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Emotion: Hope = +2
Tenser's Transformation = +half of char's level, wizards/sorcs only
Suffocate = +7 (actually -4 enemy AC and -6 enemy DEX)
Executioner's Eyes = +4 1st level Bard song = +1
Ranger's favored enemy = variable, up to +6
Racial favored enemies = +1 in most cases
Day blindness = -1/-2 (Drow/Duergar in daylight)
Dual-wielding = -2 to -10 (see table in manual)

Quest EXP:
  ----------
While experience from battling monsters should be the major source of EXP for most parties, the exact amount of this combat EXP is almost impossible to calculate due to level adjustments and possible level squatting. However,
Quest EXP isn't adjusted by character levels so it can be considered as a flat boost to total EXP gained regardless of the amount of combat done.

As an extreme example, a two-person party could theoretically reach level
30 without killing a single monster! (This doesn't quite work in practice, as there are a few monsters that need to be killed in order to advance in the game, such as Sherincal, Remorhaz Queen and Beastlord Harshom's group.)
However, a group of six would only reach level 15 at 109,016 EXP each, if counting quest experience alone.

This table assumes that all the quests are completed, and in case of multiple solutions to a quest, the one with highest EXP gain is selected.
A party without strong diplomacy skills and/or high intelligence scores will get less experience. Note that the party gets to complete the quests a second time in HOF mode, so double the EXP gain for end-game calculations.

Prologue: 17450      Cumulative:  17450
Chapter One: 33350   Cumulative:  50800
Chapter Two: 77250   Cumulative: 128050
Chapter Three: 32375 Cumulative: 160425
Chapter Four: 47425  Cumulative: 207850
Chapter Five: 51950  Cumulative: 259800
Chapter Six: 67250   Cumulative: 327050

Based on this table and the knowledge that a six-person party should end the game at level 16 (120,000 EXP) or 17 (136,000 EXP), the combat EXP during the normal mode can be estimated to be between 65,500 and 81,500 per character. Extensive level-squatting can make this figure considerably larger, while smaller parties that get level-ups earlier will get considerably less. Similarly, six-person parties should ideally reach level
30 (465,000 EXP) by the end of the HOF mode, making the total combat EXP in
HOF mode around 342,400 per character. With even minimal level squatting, reaching levels in those upper 20's shouldn't be a problem at all in HOF mode.

Ultimate AC:
  ------------
Actually, the whole idea for JUPP started from a couple of discussion threads where very creative people teamed up on finding the ultimate AC and some uses for such a freak character. The ultimate AC character was deemed quite unplayable (40+% EXP penalty, no thanks), but it was noted that the top ACs wouldn't even be needed for the most part, making it possible to remove at least a portion of the hassle of obtaining it.

Not so surprisingly, a Deep Gnome was a natural choice for the character, as this race has the unique +4 generic AC bonus. Here are the stats for this (rather freakish) character, with equipment & buffing details.

Deep Gnome Monk(5)/Rogue(1)/Dreadmaster of Bane(12)/Conjurer(12)

STR 9
DEX 20 (may reach 31 with Tenser's bonus active for +10 DEX AC bonus)
CON 10
INT 16 (for Tenser's)
WIS 20 (reaches 40 with all bonuses for +15 WIS AC bonus)
CHA 1

Conjurer levels are needed for the Shield spell, and to enable this character to use Tenser's Transformation. Note that Illusionist can't use the Shield spell! Dreadmaster levels enable this character to benefit from the Banite Quest (+2 WIS) in Kuldahar Graveyard and to use Divine Shell. A level in Rogue enables the Crow's Nest headband and remaining levels can be put into the Monk class for WIS AC bonus and a level/5 (round down) generic
AC bonus.

Other team members: Bard with at least 11 levels, Druid with at least 12 levels and a Cleric of Helm (any level) for War Chant of Sith, Barkskin and
Helm's Shield respectively. These bonuses together give +9 generic AC.

Equipment:
Indomitable Bands (+5 generic AC)
Crow's Nest (+3 generic AC)
Sunfire Talisman (+3 generic AC)
Every God's Ring (+5 WIS bonus)
Chimandrae's Slippers (+5 DEX bonus)
Potion of Holy Transference x 2 (+2 WIS, -1 DEX each)

Feats & other bonuses:
Dodge (+1 generic AC)
Expertise (+5 generic AC)
Deep Gnome racial bonus (+4 generic AC)
Monk bonus (+1 generic AC at level 5)

Spells:
Shield (+7 armor, can't be used by Illusionist class, self-cast only)
Divine Shell (+6 deflection, self-cast only)
Haste (+4 generic AC)
Tenser's Transformation (+4 generic AC, +2d4 DEX, self-cast only)

Total AC:
10 (base)
+10 (DEX bonus)
+15 (WIS bonus)
+9 (Team member abilities bonus)
+11 (Equipment bonus; stat bonuses from equipment already accounted for)
+11 (Feats & other bonuses)
+21 (Spell bonuses)
   ===
87, 79 without the Tenser's Transformation spell

By playing the game through several times and thus acquiring several quest bonuses from being a Dreadmaster would make it possible to reach WIS 40 without level-up bonuses and potions of Holy Transference, making it possible to reach DEX 40 as well. This would bring the total AC up to 92.

Furthermore, the team could have up to 5 other characters with 11+ levels as Bard. Due to a bug (?), the bard songs stack, and thus it could be possible to have 5 copies of War Chant of Sith going on at the same time.
(Due to a more obvious bug, even a single Bard can stack songs infinitely by utilizing the Lingering Song feat, but I would consider this cheating.)
Together with multiple replays, the total AC would jump to 100.

So.. Should anyone brag about reaching AC's of over 100, they can be labeled as cheaters pretty much right off the bat!

