Alright, I'm going to try beating Wiz 8 with a low-magic party.

1 Ninja
1 Samurai
1 Monk
1 Gadgeteer
1 Ranger
1 Bard
Vi Domina
And 1 RPC that I've yet to decide on. Possibly Myles, whiny bitch that he is.

So far I've managed to get past the Monastery and Arnika, trying to decide on whether to go for both Umpani and T'rang alliance or just one of them.

For my next time around I want to try a high-magic party.

And then something insane.

Like only 2 different kinds of classes. Like 3 Bards and 3 Rangers. Might actually be fun to try.

3 Bards, 3 Bishops and 2 Melee RPC's. Magical kickass and tons of ranged criticals. RPC's mopping up anything that get's too close.

Thats whats good about Wz8, most any party will do fairly well.
If you dont mind me suggesting, I would go for alliance to both factions. You get more than twice the exp you would with one class, its great. Thats what Ive done ever time and it works well for me but its entirely up to you.

p.s. One major flaw with your current party.... No portals :( Unless one of the hybrids get it at higher levels but even then it will take a while. Anyway, GL with the party! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Did one with Monk, Ninja, Sam and Bard, no RPC's.
Did one with Lord, Ranger and Bard, no RPC's.
Did one with 3 Lords, no RPC's.
Did one with a Ninja and 2 Bards (imported instruments from W7) and no RPC's.
Did one with a Rogue and 3 Fighters, no RPC's. (played them as illiterate; magic only from potions, powders and bombs)
It's all possible, you just gotta work a little harder sometimes.
Portals are fun, but you don't need them.

[ 09-13-2002, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: otter ]

Aye, the teleporters will get you from one side of Dominus to the other. :D

Sounds like cool ida Neb shall try one of them my self lol! :D

I wouldn't exactly call this a low-magic party.

I tried some small hybrid-only parties myself lately. Tried to play them as true hybrids - casters and fighters in one.
But i noticed that around level 12-13, my offensive magic started to get weaker. Enemies resistances increased a lot, and without powercast i wasn't able to cut through it.
I'm currently running a hybrid party where i push int to get powercast. But there's the drawback of reduced melee power.

I also had a hybrid party with an additional bard. And the bard's instruments were far more powerful than my spells.

Your party contains both a bard and a gadgeteer. Stock up stamina potions, and you have two decent spellcasters in your party. Especially the unlimited insanity and hypnotic lure makes a big difference in mid-game.

Did one. Quite funy.
Had a mage, priest, psionice, alchemist and one bishop.
First try was without bishop, but mainly i needed a second guardian angel, and a second body of stone and the like didn't hurt.

3 fighters and 3 bishops is very easy.
3 Bards .. don't know. There are enough instruments for two of them, but three?

Another nice themed party i played was a 'simple profession' one.
A fighter, a thief, a bard, an archer (a ranger which didn't learn any spells), a priest and a mage.

Wereboar

3 Fighters and 3 Bishops sounds tempting. How did you split the magic schools between the three bishops? Any tips about how to build them up?

I agree with what people say about Bards, I think they are my favourite class. Hmmm, two Bards, why not next time I restart?

Or, three Fighters, two Bards and one Gadgeteer = 5 x Triple Crossbows (moistens lips). Um, got to go now to, er, shave the cat. Bye.

Currently I am playing a 4 person party after beating the game with a 6 person party and one RPC.

I have a Lord, Gadgeteer, Ranger, and Bishop. The Monastary has been tricky especially the battle with Gregor. Gregor by himself was not too bad but I also had to deal with 5 wolf spiders at the same time. The killed my party a few times before I realized I was caring a cherry bomb and noxious fume bomb. Never really needed them with my last party. I do like the speed at which the party levels up without the extra characters. I probably will pick up RFS-81 just to add a little more melee punch. Besides I just love his comments.

With all 3: Alchemy only pumped up to 15, then improved further by potion mixing. Pumped points into the 3 other scools. Made sure divinity is highest, since wizardry and psionics are easier to push with combat spells.
(Don't use the training tactics)

I planned to dual swords, maces and axes with my fighters. Until i realized that fighters can't use wakazashi.

Maybe because the game would be too easy? :)

Don't count on that, unless you want to rest a lot for ammo.
I had a range-oriented party with lord (3 x-bow), samurai (bow), ranger (3 x-bow), gadgeteer (omnigun with pebbles), bard (bow), and a bishop (spells).
Around mid-game, i had to switch to a bow with the lord, since all my 6 merchents (wasn't at Ferro) didn't even have any plain bolts left.

Bards and Gadgeteers are excellent replacements themselves for casters. [img]smile.gif[/img] Hybrids are also capable of being excellent casters since about 75% of the high-level spells aren't exactly a necessity in the game.