Noob needs help with party

[leptomeninges]

Hello folks,

Long time RPGer here interested in giving Wizards and Warriors another try. (I quit the last time when I found the controls too counterintuitive for me.) I've read many of the tip pages and am a bit intimidated with the idea of role changing and skill/stat assignment. I feel like I've read different things about the best way to maximize your characters. I am tentatively thinking of the party below:

Dwarf Warrior
Human Warrior
Elf (female) Warrior (eventually Valk)
Gnome Rogue (eventually Assassin)
Oomphaz Priest
Fairy Mage (Zenmaster)

I could use some suggestions on role changes and levels for the changes along with stat/skill assignment. Thanks in advance.

[Wyvern]

Welcome to the board, leptomeninges!!!!

Looks like a good party to me!!

One of the nice things about W&W is just about anything will work out well!!

For those learning magic it is best to let them learn the higher level spells that you want (not all spells are worth learning) before switching them to a new class - that's not a problem when you are taking a wizard to a warlock but otherwise it is a very sound rule - learn what you want before you change.

Fighter types can change just about any old time and there are advantages to doing it soon or doing it later (gosh, that is so helpful! lol!) Seriously, as you play the game you will find that it all works out nicely in the long run! [img]smile.gif[/img]

As for assigning skills the only real thing to keep in mind is that the skill page can't hold all the available skills and some can end up scrolling off at which point it becomes next to impossible to do anything with them. If you've read through the tips you should know that as with spells, some skills aren't really worth while either.

This game is very sword and staff friendly - yes there are some of the other weapons around but I've never found it worth while to specialize in weapons other than swords and staves.

You can reassign some of the keyboard shortcuts to help make the game more intuitive to you. I know that I had it worked out so that it was a real breeze to play!

Hope you have fun and keep us updated on your game!!!

Wyv

[Bungleau]

Welcome to the boards, leptomeninges! [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

May the Gael Serran soon know peace under your seasoned hand.

Tour party sounds good to me... as Wyvern said, the best thing about the game is that there are no wrong choices. You can finish with anything.

Note that you won't get the Zenmaster and Valkyrie until the very end of the game, so your interim classes will be used much more often.

My personal rule is to keep in a spell-casting class until you've got all the level 7 spells that you want from that class. I end up changing wizards around level 13 or so, primarily because only warlocks and valkyries can advance in stone magic, and only valkyries can learn it.

Warriors I move to barbarians as soon as possible, and rogues have to stay that way until Ishad N'ha. Eventually change them to other classes when you've got enough HP and are ready for spells. For me, that's usually around level 13 or so again.

I'll echo what Wyv said about skills... I don't spend points in things I can train in, and I apply skill points to the last non-trainable skill in the list. Otherwise, you can lose the opportunity to ever train in it again.

Have fun, and keep us posted on the game!

[leptomeninges]

I appreciate the replies. They are quite helpful. I am currently waiting for my copy to arrive (Amazon.com) and would appreciate a few more tips if anyone has time. A few specific quesitons.

1. What do I lose when I switch classes? For instance, what is the downside of taking my dual pointy-thing weilding tiger man who has been a samurai for the last x number of levels and making him suddenly a priest?

2. As near as I can tell, one of the key reasons to change classes is to pick up the role-specific traits. For instance, the "Ancestral Guide" trait of samurais I think is available at level 3. Once I have said traits, is there any reason to stick with the class? Do I even want all these traits? For instance the "Fury" Barbarian trait looks like a mixed blessing.

3. As a caster, when I switch classes do I lose the ability to use a spell school (assuming it isn't part of the new class) or only the ability to advance it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Edit: One more question]

4. I see that Ironmight is available at warrior level 4. Should I stay as a warrior long enough to pick that one up or just plan on reclassing to warrior at some future point to get it?

