Hi gang. This is my first post here, so please be gentle with me. Thanks in advance!

Believe it or not, I just started Wizardry 8 last week! I've had the game for well over a year now, but it's just been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to find some time to play it. I'm an old Wizardry vet, having played the original game on my Apple II+ (like most everyone else), and I've played all the rest up through (but never finishing) the Dark Savant. Right after the New Year I decided to load up Wiz 8 and see what it had to offer.

After building my initial party and making it through the Monastary with moderate difficulty, I decided I wasn't enamored with my chosen group (sound familiar anyone?) and decided to do some research on the web. I came across this site and read through several informative posts, guides, and strategy tips and think I'm ready to try again with a group to give this game a shot. Here is my planned group:

Lizardman Fighter
Human Rogue
Dracon Monk
Mook Ranger
Gnome Alchemist
Elf Bishop

I plan to train my chars as much as I can, but I do have a couple of questions that will effect them early on so I wanted to ask them here before I waste too much time. Is it helpful or worthwhile to switch my Ranger to an Alchemist or my Monk to a Psionic at level 2 to give them spell access earlier? How about switching my Bishop at level 2 to Mage or Priest for extra Stat/Skill/Spell points?

Any advice/feedback is greatly appreciated!

Actually, my fave class changes include starting a would-be Ranger or Ninja as Alchemist @L1--you start with a much higher Alchemy skill, and your Dex can be made much higher as well, but only if you use a Hobbit (and if you enter the game as a Ranger to get their kit, recycle to Alc for a level, you can keep wearing the armor). Changing the Bishop around does you no good at all, really, except if you raise Alchemy first and get it over 90 by mixing/knocking, then switch to Mage for a level, knocking Wizardry up to 90 so you can learn all the Mage spells (eventually).
As for the Monk, just stay Monk all game.
Also, Human is kinda wasted on Rogue--Hobbit can start Spd and Dex much higher.

I agree with Scatter. In my experience if you want access to magic earlier for a hybrid class then it's best to start as a pure spellcaster and then change to the hybrd class.

While we're on the subject of class changing I would say that, IMO, the best time to change class is either right at the start of the game or, particularly with pure spellcasters, towards the end. Unlike previous Wiz games class changing has many more drawbacks than it used to have.

xfactor

Thanks for the advice Scatter and xfactor. I'm going to start my party off later tonight and see how they do!

Especially if this is the first time you're playing, I wouldn't worry about micromanaging class changes to get slight advantages. That group will do just fine with no class changes at all.

If you do want to class-change with that group, some minor suggestions:

Start the Bishop as a Mage, then switch immediately to Bishop at level 2. You get bonus points to 4 realms by starting as a Mage, but the cost is that you will have to wait one extra level to get access to each level of Priest, Alchemist, and Psionic spells throughout the whole game.

Start the Rogue as a Bard, and practice to get your Music skill up before switching to Rogue. Your Rogue will then be able to make use of some useful low-level Bard instruments. Each instrument in the game has a required Bard level and music level to operate. Just 5 Bard levels and 45 or so in music will let you use quite a few handy instruments, though you'll want to practice your music as high as you can (without boring yourself to tears, that is) before switching since it won't improve while you're a Rogue. (BTW, I agree with the comments above about Hobbits being better Rogues, and if you want to nitpick I'd say Felpurrs are even a tad better than Hobbits as Rogues, but if you want to make a Human Rogue there's nothing wrong with that.)

I tend to emphasize combat over casting for my hybrids, so I wouldn't bother diluting the Monk or Ranger with a starting level of Psionic / Alchemist as appropriate. If you do really want your Monk and/or Ranger to be serious secondary casters, consider pumping INT to max early for them to get Powercast. (You can do that independently or together with taking level 1 as a caster.) Also, specifically for your party, a Dracon Monk starts as an apprentice, and it would take forever (7th level) to get a Dracon Psionic to reach the attributes required to switch to Monk. Your Mook Ranger, however, could immediately switch to Ranger if started as an Alchemist.

My overall advice, though, remains don't bother switching classes: you've got a strong, varied party as is. Save class switching for the next time you play [img]smile.gif[/img]

If you want to get the full detail of this, read this article (scroll down to the profession-changed characters bit).

[img]smile.gif[/img]

Train your rogue with duel daggers from the start. In Arnika you will be able to get two thieves daggers which are deadly but cursed.

Thanks for the additional input, all!

I was going to have my Rogue dual wield Sword/Dagger and use Bloodlust/Thieves' Dagger. Should I go the dual Thieves' Dagger route instead?

BL is fine, does lots more damage than a second dagger would. You'll learn two different weapons, which takes a bit longer to develop, but the difference is definately worth it.

Thanks Scatter. I know the max damage on the BL is only one point higher than the TD, but I was counting on the extra Berserk attack with BL to make a big difference.