Etrian VS - White Sheep

I'll back the current choices with the most votes, so you can update, Mystic.

You pick out ten that appeal to you the most and show the list to the guild master.

"These ones? Are you sure?"

You nod and say those are definitely the ones you want.

"I'll go get them for you right away. They should be waiting in the back with the others."

Celia - Landsknecht

The first to be lead inside is a woman with a huge grin on her face. Her red hair is long and flows freely as she clanks toward you in her armor. Her red eyes nearly glow at you with the excitement of a child. She grabs your hand without asking questions and shakes it violently. "Nice to meet ya! I'm Celia! And I can't believe you chose me to be on your team! I promise I won't let you down!"

Before you can open your mouth to respond, the guild master corrects her. "Celia...you weren't selected yet. We just needed to speak with you. You're being considered for the position."

"Huh!? Oh, well, alright..." She looks disappointed a moment before looking back up to you with determination flaring in her eyes. "I'll just have to win you over in this meeting then! Go ahead, ask whatever you want to know about me!"

You ask her what her combat abilities are.

"Alright! I can use both swords and axes to take down my enemies! I like to be up in the battle personally, so you should keep me on the front line. Don't worry, I can take it. I'm pretty strong, both offensively and defensively. And I can take a few hits. Using swords, I can hit multiple enemies at once and damage them with skills like Tornado! Using axes, I can focus on one enemy and hit them hard with my skills. I can also follow up ally elemental attacks using chase skills. Not only that, but I can use war cries to make us stronger! It does have drawbacks though. Like losing some defense and health. I also can't go all out on fighting every enemy. I have to save my strongest attacks for the big guys or I'll get tired quickly."

You nod your head and take a few notes before motioning for the next person.

Erin - Survivalist

The next woman to walk in through the doors is very different from Celia. She seems quiet. Her long, blond hair sits on her shoulders and her blue eyes scan the room carefully. As she approaches, she moves her green scarf down from her mouth so she can speak with you, however, you notice she does not smile like Celia. She keeps a serious look in her face and adjusts her feathered hat slightly. "You called?"

You explain that you wish to know more about her combat abilities.

"I'll make this quick. I use bows, so it's best to keep me in the back line. I can hit enemies that are in the front and back rows easily and I can hit multiple enemies with Flank Shot or hit one enemy twice with Multi Shot. Not only that, but I can inflict Blind, Sleep, Paralysis, and Leg Bind on my enemies using the right arrows. I'm also very fast. I'm good at dodging and lowering enemy hit rates. I can redirect enemy attacks to others and allow my allies to move first. I'm also useful in labyrinth, avoiding enemies and increasing chances of getting the first strike. I can even heal allies outside of battle. Now, is that all? I don't really enjoy talking all that much."

You nod and ask for the next one to be brought in.

Hex - Hexer

As the door slowly creaks open, you feel a sudden chill run down your spine. The room feels eerily cold. It almost seems as if everything gets darker. A small girl on the other side of the room stands there, wearing a purple cloak with the hood up, covering her face. She slowly steps toward you, with her footsteps clicking on the ground. One hand reaches up and pulls the hood back, revealing a pale face and releasing a head of white hair. Her eyes look inside of you, practically freezing you from the inside out in one gaze. She says nothing and simply watches. After a while, you uncomfortably ask her to explain her combat abilities.

"...Okay. My focus is on ailments. To make my enemies...suffer. But my defenses are not strong. And I am not much of an attacker. Put me in the back line. Curses...are my specialty. I can do nearly anything from immobilizing my enemies to poisoning them to binding their arms and legs to lowering their offense and defense. Sometimes I can control enemies that are inflicted by certain curses and make them do...things. I can sacrifice my allies too. That deals damage to my enemies. You look concerned. Don't worry. If they die, I can just make them stand back up again. Then kill them again, if you want. Or I can play nice and steal the health of my enemies to heal them. That's all." The girl puts her hood back up and slowly backs out of the room, never breaking eye contact.

You take a moment to gather yourself back together and motion for the next person to be brought in.

Lucia - Monk

This one is significantly less horrifying. In fact, she gives off almost a glowing and warm presence. Her bright, orange and yellow clothing compliment her bright and motherly smile. Her long, brown hair is worn back in a single braid and her brown eyes look at you with a sense of understanding. She offers one of her hands to you. "It's good to meet you. My name is Lucia. I'm glad you're interested in adding me to your team. What is it you wanted to know?"

You explain you want to know more about her combat abilities.

