curse) -> GSF -> Curse -> SotSB -> (PoD) -> TSF -> PoD

I didn’t have any problem going from Curse > TSF > SOTSB, except for some minor item corruption when an item didn’t exist in an earlier game.

Curious. Did you rename files between games? I wouldn't think of character files with differing sizes to be compatible.

 

[Wayward Son]

I got all of these games (as well as FRUA) on GOG on the Christmas sale. What order should I play them in if I want the full experience? It seems PoR doesn’t have all of the classes?

 

[The Avatar]

Man I played the hell out of the goldbox games as a kid. I got them all in a compilation and printed out the manual. I remember the Dragonlance ones being the best, but I got stuck in Dark Queen, I think during a drow battle.

 

[octavius]

I got all of these games (as well as FRUA) on GOG on the Christmas sale. What order should I play them in if I want the full experience? It seems PoR doesn’t have all of the classes?

Start with PoR and make four characters you want to export to later games, and two multi-class Elves.
Multi-classes rule in PoR; at low levels extra Sleep and Cure Light Spells are very handy, and so are Elves' +1 THACO with Long Sword and Longbows, and multi-class mages can even use plater armour and still cast spells. But they soon become obsolete in later games, so replace them with a Paladin and a Ranger in CoAB.

 

[Metro]

I got all of these games (as well as FRUA) on GOG on the Christmas sale. What order should I play them in if I want the full experience? It seems PoR doesn’t have all of the classes?

Forgotten Realms series order is:

Pool of Radiance > (Hillsfar)* > Curse of the Azure Bonds > Secret of the Silver Blades > Pools of Darkness. To make up for the lack of Paladins and Rangers in PoR, just make sure to make human versions of those classes if you want them as in Curse you can change their classes. Only humans can do this, though. Also be aware of level caps for various race/class combos. Some tips: https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Azure_Bonds/Character_creation

* Hillsfar is an action/mini-game sub-part of the Forgotten Realms series and not in a 'gold box.' I believe the ultimate reward for it is a slight boost to that character's total hitpoints (you play as one character from your party and there's slightly different fighter, mage, rogue, and cleric questlines).

The Dragonlance series order is:

Champions of Krynn > Death Knights of Krynn > Dark Queen of Krynn

There's various limitations to class/race/alignment that come into play in the Dragonlance series but I can't remember them. I'd make sure you have a knight, though.

The Sword Coast series (also set in the Forgotten Realms) is:

Gateway to the Savage Frontier > Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Since there were only two of these, you really don't have to worry much about min-maxing class/race combos.

IMO, the Realms series loses it's charm after Curse. Secret of the Silver Blades is kind of a meh storyline and the world is fairly limited in scope. Pools of Darkness, while fun in its own way, suffers from the game having to throw hordes of enemies at your now overpowered party (complete with gimmicks to strip you of your gear at the major plot areas along the way).

I kind of felt the same way about the Dragonlance series after Death Knights of Krynn. Dark Queen seemed like an obligatory sequel for the sake of it.

 

[ProphetSword]

The Sword Coast series (also set in the Forgotten Realms) is:

Gateway to the Savage Frontier > Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Since there were only two of these...

Since most people don't know, the official third game in the series is actually Neverwinter Nights (the online AOL version). Don't recommend playing it, as it's not really the same as the other Gold-Box games (due to the fact it was meant to be played online with other players and misses quite a lot in single player mode), but it is technically part of the series and in particular is considered by the designers to be a sequel to Treasures of the Savage Frontier.

 

[Cael]

I'm pondering around another party for a Krynn run-through.

I used to think of the Krynn games as being more flexible for party composition, since the non-human level caps aren't so braindead as compared to the FR games. But it's really hard to overcome the lust for MOAR POWAH after completing PoD with 6 (essentially) demi-god-dual-classed-munchkins, 4 of them being active mages... *sigh*

So I want to try playing the Krynn games without memorizing FB or DBF. Evah.

