[Grey_Wolf_c]

As I was walking home today, I started thinking about the math behind the "pick a tie and a contrast" idea. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes in my mind - props have to be given to whomever thought about it (in TSR, or where they took it from).

In a standard 5-adventurer party, each character will be connected to every other, with two ties and two contrasts, two of which he chose and two of which were created by someone else. That is a great way of tying the party together from the start.

Now, in our 6-member party, each of us will be connected to four others, just as above, but there will also be three pairs of characters unconnected to each other. I would suggest that we expand the exercise one last step, connecting those pairs with a detail that is neither positive nor negative: a neutral connection. To continue the example of Shadow Elf in OP, Korran's turn to stand midnight watch always coincides with that of Tanis, but they are always too tired to do anything other than make sure they both stay awake.

This would give us the link with the final party member, without breaking the equilibrium of positive and negative.

Grey Wolf