starting new party

[rbeane1]

starting a new party out going to try and make it with just 4 females
only use NPC's for quests.(when ya gotta bring them some where.) No pure Magic
Casters.

human samurai
hobbit ninja
felpurr monk
dracon Valk

[The Procrastinator]

Nice! Gotta try that one.
No faerie ninja? Getting bored with that one?

[Nightowl2]

I had a 4 hybrid group and they worked well. Differences: Lord instead of Valk, and Ranger instead of ninja. If you take your time and build them up well, they will be a tremendous fighting force.

Nightowl2

[Ziggurat]

Rbeane1, I see you are covering the four magics entirely with hybrids. Sounds like a good challenge. I started a new one last night, the solo faerie ninja was a success after my trials posted on the other thread. Here's the current one:

Rogue Hobbit M
Bard Human F
Samurai Rawulf F
Bishop Mook F

At the start, I immediately switched the Sam to a Mage (dropping the character to get the weapons, started a new Rawulf Mage) for 5 levs. This allowed her Enchanted Blade and Missile Shield. Switched back to Sam at lev 6. The Bishop is developing all but Wizardry school. Will switch her to a Ranger or other later, when have all the prots, etc., that seem useful. May switch the Bard to a Lord later, too. A little different (Rawulf and Mook not used much in these professions, took a hit in some stats) but not too radical.

Edit: I mean switch the Rogue to a Lord, the Bard will remain Bard. This party may need a second healer before the Bard gets the "mend all" instrument...

[ 12-31-2003, 04:10 AM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

i ran a 3 person party over the break, and managed to ascend them before getting back to work!

dwarf fighter
hobbit rogue
human spellcaster/hybrid

the dwarf fighter focussed on iron skin. when we finished on the peak, she had 32% damage resistance, 400 hp, and a 33 armour class, using gold breastplate, infinity helm, cloak of perception, and lower divinemail, and two gifts: a rainbow shield from the king's chest, and my 4th light sword from the bucc ghosts (i've gotten 3 from them, but only 1 from bayjin). she had 3 attacks of 3 with the light sword and was the only party member to never die.

the rogue maxed str, dex, and spd, had a 44 initiative, and had 2 attacks of 3 with each fang and stilleto. he was the stalwart for the whole game, even when the dwarf was struggling early, leading in kills only until the fighter got the light sword.

the hybrid started as a mage, for the int/spell skill boosts, then i thought to go 1 level as priest to get a similar boost for the priest book. lo and behold it doesnt work that way. wasted level aside, she spent the next 10 as bishop, to get all the spells through level 4 for priest and mage, and level 2's for the alchemist. she then switched to valk and was casting all the buffs in green by the end game. although she went staff of doom for much of the game, she switched to the ivory blade for the peak, so that she could add bow to her repertoire (since she didnt develop powercast, her attacking spells were nearly useless the last third of the game). in the end, she had 75 or better in ever stat, and over 85 in 3, with the help of items (including cloak of perc, lower divinemail, and the mantis gloves and boots). perhaps the most balanced character i've ever developed, i was pleased to see that a defensive caster could be developed in this fashion - since my bishops are often resigned to this role anyway

[Ragash]

I'm starting a new party as well.. not that I'm bored with the three I'm already playing, I just love making parties [img]tongue.gif[/img] Haven't even ascended yet, but everything in its own time.. aaanyway, here's my question..

I'm making a party of four consisting of

Human Lord
Human Valk
Human Bard and
Human Bishop

It's my Humans Only Club [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thing is I've never played a bishop before (yeah, I know..) so I'm wondering how to develop it.. now, the Lord and the Valkyrie will both be going divine after level 5, so I wonder if I should just leave the divinity to them? Or should the Bishop still learn divine? I could let him get heal wounds in the beginning of the game and try to live long enough for the Lord and the Valkyrie to get heal all, but I wonder if that's possible..

Anyway, what do you think the bishop should specialize in? All my previous parties have been very melee-oriented too, so I don't have much experience with the offensive bit of magic either.. any pointers regarding that would be cool too. Thanks!

[Nightowl2]

Offensive magic is pretty weak overall. Basically it's used to soften enemies up a bit or to incapacitate them. You'll want some damage spells, like fireball or firebomb, and knockout spells like freeze flesh and web. Noxious Fumes is also good in many situations, and insanity is one of my favorites.

You'll note that most of those are in the mage spellbook. With two divine spellcasters, you probably won't need to do much in the divine area, even though the valk and lord will develop slowly. But yeah, you'll likely be needing some healing early on, so heal wounds is a good choice.

Nightowl2

P.S. You'll also want the enchanted blade and missile shield buffs.

[Scatter]

Don't worry about Divinity with the Bishop. Heal Wounds trains Alchemy or Psionics, too, whichever has the most points.
I'd definately focus on Alchemy at least until it's 15, so you can start mixing potions. And Psionics can train quite fast with Charm, if you're into practise. I often give my Bishops one Mage level, once Alchemy is up in the high 80's. That way i can use Knock Knock to push Wizardry up to a useful level without having invested Level points in it.

[Ragash]

Made it to Arnika yesterday with the party.. it's level 7 now. I stopped in the monastery and cast Charm on Burz, so psionics were up in the 70s and mental magic in the 90s before I even got to upper monastery [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I've always thought that offensive magic is weak too, but I always figured that it probably gets better in later levels. I guess it does too, and even if melee is better I feel I need to get a feeling for the magic in the game too.. it helps when I encounter casters [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I saved most of my spell picks so I never got Heal Wounds with the bishop.. had to drink quite a few potions on the road to Arnika [img]smile.gif[/img] I figured I could buy the spells I needed/wanted in Arnika but lo, Braffit and Anna were out of books.. so I guess I'll just wait for their inventory to refresh.

Thanks for the tips! [img]smile.gif[/img]

ragash - the real benefit of a bishop is their access to a range of spells that can make them useful in virtually any situation. this is true whether you decide to make them a more defensive bishop, more offensive bishop, or an all-around spellcasting contributor.

contrary to what many people suggest, offensive magic can dominate the game right up through AP. early in the game is easy - monsters rarely have magic resistance worth talking about. but in the mid/end game, there are two tricks to it.

first, you have to have high level mythology and access to higher-level offensive spells in every college (ie fire, water, etc.). this allows you to identify the weaker resistances of your enemies (vis a vis mythology) and target those achilles' heels with your offensive spells.

the second trick is to build powercast. every little bit helps, so max int as early as you can, cast as often as you can, and dump 3 points per level into it. and if put nebdar's amulet on your best caster

it's a lot of attention to detail to make it work, but it can work.

a melee-heavy party will struggle with high hit-point, high-damage resistant monsters in large groups, but a well-developed magic-heavy party will go through them like a hot knife through butter. by contrast, the same magic heavy party will struggle with high-resistance singles and small packs that a melee-heavy party will brush aside like so many serpent feathers.

the well-balanced party will handle each situation with equal efficiency - but to get that balance, you still need characters who can deliver on the high-end of magic as described above. otherwise, it's not balanced - it's just melee heavy with magic support.