Custom party build

[SirChaos77]

So, I´m looking for a custom party build. It should be effective, even in the early game, not too cheesy (like an all barrower and fey party), and not rely on a lot of multiclassing.

Going by what I´ve read in the guides and in forum topics here, I´m thinking of using the following:

- a Saurian Berserker
- a Drake Metalsmith
- either a Wulfin Ranger or a Human Bard
- a Durendil Cleric (who will become a Templar later on)
- a Rhattu Thief (who will become an Assassin later on)
- an Aeorb Sage
- a Barrower Thaumaturge
- a Fey Necromancer or Wizard

What do you guys think of that build?

[ElJag]

As a beginner player, here are my 2 cents:

- I have been told Berserker is the best melee when taken as the final class in multiclassing; Saurian is perfect for this, but I'm having fun using a giant as frontliner (I put lots of points on shield though, cause of the lack of specialized armor).
- I've been using Drake metalsmith and the lethal blow ability is soo good!
- I have a Human Bard, and he's decent but his mana regen is terrible; luckily, I use him mostly for instrument attacks anyway, specially if you find a certain flute and whistle, those do not cost mana. I took Leonar Ranger, and it's currently one of my best characters, Wulfin will probably be a better choice in the long run if you plan on using many Ranger spells.
- I have no experience with Durendil Clerics, they say getting their special gear is a bit difficult; I got a Wulfin Cleric instead, and his mana regen makes it totally worth it.
- I have a Rhattu Thief, he struggles a bit early on; had to use the sci-fi gauntlet from one of the starting areas, so that he actually contributed in battle. He levels up easy for early access to locked doors and chests though.
- I would like to know more about the Aeorb sage, I've mostly read mixed opinions.
- I have a Barrower Thaumaturge, one of the best in the party, to either heal or deal damage, you rarely run out of mana.
- I've been using Vamphyr Necromancer so far, because I'm not a fan of "pixie" type of characters; he struggled a lot during the first couple of levels, but now he is currently my favorite character, summoning undead is so fun, but his mana regenerates quite slow; thankfully, he seems to be dealing decent damage with his staff, and he also activates his curse scepter every now and then.

I would say your build is generally good, if you also consider what I wrote. I also recommend you check out a short thread I created a few days ago titled "First party, first impressions", a user there gave me some solid party building and multiclassing advice.

[SirChaos77]

Thanks for your reply.

I rolled up the party I described (with the human Bard instead of the wulfin Ranger) and took them on a stroll through Briarwood Forest...

... and those bandits wiped the floor with them. The Berserker was the only one who managed to penetrate their armor at all, the bandits *ALWAYS* made their save against the Bard´s music or any spells my people cast. I quit the game after the third round, when the Berserker and Metalsmith were on the verge of death while I landed *ONE* hit in total on the bandits.

What am I doing wrong here?

[CeterumCenseo]

You did nothing wrong. It is part of the game.

In my opinion, basically you have the next options to be successful in the (very) early game:
- Grind a couple levels in an area where only small monsters appear, as suggested in some of the threads here in this forum.
- if the encounter is a random one, shrug and reload (eg if you run into Fire Beetles at low level)
- if the encounter is set (From your description, I suppose this is what might have happened to you), avoid that area and do other things first.

This "feature" was quite common in 80s and 90s RP and adventure games.

[ElJag]

Originally posted by SirChaos77:

Thanks for your reply.

I rolled up the party I described (with the human Bard instead of the wulfin Ranger) and took them on a stroll through Briarwood Forest...

... and those bandits wiped the floor with them. The Berserker was the only one who managed to penetrate their armor at all, the bandits *ALWAYS* made their save against the Bard´s music or any spells my people cast. I quit the game after the third round, when the Berserker and Metalsmith were on the verge of death while I landed *ONE* hit in total on the bandits.

What am I doing wrong here?

CeterumCenseo gave you good advice; stick to killing dragonflies and plant-type enemies, stay away from bandits and fire beetles. Once you level up a couple of times, and acquire decent gear, it's going to be an entirely different situation, you will be taking out bandits and beetles like a boss.

[Kremlibot]

Mobs hit very hard later in the game, and multi-classing is the best way to raise HP levels, so you aren't totally and completely rolled over should you get ambushed 1 time. This is especially the case for mages who have low HP without multi-classing. Enemy archers will gut these characters. If you're a single-class mage, each enemy archer might as well be Hawkeye from the Avengers dropping arrows into your eye socket. And getting ambushed means you're giving Hawkeye the initiative. Not only that, but some mobs have % chance to oneshot kill you outright, regardless of your HP levels. This is one of the reasons why you eventually want 100 SPD stat on every single character. It allows you to act higher in the turn order, and It increases your # of hits with attacks, and # of usages with instruments, and for some spells, allows you to cast the same spell multiple times, including Deep Freeze, providing you got the mana.

