Wizardry VI Character Development

I just got Wiz 6 and want to play it. I've even read parts of the manual.

One thing that is not clear to me is character development. I've heard that you have to switch classes regularly to level up your characters. Same thing in Wizardry 7. Now, as an average person, to me that seems counterintuitive.

Is this the only way to level up your characters and play/finish the game successfully? Can't I just keep my characters in one profession?

As I understand, after switching to another class, your stats reset, but you get to keep whatever skills, spells etc. you received. Can someone please explain how this actually works?

Thanks!

The game gets easier if you are changing classes, you don't have to do it.

I have played Wizardry 6/7/8 with the same party without changing classes at all.

Some infos here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/564807-wizardry-vi/faqs/63361

When switching classes your stats revert to the default of the character's race or of the new class, whichever is higher. So a character who has never changed class will have highter stats, but lower skills (especially magic skills and kirijutus, since they don't improve with practice) than a multi class character.

You don't really need to switch classes in Wiz 6 since you'll get enough skill points to be able to cast the higher level spells when you need them. Also, nearly all combat calculations are done by comparing the characters' level to the monsters' levels. So a lvl 10 character who has switched classes a lot and has 100 in Ninjutus and Kirijutsu will constantly fail to hide and score critical hits against high level enemies and will fail his own "saving throws" against enemy spells and special attacks, while a "normal" lvl 15 character will be much more effective.
Most effective is to switch after about level 5. Then you get a nice skill boost, but you don't lose much XP and will have high level in the end game.

Wiz 7 is a different matter, due to how skill points are distributed. In Wiz 6 you can spend all your points on magic skills, while in Wiz 7 they are divided amongst the three skills categories. This means it takes a very long time to max out your magic skill if you dont switch classes. But like Wiz 6 character level is still important, so I wouldn't overdo it if you play normally and don't grind.

Bottom line: Wiz 6 is quite straightforward, while Wiz 7 is much more complex and you really need to plan your characters' careers in Wiz 7.

If you are not careful you may end up with a character who is stuck in a basic class since he needs so many points to qualify for an elite class. A Fairy for example, only has 5 STR, but will need 11-13 STR to qualify for an elite class. When you increase in level you get from 1 (most common) up to 5 or 6 different stat increases.
And you really will want to finish Wiz 6 as elite classes to be able to transfer the best weapons to Wiz 7. Playing Wiz 7 with mundane weapons will be quite frustrating, and it takes a loong time before you find some really good weapons.

Here's some links with to more info:
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showpost.php?p=430591&postcount=22
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showpost.php?p=430550&postcount=242
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showpost.php?p=420843&postcount=236

I'm still running around on the first two levels of the game with this party:
Dracon Fighter
Felpurr Samurai
Human Valk
Human Bard
Human Priest
Human Mage

I have a few other questions though:
1) I have no idea how much damage my weapons do. Or their properties for that matter. I just see gibberish. How can I find out?

2) Which classes am I supposed to switch into?

you can change later from

Mage/Priest to Bishop
Fighter to Ninja

I would stay with Valk/Bard/Samurai

build the Valk to Fighter/Healer
build the Bard to Bard with thieving skills
build the Samurai to a lighting fast Tank

Wiz 6 weapon stats:
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/kso/BaneoftheCosmicForge/BaneListingA.html

Oh, and about armor class. The less the better, right? Default is 10, and then you reduce it?

Reminds me of D&D, especially after seeing the items list.

Yeah, AC works like in AD&D.

Note that due to a bug, Fighters take double damage from monsters, so I would change the fighter's class ASAP.
You are lacking Psychic spells, so I think I would try to change one of the characters into a Monk. Monks are excellent characters. With 100 Ninjutsu they have better AC than any Lord or Valkyrie and they do lots of damage with Hands&Feet. In Wiz my Monk is the one the highest number of kills.
I too would stay with Valk/Bard/Samurai, and try to develop a Lord (or a second Valkyrie), Ninja and Monk. Bishops are useless, IMO.

Cast the Identify spell on weapons to see how much damage they do, their to hit modifier and any special attack (poison, knockout, critical hit).
Also useful to cast on magical armour, to find out if they add to any resistances.

When rolling up characters, what is acceptable? When should I scrap the character?

