Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Lonely Vazdru]

Finding glyphs I think is doable, but the key items to unlock them... that's a whole other level.

Sure, the glyphs are almost "obvious" to completionist old timers like me, but the rest of the process is just insanely unintuitive.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

... the days of putting in that much hidden content in for hardcore fan service are gone.

 

[V_K]

Just wait. He's talking with his fellow mooks about mook stuff.

I wonder what happens if you have an all-mook party. Never had the patience to try that myself.

 

[k0syak]

I wonder what happens if you have an all-mook party. Never had the patience to try that myself.

IIRC, the top-left monkey goes.

 

[railway]

I'm currently replaying Wizardry 7 after it's been a while since I played it last.
Is there some mild level-scaling or am I just misremembering things?
I entered Orkogre Castle at a much later point than I usually did and there are so much orks gorns in every battle. Much more than I remember encountering in there.

 

[Reapa]

what's better in wiz8? no mage or 2 or 3 or 4 mages? because 1 is certanly a waste of space early - mid game. you'd think a pair of fireballs would be enough for big weak grps but they're not.
and how does stealth work? i didn't see a hide button. does it just passively increase armor value or am i blind?

 

[Grampy_Bone]

what's better in wiz8? no mage or 2 or 3 or 4 mages? because 1 is certanly a waste of space early - mid game. you'd think a pair of fireballs would be enough for big weak grps but they're not.
and how does stealth work? i didn't see a hide button. does it just passively increase armor value or am i blind?

Mage alone is kinda weak, they're most useful for buffs, web, and freeze spells. Whipping rocks is probably their best AoE damage spell until Nuclear Blast, but damaging spells in general are kinda worthless at that level.

I always use a Bard and a Bishop, plus a hybrid or two (Samurai, Valkyrie, Ranger, Monk) but they rarely get much use as casters. A single Bishop is more than enough to satisfy all your spellcasting needs.

Stealth gives +1 AC per 10 ranks, there's no "Hide" ability from skills. If you want to sneak by monsters you have to use Chameleon.

 

[Reapa]

what's better in wiz8? no mage or 2 or 3 or 4 mages? because 1 is certanly a waste of space early - mid game. you'd think a pair of fireballs would be enough for big weak grps but they're not.
and how does stealth work? i didn't see a hide button. does it just passively increase armor value or am i blind?

Mage alone is kinda weak, they're most useful for buffs, web, and freeze spells. Whipping rocks is probably their best AoE damage spell until Nuclear Blast, but damaging spells in general are kinda worthless at that level.

I always use a Bard and a Bishop, plus a hybrid or two (Samurai, Valkyrie, Ranger, Monk) but they rarely get much use as casters. A single Bishop is more than enough to satisfy all your spellcasting needs.

Stealth gives +1 AC per 10 ranks, there's no "Hide" ability from skills. If you want to sneak by monsters you have to use Chameleon.

thank you but aside from the stealth mechanic your answer is a bit simplistic. would it not be viable to cast 4 fireballs at "normal" enemies and kill all in one round early-mid game or at least till i hit 100 int and have all spells and then multi class them to something else? am i wrong to assume i can continue to cast spells and continue to skill power cast after multi classing?

 

[Grampy_Bone]

what's better in wiz8? no mage or 2 or 3 or 4 mages? because 1 is certanly a waste of space early - mid game. you'd think a pair of fireballs would be enough for big weak grps but they're not.
and how does stealth work? i didn't see a hide button. does it just passively increase armor value or am i blind?

Mage alone is kinda weak, they're most useful for buffs, web, and freeze spells. Whipping rocks is probably their best AoE damage spell until Nuclear Blast, but damaging spells in general are kinda worthless at that level.

I always use a Bard and a Bishop, plus a hybrid or two (Samurai, Valkyrie, Ranger, Monk) but they rarely get much use as casters. A single Bishop is more than enough to satisfy all your spellcasting needs.

