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Wereboar · 09-11-2006, 12:05 PM

DragonFighter:
It sounds like you tried to play your spellcasters like you would play hybrids. They are casters, nothing else. In my game, they never used melee or a missile weapon (but they wielded melee weapons for their activation).

I had the bard in front as a tank (with a shield and bloodlust - if i want to concentrate on magic, additional AC is better than dual wield). Priest and alchemist were at the fanks, bishop in back, each one with a shield, just to avoid anything to get near my fragile mage and psionic.

The bishop was the biggest disappointment in the party. For the other casters, just push their spell realm + 2-3 elemental skills at level up. The bishop has 4 scools to increase, and doesn't have a skill bonus in them, and was 1-2 levels behind the others due to higher XP requirements. He learned his first level 7 spells about 2 levels before the end of the game, while the others were already casting them at spell level 5-6.

The priest should *not* learn heal wounds at the start of the game. Instead, he should use 'make wounds' as his primary attack.

With all casters, i maxxed intelligence (powercast) and wisdom (iron will, spell points) first, followed by vitality. Fight skills are useless for them. Maybe i should have choosen vit over wis, since once i was level 11, spell points were no problem anymore.

As i said, i played them as pure casters. Bard using instruments most of the time (only melee against magic resistant monsters, or when my casters run out of spell points. Make a fight or two, go to a save place, rest the spell point (which goes fast with a bard). Once i was level 11, i had a portal at the trynton fountain, one in Lower Martens Bluff, one elsewhere, and one as a temporary one. So i could blast away anything with spells in a fight, set a portal, return to Trynton, drink to regain spell points, and teleport back to where i was.

The bard alone in the front line - no problem, since you can cast guardian angel and stone skin on him if there are fights against heavy melee groups. But enemies like Juggernauts are easy with a group of casters - just run to a corner, and use ball and cone spells, and they are gone in about 3-4 round (bard using sirens wail to distract them).

Oh yes, and i played the game in expert ironman mode, as always.

09-11-2006, 12:05 PM	#7
Wereboar Baaz Draconian Join Date: June 6, 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 795	DragonFighter: It sounds like you tried to play your spellcasters like you would play hybrids. They are casters, nothing else. In my game, they never used melee or a missile weapon (but they wielded melee weapons for their activation). I had the bard in front as a tank (with a shield and bloodlust - if i want to concentrate on magic, additional AC is better than dual wield). Priest and alchemist were at the fanks, bishop in back, each one with a shield, just to avoid anything to get near my fragile mage and psionic. The bishop was the biggest disappointment in the party. For the other casters, just push their spell realm + 2-3 elemental skills at level up. The bishop has 4 scools to increase, and doesn't have a skill bonus in them, and was 1-2 levels behind the others due to higher XP requirements. He learned his first level 7 spells about 2 levels before the end of the game, while the others were already casting them at spell level 5-6. The priest should not learn heal wounds at the start of the game. Instead, he should use 'make wounds' as his primary attack. With all casters, i maxxed intelligence (powercast) and wisdom (iron will, spell points) first, followed by vitality. Fight skills are useless for them. Maybe i should have choosen vit over wis, since once i was level 11, spell points were no problem anymore. As i said, i played them as pure casters. Bard using instruments most of the time (only melee against magic resistant monsters, or when my casters run out of spell points. Make a fight or two, go to a save place, rest the spell point (which goes fast with a bard). Once i was level 11, i had a portal at the trynton fountain, one in Lower Martens Bluff, one elsewhere, and one as a temporary one. So i could blast away anything with spells in a fight, set a portal, return to Trynton, drink to regain spell points, and teleport back to where i was. The bard alone in the front line - no problem, since you can cast guardian angel and stone skin on him if there are fights against heavy melee groups. But enemies like Juggernauts are easy with a group of casters - just run to a corner, and use ball and cone spells, and they are gone in about 3-4 round (bard using sirens wail to distract them). Oh yes, and i played the game in expert ironman mode, as always.