Playing through Wiz 8 for the first time...

Currently my party is Fighter, Samurai, Ranger, Gadgeteer, Bishop, and Priest, about level 13-14. I have two questions about the party:

- I have several bard instruments, but the Umpani bard I picked up can't go everywhere I wish to go. I'm thinking of changing my Ranger into a bard to use the instruments. Will he still keep his bow abilities? And can using the gadgeteer's searchlight make up for not having a ranger in the party?

- My Priest has maxed out his divinity skill. With the Bishop as my primary magic user, my priest ends up not doing much other than casting stamina and healing during combat. Should I keep the Priest as a priest or change him to a Lord to make him more useful in combat?

Thanks- I love the way the game's coming along.

Mike

I use my Priest for Guardian Angel and superman spells. He also keeps the magic screen up. I have no dual characters in my party, though, with 3 fighters, a Priest, a Psionic, and an Alchemist.

To answer your first question, Your ranger would keep his bow skills but he would be seriously hindered as a bard, it would take him quite a while to get up to spec for bard status. Unless you plan to do some major exping, I wouldn't change that ranger over.

Secondly, If your priest's Magic skills are maxed, I personally would suggest switching him/her to a Lord. I never really played a Lord though so I dont know how well they preform in combat. If he/she is a Mook then if you do change him to a Lord, definetly give him a giant's sword.

Just a suggestion if you decide to play through the game again. My current party is a Fighter, 2 Rangers, 2 Bishops, and a Bard. THEY KICK ASS. 1 bishops nukes and debuffs while the other heals and buffs. Bard usually helps debuff with sleep and insanity then uses ranged instruments. Obviously fighter and rangers kick the s*** outa stuff. I plan on keeping RFS-81 and someone else in my party, haven't decided who yet. Of course thats justa suggestion. Most parties are viable [img]tongue.gif[/img]

If I were to start over, I'm thinking I'd like to try a party of a bard, a gadgeteer, a bishop, and either 3 fighters or 2 fighters and a Valkyrie.

At this point, the fighter (with his triple crossbow) is out-doing the ranger even with ranged weapons. Getting three fighters with three triple crossbows, the ranged attacks of the bard and gadgeteer, and the magic from the Bishop= Death from afar [img]smile.gif[/img] . (The fighter is the only character I have who can use the double and triple crossbow)

But I'll keep the ranger for this game- I think it's a good enough party to finish. I'll grab the Sax for the bard isntruments the next time I'm at the camp, though.

Has anyone tried an all-melee party, or an all-magic party?

Yeah, you've definitely got a party that will go the distance without trouble. I'm on my second trip through the game, and I've been bard-free so far. I can't play the instruments, but I sure can sell them. [img]smile.gif[/img] Next time, I think I'll try taking a bard and dropping the gadgeteer.

Also, if you don't mind putting up with whining, you can port an RPC into a zone that they wouldn't walk into. So far as I can tell, there are no adverse effects from doing so.

Yea, selling instruments is one thing I forgot to mention, its a big cash bonus to non-bard wielders (for lack of a better term lol). I thought that porting an RPC into a zone they didnt like hindered their fighting abilities but I could be wrong, that might also just be after the patch. I dunno [img]smile.gif[/img] .

Lords are great, with the dual-wield bonus plus the Mauler's mace bonus and Diamond Eyes, mine have been very deadly--good switch from Priest!
If you give your rangers a 3X-xbow, they'll be better than fighters with it, mostly bkuz they get a crit every once in a while.
If you keep the searchlight going, that'll make up for no Ranger, and continue to improve the Engineering skill. While you're at it, use the X-Ray scanner all the time, too...

Just remembered, I think the spell X-ray might help as well. Not sure if it works on undetected items b/c I think I only used it once I had found pretty much everything but it might work, worth a shot right? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Maxxed his Divinity skill? Nice. So it's at 100? I have my Wizardry at 100 in Wizardry - and was wondering what I should switch him to?

Also - would it be worth it to change my 19 Rogue into a Ninja?

Maxxed Wiz? Depending on what they've been wielding, and who else is in the party, Samurai.
One thing to pay attention to; your Caster level will skip four waiting for the Hybrid to catch up. You'll still be able to cast, but some of your green dots will go away when you lose the Pure bonus (BTW: make sure you really got 100, it'll say 125)
If your L&T/PP can still be developed more, Ninja could be fun.
Much depends on what weapons you want to use, and who else you got. More tanks are usually better in the end, so anyone could become a Fighter to advantage, unless it would mean losing special weapons (eg Muramasa must have a Sam, which is why i change my Bards at L9 to Sam, unless they're Mooks, which change to Fighter)
If the Mage has been developing Staff and Wand, picture berzerking with Staff o'Doom!