To tell a bit about myself, I am a Computer Science (Software Engineering) Major and have enjoyed Role-Playing Games my entire life.

I made this document because there wasn't any good ones about character creation on MM8.  I think everyone has abandoned the fact that since you can eventually be any class, that it doesn't matter what your party consists of.  Well, if you pick your characters early, they will be powerful at the end of the game.  Note, I feel this document fully describes the characters in MM8 and will help anyone from beginners to masters.

In this installment, you can pick only one character and you have to recruit the remaining 4 as you adventure.  I would recommend picking the Dark Elf since its incredibly busted, its not available that early in the game, and with all its merchant abilities, you can already start to make and save cash.

As far as the skill architecture goes, its the same as in MM7 with the added racial abilities and regeneration.

So which characters can we choose during our quest?

As my last report on MM7, the characters cannot be sectioned off into Cleric, Knight, and Sorcerer so easily.  With the addition of 6 classes, leaving only the Knight and Cleric from MM7, the game analysis is much different. In order to calculate balance, we need 3 identifiers: ARMS , MAGIC, SKILL . 

ARMS is a measure of the character's physical power and weapon/armor/battle abilities. 

MAGIC is a measure of character's spells/magic/racial abilities. 

SKILL is a measure of a character's useful misc. abilities. 

 These identifiers will only consist of Master and Grandmaster since these skills are the only skills we are concerned about. A skill at expert level is rather useless as the game progresses.

- Has the highest spell points available
- Has lowest hit points available (endurance is crucial)
- An amazing spell caster but a poor fighter

Master: Identify Item, Identify Monster, Staff
GrandMaster: Learning, Meditation, Alchemy, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Dark

ARMS  : Staff ........................................................... 1
MAGIC : Meditation, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Dark ....................... 6
SKILL : Learning, Identify Item, Alchemy................................. 3

Commentary:
The Necromancer is a damage pumping machine because the necromancer has the best access to damage spells in the entire game.  Because the Necromancer is so powerful, he is the worst fighter in the game to balance his skills. Along with his magic, he has beefy spell points (especially with meditation) and can learn his skills fast with Grand Master Learning. Also the amazingly useful Alchemy skill from the Druid was awarded to the Necromancer making this class that much more amazing. Multiple Necromancers is very cool since you'll want to get Water and Wind quickly with one while you get the powerful Fire and Dark Magic.  Identify Item is not that crucial since you should have a dragon with Grand Master skill (which can be upgraded since no weapon skills)

- Has the second highest spell points available
- Highest hit points for dedicated spell casting class
- Is an able fighter as well as excellent spell caster

Master: Merchant, Meditation, Mace, Shield
GrandMaster: Spirit, Body, Mind, Light

ARMS  : Mace, Shield .................................................... 2
MAGIC : Meditation, Spirit, Body, Mind, Light ........................... 5
SKILL : Merchant ........................................................ 1

Commentary:
The Cleric is an excellent source for healing and utility spells and is a pretty good fighter for being a spell caster (much better than the Necromancer). The Cleric is not nearly as powerful as it was in MM7. Its Repair Item went down to Expert, lost Grand Master Mace and is no longer the leading class in spell points.  Its still the best choice though as the vampire is useless in my opinion.

- Has third highest hit points
- Deals second highest damage in melee attacks
- an excellent fighter

Master: Axe, Mace, Chain, Body Building
GrandMaster: Sword, Spear, Plate, Shield, Repair Item, Armsmaster

ARMS  : Sword, Plate, Shield, Armsmaster, Body Building ................. 5
MAGIC : ................................................................. 0
SKILL : Repair Item ..................................................... 1

Commentary:
The Knight is a good character overall, but many of its ARMS skills are duplicated and will not be used.  The Knight however can deal great amounts  of melee damage and is heavily protected in armor making him the damage front. The repair item skill saves money and is useful.  The Knight is not that strong in MM8 though because dragons have more hit points, deal more damage, have magic abilities, have more misc. abilities and can spend more points on misc. abilities since the dragons attack is innate.  I would stay away from knights unless you require the repair item skill.