Stealth gives +1 AC per 10 ranks, there's no "Hide" ability from skills. If you want to sneak by monsters you have to use Chameleon.

thank you but aside from the stealth mechanic your answer is a bit simplistic. would it not be viable to cast 4 fireballs at "normal" enemies and kill all in one round early-mid game or at least till i hit 100 int and have all spells and then multi class them to something else? am i wrong to assume i can continue to cast spells and continue to skill power cast after multi classing?

Blasting enemies with 4 fireballs in early/midgame will be effective, if you don't mind resting after every battle (which resets the enemies).

You can continue to level skills after class changing only if the new class also naturally has the skill. So if you multi-class a Mage to a Samurai, you will be able to keep leveling Wizardry. If you switch them to a Lord, you will not be able to learn Wizardry anymore, not from normal level-ups or training. You will be able to increase the Realm skills, because the Lord is also a caster, but you will only be able to increase Divinity instead of Wizardry (Realm skills mostly affect Spell points and casting success, only have a small effect on learning new spells). If you switch a mage to a non-caster class like Fighter or Rogue, you don't get any more magic skill increases at all. You won't get free spells from leveling either.

Powercast will increase regardless of class because it's based on stats rather than class. If you're willing to skill up Wizardry to 90 (max needed for 7th level spells) you can switch classes BUT class levels are also a requirement for learning spells. I'd have to check but I think you need at least 18 levels in a casting class to get 7th level spells, higher for hybrids. Int has no effect on spell learning at all.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

So I stepped through the portal to the Arnika road portal house, jumped out and proceeded to overwrite my save!

 

[Reapa]

what's better in wiz8? no mage or 2 or 3 or 4 mages? because 1 is certanly a waste of space early - mid game. you'd think a pair of fireballs would be enough for big weak grps but they're not.
and how does stealth work? i didn't see a hide button. does it just passively increase armor value or am i blind?

Mage alone is kinda weak, they're most useful for buffs, web, and freeze spells. Whipping rocks is probably their best AoE damage spell until Nuclear Blast, but damaging spells in general are kinda worthless at that level.

I always use a Bard and a Bishop, plus a hybrid or two (Samurai, Valkyrie, Ranger, Monk) but they rarely get much use as casters. A single Bishop is more than enough to satisfy all your spellcasting needs.

Stealth gives +1 AC per 10 ranks, there's no "Hide" ability from skills. If you want to sneak by monsters you have to use Chameleon.

thank you but aside from the stealth mechanic your answer is a bit simplistic. would it not be viable to cast 4 fireballs at "normal" enemies and kill all in one round early-mid game or at least till i hit 100 int and have all spells and then multi class them to something else? am i wrong to assume i can continue to cast spells and continue to skill power cast after multi classing?

Blasting enemies with 4 fireballs in early/midgame will be effective, if you don't mind resting after every battle (which resets the enemies).

You can continue to level skills after class changing only if the new class also naturally has the skill. So if you multi-class a Mage to a Samurai, you will be able to keep leveling Wizardry. If you switch them to a Lord, you will not be able to learn Wizardry anymore, not from normal level-ups or training. You will be able to increase the Realm skills, because the Lord is also a caster, but you will only be able to increase Divinity instead of Wizardry (Realm skills mostly affect Spell points and casting success, only have a small effect on learning new spells). If you switch a mage to a non-caster class like Fighter or Rogue, you don't get any more magic skill increases at all. You won't get free spells from leveling either.

Powercast will increase regardless of class because it's based on stats rather than class. If you're willing to skill up Wizardry to 90 (max needed for 7th level spells) you can switch classes BUT class levels are also a requirement for learning spells. I'd have to check but I think you need at least 18 levels in a casting class to get 7th level spells, higher for hybrids. Int has no effect on spell learning at all.

will try it and see if i hit a wall. i mentioned 100int because of the power casting. given the amount of mages i will be playing, power casting could get me through some difficult fights even after i switch to "fighters".
as to respawns, i don't much care. it's not like they respawn after every rest. and fights should not last too long anyway.

