I have just finished W&W.

Initially I got about halfway through with a party of 6. However, after the inn bug swallowed several important keys and tomes of wisdom, I installed the patch and restarted as a solo. I made her female, expecting to progress assassin-valkyrie-zenmaster. Yet I was able to become zenmaster before valkyrie, so I didn't bother. Would there have been any benefit in making the final switch to valkyrie?

Does changing one character to a valkyrie make enough of a difference to a 6 person party to justify trekking all the way back to a temple, just for the last couple of battles? And what is the point of getting a trait to kill the undead when there are no undead left to encounter?

They look sexy............................

Well, i have a Valkyrie, named after my future wife.
When she comes up to live with me, i hope she gets as much a kick out of it as i do. She is into RPG's, so hopefully she wont get me killed off.

Morguemaus

I think the main reason for including the valkyrie and zenmaster roles was to give people a reason for playing the game through a second time to experience the benefits of these characters. Not that there are not plenty of reasons anyway. Even the most experienced Wizards and Warriors players on this forum find a new subtlety in the game most every month.

So two reasons, basically: 1) Adding spice to a second play-through of the game, and 2) The possibility of creating characters to be named after one's future wife. Two pretty hefty reasons. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

with respect to tomes, and other important quest items, there isn't any reason to lose them to the INNs, pick a site close to your portal, or like I do, right by a town gate, (before entering the town) and "drop" the extra pounds. just drop the items, and there they stay. although the "dock" isn't that secure, the other gates seem to keep the pile of goods pretty dependably.
If this tip is already posted, sorry for the rerun.

A note about vanishing items.
I have found out that you can prevent the items from vanishing. After passing an item to a character in the town or in the inn

YOU MUST OPEN THE NEW OWNER'S INVENTORY AND SEE THE ITEM! YOU MUST DO SOMETHING WITH THE NEW ITEM!

Click the item in the new inventory and put it back. It's enough.

I have found out that the items that vanish are those items that were passed to another character (usually a mule) without checking them in the new inventory. The items that were passed but also checked in the new inventory never vanished.

Now, I am always checking the items in the new owner's inventory and I am always doing something with the new items in the inventory. Since then, I have lost NO ITEMS even if I passed the items in the inn, too.

Note that all the above concerns the town and the inn. You need not do such things in the wilderness or in dungeons.

That sounds to me like a certain addition to the Best Tips topic.

so the items vanished are those that are only PASSED ON but never checked right? so if i dun touch ANY items in anyone's inventory, no items would vanish right?

The Valkyrie also offers a chance to get some more Earth spells late in the game. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Earth spells? Did you find Jafin's special stash at the Boogre Bar, Willow ;)

Sun, Moon, Spirit, Vine, Fiend, and Stone... no earth in there :(

'Course, you probably meant Stone, since a Valkyrie can learn Stone magic, and any non-starting-sorcerers were probably feeling kind of wimpy without a good meteorstorm to call down :D

I think I'll go hide now, before I get [img]graemlins/troutslap.gif[/img] or [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img]

To Lionheart: yes. According to my experience so far, yes.

There seems to be a bug in the game affecting items passed to another character in the town or in the inn. Here is my hypothesis about the bug:
1. The items passed in the town or in the inn are "unstable" - and they can be lost - until you "stabilize" them by letting the new owner know that he has got a new item and by letting the old owner know that he loses an item.
2. The new owner of the item gets informed about getting a new item when it's YOU who places the item into his inventory.
3. The old owner of the item gets informed about losing an item when it's YOU who takes the item from his inventory.
4. The items are "stabilized" by leaving the town. Perhaps, inventories of all members of the party are checked during leaving the town.

Consequences:
- The old owner is always notified about losing an item - with one exception, see below - because you must take the item from the old owner (the old owner gets informed about losing an item) and pass it to another character. That's why, you can lose items but you cannot gain items.
- As we know, the equipped items are safe. Why? The hypothesis about "stabilizing" items explains why. When you want to equip the item, you must take it (the new owner gets informed about losing an item, perhaps, he haven't known so far that he has owned the item) and equip it (now, the new owner gets informed about the new item and the item becomes "stable").
- The "money generator" in the inn is caused by the same bug. Polling money is trading items (money) behind the scenes. The old owner is unaware of losing the item and the new owner is unaware of gaining the item. Now, if you poll money, remove the old owner from the party, and let him join again, the old owner will have the item (money) again. If you remove the new owner from the party and let him join again, the new owner will lose all money collected so far :D