- Has the highest amount of hit points by leaps and bounds (and even  regenerates and has double Endurance when you create character) 
- An excellent fighter and damage absorber

Master: Sword, Axe, Repair Item, Armsmaster
GrandMaster: Staff, Mace, Leather, Body Building, Regeneration

ARMS  : Mace, Leather, Regeneration, Armsmaster, Body Building .......... 5
MAGIC : ................................................................. 0
SKILL : Repair Item ..................................................... 1

Commentary:
The Troll is an amazing fighter and is quite comparable to the Knight. The Troll in fact derives from the Knight Class. Basically you get Hit points vs. Armor and the character layout is quite the same. An Axe or Sword are also good weapons, but since you can only use one at a time, it doesn't really grant you any true bonus anyway. Besides, the GM Mace is an excellent road to take for its paralysis effect.  With the light armors and such, this character is rather quick in battle.  It can, however, only learn the basic bow skill instead of expert.  If your looking for a prime fighter in your party, the Knight and Troll are a toss up.  Since the troll is new and non-traditional, I would pick the Troll.

- An excellent fighter (probably third best) with medium hit points and low spell points

Master: Staff, Spear, Mace, Chain, Plate, Body Building, Disarm Traps, Armsmaster
GrandMaster: Axe, Perception

ARMS  : Axe, Plate, Body Building, Armsmaster ........................... 4
MAGIC : ................................................................. 0
SKILL : Perception, Disarm Traps ........................................ 2

Commentary:
The Minotaur is a great fighter and has the very useful abilities Perception and Disarm Traps.  The Minotaur can also cast Spirit, Body and Mind spells, but at an extremely poor level. The is basically your Knight/Cleric class (such as the Monk) that plays more like a Ranger (Axe, Knight play style, Perception and Disarm Traps).

- Most busted thing next to the dragon.
- Contains lots of *very* useful skills
- Did I mention busted?
- avid fighter and spell caster

Master: Perception, Identify Item, Sword, Dagger, Fire, Air, Water, Earth
GrandMaster: Disarm Traps, Merchant, Bow, Chain, Dark Elf

ARMS  : Sword, Chain, Bow ............................................... 3
MAGIC : Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Dark Elf ............................... 5
SKILL : Disarm Traps, Merchant, Perception, Identify Item ............... 4

Commentary:
The Dark Elf is the most broken character next to the dragon in this game. Since they are hard to get immediately in the beginning of the game, I recommend obtaining one of these as your starting character. Basically this is your Archer/Thief in one that is 10X more powerful. Lets see, a Dark Elf has the best Bow skills in the game, making him the most elite of the bunch when it comes to ranged damage. Next He has Master Sword and Grand Master Chain to aid him melee battle with only hit points lacking. Next, the Dark Elf has good access to all the elemental magics, thus providing good utility and yet more ranged/multiple damage. On top of that, He's your money man with his Grand Master Merchant Skill.  Not saving enough Money? No problem, use his Dark Elf abilities to save more money! His other skills are usable as well.  Grand Master Disarm Traps makes the Dark Elf a needed asset in your party and with Master Perception to boot, there is no real need to get Grand Master Perception for the suffering of getting another class.  If your using a dragon, the Identify Item spell will not be that useful (same with Necromancer), but its yet another incredibly useful skill. This class does it all I'm afraid and I think NWC should not have made the Dark Elf this busted.  Since the Dark Elf covers so many skills, you can afford to over-class (meaning having multiple characters sharing the same class) and that means Dragons!

- Mediocre Hit and Spell points
- Provides avid fighting and spell casting

Master: Sword, Leather, Shield, Alchemy, Spirit, Mind, Body
GrandMaster: Dagger, Identify Monster, Vampire

ARMS  : Dagger, Leather, Shield ......................................... 3
MAGIC : Spirit, Mind, Body, Vampire ..................................... 4
SKILL : Identify Monster ................................................ 1

Commentary:
The Vampire is basically a really poor replacement for the true Paladin class.  Our "new" Paladin loses his Repair Item, all powerful Armor, most weapon and battle skills.  The class gains the Vampire skill which Levitate and Mistform are kind of cool.  ID Monster is somewhat useful, but it doesn't have that much baring on the game.  If you have a Necromancer or a Dragon (which you probably will), the ID Monster skill is duplicated and you get a sub-par fighter with weak Cleric Abilities. Even the Cleric has better Spell skills (and points) and Better ARMS skills.  Alchemy isn't that good unless its GM (which you also have a Necromancer for). The Vampire just doesn't live up to being a good class
in MM8.  NWC needs to work on this one.

