Party Creation? for Newbies

[Sleipnir]

Hi,

I am new to the board and to the game and i think i am going to love it just like Wizardy 7.

Before creating my first party i hope to pick up some good advise.
Do you think the following Party is going to work,
my main concerns are
-having enough offensiv frontline Powers (i only have 2)
-enough healing powers (only use a mage)
-is Ranger+Bard+Gadgeteer to much in one Party
-no Critical Strike user
-being able to use most of the goodies in the game (amor, weapons etc) - no Faerie Ninja (it's just too much)
-create a unique party with very special skills
-i would love a proper Thief but can't fit him anywhere

Party:

Fighter (Lizard)
Valkyrie (Human) - for Roleplay reasons
Ranger(Human) - same
Bard(Hobbit)
Gadgeteer(Gnome or Hobbit)
Mage(Faerie)

I was thinking to use a Bishop or two but I don't want to drop anyone and i thought all other Char (except fighter) will give enough (?)backup magic and healing.
I will have two pure characters (Fighters and Mage) and 4 other which i can develop as i like.
I don't want to take any NPC's in my Party. (or should I?)

Any suggestions, as well for what Races to choose, I don't necessary want to choose the most powerful in each class, as i have my own role play setup in mind but any suggestions are very welcome.


Thanks
Sleipnir

[Jem]

Sleipnir -

The only problem that I see with your party is that a mage can't cast healing spells. A Valkyrie and a Ranger can learn them, but not until level 5. Bishops, OTOH, take a little longer to level up but have much more versatility in spells they can learn. I'd strongly recommend trading in the Faerie mage for a Faerie Bishop. Also -- regardless of which class you take, make sure you save a few of your spell picks along the way so you can grab as many 7th level spells as you can when they become available to you.

I don't think the Ranger/Bard/Gadgeteer is overkill for several reasons: 1) with the Ranger you won't have to turn searchmode on so you won't be surprised by monsters as often, 2)with all of the great instruments/bard-only equipment it would be a shame not to have a bard, and 3) there are too many neat gadgets available not to play with a gadgeteer at least once. A word of caution, though: he will be limited in the number and power of gadgets available him at least until 1/3 of the way through the game so he doesn't come into his own as early as the bard.

Actually, with the exception of your fighter and mage, your party looks very much like my own first. I decided not to take a Fighter, however, and chose to bring along two bishops for spell-power (having each focus on two schools). With the Valk and Ranger in the Center of my line-up, I put the bard and gadgeteer on the flanks and the two bishops in the rear and had no problem getting through the game. Sure, I lost a few people but I had fewer than 15 resurrections throughout the game and 5 of those came at the very end of the game in a single HUGE battle.

You'll get a lot of advice one way or the other. My advice is to pick characters and classes you will have fun with -- it might not be as easy to beat the game as with other configurations but so what? Having fun is much more important than having the "perfect party" as determined by anyone other than yourself.

Good luck!

P.S. Nice nick -- I love the Norse mythos

--- Edit ---

I forgot to address a couple of your concerns.

First: Critical strike isn't that big a deal, IMO. With the ranger you can get ranged criticals and even with no Samurai/Monk/Ninja you can still get crits every so often (My gadgeteer got one this morning when he was meleeing a nasty - did 18 pts. of damage to a creature with 444 and killed him with a crit).

Second: Yes, you will be able to use almost all of the equipment and items you encounter. To the point you'll be torn between which ones to choose.

Third: If you want a thief, you can always recruit one of the first NPCs you encounter once you reach Arnika. He won't go everywhere with you (at least, not voluntarily) but he's good at the early game.

As for taking NPCs -- at least let them join long enough to get their equipment, even if you don't keep them. It's also a good way to find out a little about the world because each of them has a comment to say as you enter each area. Some are better than others but regardless, it does give you an opportunity to play with some of the classes you don't have in your party.

I hope this helps clarify things for you.

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: Jem ]

[Annheiser]

The only potential problem I see right there is your lack of Protectiion spells (e.g. Armorplate, Soul Shield). If you intend to put your spell points into what protection spells you have for your Mage, then you might as well just make a Bishop instead. That's what I would suggest. Drop the Mage and make a Bishop or a Psionist. Faeries are good in either class.

[Samurai_Zeke]

two front line is more than enough. however...
Valk can use anything, ranger can use most plus gets some good ranger only stuff. might consider samurai for from line. many differing oninions, but I have really liked mine. you do find some samurai only goodies.
healing, plus protective spells. think you are short there. valk takes al long time to get up to speed. I would take a bishop instead of priest. actually you can make priest first, but add extra points with idea of making bishop as soon as possible. that will give you an advance in divine spells (good for protection, stamina/heal) early, but give you ALL the good spells later on.
bard/ranger/gadgeteer. I really like the combo myself. Ranger and Bard both make good flank fighters, gadgeteer can be in center and support all sides with ranged weapon + gadget affects.
if you look through the board you will find people have had success with just about any combination you can think of, so do whatever you like!
enjoy.
ps look at the first 2 posts for tips on building characters. no matter what your party, putting points toward the "right" areas makes a great difference in how well you progress.