To compensate, I'll allow myself to cheat a bit more than just maxing stats. Envisioned party:

1. F | Human | Knight
   
2. M | M-Dwarf | Fighter
   
3. M | Q-Elf | Fighter/Red Robe
   
4. F | Q-Elf | Fighter/Red Robe
   
5. F | Kender | Kiri-Jolith Cleric/Thief
   
6. ? | S-Elf | White Robe

WTF? Why?

0. I like to have chics around. For purely aesthetic reasons, I assure you. Feminism is a plague, that has spread its poisonous influence throughout the multiverse, and has also infected Krynn. So the warrior-chics'll go to the gym until they achieve gender parity with STR 18(00). That's where a new tinker gomnish invention comes into play, the so-called "hex editor".

1. It's a Krynn game, so there has to be a knight. She'll limp around at level 18 for a long time (reading books about druids in Toril), but that's the price to pay for a multi-class-in-disguise.

2. To compensate for shorty's male deficiencies in height, he'll acompany the chics to the gym to become a small hill giant. +1 testosterone(*). Screw feminism. Also, he'll be a fast levelling meat grinder with a shitload of HP and the best saves around. (*STR 19)

3./4. Stuck at level 14 as fighters in DQK, but only leveling a bit slower compared to a FR magic-user as red robes. Good enough.

5. I ditched her last time after DKK, because she sucked in DQK. And not in a good way. To keep her around this time, I'll upgrade her WIS to 18 and will try to circumvent the level cap with hex-editing. First choice for Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

6. Fast-leveling nuker vs. draconian magic resistance. Unsure about the portrait in DQK, so sex may change depending on mood. I think I'll call it Edwin(a).

After proof-reading, I think I'll realize that I need to get drunk really fast now.

??? WTF is this crap?

1. There are level caps in all three games. You WILL hit level caps with single-class characters (except Knight of the Rose) in the first two games less than half-way through the game. There is absolutely no reason not to multiclass. None.

2. Qualinesti triple class F/M/C is good enough for all three games, especially if you play Dave's Challenge in the second one, which will send you to the 14/14/14 level cap easily. It is the only place in all three games where you require a thief, IIRC, so play with a F/M/T in the party.

3. Knight is a good idea, but realise that your chance to control NPCs are tied to your Knight order, not level. Knight of the Crown, you have bupkiss chance of controlling NPCs in combat. Swords have about 50%, Rose is always. Crowns have the lowest XP requirement, but they can't cast spells. Swords have the same casting ability as Rose, but a lower XP requirement.

4. Kenders are absolute crap, and they have a level 10/12 cap as Clerics. That means you are not getting even Heal as a spell, IIRC. In DQK, your level cap is 40. That means you are playing as a substandard Thief for most of the series for very little gain. Remember that Clerics in the Krynn series are pretty much healbots after the first few levels, when their Hold Person becomes obsolete. You are better off getting your Knight to Sword Order and using him as the healbot.

If you want to play a versatile party, I'd recommend the following:
Human Knight (get to Sword ASAP and stay there until level 18, where you have to switch to Rose to level further, IIRC).
4x Qualinesti F/M/C Kiri-Jolith
1x Qualinesti F/M/T Red Robe

Alternatively, if you dislike triple class, then do this:
2 Human Knight
2 Qualinesti Fighter/Mage White Robe Kiri-Jolith
1 Qualinesti Thief/Mage Red Robe
1 spare slot for whatever you like

 

[Null Null]

Dissenting view: single-class mages are HUGELY useful in Dark Queen of Krynn as they rapidly get to levels where draconian magic resistance can simply be ignored.

I made it through all 3 games with:
Human Knight
Kender Cleric Kiri-Jolith/Thief
1 Qualinesti Ranger/Cleric Mishakal
1 Qualinesti Ranger/Cleric Majere
1 Human White Robe
1 Human Red Robe

Not having a neutral cleric meant I didn't have 7th level spells in Death Knights of Krynn but it wasn't the end of the world. And it was worth it tossing the Fireballs and Delayed Blast Fireballs on the draconians and watching them blow each other up.

