A few Questions about classes

I was quite far in the game with my Kensai/mage, which I adored... But my brother had to format my hardrive and I'm forced to start over. I'm not interested in being a Kensai again, and have been thinking of a few other classes to try, but... I don't want to play them for a long time just to find out I don't like them, it seems very counter productive. So I was hoping I could list some classes I was interested in and hopefully some nice people would be willing to tell me how they liked their class at higher levels please.

Totemic druid: Sounds very interesting, easily the best druid kit... But I don't like their level cap. Especially with the new expansion coming out. Plus there are so many more healers than toher good classes out there.

Archer Kit: I've always liked archers, but I'm not sure if there are enough good bows and such out there to make this class worth it... If I'm mistaken (which I hope I am) what is the best bow type to specialise in? I was thinking short bow. Bows in general seem very weak compared to other weapons out there.

Stalker Kit: Description of this kit sounds very interesting... But Valygar seemed kind of weak to me.

Assassin Kit: I like the idea of having another good pure rogue around... I really liked Yoshimo, and was disapointed knowing he was going to leave. The idea of backstabbing for x7 is very intruiging as well.

Blade/skald: The bard kits sound kind of fun... not too sure which one is good at all, Blade sounds ok... but I could get the Haer' Dalis (not too sure on spelling) guy, so not too sure if it's worth it.

Mage/Sorcerer: I like the concept of the sorcerer, but not too sure if his limited spell repetoire hurt him later on... This may ge a lot of replies and such, but which mage speciality is the best in your opinion? The necromancer seems like a pretty good one. But again, I could get Edwin, so is a mage really woth it?

Monk: I tried one, seemed very crappy at first, but he sounds so good at later levels.

Barbarian: Having a Barbarian with Celestial Fury and the Cyrom Fear (spelling error) sounds devastating. The armor limitations seems to trouble me though (hehe I know ironic coming from a Kensai)

Specialty Cleric dualed into a fighter: Not too sure which specialty cleric is the best, but dualing a priest of Lethander into a fighter sounds like it might be a decent idea... Or perhads the other way around =P.

Anyways... there are a lot of choices out there and any information would be most appreicaited (especially on Totemic druid). Thank you

I'm playing an Elven Archer (as you can see in my name) and so far I like it quite well. My Archer is currently at lvl 16, and doing most of the work. With his ability to hide and relocate he can harass an enemy party until they are all dead.
My Archer has a THACO of -11 when using bows, and since he has a heartseeker he can increase this to -18. And he isn't even using the bracers of archery.

I think of a ranger as a person who lives in the woods for days, protecting nature and the innocent without exposing himself. The Archer kit allowed me to create a ranger as I thought it should be.

As for the kind of bow to use, I would reccomend the (composite) longbow. After all, if you're a good archer, you need a powerful bow.

I didn't use the called shot ability at all so far, as I simply never really needed it. I think that if I did, the Archer would prove to be better than I think it to be already. Not being allowed to wear metal armour isn't such a disaster either, as it allows you to hide in shadows at all times.

The only drawback is that an Archer isn't that good in close combat, so I had to take two other fighters with me, which meant less magi and priests.

I haven't used any of the other classes for more than the prologue, so I can't tell you how the Archer relates to other classes, but I'm very enthusiastic about this kit.

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The last arrow of Legolas kindled in the air as it flew,
and plunged burning into the heart of a great wolf-chieftain.
All the others fled. -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

[JH BOMBER27]

If your an archer you should definatley specialize in longbows.Also maybe putting one point in a melee weapon in case an enemy gets in close on you you have something to switch to.

[el_kalkylus]

If you like backstabbing, you should IMHO choose the kensai/thief instead of assassin. It can backstab better (at least in the 6/7 part of the game), and it has much better THACO and can be grandmaster in a weapon + the kensai damage bonus and kai. You can use the kensai/thief as a fighter too.

The drawback is that you don't get thief-skills in the beginning.

