Rating Dungeon Siege Characters

 I recently rated the Towns and Areas in Dungeon Siege, so I'll also rate the characters.  I'm going to rate them based on how effective they are and how much I feel they contribute once they become a part of my party.  I'll go in chronological order of when you meet the characters.  Of course, the starting character is customizable, so I'm not going to rate them.

Ulora - 7.5/10
Ulora isn't the best fighter in the game, but I keep her rating up due to her versatility.  When you first meet Ulora, you can basically turn her into anything you want, and she'll be at least fairly decent at it.  Consider Ulora the utility player of the game.  

Gyorn - 6.5/10
For melee fighters, Gyorn ends up being below average for me most of the time.  He's not awful, but could be better.  Fortunately, since you meet him so early, you could make him into something else if you really wanted to.  But if you take him and Rusk at the same time, he instantly starts behind Rusk on stats.  

Zed - 5.5/10
I don't know what it is, but Zed has never been that great for me.  Usually, I end up replacing him with Merik or Andiemus, so I can't ever recall reaching the end with him.  If you don't need a wizard and you're tight on gold, you might want to leave him behind.  It might be smarter to make your starting character or Ulora a wizard.

Rusk - 9/10
Rusk always ends up being super solid for me and one of my best fighters.  He costs a bit of gold for when you meet him, but he's worth it.  He's incredibly tough and will level up fast if you give him the right weapon and gear.  

Naidi - 8/10
Naidi is also super solid.  It's a shame you only meet two pure archers in the entire game.  She is worth picking up, but again, she is costly.  

Gloern - 6.5/10
I can never get Gloern to be one of my best melee fighters, so I can't recall ever reaching the end with him.  Melee fighters are a dime a dozen, and Gloern is certainly one of them.  He's also one of three dwarf melee fighters in the game, but at least he is free.

Kroduk - 8.5/10
Kroduk, like Rusk, is another great melee fighter.  However, I do find him slightly lagging behind Rusk more often than not.  You could get away with only Rusk and Kroduk as melee fighters if you want to.  

Lorun - 6.5/10
It's crazy how far you have to get into the game until you meet a wizard who specializes in combat magic.  And Lorun is decent.  But I find for his time in the game, you either deal with one of two faults, depending on the attack spell you use.  Either you use Soul Lance, which drains his Mana like crazy, or you use Flame, which puts Lorun in harm's way and gets him to pass out a lot and possibly die.  

Merik - 7.5/10
I bump Merik's rating up because of the great items he has.  He has a really good cloak and boots that add to health, mana, and add 1 to Intelligence.  He's also not bad of a fighter, either, and I would take him (slightly) over Zed.  And the best part is that he's free.  

Phaedriel - 8/10
I give Phaedriel the same rating as Naidi.  Both are good archers and worth their gold.  I'd rate them both higher if they were cheaper or free.  But Phaedriel, like Naidi, is worth picking up.  I'd recommend carrying both.  

Andiemus - 7/10
I've never been a huge fan of his, and it's really a judgment call if you want him or Merik.  I wouldn't recommend both, but you could if you want.  I don't like how he costs a bit of gold, but you can replenish your gold soon after by selling to the merchant near him.  

Boryev - 8/10
Boryev is the first character in the game that has multiple skills.  He's got some melee skill points as well as combat magic.  I'd go with just combat magic, but maybe occasionally switch to melee if his mana gets drained using a high-cost spell, such as Fire Wall.  But doing that requires giving him a lot of your attention.  Still, he's worth it.  You won't find a tougher wizard in the game (unless you make the starting character that).

Rhut - 5.5/10
I rarely add Rhut to my team.  Generally, my team's melee fighters are superior by the time I meet him.  Plus, it's just a waste of gold.  I'd only ever pick him up if I needed to add a melee fighter for some reason.

Sikra - 8.5/10
This is my favorite wizard in the game, and the only female one.  She has combat and nature magic skills, although combat is superior, so I'd recommend sticking with that.  She's fairly tough too, considering she's a wizard.  And best of all, she's free.

Ulfgrim - 5.5/10
Ulfgrim, like Rhut, costs a lot and generally isn't worth adding to your team.  Maybe if I'm doing an all-melee fighters team, I'll add him.  And like Ulfgrim, his skills tend to be a bit behind my team's.

Lord Bolingar - 8/10
Lord Bolingar typically has comparable skills, but he comes so late in the game.  Is it worth making a change so late?  Typically by the time you meet him, your team has started to gel well and doesn't need much improvement.  Maybe if somehow you still have a pack-mule and want to replace it?  

With that said, here is my ideal final team:
Created Character
Rusk
Kroduk
Naidi
Phaedriel
Merik/Andiemus/Zed
Boryev
Sikra

It's got a nice balance.  Typically, my created character is a melee fighter, so that would make 3 melee fighters, two archers, and three wizards.