Lots of different ways to win the game!

 

[Cael]

Dissenting view: single-class mages are HUGELY useful in Dark Queen of Krynn as they rapidly get to levels where draconian magic resistance can simply be ignored.

I made it through all 3 games with:
Human Knight
Kender Cleric Kiri-Jolith/Thief
1 Qualinesti Ranger/Cleric Mishakal
1 Qualinesti Ranger/Cleric Majere
1 Human White Robe
1 Human Red Robe

Not having a neutral cleric meant I didn't have 7th level spells in Death Knights of Krynn but it wasn't the end of the world. And it was worth it tossing the Fireballs and Delayed Blast Fireballs on the draconians and watching them blow each other up.

Lots of different ways to win the game!

Cone of Cold vs Fireshielded enemies. If they fail their save, they are looking at damage in the thousands.

 

[octavius]

4. Kenders are absolute crap, and they have a level 10/12 cap as Clerics. That means you are not getting even Heal as a spell, IIRC. In DQK, your level cap is 40. That means you are playing as a substandard Thief for most of the series for very little gain. Remember that Clerics in the Krynn series are pretty much healbots after the first few levels, when their Hold Person becomes obsolete. You are better off getting your Knight to Sword Order and using him as the healbot.

Kenders are the only ones who can do real damage to Skeletal Warriors, of which there are lots in Death Knight. A Kender Cleric/Thief with a magic Hoopak and buffed with Enlarge (lasts for hours once you Mage gains some levels) can backstab them for signicant damage, while spells are ineffective and warriors with sword do minor damage.
Kenders are also immune to Fear and have the Taunt ability.

You also should have a single class mage since the higher your level the higher the chance of penetrating the magic resistance of the myriad of Enchanted Draconians in Dark Queen.

 

[Cael]

4. Kenders are absolute crap, and they have a level 10/12 cap as Clerics. That means you are not getting even Heal as a spell, IIRC. In DQK, your level cap is 40. That means you are playing as a substandard Thief for most of the series for very little gain. Remember that Clerics in the Krynn series are pretty much healbots after the first few levels, when their Hold Person becomes obsolete. You are better off getting your Knight to Sword Order and using him as the healbot.

Kenders are the only ones who can do real damage to Skeletal Warriors, of which there are lots in Death Knight. A Kender Cleric/Thief with a magic Hoopak and buffed with Enlarge (lasts for hours once you Mage gains some levels) can backstab them for signicant damage, while spells are ineffective and warriors with sword do minor damage.
Kenders are also immune to Fear and have the Taunt ability.

You also should have a single class mage since the higher your level the higher the chance of penetrating the magic resistance of the myriad of Enchanted Daraconians in Dark Queen.

You get multiple +4 Mace, a strength girdle and strength gauntlets in DKK. In DQK, you get a +3/+4 flail before you even get to Taladas. Skeletal Warriors are the least of your worries.

 

[octavius]

Skeletal Warriors were actually some of the most of my worries in DKK.
Unless you meta-game you are not guarenteed to get those nice items before entering the High Clerist Tower.

 

[Cael]

Skeletal Warriors were actually some of the most of my worries in DKK.
Unless you meta-game you are not guarenteed to get those nice items before entering the High Clerist Tower.

You wander around the map. That is the whole point of DKK. The main plot was pretty short. It is the early open world thing that made DKK good. If you want plot only, then play DQK.

 

[Incendax]

Curious. Did you rename files between games? I wouldn't think of character files with differing sizes to be compatible.

Not intentionally. I remember I did do POR > (Curse) > GSF > Curse. But that was serendipity because I went and got the Dust of Disappearance before exporting to GSF. So I probably dodged a bullet there by complete coincidence. Going from GSF back to Curse had some item corruption, but otherwise worked fine. Then after Curse I went straight to TSF without stopping anywhere else and had no issues. Of course, when I went from TSF to SOTSB there was item corruption as well, but otherwise that worked.

But I could never import to Krynn successfully.