 

[Reapa]

So I stepped through the portal to the Arnika road portal house, jumped out and proceeded to overwrite my save!

i suspect you use quicksave.
i specifically didn't even look at the keys for quick save / quick load since they tend to break your game when you expect it the least through your own fault. i don't think saves take up a lot of space on the hard drive and it's almost as fast to just click 2 buttons an tipe a new number every time you save. plus it discourages save scumming to a certain degree, because of those extra clicks. at least in theory. i have over 100 saves and just left Arnika to realize i want to start over :D.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

So I stepped through the portal to the Arnika road portal house, jumped out and proceeded to overwrite my save!

i suspect you use quicksave.
i specifically didn't even look at the keys for quick save / quick load since they tend to break your game when you expect it the least through your own fault. i don't think saves take up a lot of space on the hard drive and it's almost as fast to just click 2 buttons an tipe a new number every time you save. plus it discourages save scumming to a certain degree, because of those extra clicks. at least in theory. i have over 100 saves and just left Arnika to realize i want to start over :D.

I do use quicksave mostly, and normal saves at certain spots. In this case my last real save was 4 game days earlier, so I will have to hoof it back to the Umpani camp.

 

[TigerKnee]

Multiclassing out of a caster class and wanting to use attack spells is not gonna work out well - "Caster Level" is probably the most important factor in how much damage your spells do which means even if you powertrain the relevant skills to 100, your attack spellsl drop off even faster than usual because you're no longer gaining them.

That's also why Hybrids are significantly worse for attack spells even though it just looks like they start getting spells later.

 

[Ashery]

Despite wanting to remain largely spoiler free, I've got a couple build questions:

1) What stats should a Samurai focus on? Most melee classes would default to Str for damage, but Spd and Dex both appear to influence the number of attacks, which would synergize well with their crit skill. Vit would also be an option for tanking, but I'm looking at that option less as I consider things more.

2) I had been considering giving my Bard a single level of Fighter in order to give him access to a wider variety of weapons (Too many sword users). As it stands, I'll be selling every mace type weapon I come across. The more I think about this, however, the more I'm beginning to suspect that I simply won't be able to use most/all maces even with that one level of Fighter. Still curious if it'd work, though. The other option would be to simply build the Bard around daggers for melee.

I'm likely going to end up rerolling my party, but that's not a big deal since everyone's only level two. Screwed up my Bishop by being baited into upping Artifacts due to the skill bonus, as well as by putting a handful of points into a couple magic realms instead of the primary casting skills. Didn't bump Senses for my Gadgeteer at all. Bard should focus more on Vit to solidify his tanking role. Likely change my Samurai's race, as I initially felt a Dwarf's innate damage reduction would offset the weaker stats.

 

[Reapa]

Multiclassing out of a caster class and wanting to use attack spells is not gonna work out well - "Caster Level" is probably the most important factor in how much damage your spells do which means even if you powertrain the relevant skills to 100, your attack spellsl drop off even faster than usual because you're no longer gaining them.

That's also why Hybrids are significantly worse for attack spells even though it just looks like they start getting spells later.

you'll have to explain this a bit. i thought a 1d7 x power level is always gonna be 1d7 x power level, regardless of what my caster level is. also the plan is to get all the relevant spells and then multi class. There are 25 level 6 and 7 spells, but you don't need them all. so with the magic skills maxed out and all the spells you want in your book, there's basically no need to stay a mage.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Despite wanting to remain largely spoiler free, I've got a couple build questions:

1) What stats should a Samurai focus on? Most melee classes would default to Str for damage, but Spd and Dex both appear to influence the number of attacks, which would synergize well with their crit skill. Vit would also be an option for tanking, but I'm looking at that option less as I consider things more.

2) I had been considering giving my Bard a single level of Fighter in order to give him access to a wider variety of weapons (Too many sword users). As it stands, I'll be selling every mace type weapon I come across. The more I think about this, however, the more I'm beginning to suspect that I simply won't be able to use most/all maces even with that one level of Fighter. Still curious if it'd work, though. The other option would be to simply build the Bard around daggers for melee.

