This is my first time through the game. I played through Arnika about 12 times until I found the party I thought I was happy with.

Lord - Bloodlust/Hammer
Fighter - sword/triple shot crossbow
Ranger - sword/bow
Gadgeteer - Omni/gadgets
Bard - Bow/music
Bishop - Wiz/Alc/Psi
Vi & RSF -

I picked up the Cane after killing the Don (first round instant kill with my ranger). With Vi and the music/gadets/potions covering Divine spells I'm thinking of dropping the Lord for a fairy ninja. My party is level 14/15. Is this too late to develop a ninja that would be effective with the cane?

Most switch classes by lev 10-11 but you will probably get 7-9 more levels if taking your time. The Cane is good enough to be worth it (especially vs. Bloodlust) but don't count on getting any decent alchemy magic power from the faerie. My vote is that is not too late to switch if you focus purely on fighting ability (critical strike, mace/flail) and stealth. Using the hammer should have helped mace skill, I would consider a nunchaka as the other weapon (if faeries can use them).

EDit: re-reading your message, I'm not sure you are talking about switching just classes. If you are going to add a new character, I'd say watch out. Maybe if you surround them for protection (change the formation). It will take much time for them to develop combat because they will be so weak at first, but on the other hand , they will rise levs VERY quickly if you can keep them alive bu combat skills will be slow. The Cane may still be worth it but it will cost you.

[ 01-29-2004, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

It is adding a whole new character. I'm thinking if the rest of the party gets to 22-24 then the ninja could get to around 18-19. If I focus solely on the Cane (wand&staff/ critical strike/stealth) I'm hoping he would do well. However he would be very focused on only one thing.

You'd probably want to go back to the lower monastery for awhile or somewhere where the upper level limit on monsters is as low as possible so that the new character doesn't get killed frequently - maybe do some stealth training with metallic slimes or something.

Welcome upward [img]smile.gif[/img]

I doubt that that much work is necessary. You'll need 100k to reach lvl 8 and 400k for lvl 10. Those levels should be reachable in a fair time. If you stay in Trynton it should be easy for the rest to drag the f/n to those levels. In Ratt Tree the wasps spawn for good xp, and if you stay clear of oaks/sprites in the rest of Trynton keeping the ninja in the back rows should be enough. There'll be no combat training in these fights ofc, but you'll gain the hp needed to start fighting in the front row.

I'd prolly drop the fighter instead of the lord, since he'll be the one of highest level (With bard&gadg), so the ninja wouldn't trail so far behind, but then again i'd drop any fighter out of any party :D

With Superman & Guardian Angel the f/n can start training on the last monster standing fairly soon as well. Another reason to keep the Lord ;)

(edit: with your party at lvl 24 the f/n would be at lvl 22, the 1.6M don't make a big difference then. You might want to look at Flamestrykes experience chart, but don't look around there unless you want to get spoiled.)

[ 01-29-2004, 09:56 AM: Message edited by: ferro287 ]

@ Zig; The Cane is a Wand/Staff, not Mace/Flail.
@ upward; Welcome Here, and rather than a Nunchaka in the off hand, use a wand or shillelah.

I replaced the Lord and the ninja made it to level 8 in just a few short battles. I decided to skip the dual weapons since this would be another slow down on his attack ability. He also got 2 instant kills during his first actual fight he was active in (a good sign to me). He did die once in the first battle but I raised him before the end so he would get those first 6 levels. At that point he had enough HP so he could be healed by the Bard if needed.

I debated dropping the Fighter but with adding a possible weak character in the ninja I wanted the security of a excellent tank.

At this point the only thing I'm missing with the Lord vs. the Fighter is the "rest all" to help the Bard and Gadgeteer.

Welcome to the boards upward!

Thanks, Scatter, I keep forgetting the COC is a one-handed staff like a shillelah. It also means I should find a staff for my nin soon (training). I have the Spirit Staff but it is 2-handed. Maybe I'll switch to it now or wait for Ebon upgrade. If I lose the chuks, will it be a "give up-chuks" maneuver? Sounds greenish ;-o