Back in the day, Bishops were useful members, primarily (IMO) for their ability to ID items. Currently, I'm not so sure.

I tend to select by task, rather than profession. So, in no particular order:

A magic user for offense, the heavy artillery.
A healer who can defend, the Medic.
A foot soldier, proficient in all weapons, the Infantry.
A lockpick, S-4.
A specialist, Special Operations/Equipment.
A sharpshooter, Close Air Support.
Draftees. Mortars.

My current party, in the same order w/current kills & weapons.
Faire Mage 786 Wrist Rocket (Sneer not)
Mook Psionic 320 Double shot Sling
Lizardman Fighter 532 Strong Bow/Dread Spear
Human Bard 252 Great Bow
Dracon Gagetter 318 3X Crossbow
Human Ninja 360 Mystic Spear
Drafted:
SAX (to Ranger) 103 Eagle Eye Bow
VI 80 3X crossbow/Dread Spear

Plan of battle:
Bards in PSYOPS
Magic Users in Artillery
Everyone else in mortars.

Bards to medical or CAS as needed.

Close with and destroy the enemy as appropriate.

Works for me.

The reason I like Bishops in Wiz 8 better than "single book" casters (I couldn't get into Wiz 7 too much) is because you can fill at least 2 of the necessary roles with 1 character.

Keep in mind, this is with MY playing style, so your mileage may vary. During battle, I don't waste my spellcaster's time with healing spells, They're offense/buff all the way. Any healing can be done with my bard and the Dulcimer of Mending. With those two as the support of the party, I can have 4 offensive classes. Or 3 with a Gadgeteer. Right now I run
Sam-Fig-Ran-Gad-Bar-Bis with RFS-81 and Vi as extras. Most often I can start a round with the bard and the Sirens Wail, the Gadgeteer using the Porta Potty and the Bishop firing off something nasty like Ego Whip or Fire Bomb. After the first round, Bard and Bishop can take care of the party and the rest can clean up what's left.

That's my usual go. I've gone through several parties before I found one I like, and I'm sure that I'll try a few others just to cover everything.

One of the better features of Wiz 8 is its amazing flexibility with party composition. You can create exactly the party that's right for you, and get through the game with it (providing, of course, you build correctly).

<center>Nightowl2</center>

I usually try to have the Bards get off:
1st round: Aresting Aria and Chaos Drone
If both these get off well, the remainder is normally mop-up
2nd round: Soulful Sax/Angel's tounge and Armour melt
3rd round: use Bow/heal and use bow/Sucubus/heal

The Engineer buffs if the opposition is out of range,
Earthguake or Tusumi (preferred) if up close.

I usually target the strongest opp with the Psionic,
and the largest group with the Mage.

Naturally, the ground-pounders get the biggest/closest. We know why the Infantry is called the "Queen of Battle".

I agree, WIZ offers a very WIDE choice of sucessfull posibilities.

I think it's a good idea to review kill stats from time to time to
see what's working and what isn't.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by aargh:
I think it's a good idea to review kill stats from time to time to
see what's working and what isn't.<hr></blockquote>

Kill stats help, but do not give full credit to the support staff -- for example to the Bard who disables but does not kill.