[GenXCub]

a good place to go for building characters is http://www.geocities.com/jandrall

If you want a thief, replace the Fighter. If you follow the directions there for a rogue. In Wiz8, Rogues can compete with Fighters for Damage after awhile (you need good stealth score).

Or, you can use a Rogue instead of a Valkyrie. Early in the game, you can recruit Vi Domina, she's a Valkyrie. My party is Sam-Fig-Ran-Gad-Bar-Bish, and I do okay. My next time through, I'm dropping my Samurai and Trying Fighter-Rogue for my front line, I'll probably not use a gadgeteer the 2nd time, I put Bards and Gadgeteers in the same quirky "utility-man" role, but I find Bards suit my play better. I'll give the Fairy Ninja a try. Since I'll have 3 Classes that have the Locks/pickpocket skill, it will allow me to use my skill points on my Ninja towards combat.

As for your party... instead of a Mage, I'd use a Bishop instead. Going with one major magic user is fine, but if you do that, make it a Bishop... just personal preference, and most likely the preference of most people on this board.

Ranger with a Triple Crossbow is quite the critical hit dealer and there are plenty of weapons mid-late game that give criticals for a fighter.

[Gimli]

Hey - well here is my 2 cents. You will be able to pick up a Human Valkyrie as an NPC early on so you may want to consider a different choice there, but having 2 Valks is good too to put them in the flank positions with their polearms.

I think the fighter is pretty limited after having a few, now I use a monk, valk and samurai as my front line; I would suggest taking one of those instead of the pure fighter. I really like the monk best, humans make good monks, felpurrs are nice samurais.

Ranger is great (mooks are probably the best ones from purely a stats point of view), Gadgeteer is great, I like bards too, think hobbits are excellent for either. I would probably go for a Bishop though instead of a Mage because he'll be your only pure caster. Mine is a faerie which is good, but the Elf is also a good choice and can use more types of equipment.

Beware of one thing on jandrall's site though for bishop development, he tells you not to put points into Divinity, I find that is a mistake, try to keep your 4 realms about even as your Bishop will need develop them all; you can skimp on the divine magic skill, but not the Divinity realm or it will really lag behind.

Enjoy! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[GenXCub]

You can skimp on divinity with a Bishop, but not at first. You need to keep it higher than Psi/Alc until you've practiced it up to a good level and all your healing and Identify Item uses Divinity instead of Psi.

Then you can skimp.

[Mage_77]

quote:

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you can skimp on the divine magic skill, but not the Divinity realm or it will really lag behind.

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quote:

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You can skimp on divinity with a Bishop, but not at first. You need to keep it higher than Psi/Alc until you've practiced it up to a good level and all your healing and Identify Item uses Divinity instead of Psi.

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Both sort of correct. if done right you should keep wizardry highest with alchemy next then divinity then psionics.


As soon as you get knock-knock you should raise wizardry with this in Arnika. (this is one of the betetr ways to increase your earth/wizardry realms).


Now reason i say alchemy next is for Healing & Cure Lesser Cond.
Working realms up with these spells in Lower Monastery on the Gas coffin increases Divine,Water & Alchemy.


Next is the Charm & Identify spells which increase Mental & Divinity realms.


Then Mindread to increase psionics.


Reason i suggest this way is that Wizardry has no other skills that is like Knock-knock where you can increase that realm to 70 without spending 2+ hours working on that skill. Alchemy is my next suggestion because besides merging potions & casting attack spells/chameleon this works out the same as wizardry. (also note that increasing your alchemy at this early in the game will allow you to make renewal potions leaving you with no financial problems throughout the whole game & creates items that you will need to identify which is explained in the next section for divinity). Charm is next as this spell is psionic/divinity realm casters only. Identify is also with divinity and with your high skill in alchemy now you can work up mental & divinity realms with all the potions you create. Psionics last with mindread (which is a psionics only spell). By the time youve done all those spells in that way you will have Mental, Earth, Water, Divine realms at about 70-90 each with Alchemy, Wizardry, Psionics & Divinity at 50-60 each by mid-game. You can do divinity before alchemy but then it requires you to come up with the money to buy potions to be able to merge them into stuff thats better while not being able to make stuff that gives a decent profit until you increase your skill. Also by doing that you lessen the amount of potions you can identify as you dont have the skill to make the potions you would even spend time on merging.

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: Mage_77 ]

[ice3]

quote:

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Originally posted by Sleipnir:
Hi,

Party:

Fighter (Lizard)
Valkyrie (Human) - for Roleplay reasons
Ranger(Human) - same
Bard(Hobbit)
Gadgeteer(Gnome or Hobbit)
Mage(Faerie)

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I find Gadgeteer and Bard nice but only one at time. I used a Bard in my first game and he was the buffing guy (hast, Bless, Mass Heal, etc...) and nasty stuff (Pandemonium, Insane, sleep, etc...) Ranger has crit and is a nice guy.

I would go for 2 spell casters. Take bishop, they are slow to devlop but you get all the sppels you need. I find the specialist spell caster not as productive in fights (2nd half of the game).