 

[Elwro]

Please post more, Ruhfuss

 

[Cael]

Curious. Did you rename files between games? I wouldn't think of character files with differing sizes to be compatible.

Not intentionally. I remember I did do POR > (Curse) > GSF > Curse. But that was serendipity because I went and got the Dust of Disappearance before exporting to GSF. So I probably dodged a bullet there by complete coincidence. Going from GSF back to Curse had some item corruption, but otherwise worked fine. Then after Curse I went straight to TSF without stopping anywhere else and had no issues. Of course, when I went from TSF to SOTSB there was item corruption as well, but otherwise that worked.

But I could never import to Krynn successfully.

Krynn has a different item structure to the rest of the GB games. The races and classes are different also. Some mechanics were added (orders of wizards, deities, moons, etc.).

The Krynn series uses the GB engine, but are fundamentally different games.

 

[Lilura]

Skeletal Warriors were actually some of the most of my worries in DKK.

They were pretty scary in pre-patch BG, too. Not so much because they are backstab immune, but because the archer variant sported 4 ApR.

 

[Ladonna]

I just started replaying Pool of Radiance on C64 emulator. I haven't played this since my C64 was still set up, probably early 90s.

Pool was always my favourite of the bunch, even with the lack of fix command and spell memory loss.

I also like Champions of Krynn, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Death Knights of Krynn, the two Savage Frontier games, and Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday. I did finish the other games, but never again. Secret of the Silver Blades was a drag fest, Dark Queen and Pools of Darkness just kill it for me with the High level monster hordes, and Buck Rogers Matrix Cubed seemed very unfinished.

Back to the Slums now.

 

[Ruhfuss]

I didn’t have any problem going from Curse > TSF > SOTSB, except for some minor item corruption when an item didn’t exist in an earlier game.

Curious. Did you rename files between games? I wouldn't think of character files with differing sizes to be compatible.

Not intentionally. I remember I did do POR > (Curse) > GSF > Curse. But that was serendipity because I went and got the Dust of Disappearance before exporting to GSF. So I probably dodged a bullet there by complete coincidence. Going from GSF back to Curse had some item corruption, but otherwise worked fine. Then after Curse I went straight to TSF without stopping anywhere else and had no issues. Of course, when I went from TSF to SOTSB there was item corruption as well, but otherwise that worked.

I'm far too lazy to look deeper into this, but I just had a quick, superficial look at some saves that I still have around. The PCs are stored in SAV files, which are of static size, but differ in size between CotAB|GSF, Secret and PoD|TSF. The file extensions of the files containing a PCs inventory and its active (spell/-like) effects (EFX for short) completely change between engine iterations.

So I'd find it unlikely that e.g. SotSB would be able to handle PCs coming from TSF (at least without further user intervention, that's why I asked if you had renamed files), since the SotSB engine shouldn't know the file names that the (newer) PoD engine iteration uses for items and EFX. So in this case, PCs might be able to import, perhaps with some corruption (spell books?), but definitely without any inventory.

On the other hand, importing (single) PCs directly from CotAB to TSF should work, if you tell TSF's setup config the path to CotAB saves, instead of GSF saves.

I'm sure the author of GBC could shed some light onto this.

 

[Ruhfuss]

??? WTF is this crap?

I won't have to argue with you much, because I mostly agree with your arguments, but I somewhat debate if you even tried to understand what I've written before you started to answer.

1. There are level caps in all three games. You WILL hit level caps with single-class characters (except Knight of the Rose) in the first two games less than half-way through the game. There is absolutely no reason not to multiclass. None.

How about faster levelling for DQK? While your mileage may vary, that is enough of a reason for my envisioned campaign. I won't add anything more here, because 1 > none, so that's enough.

2. Qualinesti triple class F/M/C is good enough for all three games, especially if you play Dave's Challenge in the second one, which will send you to the 14/14/14 level cap easily. It is the only place in all three games where you require a thief, IIRC, so play with a F/M/T in the party.