I'm likely going to end up rerolling my party, but that's not a big deal since everyone's only level two. Screwed up my Bishop by being baited into upping Artifacts due to the skill bonus, as well as by putting a handful of points into a couple magic realms instead of the primary casting skills. Didn't bump Senses for my Gadgeteer at all. Bard should focus more on Vit to solidify his tanking role. Likely change my Samurai's race, as I initially felt a Dwarf's innate damage reduction would offset the weaker stats.

1) All melee characters should go Str + Dex until maxed, then Spd + Vit. Other stats are not useful.

The reason is Str gives Power Strike and Dex gives Reflexion which are the two most useful expert skills for melee characters. The sooner you get those skills the sooner you can start leveling them. Vit gives more HP but it's retroactive, so you don't need it ASAP, and avoiding damage via Reflexion is better than tanking hits with Iron Skin. Speed is useful but the Snake Speed skill is not that great, you can get all the speed you need from Haste spells.

2) Bards are a terrible melee class. No heavy armor OR stealth? Forget it. Ideally a bard should be playing music every round. If you really want a frontline bard, consider multiclassing to Ninja or Rogue after you get 18 Bard levels (Max needed to play all instruments). Its not recommended though.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Something else: Equipment restrictions are based on your current class. So changing a bard to a fighter for one level will only let you use heavy weapons and armor for that one level. Change back to bard and you are restricted to bard equipment again.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Multiclassing out of a caster class and wanting to use attack spells is not gonna work out well - "Caster Level" is probably the most important factor in how much damage your spells do which means even if you powertrain the relevant skills to 100, your attack spellsl drop off even faster than usual because you're no longer gaining them.

That's also why Hybrids are significantly worse for attack spells even though it just looks like they start getting spells later.

you'll have to explain this a bit. i thought a 1d7 x power level is always gonna be 1d7 x power level, regardless of what my caster level is. also the plan is to get all the relevant spells and then multi class. There are 25 level 6 and 7 spells, but you don't need them all. so with the magic skills maxed out and all the spells you want in your book, there's basically no need to stay a mage.

Total number of caster class levels is still factored into things like learning spell points and overcoming resistances.

 

[Reapa]

Multiclassing out of a caster class and wanting to use attack spells is not gonna work out well - "Caster Level" is probably the most important factor in how much damage your spells do which means even if you powertrain the relevant skills to 100, your attack spellsl drop off even faster than usual because you're no longer gaining them.

That's also why Hybrids are significantly worse for attack spells even though it just looks like they start getting spells later.

you'll have to explain this a bit. i thought a 1d7 x power level is always gonna be 1d7 x power level, regardless of what my caster level is. also the plan is to get all the relevant spells and then multi class. There are 25 level 6 and 7 spells, but you don't need them all. so with the magic skills maxed out and all the spells you want in your book, there's basically no need to stay a mage.

Total number of caster class levels is still factored into things like learning spell points and overcoming resistances.

do you have any numbers on penetration? will the power casting skill on its own be enough to overcome resistances?

 

[Filthy Sauce]

Sorry to cut in, but despite my rage quit post a few weeks ago, I started W6 again. I spent some time re-rolling a new party. I'm not power gaming or save scumming, but I a question.

I have a human Valkyrie who switched to ninja then back to a Valk just to get the hide and crit skills. Other guys are single class.

Draco ninja
Wolfman priest
Fairy mage
Human monk
Mook samurai

Is it worth while to multi class anyone else if the opportunity arises? Thought about trying to get hide for the samurai, but since mooks have shitty stats I'm afraid he will never be able to go back to samurai without some sort of save scumming.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

do you have any numbers on penetration? will the power casting skill on its own be enough to overcome resistances?

No idea! There was some post a ways back that talked about the overall effectiveness of power cast.

Sorry to cut in, but despite my rage quit post a few weeks ago, I started W6 again. I spent some time re-rolling a new party. I'm not power gaming or save scumming, but I a question.

