Magic party on the way (spoiler )

[Loudhy]

After I finished the game this weekend with my fighter party, I created a magic group. They are in Arnika now (Lvl 9)
I was surprised:
It went very good so far. No problems with Highwaymen or other guys. My party contains:

1 Human Priest ( front left )
1 Dracon Priest ( front right )
1 Fairie Alchemist ( front middle )
1 Gnome Alchemist ( front middle )
1 Mook Psionic ( back )
1 Elf Mage ( back )

Maybe I change some of them to bishops later.

But still I must think about the "specials" (Nessie, Furor, Souleater, Diamond Unicorns etc. )
Because I wanted to start a magic party, I looked on the resistances of all the the guys on the AP map and many of them were beyond 100 or higher.

My last party contained no magic users,so I used instruments or gadgets. F.e when I met the Rapax Army with the prince and the cloned party member I used all kinds of bombs and instruments. The use of the NegatAir gadget was nearly useless . The only killed enemies by this thing were the rapax bowman. I tried all the other items too, but in the end, I was forced to kill them all in melee.
The only effective instrument was the watercannon but I couldn't use it often ( Stamina problem), so I fired the Omnigun with Lightning Bolts mostly.
My dual-wielding ( Mauler / Diamond Eyes ) lizardman fighter killed the souleater within three rounds.

From my experience with magic items I can only hope: "Powercast" makes the difference !!!

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[Wereboar]

I once killed a group of rapax warmages which were 3-4 levels abouve my party, only with spells where they had 120% resistance (no water spells used). With high powercast, it i possible.

Nessi usually casts elemental shiled, but can be killed by the high level mental spells. If necessary, you could kill her with elementals, too.

The rapax too cast elemental shield, so most of your spells have reduced power. A psionic shines. And i once did this fight with a powercast hybrids party (samurai, monk, ninja, ranger) with spells only. The molten(?) scorchers that entered the fight were much more tough than the rest of the army (but i have to save that my party was level ~28)

Souleater is no problem with a real spell-only party. Throw body of stone on the front liners, and he won't hit for much damage. And the insanity - well, nobody in my spellcaster partys has any melee skill, so they don't manage to hit their party members (but sometimes their own foot)

[Kylospylon]

Yee-ha, go for it Loudhy!

If I were you, I'd change one of your alchemists to a bishop if you are going to change any of them. Some of the best spells the alchemist has are cloud spells, and casting a cloud spell twice is pointless (until the first cloud spell has dissipated).

If your alchemist becomes a bishop early enough, you could have him/her study mage spells. Direct damage spells like fireball, iceball etc. are twice as effective if cast by 2 or more characters. 2 fireballs are better than 1, 2 toxic clouds are not (well hardly).

I ran 2 samurai in a party once and had them double up their spell attacks, very effective. Specialist magic casters more so. Your alchemist-bishop would still have cloud spells but now could team up with the mage in doing some damage while your other alchemist does the clouding.

I wouldn't try and make any bishops study much priest or psionic spells, you should have more than enough already. 1 Psionic should be enough, since they hardly do much direct damage, prefering instead to disable enemies.

Just some ideas I had when I thought about running an all-caster party myself, hope they help. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Scatter]

yah, i agree, 2 alchs is more than i would ever need. And you only get so many things to mix...

[Loudhy]

You're right. One of the alchemist's is a candidate for changing. I created two at the beginning because I wanted some more HP for front characters and an alchemists develops faster than a bishop. I think , I change mage and psionic, too.
For my dracon priest I'll max out str and dex first. There are many good weapons for priests in the game and I want to use them . The bishops later will use magic only ( maybe one will build up the staff skill ).
I'm still in Arnika . I buy all spellbooks I can get there. I found many flash and sneeze powders with the highwaymen, so I have enough money to get all the books they have.
They next station will be Trynton. I want to get the 5 IQ bonus as early as possible.

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[ 02-10-2004, 01:48 AM: Message edited by: Loudhy ]

[Loudhy]

Forgot something.

I thought about the development of that party up to lvl 20:

I changed my mind. I don't switch the psionic to bishop because a fearless guy may help later. I also like the idea of a psionic standing in the back, shooting medusa stones with a wrist rocket.

I will reach the wanted expert skills at level :

Human Priest : PoCa 14 , IrWi 11
Dracon Priest : PoSt 13 , Refl 15
Fairie Alchemist : PoCa 10 , SnSp 16
Gnome Alch/Bish : PoCa 10 , IrWi 16
Mook Psionic : PoCa 10 , EaEy 09
Elf Mage/Bish : PoCa 10 , IrWi 18

After they reach their goal, I'll max out speed and senses for high initiative.
Exception : the dracon priest goes for vitality.

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