quote:
Originally posted by Zanthia:
If I did go the gadgeteer route, which is a better race for the bishop now that I would have the fairy option available: elf or fairy.
I would change your Faerie mage over to a Bishop myself - my Faerie Bishop ended up with the highest kills in the party because she can regen SP faster than the Elf. Two bishops also complement each other nicely because each can specialize in two spellbooks. As for faeries dying too easily, I found my elf bishop dying more often than my faerie and he had better armor! Myself, I'd lose the Mook and the Fighter and go for a Dracon Ranger (in fact, that's what I did) and that would leave you room for your own gadgeteer. My game-winning party was a faerie bishop, hobbit bard, human gadgeteer, dwarven valkyrie, elven bishop and dracon ranger and the RPCs of Vi and RFS (Valk and Monk).
You don't need an alchemist because your alchemy-specialist bishop can do everything they can and more (and I can count on my two hands the number of times my spell-casters were silenced - and there were no times both bishops were silenced).
Also, when I did go into melee, I had my gadgeteer (sword) on the left flank, my two valks (Vi and my own) in the center along with RFS using a Zatoichi bo and my ranger and bard on the right flank with swords while my two bishops hung out in the back. This gave me all 8 in melee range, 3 with swords and 5 extended. Since it was rare that I got surrounded completely, my bishops had decent protection and my sword-users could fight to the front or rear or to their own side while my center and rear people could fight in any direction because they all had extended weapons.
What it all boils down to is that everyone has their prejudices and favorites and you should choose something YOU like and think you'll be happy with. More than half of making the characters good ones is how you build them up rather than what their race/initial class is.