Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (NES)/Companions

The main character is known as the "Stranger from Another World", or simply the Stranger.

The attributes

Main attributes:

• Dexterity is probably the most important attribute: it rules the probability of hitting enemies, the probability of avoiding traps and perhaps the probability of dodging enemy attacks.
• Strength comes second: if the enemy is hit (and that depends on Dexterity), Strength determines the amount of damage dealt.
• Intelligence rules the amount of MP that a character has, but the magic abilites in this video game are actually ruled by the amount of gold the player can spend on magic reagents. Therefore, Intelligence is probably the less important of the three attributes.

Other attibutes:

• Health points (HP): The amount of hits the character can sustain before dying. Health can be replenished using healing spells or resting. They depend directly on the level, i.e. Max HP = 100x Lv. Every character starts at level 2 or 3.
• Magic points (MP): Every spell cast consumes some MP, that are replenished by walking. The maximum MP depend on Intelligence and profession, as per the table in the next section.
• Experience: It is gained by defeating enemies, it is halved whenever all your party is wiped out. At set amounts, the character gains a level, as per the table below.
• Level: It rules the maximum health points as well as the number of companions in your party. Whenever a character advances in level, his/her attributes are increased too, according to his/her class.

Anyway, the Stranger always starts the game at level 2 or 3, depending on the class.

Experience	Level	Health Pts.	Party members
0	1	100	1 (Stranger alone)
100	2	200	2
200	3	300	3
400	4	400	4
800	5	500	5
1600	6	600	6
3200	7	700	7
6400	8	800	8 (all)

Creating the Stranger from Another World

At the beginning of the game, you'll have to answer seven questions to create the Stranger. Every question implies a choice between two virtues. Whenever you choose a virtue, the other one is "discarded", i.e. it will not appear in subsequent questions.

The seventh (and last) question determines the class of the character.

Virtue	Profession (7th question)	MP
1 - Honesty	Mage (Mariah)	2 × Int
2 - Compassion	Bard (Iolo)	1 × Int
3 - Valor	Fighter (Geoffrey)	0
4 - Justice	Druid (Jaana)	1.5 × Int
5 - Sacrifice	Tinker (Julia)	0.5 × Int
6 - Honor	Paladin (Dupre)	1 × Int
7 - Spirituality	Ranger (Shamino)	1 × Int
8 - Humility	Shepherd (Katrina)	0

In the dungeons that correspond to each virtue there are Magic Orbs that when touched increase your attributes which are related to the virtue. (i.e. Covetous = Anti-Sacrifice = +5 to STR, DEX). They do 200/400/800 points of damage depending on how many attributes it increases 1/2/3. The spheres respawn each time you re-enter the dungeon. Thus, any character you choose can get each attribute to maximum.

Companions

In the course of the game, the Stranger will have to recruit the characters who embody every one of the eight virtues, but he cannot recruit the character with his same profession.

• Legend:
  • A/ST: sprite for the Amiga and Atari ST ports
  • SMS: sprite for the Sega Master System port
  • NES: sprite for the Nintendo Entertainment System port

A/ST	SMS	NES	Companion	Virtue	Main attr.	MP	Notes
			Mariah the Mage	Honesty	Intelligence	2 ×Int	She has the highest Intelligence and magic powers, but her choice of weapons is limited.
			Iolo the Bard	Compassion	Dexterity	1 ×Int	He has great dexterity, and starts with a ranged weapon.
			Geoffrey the Fighter	Valor	Strength	0	His great strength is pointless because of his limited dexterity and limited choice of ranged weapons; he can use no magic at all.
			Jaana the Druid	Justice	Int + Dex	1.5 ×Int	She has good magic powers, dexterity and ranged weapons, but limited strength.
			Julia the Tinker	Sacrifice	Dex + Str	0.5 ×Int	She has great dexterity and strength, but limited magic powers.
			Dupre the Paladin	Honor	Int + Str	1 ×Int	His great strength and weaponskill are pointless because of his minimal dexterity.
			Shamino the Ranger	Spirituality	All	1 ×Int	A well-balanced character, he has a bit of everything, but does not excel in anything.
			Katrina the Shepherd	Humility	(none)	0	She has the lowest attributes, no magic power and a limited selection of equipment; her Dexterity growth is the best in the game, though. In the NES port she can use two unique items.

For a quick reference, the eight professions can be summarized in the diagram below.

The only differences between original and NES port are: (1) in the NES port Julia the Tinker is replaced by Julius, although their attributes are the same; (2) in the NES (and SMS) port the abbreviations of Dexterity and Intelligence are swapped.

• Top: Characters with limited magic powers;
• Bottom: Characters with great magic powers;
• Left: Characters with great strength;
• Right: Characters with great dexterity.

Suggested teams

In the NES version, you can only have a maximum of four characters in your party at the same time, while the others are left at the Hostel in Lord British's Castle. A team smaller than four offers some advantages:

1. Faster battles, because the number of enemies depends on the number of Companions;
2. Faster gold earning, because the gold earned does not depend on the number of enemies or Companions;
3. Same experience growth, for the same reasons.

An optimal party consists of two characters alone, especially if they are opposed in the character class triangle, for example:

• Mage and Tinker
• Fighter and Druid
• Bard and Ranger
• Shepherd and Paladin