# D&D like computer games, where you build your whole party **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games, rpg-dnd-wargames\ **Created:** [July 30, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657 "2021-07-30T18:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/1 "2021-07-30T18:55:04Z")
Are there any recent, good D&D type games where you actually build the whole party? I Loved the old Gold box games, and the original Bard’s tale et al. Obviously the last couple decades have moved toward the create one(or zero) characters and the rest of your party are encountered pre-made, so that they can have voice acting, and plot points and betray you etc. And those games are good as well. But,I am having a bit of nostalgia for a game where I can roll an architected team of ass-kickers and stomp through some dungeons. But I can’t think of, or find any. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/2 "2021-07-30T19:14:06Z")
For values of ‘recent’ at least compared to Bard’s Tale, I’d recommend > **[Neverwinter Nights 2 Complete](https://www.gog.com/game/neverwinter_nights_2_complete)** > > Welcome back to Neverwinter! > > > > Bards sing tales of heroes in ages past, but they rarely (2008) Which is fully based on AD&D’s 3.5 ED rules, and allows pretty massive customization. For something that isn’t explicitly D&D based, and _slightly_ newer, I’d recommend the Dragon Age Origins series, starting with > **[Dragon Age™: Origins - Ultimate Edition](https://www.gog.com/game/dragon_age_origins)** > > Dragon Age™: Origins – Ultimate Edition includes: > \- Dragon Age™: Origins > \- Awakening E (2010) and it’s many newer sequels. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/3 "2021-07-30T19:31:46Z")
I actually played NN2 back in the day, and unfortunately DAO is another one where you only make one character. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/4 "2021-07-30T19:35:31Z")
You can do that in Solasta - Crown of the Magister. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/5 "2021-07-30T19:39:24Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I actually played NN2 back in the day, and unfortunately DAO is another one where you only make one character. You can only make one character from scratch, but you can heavily customize the rest of the party (subclass, skills/spells, gear). Yeah, it’s not perfect, but was trying to pick something in a more modern vein. 🙂 But yeah, if full party complete customization is your thing, it’s not there. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/6 "2021-07-30T19:40:45Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > You can do that in Solasta - Crown of the Magister. I am completely unfamiliar with that one. I’ll look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/7 "2021-07-30T19:41:50Z")
I liked it, it’s D&D in its purest form, you can see the dice rolling (literally, they roll on screen). ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/8 "2021-07-30T19:43:46Z")
KotOR and KotOR2 use a system of attributes, feats, and abilities based on the D&D model. You don’t get to choose the race & class of your other team members but they are highly customizable. You can easily convert a character intended for melee to ranged and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/9 "2021-07-30T19:54:36Z")
_Pathfinder: Kingmaker_ lets you fully customize your main character, and then recruit a bunch of voiced, pre-generated characters to fill out your party, BioWare style. But, once you get past the intro dungeon, there’s an NPC at the tavern that lets you roll up an entire party from scratch. The catch is, she charges you gold pieces to do it, and it’s not really cheap. And you miss out on a lot of content if you don’t use the pre-generated characters, as they all have their individual plots and backstories. In my last playthrough, I found a mod that lets you completely re-roll the stats of all the NPCs, so you can remake them into whatever you want, and still get all the extra quests and stuff. Also a damned good RPG, based off the Pathfinder rule set, which was an extension of 3rd Edition D&D. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/10 "2021-07-30T20:12:45Z")
Wasteland 2 and 3 have fully customizable core team members. It’s sort of a hybrid, actually–your team can have 4 fully custom characters, plus 2-3 “recruits” that are pre-made (which you can swap in and out from a larger pool). You don’t have to bring the recruits along if you don’t want. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/11 "2021-07-31T00:58:35Z")
Another vote for Solasta. It uses the D&D 5e engine (albeit with some homebrew) and you can generate your four-man party from scratch of you don’t want to use the pregens. It’s not a perfect game and a little janky in spots but I had a lot of fun with it. One nice thing is that you can customize almost everything in the game. Turn monster crits off, double their hit points, turn off random travel encounters, turn on variant encumbrance, disable needing a free hand for somatic spell components, etc. I played largely stock but did adjust a few things that were just fiddly like ration consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/12 "2021-07-31T01:59:53Z")
Ones with a twist are: https://store.steampowered.com/widget/231740 https://store.steampowered.com/widget/794820 Essentially you build a party of D&D players, whose characteristics spill over into the dungeon and world they play in. There’s also a fair bit of cheesy humour in the games, not unlike my old D&D games! ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/13 "2021-07-31T02:11:27Z")
I think you can make up your characters in _Temple of Elemental Evil,_ though there are also recruitable characters if you want. ---
**Author:** ![Acierocolotl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acierocolotl/32/6241_2.png) [@Acierocolotl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acierocolotl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/14 "2021-07-31T02:20:16Z")
Though it’s D&D-adjacent, “Divinity: Original Sin 2” has recruitable characters that will adopt whatever class you ask them to when you first recruit them, and can be respecced and twiddled-with to your heart’s content. It’s “recent” as in 2017, but it does have ample dungeons and fights for you to get your blast on. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/15 "2021-07-31T12:20:04Z")
It wasn’t the default, but the Baldur’s Gate games had the option to make your entire party from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/16 "2021-07-31T12:38:29Z")
You can get Baldur’s Gate I & II enhaced editions anf Neverwiter Nights Diamond edition cheaply from Steam. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/18 "2021-08-13T13:09:25Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _Pathfinder: Kingmaker_ lets you fully customize your main character, and then recruit a bunch of voiced, pre-generated characters to fill out your party, BioWare style. But, once you get past the intro dungeon, there’s an NPC at the tavern that lets you roll up an entire party from scratch. The catch is, she charges you gold pieces to do it, and it’s not really cheap. And you miss out on a lot of content if you don’t use the pre-generated characters, as they all have their individual plots and backstories. Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin are similar: you can use the provided plot characters or you can recruit your own generic companions from a recruiter for a fee. EDIT: Didn’t realise this was bumped by a spammer. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/19 "2021-08-13T13:45:07Z")
> [@Acierocolotl](#): > > Though it’s D&D-adjacent, “Divinity: Original Sin 2” has recruitable characters that will adopt whatever class you ask them to when you first recruit them, and can be respecced and twiddled-with to your heart’s content. > > It’s “recent” as in 2017, but it does have ample dungeons and fights for you to get your blast on. And they’re currently working on BG3. I think there’s a way using fake multi-player to create all of your own party already in the beta and I’m sure full party mods will come out eventually too ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-like-computer-games-where-you-build-your-whole-party/947657/20 "2021-08-13T14:17:50Z")
Icewind Dale 1 & 2 used the same engine as the Baldur’s Gate series, and had you build the entire party even if you were playing solo.