Good gods I love this game. I've installed it today, downloaded christian coder's mod (that supposedly balances items and stuffies) and just spent half this day on tinkering with different characters and various party schemes. Finally I rolled with a bit unconventional one. It features Human Priest (converted to Lord on 2nd lvl), Elf Rogue, Dwarf Monk (never played one), Wookie Alchemist (->Ranger on 2nd), Gnome Engineer and Faerie Bishop (three schools).
Doesn't seem terribly unconventional, TBH. Well, Dwarf Monk is, but this is kind of conventional unconventional race/class combo, as it's even discussed in the manual.
Steamrolled through lower monastery (well, damned Gregor took some tries and bombs to kill)
I no longer play non-ironman Wiz8 - I simply know this game too well already for TPK to be much of a loss to me.
Not something I would recommend to first- or second-timer, though.
but soon enough I began to think about restarting with a different team.
Wiz8 is about as prone to restartitis as TES games are.
Oh, and also, is it normal to reach 4th level before going upstairs? One thing that was burnt in my mind is that if you reach a certain level (was it 5th? 6th?) before going down the road to Arnika, you're pretty much fucked.
Arnika road is random. You can have 3 plants with eyes in the back of their head that cannot be evaded and butcher your party or you can have absolutely nothing. Cherry bombs are useful here.
Well, you don't have to run the gauntlet, you can always retreat and rest, hoping for better odds tomorrow. There is bandit camp that makes a relatively safe spot after you clear it, then there is a completely safe spot behind Umpani outpost, then you have numerous semi-safe crevices. If you make it past the hogar somehow* and clear the ticks you can also use the cave near exit to Northern wilderness.
Arnika road isn't that bad.
*) Good luck, you will need quite a lot of it
Since the thread got necroed, I'll post my latest party. I only play with everything randomized but wanted to get a mage heavy party. The group is composed of a Dracon Ninja specializing in daggers (for insta kill), Felpurr Priest (high speed), Faerie Lord (was Priest until lvl 12, uses daggers for insta kill, cant hit for shit), Elf Bishop (psionics), Felpurr Alchemist (high speed, earth) and a Dwarf Mage (fire, water). The DPS is a really serious problem and the game was never meant for such a party so I was forced to use RPCs. Currently using Madras for the first time and Myles after the stupid Trang samurai bugged out. I learned a lot of new things with the party and it's really coming into its own, I'm currently around lvl 13 in Baijin where everything is 15+. And all those insta kill daggers are also compensating for the low DPS, I feel the party will be godly at end game.
I only don't get the Dracon Ninja - Dracons are versatile and great race for wide range of often surprising professions, but I would imagine them being poor instakillers.
Ok, Faerie Lord is a bit weird, though I imagine this kind of character makes for some nice flavour, especially for magic-heavy Lord, though I would imagine speed/crit centric Monk or Samurai with a lot of casting to work much better, if only due to less reliance on strength (crits) and availability of low-weight weapons. For Faerie Lord I would concentrate on getting an Assassin's Cap (but it's late-game item) and either dual stilettos, or offhand stiletto combined with Fang, possibly upgraded to *Light* *Sword* if you're lucky. There are some other nice swords and rapiers Faeries can use (like Ivory Blade), but they mostly lack +kill which is important for a weak hitter (shit, I don't remember if Faeries take any sort permanent malus to hitting power along with carry weight, but in any case they'll be lagging in damage output for some time). With any of them you might benefit from going with offhand wands instead - Winterwand is p. hardcore.
Fucking great game. The more people learn about this one the better.
Has anyone ever fucked with a Lizardman bishop?
I would imagine slow mana regen to be a royal pain in the ass.
I do have some low level save with a Dracon bishop (planned to be elementalist - Alc/Wiz, with breath weapon in reserve and possibly
death staff or whutsitcalled Staff of Doom for solid melee capability) stashed somewhere, though.
No, but I'm sure
sgc_meltdown can help you with that.
Where did you find so many instakill daggers Renegen? I remember trying dagger ninja last time I played, but found my first ninjato only somewhere around underwater tunnels and couldn't find the second one for shit. No Sais for me either (I think you can get them randomly in the armory in Trynton, but of course I didn't). Just unlucky drops I guess. There are these good ones that Don sometimes sells, but these are Rogue only, right?
Well, there are stilettos which are dime a dozen and even better than sai (10% kill) - too bad, they are not usable by ninjas.
Thieves Dagger is indeed powerful, but cursed and rogue only - it's awesome in tandem with Bloodlust in the hands of Dracon Rogue (acid breath as ranged weapon doesn't need hands) built for fast and heavy hitting.
