Main tank problem.

[Fyezall]

OK, I'm having some problems with my main tank, I think, or rather with everyone else. I'm doing fine actually but the only way I seem to be able to keep my party alive is to have only one melee character, "the main tank". And as soon as I let someone other than him join in close combat they get butchered, even if they only have one or two more in AC (which i find odd!). So I let everyone else fire away with bows and slings which feels awfully sheepish, as they have all of these magical swords and what not. Any help would be appreciated.

[kmonster]

Ranged combat is more effective than melee early in the game. With a bow you get an extra attack per round and don't have to waste time running from an enemy to another, therefore you can do far more damage, especially with low strength characters.

To even this out you could cast more offensive and defensive buffs, spells like "protection from evil 10'" make a big difference, and summon some monsters for support.

In my games I never use a dedicated tank, everyone uses ranged wepons and switches to melee when enemies get too close or are immune to non-magical arrows.

[ultramarine]

Make a balanced party that can cast various holding spells and summons. Druids are good for this. If you have a wizard then you put webs or haste your summons.

[Sensei]

Make a balanced party helps.

2 fighter types - as tanks

(HINT on WEAPONS: make sure your team members can all use bow/missile weapons of some kind).

1 mage of some kind - to nuke all the monsters or provide protection.

1 mage/thief ( or some kind of combo thief and something) - to picklocks, detect traps and scout - never go dungeon crawling without someone proficient in lock picking and trap removal.

1 cleric /healer - always need a healer + praying to deities always helps

1 bard - can't go adventuring without some one to record and tell your tales and make you all into heroes (or maybe idiots)- never go adventuring without one.

[Lepto]

I found an UNBALANCED party helps.

Initially I played with a balanced party and found it tough.

This time I started out with one human fighter which I dual classed as a magic user when he reached level 7 as a fighter in the Vale of Shadows.
At the same time as this dual classing I started a 2nd Character (an Elven Fighter). Only once towards the end off the Vale of shadows did I have to reload because a character died.
By the time traps became a problem my F/MU had enough hit points to survive walking through them, and the Eleven Fighter could provide enough covering fire in the event of paralysis. I now have 2 Tanks with both with huge numbers of hit points. I have since added a Druid to the party and this has seen me comfortably through to the middle of the Dragons Eye.
This method of adding party members one at a time means you have tough tanks from the start and subsequent characters quicky rise in level.