[ 09-27-2006, 03:23 AM: Message edited by: leptomeninges ]

[bsftcs]

Welcome to the board. [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

[Wyvern]

Originally posted by leptomeninges: I appreciate the replies. They are quite helpful. I am currently waiting for my copy to arrive (Amazon.com) and would appreciate a few more tips if anyone has time. A few specific quesitons. 1. What do I lose when I switch classes? For instance, what is the downside of taking my dual pointy-thing weilding tiger man who has been a samurai for the last x number of levels and making him suddenly a priest? 2. As near as I can tell, one of the key reasons to change classes is to pick up the role-specific traits. For instance, the "Ancestral Guide" trait of samurais I think is available at level 3. Once I have said traits, is there any reason to stick with the class? Do I even want all these traits? For instance the "Fury" Barbarian trait looks like a mixed blessing. 3. As a caster, when I switch classes do I lose the ability to use a spell school (assuming it isn't part of the new class) or only the ability to advance it? Thanks in advance for any help. [Edit: One more question] 4. I see that Ironmight is available at warrior level 4. Should I stay as a warrior long enough to pick that one up or just plan on reclassing to warrior at some future point to get it?

For most classes changing class has little or no downside - the exception (and this is important) is for MAGIC USERS - WHen they change class while they can continue to learn spells associated with their previous class(es) they will be unable to learn the upper spells which is why we all advise that you learn the lvl 7 magic spells for the class they currently have before switching to another. Hope that made sense.

When magic users change class they can still use any spell they ever learned regardless of whether it is part of their current spell school or not - something learned will never be unlearn (yay - makes sense, should always be that way!)

Once you have switched to a new class, you CANNOT switch back to a previously held class for that character - BUT so many of the traits and skill still up being offered to you because you were that character type at one point - a plus plus situation.

Basically I always kept my magic users as they were to learn the upper spells and then I would switch to something else. The changes I made were always to gain something immediately useful to the party as a whole. I'd switch a warrior to palidin so that I could get some additional healing spells, or a warrior to barbarian to pick up some additional lockpicking.

Others will have to answer about the traits - I haven't played in so long that I don't recall them specifically. What I do recall is that just about everything does work out one way or another with a lot of fun along the way!

So my advice is don't stress about it too much - make changes to your characters to give them something the party needs.

SAVE OFTEN!!! SAVE IN MULTIPLE SLOTS!!!! Try a change, if you don't like it, restore a save before the change! I always had at least 3 saves for any one game and quite often 5 saves - one for "town", one for the entrance of a dungeon, one inside the dungeon, generally half way, sometimes another save within the dungeon if it seems particularly difficult. Having multiple saves will SAVE you many times!!

Hope your copy arrives soon!!!

[Bungleau]

Originally posted by leptomeninges: I appreciate the replies. They are quite helpful. I am currently waiting for my copy to arrive (Amazon.com) and would appreciate a few more tips if anyone has time. A few specific quesitons. 1. What do I lose when I switch classes? For instance, what is the downside of taking my dual pointy-thing weilding tiger man who has been a samurai for the last x number of levels and making him suddenly a priest? You can lose the ability to wear armor or use weapons. For example, switch to Warlock, and your plate +1 will come off. You'll also lose your swords out of your hands... so make sure you have plenty of inventory space before you complete the change! Or else you'll lose those items... 2. As near as I can tell, one of the key reasons to change classes is to pick up the role-specific traits. For instance, the "Ancestral Guide" trait of samurais I think is available at level 3. Once I have said traits, is there any reason to stick with the class? Do I even want all these traits? For instance the "Fury" Barbarian trait looks like a mixed blessing. Some are class traits, and some are guild traits. Other classes can learn Iron Might, so don't wait for that one. 3. As a caster, when I switch classes do I lose the ability to use a spell school (assuming it isn't part of the new class) or only the ability to advance it? You can always use it if you learned it. You learn non-native spells at half your class and spell level. Your sorcery level also factors in; you can't learn level 7 spells in a non-native class until you're at sorcery 14. Thanks in advance for any help. [Edit: One more question] 4. I see that Ironmight is available at warrior level 4. Should I stay as a warrior long enough to pick that one up or just plan on reclassing to warrior at some future point to get it? As above, don't wait. You'll get it later.

[ 09-27-2006, 09:44 PM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]

[Wyvern]

Oh yes!! good point, Bungleau, about the armor/weapon changes that can come with switching classes!