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Hmmmmmm...Yes, that must be it

Well about the sorcerer
It seems very hard in the beginning and it is
Yopu need to know what spells you use and what you think are good
If you don't know what spells are good you can easely choose the wrong ones and the sorcerer will turn out very weak
But chose the right ones and you got a irenicus killer the luxe (don't tell me you didn't know the ultimate goal is to kill irenicus)
But you still need a normal mage for the "special" spells


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[Epona]

Bards are great - they are good all rounders who don't really specialise in any one area. Some basic info:

Bard
Casts mage spells (from scrolls and memorises up to level 6 spells with exp cap on)
Uses all wands
Pickpockets ability - saves loads of money - about 80% skill at starting level and gains 5% per level
High Lore - no need for identify spells + saves cash etc. - Bards get 10 Lore per level, so at level 10 (Bard starting level) their lore is 100 - much higher than any other class will ever reach
Special ability - Bardsong - gives combat bonuses to allies
Can only be proficient in weapons (1 proficiency slot)
Can only use armour up to chain mail- but cannot cast while wearing armour, although there is 1 special armour item for bards in the game which lets them cast
Restricted to Human & Half Elf
Must be partially Neutral alignment
Most important stat - Charisma (although intelligence is also important for spellcasting, and dex/con for AC/HP as usual)
Gets a great stronghold

Blade Kit
As Bard except:
Can put 3 proficiency slots in 2 weapon style
Special ability Offensive Spin gives bonuses to hit, damage and attack speed
Special ability Defensive Spin gives large AC bonus but you can't move while in this mode
Penalties to Lore and Pickpockets abilities, bardsong does not improve with levels

Skald Kit
As Bard except:
Permanent +1 to hit and damage
Penalty to pickpockets ability

Jester Kit
As Bard except:
Bardsong confuses enemies instead of giving combat bonuses to allies
No penalties


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Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Epona of The Laughing Hyenas and The Ladies Guild.

[Sorcerer Dave]

Sorcerers are VERY versatile. You just have to know which spells to chose. One you do they kick arse. Espicly with the Staff of Magi. Its a shame you cant have a Sorcerer duel class to fighter. If you could they would be unstopable.

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A Council Member of the Wizards of the Light

[Jasonexus]

Check out the FAQ by Dan Simpson at this link
http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/filter...258273,00.html
It grades every class and NPC and gives the pros and cons of each.

I finished the game with a monk and it's too powerful at high levels. It can kill anything with quivering palm in one hit. Plus you're beter off not using weapons because you lose attacks per round so you lose the fun of finding new weapons for him.

Sorceress is also powerful at high levels. I removed the exp cap and at Level 18 she could cast 3 time stops a day! I gave her project image and she had 5 a day. What I would do is project image and that image would have all the spells including 3 time stop. The image then could sumon unlimited numbers of creatures not just five. You could do this 5 tmes a day = 15 level nine spells a day. And when you were done your original Sorceress still had all her spells except the level 7 spells.

My best guy however is a Level 9 wisard slayer dueled to thief then shadow keepered back to pure fighter thief. You must duel fighters at odd numbers because that's when they get proficies. Thieves gain levels quickly so you get the class back soon. After you become level 10 thief use shadow keeper to change back the fighter class. Then you can use any magic items and you keep the cumlative casting failure. Plus you get two strong holds and can make a lot of money.

[Chai]

I like the two extremes.

Mage: the very best for a single encounter, and the very worst over a long period of time due to the fact they must sleep and remem fairly frequently to maintain an effective arsenal. There are some nigh unbeatable tactics a mage has for every situation, but again, you have to either ration them out carefully or sleep frequently.

Monk: can only kill one enemy at a time, but can solo a dugeon without breaking a sweat. Consider, a level 20 monk wearing a certain item gets:
Four 1d20+7 attacks a round with the fists. This is clearly quite insane. After fighting like this the delay between spell casts seems like an eternity.
Immune to slow
immune to poison
Immune to disease
immune to charm
60 in magic resist
Self lay on hands
Very fast movement rate
Stunning Blow
Quivering Palm(kills even dragons)
Can read priest scrolls

Kensai/thief:
These are very very good as they can almost always kill an enemy in one attack, and they just have to walk around the corner to do it again. They are the best wizard slayer, unless the wizard happens to have stoneskin up

Blade: I found the spin abilities very appealing, but their thaco is so horrid that even with offensive spin on they average far less damage than a warrior/pal/rang.

Warrior/berzerker: Incredible potential for ac.

spoiler.
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Once the monk has the cloak of reflection he is an invincible death machine. The cloak of reflection is said to be an overpowered item, but the effect on the monk is even more amplified than on the other classes.

[This message has been edited by Chai (edited 04-09-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Chai (edited 04-09-2001).]