Dragon Warrior III/Parties


 * See the classes page for information on each class.

You start out with only the Hero, but you will almost immediately gain three more members, who can be from among six different classes. That leaves a lot of possibilities, however the vast majority of those combinations will leave your party horribly unbalanced. Unless you using a special team for a challenge (no magic, magic users only, low level, etc) then there are really only a few combinations that you want to use. You need a proper balance of physical attacking, offensive magic, and healing. While the Hero does have all three abilities, one character alone will not be enough to cover everything.

Your party should consist of:
 * 1) The Hero
 * 2) An Attacker (Soldier or Fighter)
 * 3) A Pilgrim

The fourth slot can be taken up by a Wizard, however if you want extra healing use a second Pilgrim, or add a second attacker for extra power. Without a Wizard you'll have better defense, however you won't have the Increase spell or be able to hit groups of enemies (unless you use magic-casting equipment). Plan on having at least one character become a Sage, especially if this is your first time playing or if you decide not to bring along a Wizard. Just be aware that a Sage will only have about the same MP as a Pilgrim or a Wizard, so one Sage cannot replace both.

Hero, Soldier, Pilgrim, Wizard



 * Combat - 7/10
 * Offensive Magic - 7/10
 * Healing - 7/10
 * Speed - 6/10
 * Defense - 8/10
 * Overall - 8/10


 * Pros - High defense, good attack, access to all possible spells, moderate cost to equip
 * Cons - The Wizard's very low defense, speed of the Soldier

This is the classic party, and the one recommended by the game designers. Very versatile, but you may find your self having to level grind a lot to get the Wizard into something resembling fighting shape. The party can be fairly expensive to equip early on, but late in the game it evens out since the Wizard won't been able to use any of the more expensive equipment.

Hero, Fighter, Pilgrim, Wizard



 * Combat - 7/10
 * Offensive Magic - 7/10
 * Healing - 7/10
 * Speed - 9/10
 * Defense - 6/10
 * Overall - 7/10


 * Pros - Very fast, low cost to equip, very powerful
 * Cons - Both the Wizard and Fighter's defenses may cause problems

Basically the same thing as the first setup, however you're trading a bit of defense for a lot of speed. The speed of the Fighter will allow you to get the first hit in more often and run away from more battles. However, the Fighter will take more damage than a Soldier, so both the Wizard and Fighter need immediate healing it means pulling the Hero off of combat to heal. It also means putting the Hero at the very front to absorb most of the damage and the Hero simply isn't as good of a meatshield as a Soldier.

Hero, Soldier, Soldier, Pilgrim



 * Combat - 10/10
 * Offensive Magic - 4/10
 * Healing - 7/10
 * Speed - 5/10
 * Defense - 9/10
 * Overall - 8/10


 * Pros - Very high defense and offense
 * Cons - Speed and cost of equipment

This is an incredibly powerful party, however it is also incredibly slow. While you can absorb a lot more damage, you're going to need to since the enemies will often all get to attack before your team. This is also one of the most expensive parties to keep up to date, but having one Soldier using second-tier equipment won't be too much of an issue. If you go with this party, late in the game you might want to turn one of the Soldiers into a Pilgrim and then back to a Soldier so you can distribute the healing a bit more.

Hero, Fighter, Fighter, Pilgrim



 * Combat - 10/10
 * Offensive Magic - 4/10
 * Healing - 7/10
 * Speed - 10/10
 * Defense - 5/10
 * Overall - 7/10


 * Pros - Very high offense and speed, low cost to equip
 * Cons - Defense

As with any party lacking a Soldier, it leaves the Hero on the front to absorb most of the damage. You'll also have a problem healing after enemies use magic and abilities that hit all four members of your party at once. On the other hand, this is a ridiculously fast team so you may be able to defeat most non-boss enemies before they can deal too much damage. It is also one of the cheapest teams to equip since none of the Fighters' equipment costs more than a few grand.

Hero, Soldier, Fighter, Pilgrim



 * Combat - 10/10
 * Offensive Magic - 4/10
 * Healing - 7/10
 * Speed - 7/10
 * Defense - 8/10
 * Overall - 9/10


 * Pros - Speed, defense, offense, pretty much everything
 * Cons - Just a lack of attack magic

This team is pretty much the best of the two previous ones. You have two heavies (Soldier and Hero), two fast attackers (Hero and Fighter), and two healers (Hero and Pilgrim). With any given stat, even the character with the lowest isn't that low.

Hero, Soldier, Pilgrim, Pilgrim



 * Combat - 8/10
 * Offensive Magic - 4/10
 * Healing - 10/10
 * Speed - 7/10
 * Defense - 8/10
 * Overall - 9/10


 * Pros - Healing, fairly good defense and offense
 * Cons - Not much

Healing will certainly be a non issue as the only character that can't heal themselves can usually wait a round to be healed by another. While not as strong as parties with two attackers, it is much stronger than parties with a Wizard, especially once you get the ship.

Hero, Fighter, Pilgrim, Pilgrim



 * Combat - 8/10
 * Offensive Magic - 4/10
 * Healing - 10/10
 * Speed - 8/10
 * Defense - 7/10
 * Overall - 8/10


 * Pros - Healing, fairly good defense and offense
 * Cons - Not much

Again, not much different than the previous party; you just have more speed and less defense. However, with three healers available, even the Fighter can afford to take a lot of damage.

Class Changes
Ideally, you would end up with two Sages and a Fighter-turned-Pilgrim-turned-Wizard-turned-Soldier. This is, however, incredibly time consuming and often not worth the effort.

Sage


Regardless of which setup you use, you're probably going to be better off turning your weakest character into a Sage. Wizards will not only be able to heal but gain considerable strength a defense, attackers will lose a bit of offense but gain magic, and Pilgrims will basically remain the same but have offensive magic. The only thing is that you're going to need to level your Sage back up before you can continue on with your adventure. If you wait until you reach the Necrogond, it won't take very long to level up.

Two Sages


As the saying goes, why get one when you can have two for just twice the price? In order to have two Sages, you'll have to ditch one member and replace them with a Goof-Off. Get the Goof-Off up to level 20 and then have two characters become Sages at the same time. Chances are you'll end up converting your Pilgrim(s) to a Sage, so you'll be lacking in healing for a while. If you do this right when you reach Dhama, then you'll have to spend a lot of time level grinding. If you wait until you reach the Necrogond, it'll probably take under an hour to get your levels back up to what they need to be.

Overkill


This strategy involves moving your attacker back and forth between a Fighter and a Soldier a couple of times so you end up with a Solider that is as fast as a Hero. You'll also want to create two Sages, but that's just a matter of converting your other two allies into Sages whenever you feel like it and then just leaving them as Sages. For your attacker, have them swap classes when you reach Dhama (level 20), then again when you reach the Necrogond (level 25 or so). Once you finish most of the game and just have the final castle, have them swap again and then back again (you'll need to do a lot of leveling at this point anyway, so it doesn't take too much time). If you have the patience, have the attacker turn into a Pilgrim for a while (probably until you learn the Healus spell). So, if you started with a Soldier it would go Soldier->Fighter->Soldier->Pilgrim->Fighter->Soldier. In addition to the speed and power, this results in all four characters knowing all four of the healing spells.