Flash powder I believe is plentiful - drops all the time from bank guards and I believe it is also on rotation (24 hr) at various venders.

I reckon that Faeries are harder to look after than other races, so perhaps a begginner should try stronger spellcasters, who can carry more (a begginner won't be as certain as an experienced player about what he wants to keep or sell) and might be a little tougher.
Also you might want to point out that it's best to avoid recruiting NPCs because they take experience from your other characters. In my main game (I haven't completed a game yet) I've had Vi and RFS tag along and they're both level 20 or so, and I've only just discovered that my other people could be better. It wasn't mentioned in the manual.
Also, I saw someone reccomend putting bards/spellcasters in the first three spaces because they act first after walking. This is good advice, and is opposite to the advice in the manual, which tells players to put fighter types first because they are put in the front row in the starting party formation (which can easily be changed).

Actually utilizing the strategy in the battle staging section allows the same protection as other casters + gives +2 AC automatically (and has decent clothing to start to increase AC). Furthermore the "cheese" tactic of stealth in a Faeri makes more rpg sense (if stealth is desired).

Additionally Bishops are the strongest spell casters.

The only real downside is latter in the game when you have lots of stuff to carry AND that they can't wear additional armor that say an elf could.

Despite this they have the attributes in the "right" areas - allowing a more effective spell caster earlier on.

ALL of the above means that the FAERIE is still the best - at least until half-way through the game.

As for recruitment of NPC's, sure they suck some XP points - but not a lot depending on party size. If you have a party of 6 +2 NPC's they lower XP's surprisingly little for the rest of the party. Frankly unless you have a party of 3 or less it isn't worth worrying about, (and our minimum beginner party size is 4 so its moot).

Yup, I will put in the one about attacking first after walking.. (though you already have!)

[ 12-30-2003, 10:10 PM: Message edited by: ScottG ]

early on, i struggled to get workable spellcasters, particularly the bishop. "discovering" the faeries' strengths, in this respect, helped me along as a new, learning player.

since then, i've seen the limitations of faeries, and would not choose them for spellcasters anymore, for two reasons:

1 - best for half-way is not best overall.
2 - best for a single character is not best for a party.

without getting into too much discussion, my point is just this: the recommendation about faerie spellcasters is a good one, for the new player. and that's all. it has it's limits, not the least of which is what is fun for the individual player.

i hope that anyone who reads any beginner guides or advice (including my own!) keeps that in mind as they learn more about the game, so that they never bow to dogma but instead continue to experiment and find what works best for them.

edit: bad tags

[ 01-05-2004, 07:53 PM: Message edited by: sultan ]

ScottG, you make mention of Mage_77's list of where spellbooks can be purchased with a link to http://wiz8.web1000.com/mage_77.html, it is also available at http://wolfie.wiz8.de/mage_77.html (a mirror for those who have access problems reaching the first link).

This applies all all the information on the web site (see signature below), just replace the (wiz8.web1000.com) with (wolfie.wiz8.de) to go to the european mirror site.

[img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 07-15-2004, 09:00 PM: Message edited by: Wolfie ]

Graci! Wolfie - just edited it.

as for Sultan's comments, YUP!

"BEST" is obviously subjective - even when providing a substantial quantity of support.

To my way of thinking though "BEST" race for a class really hinges on your battle strategy, number of characters, and what level of ability and diversity you want, and when you want it.

utilizing the meathods I've mentioned there really isn't a need to carry around lots of equipment, nor is there a need for your spell casters to have even +1 in AC from equipment. Why? They won't get hit if they are properly protected by your meatshields, (and missile shield).

I've tested the Beginner's ref. formula for success w/out the stealth meathod for faeries, and AC levels were never a problem - in fact I NEVER had to ressurect a character once during the game EXCEPT against a certain "denzien of the deep", (and even then I reloaded and did it properly). Note however that this would have been different without a strong missile shield spell in place - but not a prob. with Bishops.

Nor do Faeries become "worse" latter in the game - they simple "peak" faster than the other races. And in my opinion the only reason to choose another race would be for the ability to dual-class much latter and use an infinity helm, and EVEN THEN I'd prob. still prefer to continue on as a Bishop. (I think I've gotten them up close to level 30 and still never achieved 7th level spells - not that I needed them.)

The key to spell casters is simply to use their spells as often as possible and using them X3 (or more) if they are offensive spells, nothing "magical" about it. There is the tendency to want to use slings for your spellcaster - try not to, it defeats one of the primary reasons for having a spell caster in your party at all - and generally stunts their development.

[ 01-07-2004, 02:01 AM: Message edited by: ScottG ]

Bumpity-bump-bump

This post-cum-manifesto is too useful to fall off the first page .. it was incredibly useful to me in addressing my mistakes/misconceptions and improving my overall understanding of the game ... is there a way to get it "pinned" at the top like the "Tips" thread seems to be?

My guess is a moderator or whoever would have to sticky it.

This is a good guide though, and it's interesting to read even if you already knew most of it.

As requested (and I agree--GREAT tips!) I will keep this as a sticky topic for everyone!!


PS: We are also looking for a Mod for this forum. If you know this game front to back, please PM me with details about you.

Thanks!!!

Re: The Beginner's Reference - about 20 pages
 

This must be the best single game thread for game beginners anywhere on the web, and the contributions have just added to it! I have just got Wizardry 8, but wanted to play Wizards and Warriors first, but see elsewhere on this site to see I am having problems getting that latter game to work!