When should I look to switching classes

[rlennon]

Title pretty much says it all.

Still in the monastery. Just curious as to when to think about it yet switching classes. What level after starting a game should I flip classes to gain other skills? Thanks

[dualwield42]

Generally multi classing is less desirable in this game. You could switch to a Rogue for a few levels to power train the Stealth skill... What are you looking to achieve?

[Seewhyseeoh]

Switching classes is not for me. Tried with with a couple of different type and never liked it...

[goumindong]

So in my guide i explain that classes are simply a set of wearable equipment, abilities, a single bonus skill, and a set of open skills.

The thing is that most classes are best if they keep their class. Most special abilities are level dependent so if you lose access to them you are dropping a low of power.

What this means is that multiclassing is generally done in order to attain an open skill or move to a class that closes a skill that is already sufficiently high. IMO there is only one clear cut case to always Multiclass. Which is:

Monk->Psion. Specifically for Staff/Wand weilders (OK for MA monks but you will lose power). Once critical strike/stealth is high enough you swap to gain a bonus to psionics, a better XP progression, mental immunity, and lose nothing because monks and psions share the same equipment set and you werent making use of your bonus anyway.

Once you have 90+Critical Strike/Stealth (or 75 ish is fine too depending on how much you care) you can make the swap.

The better options are probably:

Bard-> Fighter. Once you have enough music you no longer need to have music open and so can gain access to better equipement and the Berzerk option. However you will lose casting power as bard level partially determines spell power. Good for buff centered bards

Monk-> Fighter. Specifically for Martial Arts monks. Once Martials arts is high enough to swap to fighter for the Berzerk option on your fists. You lose some attacks and open psionics, but you gain 2x damage from berzerk

Bishop->Specialty Caster. Once your Bishop has enough secodnary spells that you're not interesting in leveling up you can focus a bit more and make use of the better XP progression and bonus skill

But none of these are necessary and everyone has significant drawbacks.

Of special note is the powergaming classchange.

Rogue-> Anything else or Anything else->Rogue->anything else. The purpose of this is to open stealth and then get it as high in a single level as possible (usually through grinding). Its entirely not necessary and i suggesting staying away.

[rlennon]

My thought was flip one of my bishops to priest for identifying items

[probe]

Originally posted by rlennon:

My thought was flip one of my bishops to priest for identifying items

If that's the only purpose I wouldn't wanna do that. Get Identify Item spell for your bishop and you're just as well off. There is also a decent amount of identify item scrolls dropping from enemies, atleast in my experience. If you get the Charm spell you can beef your mental realm by charming Braffit who doesn't get annoyed if it fizzles.

Normally I don't get that many unidentified items anyway, so with the Identify Item spell the amount of times I can cast seems to correlate pretty well with the number of unidentified items and the number of times I generally camp to restock mana.

If you have a anybody with access to divine or psionic magic the spell is only a second level spell so you can get it fairly early with those characters (ie you could recruit Vi Domina at Arnika and go for that with her, although I'd recommend focusing on her divine realm instead).

If it's simply for identifying items I wouldn't recommend it. Go with scrolls until you get the Identify Item spell for your bishop.

[dualwield42]

Originally posted by rlennon:

My thought was flip one of my bishops to priest for identifying items

That makes no sense. You need access to Psionic or Priest spells to identify stuff. The Bishop does have access to those spells. Your option is to bring Psionic or Priest skill to 15, then it will unlock the Identify Item spell. You will need to invest points into Mental in order to Identify more complex stuff...

That's why I think a Wizardry/Psionic (with more Wizardry emphasis) is one of the easiest and efficient ways to build a Bishop. Since Psionics really only need Mental/Fire. Also Mage/Psi have the worst armour and HP in the game.

[goumindong]

Wizardry/Psionic and Alchemist/Priest. Generally have the most unique spells. Unfortunately offensive spells aren't too powerful for Bishops.

Generally the only party i would run a bishop in would be the "do everything" party

Fighter/Fighter/Rogue/Bard/Gadget/Bishop. Bard is Melee/Music. Gadget is Melee/Engineering. Bishop is Buffbot, getting all the buff spells and very few offensive spells. (peity/speed). Swapping the gadget for a specialist could work too.