I haven't tried switching a Bard at L 18, that seems late to me. I use the Bard for Haste, and as soon as i hit L 8, i switch, the # of hits and swings goes up so much faster. I use a Mook, and the Giant's Sword does vastly more damage than the later Instruments. And, of course, wearing all that lovely Armor so soon makes it even more fun.
My fave 4-member has been:
Mook Bard-Fighter
Faerie Ninja
Elf Monk
Hobbit Bishop

[ 07-23-2002, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: otter ]

OK, I *told* you I was obsessing. I went back and started over with a very similar party:

Dwarf Lord - middle
Faerie Ninja - middle
Gnome Bard - middle
Faerie Bishop - back

Funny thing is that in terms of how I'm developing them, this party is almost identical to the other 4-person party I was running.

However, this party has kicked more a$$ in a short time than any party I've ever run. I have absolutely no idea why, but that gnome bard really does some damage in melee (I let her play her instruments early on, but she's in the middle with the lord and ninja, and gets her licks in later on). In fact, she's got almost as many kills as my lord!

And I officially give up. Concede. Throw in the towel. I'll never run anything but a faerie bishop again. :D Occasionally I get an urge to try something like an elf, but man, you have to spend too much time resting with a bishop other than a faerie.

I told you I was thinking about a munchkin er..small person party. Now if I could just get the Lord to stop singing "heigh ho, heigh ho..." and never mind what the faeries have been teaching the gnome.. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Tiny people rule! :D :D

Boy I haven't been on this board in a while ;o

Otter, I was under the impression that the number of swings and hits does not vary by class, only by skills, stats, and level. Why do you think that it does? Obviously, in many other games it does, but my melee-focused bards seemed to have had the same number of swings and attacks as my fighters in the end game....

Can anyone else confirm this one way or the other?

I think it's #levels in your current class that determines Att/Round. If it were total Character level, then my switched chars wouldn't lose the swings they lose upon switching.
Now i've just started yet another party, wanna test my latest theories on Attribute distribution:
Hobbit Ninja gets 2 points ea. in St, Sn, Dx; at L20 all three max. Then Vt and Pi, 3 each, for HP, Stamina, and SP.

Elf Bishop: I'm going back to Powercast, because i remember it working--this is the 1st party with a Bishop in 5 finishes (if i play them that far) She gets Power cast at L11, meanwhile popping Vt up to 50 and maxing Dx at L17. After maxing In, 1 point each in Pi, Sn, Vt; once Dx is max, 1 for Pi, 2 Sn, 2 Vt, and 1 St. Pi's not so important to me, i read all the Spellbooks and use Mana Stones, so my SP pool and regen are both fine anyway. I like Sn and St for better Staff o'D performance, and Vt makes HP and Stamina.

The other two are a bit simpler:
Elf Monk (the Haster) Sp max in 12, Dx at 15, then 2 pts each in St, Sn and Vt.
Hobbit Samurai, one point each St, Vt, Sn and 3 in Dx to max at 14, then 3 in Sn to max at 25, with the remainder into Pi. I'm not sure this'll work out with a party of 4, Lv 25 is kinda high even with 3...

I do have my favorite Trio going now, too: Rawulf Lord, Mook Ranger, and Felpurr Bard-to-Ninja. (at L9; she's a Bard primarily for Hastage and a Ninja for the Portal, and continued development of certain techniques of procurement)

This could be because of changes in the primary skill. For example, if you go from bard to fighter, you may gain an attack simply because of the bonus in close combat (may cross the 50 skill threshold). But that's different from saying that the fighter INHERENTLY gets bonuses to swing/attack by level. I'm not sure one way or the other, but just based on what i've observed, it seems that class doesn't matter that much.