You want at least 300HP on your mages, IMO. And that's a minimum to just keep you from getting Hawkeye'd in one shot later on. Ending your mages on Templar class could get you enough HP gains to accomplish this. For example, Wizard/Necro/Thaumaturge => Sage => Cleric => Templar, class change each at level 6-8 and settle on templar.

However, if you multi-class every character at least 3 times, and bank your bonus points to dump on the final class, have all your characters at 100 SPD, you'll have a reasonably easy time with the game.

[ElJag]

Originally posted by The Vladinator:

Mobs hit very hard later in the game, and multi-classing is the best way to raise HP levels, so you aren't totally and completely rolled over should you get ambushed 1 time. This is especially the case for mages who have low HP without multi-classing. Enemy archers will gut these characters. If you're a single-class mage, each enemy archer might as well be Hawkeye from the Avengers dropping arrows into your eye socket. And getting ambushed means you're giving Hawkeye the initiative. Not only that, but some mobs have % chance to oneshot kill you outright, regardless of your HP levels. This is one of the reasons why you eventually want 100 SPD stat on every single character. It allows you to act higher in the turn order, and It increases your # of hits with attacks, and # of usages with instruments, and for some spells, allows you to cast the same spell multiple times, including Deep Freeze, providing you got the mana.

You want at least 300HP on your mages, IMO. And that's a minimum to just keep you from getting Hawkeye'd in one shot later on. Ending your mages on Templar class could get you enough HP gains to accomplish this. For example, Wizard/Necro/Thaumaturge => Sage => Cleric => Templar, class change each at level 6-8 and settle on templar.

However, if you multi-class every character at least 3 times, and bank your bonus points to dump on the final class, have all your characters at 100 SPD, you'll have a reasonably easy time with the game.

I've been following your advice, I'm getting close to level 6; by the way, where do you multiclass? Do you need to talk to a specific NPC for that?

[ElJag]

Nevermind, I found it on the character status screen.

[SirChaos77]

To be honest, I am becoming kind of disappointed in this game. I´m familiar with the kind of game, in particular I used to play Wizardry 7 quite a lot, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

However, even leaving aside that the graphics seems worse than Wizardry 7´s were, there is really no excuse for a user interface which is even less intuitive than that of Wizardry 7 or other games of that era - or that there is no manual of any kind to be found. The 80s and 90s were also the age where games came with manuals that explained everything about the user interface and the rules - a pity that nobody´s trying to bring *that* back, too.

More relevant to this thread, though: The difficulty. Wizardry 7 wasn´t THAT hard early on. Nor were the early Might & Magic games, or the Bard´s Tale series, or the Ultima games. Cheesy multiclassing and min-maxing wasn´t the only way not to be completely steamrolled in those games, either.

[ElJag]

Originally posted by SirChaos77:

To be honest, I am becoming kind of disappointed in this game. I´m familiar with the kind of game, in particular I used to play Wizardry 7 quite a lot, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

However, even leaving aside that the graphics seems worse than Wizardry 7´s were, there is really no excuse for a user interface which is even less intuitive than that of Wizardry 7 or other games of that era - or that there is no manual of any kind to be found. The 80s and 90s were also the age where games came with manuals that explained everything about the user interface and the rules - a pity that nobody´s trying to bring *that* back, too.

More relevant to this thread, though: The difficulty. Wizardry 7 wasn´t THAT hard early on. Nor were the early Might & Magic games, or the Bard´s Tale series, or the Ultima games. Cheesy multiclassing and min-maxing wasn´t the only way not to be completely steamrolled in those games, either.

You can download the manual from the store page, it's on the right side of the screen. The game becomes much easier later on though, I haven't died once (in combat) after I hit level 3, my entire party is currently level 5ish. Also, multiclassing is way easier than it appears when you fully grasp it, if you have questions about it just ask, wouldn't want you to quit the game just because of some initial setbacks.

[Frostfeather]

Originally posted by Kremlibot:

for some spells, allows you to cast the same spell multiple times, including Deep Freeze, providing you got the mana.

What version were you playing? And is this only in the higher levels? I'm seeing a LOT of conflicting information about multiple spell casts with many people thinking it's not possible at all.

I ask because I'm around level 7 and approaching 80+ speed on multiple casters and haven't seen one yet (in v3).