DKK is by far the easiest of the Krynn games in my experience, so I don't plan my PCs to peak for that game. Dave's Challenge is more like Dave's Playground, the real challenge is the one in PoD. Triple class PCs will lag too far behind in DQK, where beating magical resistances with higher level PCs really matters.

3. Knight is a good idea, but realise that your chance to control NPCs are tied to your Knight order, not level. Knight of the Crown, you have bupkiss chance of controlling NPCs in combat. Swords have about 50%, Rose is always. Crowns have the lowest XP requirement, but they can't cast spells. Swords have the same casting ability as Rose, but a lower XP requirement.

I had a 100% leadership quote of success with a Knight of the Sword (CHA 18) in every DKK playthrough in the past. I don't expect this to change suddenly. One just needs to keep an eye not to "upgrade" to Rose before the Knight's XP is enough to stay at level 18 as Rose.

4. Kenders are absolute crap, and they have a level 10/12 cap as Clerics. That means you are not getting even Heal as a spell, IIRC.

Oh, look what I said - there's even a link to an older post hidden in there!

5. I ditched her last time after DKK, because she sucked in DQK. And not in a good way. To keep her around this time, I'll upgrade her WIS to 18 and will try to circumvent the level cap with hex-editing. First choice for Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

In DQK, your level cap is 40. That means you are playing as a substandard Thief for most of the series for very little gain. Remember that Clerics in the Krynn series are pretty much healbots after the first few levels, when their Hold Person becomes obsolete. You are better off getting your Knight to Sword Order and using him as the healbot.

See, I powergame, I max stats, but I also like versatility and some balance. That's why I like to think of myself as a "balanced powergamer". (Ambiguity FTW!)

Since Kenders are so integral to Krynn, I simply want one in my party this time around. I already have 3 mages, so WTF if I carry around some (almost) dead weight. I think I'll get her around the level limit, so that's fine. Raising WIS to 18 gets around the spell level limitation, which isn't implemented in DKK, but is in DQK (so you'll get L6 cleric spells with a kender in DKK, but lose access to them when transfering to DQK).

Also, I want to use a fucking Hoopak! Me not care if that sucks!

If you want to play a versatile party, I'd recommend the following:
Human Knight (get to Sword ASAP and stay there until level 18, where you have to switch to Rose to level further, IIRC).
4x Qualinesti F/M/C Kiri-Jolith
1x Qualinesti F/M/T Red Robe

5 triple classes in DQK?

Alternatively, if you dislike triple class, then do this:
2 Human Knight
2 Qualinesti Fighter/Mage White Robe Kiri-Jolith
1 Qualinesti Thief/Mage Red Robe
1 spare slot for whatever you like

While this is better, again, this. And if you'll look closely, your party doesn't differ that much from my WTF-party. My take:

• the dwarven fighter outperforms a knight as a warrior since he levels faster, and has crazy saves on top; one cleric substitute is enough.
• multiclass Red Robes need only 400K per level, compared to 500K for White Robes, so me win.
• I'm pretty fond of the Thief/Red Robe myself, hence I had two in my last party. Already got 2 F/RR, and...
• 1 spare slot = single class White Robe -> "Fast-leveling nuker vs. draconian magic resistance." BOO!
• already got 3 mages? K, let's take some dead weight with us and go for level-uncapped Kender C/Th! Yeah!

Cheers.

 

[Cael]

??? WTF is this crap?

I won't have to argue with you much, because I mostly agree with your arguments, but I somewhat debate if you even tried to understand what I've written before you started to answer.

1. There are level caps in all three games. You WILL hit level caps with single-class characters (except Knight of the Rose) in the first two games less than half-way through the game. There is absolutely no reason not to multiclass. None.

How about faster levelling for DQK? While your mileage may vary, that is enough of a reason for my envisioned campaign. I won't add anything more here, because 1 > none, so that's enough.

2. Qualinesti triple class F/M/C is good enough for all three games, especially if you play Dave's Challenge in the second one, which will send you to the 14/14/14 level cap easily. It is the only place in all three games where you require a thief, IIRC, so play with a F/M/T in the party.

