[armakh]

I absolutely loved my gadgeteer, and honestly am not that impressed with my bard. The only instrument that I really have used a lot on a consistent basis is the rousing drums for haste. Used the bless spell a lot in the early game, and the insanity one, but I found myself missing my gadgeteer a lot. The instrument I'm most disappointed with is the freeze all one. I figured that it would be awesome, but I have had very very bad luck with it. Oh yeah, I use that dulcimer of mending a lot, too-but gadgies get heal all, too. Maybe it's just a difference in my playing style, but my bard has died a LOT, and failed to save my party by dying before the dulcimer a lot, too.

As far as hybrids-I love them, even if you don't use the "cheat training." (a word if you don't know what that is-things like spending all night training stealth for a level in the monestary or casting knock-knock and resting ad-nauseum to get your earth and spellbooks up) Just using those words for lack of anything else-we've already had the discussion about whether or not it's actually cheating on another thread a while ago. Some specific thoughts-I just wish that ninjas didn't take so long to level, but after using the CoC, who cares *grin*. Sams-took a while to develop well, but when they do-watch out! Lord-I was really not impressed. With a bishop taking care of healing, I found his spell-casting rather useless, so I switched him to a fighter as soon as he got portal, and he's much more effective now. Properly developed, a fighter can have more fun dualing, IMHO. Valk-loved her because of that polearm bonus. Rangers-mine's a mook for that GS-kicks butt both ranged and close. Monks-love mine. Mows through the competition with fists of fury.

I have not used any pure caster classes yet, but plan to on my next game. I have found my bishops to be a heckuvalot of fun, and I don't use the "cheat training." However, with the way that I play, developing my bishop's skills has gotten in the way of my hybrids becoming potent casters, so I'm going to specialize and try to make my hybrids really work their magic skills and see if that works next game.