- Very high hit (base + body building ) and spell points (base + mediation)
- Extremely good melee and ranged attack which does not need to be upgraded
- no weapon skills
- extremely busted

Master: Meditation, Body Building, Identify Monster, Alchemy
GrandMaster: Perception, Learning, Identify Item

ARMS  : Body Building (And its non-skill melee and ranged attack) ....... 5
MAGIC : Meditation, Dragon .............................................. 2
SKILL : Identify Monster, Perception, Learning, Identify Item ........... 4

Commentary:
Well your looking at the Dragon, the class that flies, does more damage than a Knight, does not need weapon skills, and is probably the most broken thing in the game.  The Dragon has very high hit points and spell points, making it seem over leveled at times :) When the dragon can fly, it relieves the stress from the Necromancer to upgrading Air magic quickly allowing the Necromancer to get Town Portal that much sooner.  Well, you that Dark Elf's Perception skill wasn't good enough.  It was only at Master level.  Well the Dragon changes all that.  Since the Dragon has a lot of useful skills, it makes sense to give it Grand Master Learning, right? GM Identify Item is also amazing.  You'll be using this one instead of the Necromancer's and Dark Elf's, allowing those skill heavy classes to free up some points for other skills.  See how well Necros, Elves, and Dragons complement each other? Its SO BROKEN! ID Monster is at master level, making that Vampire not look so for the extra upgrade for a non-critical spell.

So taking a look at class power from 1 to 8 based off our calculations and a little intuition, we have:
 

FIGHTING	MAGIC	SKILL
1. Dragon	1. Necromancer	1. Dark Elf
2. Knight	2. Cleric	2. Dragon
3. Troll	3. Dark Elf	3. Necromancer
4. Minotaur	4. Vampire	4. Minotaur
5. Dark Elf	5. Dragon	5. Cleric
6. Vampire	6. Minotaur	6. Knight
7. Cleric	7. Troll	7. Troll
8. Necromancer	8. Knight	8. Vampire

Now that we have analyzed the "statistics part" of the characters, its time to get down to playability! First off, to make a good party, you must be strong in clerical and elemental magic.  The best choices are obviously the Cleric and Necromancer.  The Necromancer also includes skills like Alchemy and Learning that will be used frequently. Now 3 characters must be chosen to make up a Fighting pair and 1 other character.  Now the Dark Elf stands out to an amazing character ranking 1,3,5 on our charts and intuitively, its the most amazing thing next to the dragon). So lets add one of those (make sure you create this character with high endurance, intellect, and low personality and luck). The Fighting pair could be from either a Dragon, Knight or Troll. So you can pick any 2 of those 3 for your fighting pair.  Its easier to get a Knight and Dragon since the Knight you get on the first Island and the Dragon can be found early enough.  I prefer 2 dragons, however, to allow mega ranged and melee damage.  This gives me 2 of the best attacks, 3 of the best spell casters, and Grand Master in: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Spirit, Mind, Body, Light, Dark, Elf, Dragon, Disarm Traps, Perception, Merchant, Learning, Meditation, Identify Item, and Alchemy.  I also have Master ID Monster. Basically this party lacks Grand Master Repair Item (and Regen/Armsmaster Body Building skills, but those are character specific. We won't be needing those).  If you need Repair Item, get 1 Dragon and 1 Troll. This gives you all the required skills, and an incredibly broken party with melee attacks, ranged attacks, magic, and utility.

With this information, though, you can make anything you want!

I hope this has helped with Character Creation as its a very complicated matter.  I hope this has provided MM8 players with the best character creation and choosing document on the web and look for more updates as I think of more stuff to add.

Thanks for listening,

Ken Egervari