I just want to finish the game once, preferably.

codename47 said:

When rolling up characters, what is acceptable? When should I scrap the character?

I just want to finish the game once, preferably.

Click to expand...

Go for +15-18 bonus points. That should be possible in some minutes of rereolling. I think it's possible to get up to +27 or something like that, but it will probably take hours of rereolling.

Just necroing this thread…

I've never played a Wizardry before so I'm really not sure what I'm doing. I spent some time reading about character generation but there's a lot of advice out there. I ended up with:

Male Human Fighter
Female Dwarf Valyrie
Female Felpurr Valkyrie
Female Faery Mage
Male Elf Bard
Male Felpurr Priest

None of my characters have a great Perception stat - will that be a problem? I'm wondering if I should have dumped some of my Bard's stats in Perception rather than int/dex. Also, what is Karma for? Some of my characters have decent Karma scores, but there's a couple that are really poor (like around 3).

You didn't mention which Wizardry you're playing.

Wizardry VI
I cleared the first level of the castle and I'm exploring the lower levels. My party has reached level 2 and seems to work well together so far. The bard's sleep ability has been great at getting through the early battles!

Yeah bards are fairly overpowered in some of the Wizardry games. Then again, as tough as six can get, you'll probably need that.

The one round I didn't spam Bard Sleep I immediately lost a party member to a giant rat attack. Now I just make sure to cast it every time. I'm just playing on normal difficulty.

Normal difficulty on Wizardry six is probably comparable to extreme extra death with flagrant amounts of spicy sauce nightmare mode on current games. If this is your first foray into the game you have my sincere envy, you are in for a few great weeks of gaming that you'll likely never forget.

Yeah I'm enjoying it so far. I'm eventually planning to slowly work my way through vi, vii and viii, but I'm in no rush - I'm going to space them out and enjoy them! I'm not sure if I'll carry this party through the sequels or roll new characters, hopefully by the time I get to part vii I'll understand the mechanics a bit better in order to make that decision...

Looking above at the make-up of your party, it seems logical and well rounded to me. They should do the entire game quite nicely as a group.

I wish I could get into Wiz VI, but I tried a few years ago, and it's just too dated for me at this point. Even Wiz VII was too dated.

Wiz 8 is a true gem though. Probably my all-time favorite blobber.

Pongo said:

Just necroing this thread…

I've never played a Wizardry before so I'm really not sure what I'm doing. I spent some time reading about character generation but there's a lot of advice out there. I ended up with:

Male Human Fighter
Female Dwarf Valyrie
Female Felpurr Valkyrie
Female Faery Mage
Male Elf Bard
Male Felpurr Priest

None of my characters have a great Perception stat - will that be a problem? I'm wondering if I should have dumped some of my Bard's stats in Perception rather than int/dex. Also, what is Karma for? Some of my characters have decent Karma scores, but there's a couple that are really poor (like around 3).

Click to expand...

Perception + scouting can alert you to things like switches, that you can see without it, but if you're not good at examining things carefully it can be nice. Perception is also used to hit with ranged attacks and effects your critical hit rate.
Karma as I remember has a slight amount of impact on luck, for example how often a character will recieve critical hits. Bards are very powerful early game characters. You will find their power level go down late game.

I really like Wizardry 6, I finished it twice, once about 30 years ago, and again a couple of years back. Despite starting Wizardry 7 3 times, I could never finish it. IT is super huge, with a lot of empty space between the really good parts, and after about 60-70 hours I through in the towel every time. It also has some super tough puzzles in it, and after my characters hit 15th level they didn't develop much more, and so I lost my motivation. I think I was about halfway through the game. I also love Wizardry 8 and finished it 3 times. It rates as one of my all time favorite games, even today.

There are lots of ways to make an effective Wizardry Party, and yours seems good. Just a tip for the future, basic spellcaster classes (like your mage and priest) often profit at around 12th level to switch to an advance class with the same spellcasting area (Wizard->Samurai or Bishop)(Priest->Lord or Bishop) you get to learn a lot more spells that way, and get more magic points. This only hold true for Wizardry 6 & 7. In Wizardry 8 changing class brings a lot fewer benefits and has to be carefully weighed.

Thanks Forgottenlor, that's very helpful. I won't worry too much about the low Karma and Perception then (sounds useful but not essential in both cases) and I'll give some thought to multiclassing later on.