"Oh, of course! Although I know how to use clubs, most monks simply go for a barehanded approach, using their fists. I am able to deal damage up close with counters, fire damaging attacks, and even paralyze or curse enemies. I am also able to heal my allies using qi. These abilities can recover health, ailments, binds, and can even revive fallen allies. I am also able to naturally heal myself over time, simply by continuing to battle. I am also capable of protecting my allies from traps on the ground with Fire Walk. That about sums up my abilities. I hope you consider me when choosing allies." She gives you a wave before walking out and calmly shuts the door behind her.

Clang - Yggdroid

Next to enter is a large robot. He makes loud clanging sounds as he walks in and is gold and silver colored. When he looks at you, his yellow, glowing eyes flash slightly and he makes some sort of beeping sound. A robotic voice resounds from within. "Subject identified. Tactician. You requested that I come see you. I am here. You wish to ask me something. What is it?"

You explain you want to know more about his combat abilities.

"Searching database...entry found. Yggdroids are capable of performing various tasks. While their strength may not come directly from their own class, their true potential is unlocked from what they learn in subclassing. With naturally high physical capabilities, Yggdroids are capable of becoming potent allies in any front. We are capable of learning various passive abilities that increase ailment resistance, attack damage, and restore energy when bound. Yggdroids can also create bots that will attack in response to specific element attacks. We can learn many skills to improve the power of these bots as well, commanding them to attack, counter, and sacrifice themselves for extra damage. We are capable of removing all binds from ourselves, fully binding ourselves, using attacks that bind ourselves, and unleashing a powerful cannon attack when fully bound. Entry end. Is there anything else you wish to know?"

You shake your head and motion for the next person to enter.

Aria - Arcanist

The next to enter is a small, frail looking girl. Her skin is gray and she has long, silver hair. She shyly glances at you and you see her blue eyes, but she quickly looks away, noticing you watching her closely. She wears a beautiful, pink dress that looks similar to a flower in a way. You notice she has long, fuzzy, black and white ears that flick up and down slightly when she looks away from you. The girl speaks softly and her voice shakes a bit. "You wanted something from me?"

You explain you wish to know more about her combat abilities.

"Oh, I didn't think you would pick me. Alright. Well, here's what I can do. I make circles to inflict ailments on enemies. They can also be bound by my circles. I can dispel circles for effects like healing my allies or damaging enemies too. I'm also able to lower the offensive and defensive abilities of my enemies. At advanced levels, I could even remove resistances to ailments and binds. I don't have to worry about running out of energy either, regaining it from ending circles and causing ailments. I even heal my allies whenever a circle is active. I can also naturally heal my allies just by walking in the labyrinth and protect them from traps on the ground. Um...that's everything. Thank you."

You thank her for her help and send her off, motioning for the next person.

Zero - Imperial

The next guy kicks the door open dramatically, walking in like he owns the place. He walks up to you and smacks you on the back, laughing. "Glad you made the right choice and picked me! I'm one of the best around here, you know. You'll see. My strength definitely comes in handy. My motto is that if you aren't winning with raw power, you aren't hitting the enemy hard enough!"

You explain that he hasn't been chosen yet, you simply want to know more on his combat skills.

"Huh? That's dumb. You could probably just look it up. Well, I guess I don't have any reason to not tell you about them. But I'm sure you'll pick me anyway. Not only do I have powerful attacks that can combo into even more powerful attacks, but I have incredibly powerful attacks that need time to cool down after I use them. If I don't wait to use my drive blade abilities, I could probably end up hurting myself. I can decrease those cool down times with certain skills though. And as I get stronger, I can target enemy weaknesses with elemental drive attacks. At high mastery levels, my weapon becomes stronger the more it overheats and I can even ignore overheating after it happens multiple times. So, thinking about adding me yet?"

You tell him you'll think about it and ask to see the next person.

"Riiight. Well, see you later when you choose me. We'll hit those enemies with all we've got!"

Balor - Beast

The next to come wandering in is a large black bear with brown fur on his nose and paws. You immediately recognize it as the bear that has been following you around recently and causing trouble wherever it goes. It walks right up to you and sits on the ground, staring at you and letting out a big yawn. The guild master steps in and speaks for the bear. "I'm not sure if this one is even registered as an explorer. I think it just managed to follow you in here. Should I...remove him?"

You shake your head and ask the guild master to explain the bear's combat abilities.

"His...what? Er...alright. I'm sure a beast could be useful in battle. It's physically powerful and could probably take a few hits. He appears rather loyal to you and would likely protect you from incoming attacks if you asked. The powerful roar of beasts can be quite intimidating as well. Maybe even shake the enemies up so much that their strength falters. Beasts will also lick wounds to heal them during battle. Instead of using weapons, beasts use their natural weapons to fight, their claws. Most of their attacks tend to have some correlation to how much damage they've taken and- is that bear EATING our official records!?"

The bear lets out a small roar and continues to chomp down on a large book.

"Those are important! Give them back immediately!"

