[GenXCub]

Well, the Fighter is your choice, but I get bored of them. Try a Samurai. Once you get Bloodlust from the bank vaults, he'll be able to berserk just like a fighter, and he'll have mage spells (since the sword is cursed, you can't use a bow).

Make sure your Bard and Gadgeteers are Female, there are quite a few items in the game that give +1 stamina regen for females only.

Training Bishops are EASY... especially if you only have one. Wizardry will go up fast by casting Enchanted Blade and Missile Shield(you can get EB book from Braffit in Arnika, MS is from Fuzzfas in Trynton I think), so only put in enough points to do level 2 spells. Psionics are easy to raise with Mindread, but you need 30 points in psionics to get to that point. Easiest to raise by practice is Alchemy... do it by mixing your potions... 15 alchemy will let you do Light Heal + Mod heal = heavy heal. Divinity is easy to raise by doing your healing, but make sure it's higher than Alchemy or Psionics or casting heal wounds won't raise divinity... Easy way to do it? have Make Wounds as one of your initial spells at character creation.. 2 great spells to start off with are Mind Stab and Make Wounds. You don't need to heal just yet, you can usually get by with resting.

With your one bishop, you should be seeing points going up all over the place. Books for Fire Spells don't come around a lot until you get to Crock, so practice light a lot to get your fire realms up, Fireball, Blinding Flash are books to get then. Your 9 points should only go into those 4 skills... pick the ones that are lacking. one of the best spells in the early game is Web. Get that ASAP, even if you have to use a spell pick at level up. Once monsters are webbed, they're as good as dead.

Divinity/Psionics (whichever has a higher rating) goes up VERY fast when you learn Identify Item... you get that from Anna in Arnika, so don't waste a spell pick on it... just have 3000 gold ready to buy it.

Formation. When you build your party, put the Ninja in the 1st slot. When you use Walk/Run to get enemies to come to you, it goes in order when you start your moves... when I had my ninja in 3rd spot, most monsters were dead before my Cane of Corpus would be of any use. Remember, since you choose formation, you don't need to have your bishop sitting in the last spot... then he always goes last when you use the run/walk.

Put your Figher/Ninja/Bard up front, Gadgeteer, Ranger, Bishop in the Center. Use this until you get to Arnika.

When you get to Arnika, you'll get 2 recruits quickly. Myles the rogue (who's a good fighter, move your bard back to the middle and stick him up front) and Vi the Valkyrie (give her a spear, put her in the middle).

your formation after this point will be Myles/Fighter/Ninja up front, Bard/Bishop/Vi in the center, Ranger and Gadgeteer on the flanks. If you REALLY wanna stick someone in the rear, use your bard... she'll be using a bow a lot too.

Myles doesn't go very many places... replace him with the Android Monk you'll find near the mine tunnels (past the swamp). He goes EVERYWHERE with you (make sure you get the NAS-81 from behind the savant's tower in arnika to fix him up). The trade off... he's an android... doesn't use magic, cant change class.

PP is pretty much useless, but you can get by without it IMO. Doing expert in the Monastery is fine... maybe not for the Gregor fight though. But it will definitely train you.

Ninja offhand... just use the Fairy Stick you start with until you find another wand. Winterwands are easy to find once you get to the Mountain wilderness, or just use Nunchakas... yeah they're mace & Flail, but 15% KO is good (the winterwands have 15% Paralyze)

[ 03-29-2002, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: GenXCub ]