Ultimate Damage:
  ----------------
No, the pure fighter class isn't the best choice when seeking a character that can deal maximal damage. In fact, the optimal character looks like this:

Half-Orc Paladin(1)/Fighter(4)/Cleric(7)/Sorcerer(12)/Rogue(6)

STR 20 (could reach 45 together with maxed buffs, but capped at 40)
DEX 3
CON 18
INT 1
WIS 16 (Cleric spells plus Will saves)
CHA 16 (for Sorc spells and Divine Grace)

Paladin level enables the +1 STR/+1 WIS quest award by completing the Holy
Avenger quest. Four fighter levels gives the Specialization feat. Seven levels as Cleric (any kind, really, but has to be Lawful Good) gives access to Holy Power. Twelve levels as Sorc gives access to Tenser's Transformation.
And finally, remaining levels as Rogue provide some sneak attack damage. This character has an "impressive" 80% multiclassing penalty, so don't expect to see characters like this in many parties... but it's optimal in the sense of doing most damage. =)

Other team members: Bard with any number of levels (for the Ballad of Three
Heroes), Stormlord of Talos with 9+ levels (for Champion's Strength spell and
Talos's Destructive Blow special ability) and any arcane caster with up to 9th level spells (for Executioner's Eyes). Preferably a second bard for the
Tymora's Melody as well. These effects give a total of +3 to damage amongst other bonuses. Adding up to 5 bards would enable stacking song bonuses, but
I'd consider this a bit questionable method of boosting the numbers.

Equipment:
Massive Greataxe of Flame +5 (the mother of all weapons)
Gauntlets of Weapon Specialization (+2 damage, +1 to hit)
Ned's Lucky Knucky (+2 luck amulet)
Two Tymora's Loop rings (+3 luck each)

Feats & other bonuses:
Power Attack (hitting stuff should not be a problem with this guy, +5 damage)
Weapon Specialization: Greataxes (+2 damage)
Improved Critical (+1 to critical area width)
Greater Cleave (doesn't boost dmg directly, but via increased # of attacks)

Spells:
Aid (+1 damage, undocumented feature)
Chant (+1 damage)
Prayer (+1 damage)
Recitation (+2 damage)
Holy Power (+4 damage, self-cast)
Champion's Strength (required for the STR boost)
Luck (+1 luck boost)
Emotion: Hope (+2 damage)
Tenser's Transformation (required for the STR boost, self-cast)
Executioner's Eyes (+4 bonus to critical range)

Total damages:
Weapon - 2d12+5+1d6(fire)+1d10(fire,10% chance) = 7-29 + 1-16 (fire)
Other equipment - +18 to min dmg (2d12 counts luck twice) and +2 max dmg
Team member bonuses - +5 to min damage, +3 to max damage
Strength bonus - +22 damage (with good casting of Tenser's and Ch. Strength)
Feats - +7 damage
Spells - +13 to min damage and +11 max damage
Total without criticals = 72-74 + 1-16 (fire)
Critical area width = 1 (Greataxe) + 1 (Improved Critical) + 4 (Executioner's
Eyes) + 10 (effect of Luck) = 16 (80% of 1d20 range)
Damage with criticals = (72-74) + [(72-74) x 80% x (3-1)] =
(72-74) x 260% =
187.2 - 192.4 + 1-16 (fire)

Note that the damage value is a long-term average value, already counting in the fact that not all of the swings will be criticals. With a lucky streak of critical hits, a total damage of [(72-74)x3+(1-16)]x5 = 1,085 - 1,190 damage within just ONE combat round is possible - the chance for this happening is fairly good 33%. In case the character succeeds in scoring a sneak attack, an extra 4d6 damage will be added, but just once per enemy.
Finally, when one enemy dies, the Greater Cleave feat adds an extra swing to further increase the destruction.

Just to be nitpicking, the Paladin level isn't even required to reach the maximal STR bonus, as Tenser's Transformation and Champion's Strength can give a total STR bonus of +16 with a bit of luck. Using Half-Orc isn't really a requirement either, even without the Paladin level - this would still make it possible to reach STR 40 - so, technically, it could be possible to use, say, a Shield Dwarf to minimize EXP penalties. Furthermore, dropping the
Rogue levels has a very minimal impact on damage (4d6 once vs. one thousand average damage in a combat round), so those levels could be used to raise
Cleric levels so that they match Sorc levels... hey, wait a minute...
Whoopsie! All of a sudden we have a character that doesn't have any EXP penalties, while still technically having all the necessary goodies for maximized damage output!

The JUPP doesn't utilize this ultimate damage character mainly because having a dual caster class (sorc/cleric) would leave this char waiting for all the necessary goodies for a VERY long time, and besides, some other character types work better with the other characters in the JUPP parties with minimal sacrifices to the total damage output. Also, the most notable weakness of this kind of a maximal damage output character is the reliance on items that are random drops. I, for one, have never found even ONE
Tymora's Loop, not to mention that lovely Massive Greataxe of Flame +5, so the ultimate damage should be considered as a rather hypothetical case.

===============================================================================
3. The Melee Party
===============================================================================

Before jumping into the actual end results of many sleepless nights, extensive play testing, countless intense discussions and gazillions of clock cycles from the built-in math processor in the author's head, let's take a look at how the parties were formed.

The Melee party is the definite answer to a common misconception that the
HOF mode would be unplayable with a melee party. The whole party is built around the first character - an almost invulnerable meat grinder. With the various buffs from chars #2 and #4 and the assistance from char #3, this character can and will keep on chopping enemies until they drop. In fact, chars #3 and #4 are not even necessary, but they're included to make things go faster with extra firepower, and to lessen the woes of keeping the various buff spells up at all times.

However, it was quickly noted that just hacking away at the monsters would