I have a human Valkyrie who switched to ninja then back to a Valk just to get the hide and crit skills. Other guys are single class.

Draco ninja
Wolfman priest
Fairy mage
Human monk
Mook samurai

Is it worth while to multi class anyone else if the opportunity arises? Thought about trying to get hide for the samurai, but since mooks have shitty stats I'm afraid he will never be able to go back to samurai without some sort of save scumming.

It's definitely worth it to get Ninjutsu on everyone and Kirijutsu on all melee characters, especially if you're planning to import to Wiz 7. If you fail to reach a desired class you can almost always hit Ranger which has pretty even stats across the board, and retry leveling to get the stats for the class you want.

 

[k0syak]

Despite wanting to remain largely spoiler free, I've got a couple build questions:

1) What stats should a Samurai focus on? Most melee classes would default to Str for damage, but Spd and Dex both appear to influence the number of attacks, which would synergize well with their crit skill. Vit would also be an option for tanking, but I'm looking at that option less as I consider things more.

2) I had been considering giving my Bard a single level of Fighter in order to give him access to a wider variety of weapons (Too many sword users). As it stands, I'll be selling every mace type weapon I come across. The more I think about this, however, the more I'm beginning to suspect that I simply won't be able to use most/all maces even with that one level of Fighter. Still curious if it'd work, though. The other option would be to simply build the Bard around daggers for melee.

I'm likely going to end up rerolling my party, but that's not a big deal since everyone's only level two. Screwed up my Bishop by being baited into upping Artifacts due to the skill bonus, as well as by putting a handful of points into a couple magic realms instead of the primary casting skills. Didn't bump Senses for my Gadgeteer at all. Bard should focus more on Vit to solidify his tanking role. Likely change my Samurai's race, as I initially felt a Dwarf's innate damage reduction would offset the weaker stats.

Maces are useful only if you plan on dual-wielding, there's a single offhand mace in the game, though it's pretty good.

 

[Ashery]

Grampy_Bone :

With Samurai, they have the Critical Strike skill which can result in instant kills. So unless a failure to penetrate armor would negate a critical hit, which I doubt is the case, an argument could be made for trading the raw effectiveness of each hit for getting in as many hits as possible.

The Bard wouldn't be focused on engaging enemies in melee, but rather as being an extra body between enemies and my more vulnerable party members. Good to know the mace idea wouldn't have worked out, though.

Edit: Considering giving my Bard one level of Rogue early on in order to give him access to the Stealth skill. Kinda feels like that'd be pushing min/maxing to a too extreme of a degree, though. Edit 2: Turns out I forgot that skills don't increase in your "inactive" class, so Stealth would be fixed the moment I switch back to Bard. Unless I were to do an absurd amount of early game grinding, which I'm just not interested in.

k0syak :

I heard about that off-hand mace, but I had no idea about the weapon type in general. And being a good off-hand weapon doesn't necessarily preclude something from being a good primary weapon.

 

[Lady_Error]

Sorry to cut in, but despite my rage quit post a few weeks ago, I started W6 again. I spent some time re-rolling a new party. I'm not power gaming or save scumming, but I a question.

I have a human Valkyrie who switched to ninja then back to a Valk just to get the hide and crit skills. Other guys are single class.

Draco ninja
Wolfman priest
Fairy mage
Human monk
Mook samurai

Is it worth while to multi class anyone else if the opportunity arises? Thought about trying to get hide for the samurai, but since mooks have shitty stats I'm afraid he will never be able to go back to samurai without some sort of save scumming.

It's definitely worth it to get Ninjutsu on everyone and Kirijutsu on all melee characters, especially if you're planning to import to Wiz 7. If you fail to reach a desired class you can almost always hit Ranger which has pretty even stats across the board, and retry leveling to get the stats for the class you want.

I think so too. In the beginning it may be enough to have only the melee characters with ninjutsu, but later on you should probably have the priest and mage switch to a ninjutsu class for some time. Bard is a good choice for that, since he will continue getting spells on level up.