As usual, I am bored with my current party so have decided on an 'Easy Company' party of two fighters, two bishops, bard and AN Other (haven't decided yet, possibly another magic user or another melee user).

But for the two bishops, do you go Wizardy/Psionics and Alchemy/Divine combo or Wizardry/Alchemy and Psionics/Divine or do you go Wizardy/Divine and Alchemy/Psionics?

Not sure about the last one as they will have overlapping spells but am unsure if that's good or not?

What do you think, and why?

Thanks.

If you plan to train your bishops, I would make sure they both have access to the charm and knock knock spells on different schools, which would eliminate the priest/psionic and mage/alchemist combo. If you want to have a good spell points distribution between the six realms, combining alchemist with psionic seems a natural choice, which would mean your other bishop would be a mage/priest (that would be a terrific combo for divine spells). That's what I would do, but I haven't try a double bishop party yet.

I would certainly want at least one with Psionics, because insanity is such a great spell.

What you really want to do, though, is judge the effectiveness of the spell classes you've been using up to now, as well aswhich ones yuo've been using the most. That, more than anything else, is likely to indicate what spells you will be most comfortable with in a 2-bishop party.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

i would agree with the procrastinator on this one: mage/priest and alchemy/psionic, because of the minimal overlap. this maximises the spell points in the colleges, which is a key advantage for the bishop.

of course, you can still build up the other spellbooks more slowly, to gain even more points later in the game.

I train all, if one goes down ( while combat or something ) at least the other is still around and have the same magic capabilities. be noted though this kind of training will take along time.

It seemes kind of pointless to me to try to build 2 bishops in a 6 person group. There dosent seem like there would be enough xp to go around. If your going to use 2 bishops you may want to knock your party size down to 4 or even 3, instead of 6.

Bowman, yes I agree 2 Bishops in a six pack is OTT. The only other time I've done this is in a 4 person team of a Lord, Samurai & 2 Bishops.

Anyway, I'll give it a go and will go with Wizardry/Divinity and Alchemy/Psionic. I'll go with a Mook Bard and also a Mook Fighter for you know what. The other Fighter will be a Lizard, probably dualling maces (love the Mauler and DE together). Probably Elf and Faerie Bishops.

Now, what about the sixth member, who should that be? Or just go with 5 in the party, as 2 Bishops will need a lot of experience?

What do you think? Thanks.

Play with five characters.

I don't know if you want to use NPC's but I wouldn't. I think that a five PC party will have enough trouble finding the amounts of xp to level two bishops. I tend to play with parties of 3-4 PC's (and maybe one NPC) for xp reasons.

Deejax

Yes, I also don't use RPCs except I have been doing so for the first time with a magic party after reading EE Worzelle's post about his party. Bard with Bloodlust is OK, but Gadgeteer has the Diamond Epee so needed a bit more melee as the rest of the party are the 4 specialist magic users.

By the way, I have learned to hate Juggernauts. Difficult to kill and measly experience for doing so.

Developing your Bishops depends on what level you want your party to be when starting AP. My previous party - 2 liz fighters and 4 bishops, had the bishops entering AP at about level 21 with most 5th level spells and ALL the lower level spells. I'm not sure where I finished but I didn't have any of the 7th level spells and only a few 6th level spells. Really though you don't need the upper level spells at all. Most of my spell casting consisted of protections, freeze all, magic missiles, ego whip, and the occasional whiping rocks or crush. The really nice thing about this is that your firing off those spells at full power x4 with plenty of mana reserves. Ego whip was typically doing 40 damage per bishop per casting.

The hidden problem here with mutiple bishops is cost. It costs unbelievable amounts to purchase all of your spells X4.