It ignores his commands and continues to chew on the book. You ask the bear nicely to release the book and it simply plops it down in your lap, covering you in bear saliva. You hand the book to the guild master and tell him you're considering this bear for your team.

"...Yes, well, hopefully you can train him not to cause so much trouble. I'll go take this bear outside and find the next one to interview.

Lin - Dancer

The next person to walk in is a woman wearing a rather revealing outfit that doesn't cover all that much along with a semi transparent scarf she wears. Her silver hair swirls around her as she spins into the room, over to you, fixing her blue eyes on you. She gives you a smile and winks at you. "Nice to see you, tactician. My name's Lin. That was interesting how you handled that bear."

As you try to ask how she knows about the bear, she answers as if reading your mind.

"I may or may not have been watching you. Don't worry about it. You want to know about my battle abilities right? Let's get right to it then. I am a dancer. I can heal my allies and remove binds and ailments with waltzes, but that's not all. My tangos can provide some support to my allies as well, buffing them or decreasing the amount of energy it takes to fight. I can learn dances that help me damage enemies by following ally attacks or having allies follow my attacks. I can even counter enemy attacks with my dances. My support abilities are something that can't be replaced. That's about all there is to it."

You thank her for the information and ask for the last person you want to meet.

Terra - Highlander

A woman with shoulder length black hair walks in, wearing green and black plaid clothing. When she walks up to you she shakes her hand and greets you. "My name's Terra. I'm a highlander not far from here. I'm here to prove my worth as an explorer. It's nice to meet the one that's interested in my abilities."

You ask her what her combat skills are.

"I figured you'd want to know. Using spears, I can deal some heavy damage to my enemies at the cost of my own health. Sometimes I can even expend the health of the entire party to deal even more damage. So you'd probably want to pair me with a good healer. I can also cause a few binds on enemies, but only in specific situations and I tend to bind myself sometimes in the process. However, I can perform extra attacks when I take damage and naturally heal myself by damaging or killing enemies. It's pretty risky with a lot of giving and taking of health, but if I'm with the right ally, I can be pretty effective. And that's that! Anything else you wanted?"

You shake your head and tell her to wait outside a moment.

As she leaves, the guild master walks up to you. "So, have you decided on who you want yet?"

You nod your head and reveal to him your list of five members.

Select five party members

A. Celia - Landsknecht
B. Erin - Survivalist
C. Hex - Hexer
D. Lucia - Monk
E. Clang - Yggdroid
F. Aria - Arcanist
G. Zero - Imperial
H. Balor - Beast
I. Lin - Dancer
J. Terra - Highlander

Hm, frail party, but good lockdown. I'll back Crow's setup, we'll just pray that those binds and ailments land. Erin can blind bosses and draw aggro with improved dodge for the heavy tanking.

Hexer sub-Arcanist sounds nice, but what about Runemaster to deal some damage once we've landed all the status conditions we want and bulk up elemental defenses since we lack a Protector? Seems like Hex would be our only member with decent Tec, although I don't know what a Monk's stats are like.

I refuse.

I dunno, sounds like we'd still need to sub someone into an elemental class to make use of his bots, which seem like the main reason to bring him along. Since he gets a skill along that path to prevent elemental damage. Then again, Spear Assist is similarly moot in this party.

They are a pretty similar role, though. Clang subbed as a Highlander would be... a force to be reckoned with... but Mystic says any subclass option is possible, and I feel like with how he worded it subclassing into Yggdroid would be a lot more interesting character-wise than subclassing out of it...

"So how's the sheep version of Etrian VS going?"

"They're currently considering a team made up of creepy girl, stalker lady, annoying bard, robot, and mom. The dream team."

Thing is, all it takes for somebody in that party to die is for two relevant binds to miss, and then one of our binders is on healing duty to cover up the mess... and the other may or may not be dead. Erin and Clang would go well together because Erin can direct enemy aggro to the stocky robot, and Erin works well without Clang because she can also direct that aggro to herself, raise her avoid and give us a third shot at curbing threat from the enemy with blind/sleep arrow. And Highlander transfers their binds with Stigmata by default, so you don't need War Magus as much. Not that War Magus is a bad subclass option either way.

I do like the idea of having a Dancer and a Troubadour. Sniper's Chase Bind would be good to consider for subclassing into, too...

Ay yo hol' up, reclassing? WITH subclassing? If you didn't misspeak, then consider the following:

Clang's disgusting strength could be on ANYTHING. Imagine him as a Buccaneer! Two rounds of force boosted chase-all followed by a force broken TRIPLE chase all. We could reclass Terra into our dancer to boost strength without sacrificing too much agility and chase chases with more chases!

Tell me it's so and I will dedicate the next couple of hours to figuring out the ultimate chase party!