
There is no point on having a party bigger than 20 people at this moment in the game. Only take looter parties that are smaller than 10 people otherwise you may loose. Now that you have at least two companions, I suggest you recruit raw soldiers on villages, and begin attacking looters (only looters, do not engage bandits, deserters or sea raiders, because any of these will wipe you out right now).
MOUNT AND BLADE WARBAND FREE PRISONER FROM CASTLE CHEAT FREE
So, focus 100% on recruituing those free companions, recruit at least two to start with. Companions are much more useful than regular soldiers because companions don’t die, and they will keep their equipment forever even if you become prisoner (at least on Mount & Blade classic). Don’t spend denars on recruiting companions early on, only recruit the free ones. I strongly suggest you visit the taverns in nearby cities and look for companions, because there are some companions who will join your party FOR FREE. Of course I’m talking about ingame time, not real time. This time will cover roughly the first game month(s) of your character.

Now, it depends if you are either main strengt or main agility (or both, if Vaegir) character. Vaegir and Khergit lords should build agility because agility is useful for ranged combat and also some other skills, and these two factions rely on agility tactics, while all the others rely on strength tactics. You may trade later if you want, but you’ll win a lot of denars winning battles. Strength gives you one more hitpoint, so you can take more damage without dying, and the skills you learn by having strength are VERY useful to warriors, and you want to be a warrior on Mount & Blade. So, you need to be a good fighter to be good in this game.

Mount & Blade is mainly a game about fighting, winning battles and wars and taking more lands for your kingdom and for yourself. Vaegir lord main characters should build strength and agility and charisma. Actually, for Vaegir I recommend building three stats and this is the only case. Yes, Vaegir lords could build either one. You should build agility if you plan on being either a Khergit Khanate lord or a Vaegir lord. You should build strength if you plan on being either a Swadian lord, a Rhodok lord, a Vaegir lord or a Nord lord. Don’t build intelligence, I think intelligence is useless for Mount & Blade (classic) main characters.

One should be either strength or agility, and the other should be charisma. Some may disagree, but my opinion is that YOUR main character should only focus on TWO stats.

This guide is for anyone who wants to play the game on this level, and it will also help those in easier settings. This level can be quite hard if you build your character in some ways, and if you don’t pay attention to some details. I’m a Mount & Blade classic fan and I made these guide for people who want to play the game on the hardest difficulty setting since character creation, and want to experience everything the game has to offer on that difficulty, without having major annoyances.
