On Dual classing and other odd assortments...

[OOO]

If anyone could help with some info, without too many spoilers, I would be most grateful. I've had wizardry 8 for a loooong time now, but I never seem to beat it. I've installed it and uninstalled it at least 4 times, getting no farther then trynton. I'm going with a heavy melee party, and am going to pound my way through the game, once and for all.

Is there any way to equip class specific weaponry after you have swiched to a different class? I want my monk to be able to wield nunchuka after switching him to a fighter...

Does a rogue need to have pointy weapons to backstab? I want to change a monk over to a rogue after maxing out martial arts and critical strike. If not, would he be able to berserk with martial arts? A monk to fighter may be powerful as well...

Can a valkyrie cut is as a primary healer for a group, if she spends all of her time in a support role? I wonder if the trade off of higher survivability vs less magic is worthwile. Valkyrie has much better armor, and the cheat death skill meaning she will be in much less danger then a priest. The downside is 5 less levels of magic. Or perhaps I could start a priest out as a rouge and up stealth for a level or two, for added survivability.

Are there decent off hand mace weapons in the game? I'd like a fighter with two weapons that give a high KO% in addition to his natural skill at KO...

Are there any good modern weapons, besides the omni gun? I sure would like to stumble across an assault rifle [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thats all I can think of for now, thanks in advance

OOO

[Starfire]

There is a good off hand mace called Diamond Eyes. Great weapon! I can't remember the stats on it, perhaps someone else can help with that. If you'd like to know where to find it just ask

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Welcome OOO & Starfire!
OOO, your melee heavy party may be one of your problems. You can have up to 6 characters as you know which gives you a lot of choice. Take a pure priest with you and also a pure mage. The healing and defensive spells make a huge difference! Once you've been through time game once or twice you can be more daring with your party since, by then you'll know what you will encounter on Dominus and what types of strategies work better. Keep it on the easiest difficulty setting, it still gives plenty of challenge.

welcome ooo! i think you have a few misconception, which i will try to clear up by answering you specific questions

Originally posted by OOO: ...at least 4 times, getting no farther then trynton. I'm going with a heavy melee party, and am going to pound my way through the game, once and for all.

melee heavy parties are probably easier to play than magic heavy parties, particularly for new players, since the benefits of specific spells really require practice and patience to utilise well. once you get the hang of it, though, magic can be just as powerful as melee.

Originally posted by OOO: Is there any way to equip class specific weaponry after you have swiched to a different class? I want my monk to be able to wield nunchuka after switching him to a fighter...

no. you can only use weapons that are available to the current class of your character. however, you can select weaponry under each class such that the skills are transferable.

for example, if you build a monk with nunchucks (mace/flail skill), when you switch class to a fighter, be sure and equip the fighter with dual maces so that they can take advantage of the mace skill they've built up.

note, however, that the critical strike and stealth skills you used as a monk will still benefit the fighter (eg the armor class bonus due to stealth), it's just that you wont get any better at critical or stealth as long as you remain a fighter.

Originally posted by OOO: Does a rogue need to have pointy weapons to backstab? I want to change a monk over to a rogue after maxing out martial arts and critical strike. If not, would he be able to berserk with martial arts? A monk to fighter may be powerful as well...

other than staff, i dont believe the rogue has any non-pointy weapons at their disposal. i've never tested staff, so i dont know if the backstab bonus applies.

similarly, i've never tried switching a martial artists to a class that didnt have martial arts, so i dont know what bonuses are lost (if any) in such a switch. give it a go and see what happens (assuming you have the patience to restart, or go back to a previous save, if it doesnt work out how you plan!)

however, i will mention that monks receive a 25% martial arts bonus, which adds additional initiative and damage, making them by far the most effective unarmed combatant in the game. switching class may get you access to armour, but you'd probably be better off just running a fighter from the start if that's what you're after.

Originally posted by OOO: Can a valkyrie cut is as a primary healer for a group, if she spends all of her time in a support role? I wonder if the trade off of higher survivability vs less magic is worthwile. Valkyrie has much better armor, and the cheat death skill meaning she will be in much less danger then a priest. The downside is 5 less levels of magic. Or perhaps I could start a priest out as a rouge and up stealth for a level or two, for added survivability.

imo, valkyrie are amongst the easier hybrid classes to get benefits from their spellcasting while still getting solid fighting performance. so the answer is yes, the valk can be an excellent healer/support caster for a group while still filling a fighting role.

there are a number of people who advocate a level of rogue for 1 or all of the characters in order to build stealth to a high level to supplement armor class. i'm not one of these advocates, since each class has benefits that offset any armor limitations.

Originally posted by OOO: Are there decent off hand mace weapons in the game? I'd like a fighter with two weapons that give a high KO% in addition to his natural skill at KO...

as mentioned by others, diamond eyes is the best off-hand mace in the game. with a little luck, or patience, you can even get two.

it's a good plan to use an off-hand weapon that uses the same skill as your primary weapon, since you only have to learn one skill to get good at both. similarly, skill increases due to learning attributed to either hand will apply to both (ie every point you gain in mace after a fight helps both hands).

even if you intend to use dual weapons later in the game to take advantage of those nice off-hand weapons, some people advocate starting with one-handed weapons and a shield. this is because there is a penalty to using dual weapons which reduces your chances to hit/penetrate as well as reducing your total number of swings. as a result, your character is *much* less effective early as a dual weaponer. however, by using a shield, you not only remove the dual weapon penalties, making one hand more effective than the two combined, but you also add to your defense (ac) due to using the shield. then, once you find that nice off-hand weapon, you can use it fairly well, because your skill increases are high enough that the dual weapon penalties have only a small impact.

if you are going to do this, plan ahead. firstly, use a primary weapon that is going to be the same as your off-hand weapon, so that you arent learning from scratch (not critical, but it helps). second, dont put points into shield at level-ups; remember, you're dumping it later anyway. third, it helps to put points at level-up into dual weapons so that you have at least some skill there to off-set the penalties for when you're ready to do it. finally, pump up close combat skill, particularly for fighters, since this applies to any and all melee weapons.

Originally posted by OOO: Are there any good modern weapons, besides the omni gun? I sure would like to stumble across an assault rifle [img]smile.gif[/img]

imo, modern weapons are poor alternatives to bows, melee, and magic.

Originally posted by OOO: Thats all I can think of for now, thanks in advance

welcome to the board ooo. hope this helps [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Wereboar]

Are there any good modern weapons, besides the omni gun? I sure would like to stumble across an assault rifle [img]smile.gif[/img]

Blunderbuss. Damage 2-50 (no strength bonus applies). some critical chance.
For a long time, better than bows/xbows (but once you get to Ferro, and have high strength, this changes)

[Scatter]

Frontier Phaser is a good Modern. Never needs loading, 3-30, 5% kill.
I had a staff as a Rogue and she only bashed with it. (Bard-to-Samurai in a duet with a Fighter, prepping for Zato, with a Rogue level for Stealth)