party advice

[kryptobeats]

Right now I'm in Trynton with the following party

dracon samurai
dracon samurai
dracon lord
mook bard
mook psychic
farie mage

all around level 11

I love my party, and they have wonderful potential. But is there really a point in keeping my bard a bard past level 11. What would be good for him? should I keep him around for some wonderful item he gets later? anyone have any success story's with there bard laying down his lute and picking up a lock pick set or spell book? what if I just off him so my party gets more xp?


ps. lightening strike with 2 samurai, and a dracon lord with blood lust makes quick work of the infamous battles in wiz 8. WOOOO HOOOOO


thanx

[ 04-20-2003, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: kryptobeats ]

[Ziggurat]

I personally take bards up all the way, there are some awesome instruments later on. Heal All, Haste, Chaos Drum (or whatever), Freeze All make them almost as good as a bishop, plus they can fight, use a shield and sword. And open chests. I also would consider changing the faerie to a ninja to use the Cane of Corpus (best weapon in the game, IMHO). If not, the faerie would pick up some good spells as a bishop, too.

[the mighty stamar]

Bard is an excellent class to multi class. After you get to 100 music, all you give up is the camping bonus.
Switch to a fighter type and use the infinity helmet. Even better in this case because it is a mook and can use the giant sword.
Your party is very strong, an easy party because of so many fighters. But, the biggest weakness is no one to cast ressurect. I'm not sure if the lord can cast soul shield either. If a lord can cast those two spells, I would focus on magic for the lord.
You are missing cleric spells but beyond that its strong no need to switch anyone. It would be better in this case to have had a gadgeteer instead of a bard to get the ressurect gadget.

If you do want to change your faerie for the cane of corprus make sure he casts the earth elemental shield first. Also create portal and teleport are important to get first also. Practice up canes in the meantime.
Then youll have just one spell caster the psionic. But honestly that gets to be the strongest party.change the formation to no one in the front row and fill the three forward facing slots with fighters, and the one spell caster in the back.

[ 04-20-2003, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: the mighty stamar ]

[Lunaticlord]

I like the mook as a gadgeteer, personally, but you've probably been leaving behind a lot of gadgeteering items along the way.

A question, though... If I multiclassed away from bard, can I still raise music skill with points? If not, will music at least continue to go up with practice?

[Ziggurat]

No, once you leave Bard your music skills cannot improve. Same with all classes if there is no overlap in a skill. I have a two-party of Lord (Dracon) and Rogue/Bishop/Ninja (Faerie). It seems to work pretty well. They each have been killed once in the whole game (am heading for a certain sorceress at this time). I let the faerie be rogue for 3 levs (I had to up her levels to beat Gregor, she died when I jumped off the walkway into the water when I was trapped at the upper level where the only way was through Gregor, I was not strong enough yet, a problem with small parties), bish for 12 levs, and the remaining as ninja. As a rogue, I also wandered around quite a bit in the Monastery to get Tiger Eye's (the Faerie) Stealth up to 45, although some take it higher before switching. The stealth made a big difference in early play.

[True_Moose]

Well, you can do everything with a bard anyway...his only reeally important skill is music. But keep him in bard until your music hits 100 - after that, not too much point. Trust me, when his music hits 100, you will be happy you did. If you want to switch try switchin' him to a rogue -> dexterity is important, and you can give him some good combat abilities. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Ziggurat]

I agree, Moose the True. I haven't tried that with Bards (switching when music is 100), but Rogues get awfully good later on with their multiple attacks and backstab. Outside of a Fighter, they can do the most damage IMO.

[the mighty stamar]

I think its pretty obvious for a bard to switch to fighter to use the infinity helmet. Regenerates 5 stamina a round? Who cares how many attacks it gets its using an instrument every round

[Wereboar]

You need bard level 18 and 90 music skill to use the high-level instruments.

IMO there are three choices:

- Switch at level 12 with 60+ music (better 80, because of Hex). Then you can use the buff instruments (haste, heal all ...), but not the high level ones.
Change to fighter or thief. Don't go for spellcaster; he won't become good before the game is over.

- Switch at level 19 (with 90+ music), to be able to use all instruments. At least in this case, go for fighter. You won't improve skills enough to use the specialities of other classes, but you can berserk for double damage, and wear infinity helmet for stamina regeneration.

- Stay as a bard. Like with spellcasters, your class level is compared to the monster level when 'casting' spells. So a nuclear blast from a level 25 bard will do more damage than one from a level 18 bard/lvel 7 fighter.

[Dobian]

Your bard is indispensible for keeping your party alive during the tough fights, especially late in the game. I kept my bard all the way through. My only regret is that I didn't make it a female, because females can wear a stamina restoring pendant (I never found one that a male could wear), and stamina is critical to bards. It was frustrating having to waste a turn having my bard cast restore on himself when one of the other party members needed his healing asap!