DKK is by far the easiest of the Krynn games in my experience, so I don't plan my PCs to peak for that game. Dave's Challenge is more like Dave's Playground, the real challenge is the one in PoD. Triple class PCs will lag too far behind in DQK, where beating magical resistances with higher level PCs really matters.

3. Knight is a good idea, but realise that your chance to control NPCs are tied to your Knight order, not level. Knight of the Crown, you have bupkiss chance of controlling NPCs in combat. Swords have about 50%, Rose is always. Crowns have the lowest XP requirement, but they can't cast spells. Swords have the same casting ability as Rose, but a lower XP requirement.

I had a 100% leadership quote of success with a Knight of the Sword (CHA 18) in every DKK playthrough in the past. I don't expect this to change suddenly. One just needs to keep an eye not to "upgrade" to Rose before the Knight's XP is enough to stay at level 18 as Rose.

4. Kenders are absolute crap, and they have a level 10/12 cap as Clerics. That means you are not getting even Heal as a spell, IIRC.

Oh, look what I said - there's even a link to an older post hidden in there!

5. I ditched her last time after DKK, because she sucked in DQK. And not in a good way. To keep her around this time, I'll upgrade her WIS to 18 and will try to circumvent the level cap with hex-editing. First choice for Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

In DQK, your level cap is 40. That means you are playing as a substandard Thief for most of the series for very little gain. Remember that Clerics in the Krynn series are pretty much healbots after the first few levels, when their Hold Person becomes obsolete. You are better off getting your Knight to Sword Order and using him as the healbot.

See, I powergame, I max stats, but I also like versatility and some balance. That's why I like to think of myself as a "balanced powergamer". (Ambiguity FTW!)

Since Kenders are so integral to Krynn, I simply want one in my party this time around. I already have 3 mages, so WTF if I carry around some (almost) dead weight. I think I'll get her around the level limit, so that's fine. Raising WIS to 18 gets around the spell level limitation, which isn't implemented in DKK, but is in DQK (so you'll get L6 cleric spells with a kender in DKK, but lose access to them when transfering to DQK).

Also, I want to use a fucking Hoopak! Me not care if that sucks!

If you want to play a versatile party, I'd recommend the following:
Human Knight (get to Sword ASAP and stay there until level 18, where you have to switch to Rose to level further, IIRC).
4x Qualinesti F/M/C Kiri-Jolith
1x Qualinesti F/M/T Red Robe

5 triple classes in DQK?

Alternatively, if you dislike triple class, then do this:
2 Human Knight
2 Qualinesti Fighter/Mage White Robe Kiri-Jolith
1 Qualinesti Thief/Mage Red Robe
1 spare slot for whatever you like

While this is better, again, this. And if you'll look closely, your party doesn't differ that much from my WTF-party. My take:

• the dwarven fighter outperforms a knight as a warrior since he levels faster, and has crazy saves on top; one cleric substitue is enough.
• multiclass Red Robes need only 400K per level, compared to 500K for White Robes, so me win.
  
• I'm pretty fond of the Thief/Red Robe myself, hence I had two in my last party. Already got 2 F/RR, and...
• 1 spare slot = single class White Robe -> "Fast-leveling nuker vs. draconian magic resistance." BOO!
• already got 3 mages? K, let's take some dead weight with us and go for level-uncapped Kender C/Th! Yeah!

Cheers.

When you start with 14/14/14 across the board in DQK, it doesn't matter if you are triple class. Especially if you are good enough to be ready to level all 3 when DQK starts. But whatever you want. The game isn't hard enough to actually need that kind of setup. It is merely the powergaming and versatility of the thing where one guy can pick up what needs to be done if he happens to go first rather than wait for the next guy, especially when the enemy is slinging multiple DBF in your direction as their preferred opening gambit.

As for cheated stats to be higher than racial maximums, well, you can play all single class and it won't matter. Might as well make them all Kenders and just cheat in mage levels while you are at it.