Since the Diablo 4 season 7 has been tepid for me while the PTR for season 8 looks less than appealing, I ended up going back to Wizardry 6 to play through another party. While my current party is interesting to say the least, I stumbled upon an article for a different type of party that focuses on the idea of how Mana regeneration factors into the game. It’s a really interesting concept based on the idea that your starting race, class and vitality (I believe) determine your Mana regeneration for the remainder of the game. Considering how difficult Mana regeneration is in Wizardry 6, it’s not a bad idea. I wanted to delve into the suggested party then go into how I might modify it to fit more my style.
The Optimized Party
- Male Dwarf Priest
- Female Rawulf Priest
- Female Elf Priest or Mage
- Female Felpurr Mage
- Male Mook Mage
- Female Faerie Bard
So the concept is quite interesting because at first glance, your impression might be how can a party like this survive. The way this party works is that you need a utility that updates the initial rolls for a starting character to guarantee 18-26 points. That way, you can assign as many points into Vitality and Strength then divide the remaining points into the actual class you want to be. Otherwise, you’ll probably spend a significant amount of time trying to roll these characters’ bonus points (I’m not sure if the GOG version is patchable which is the one I have; it probably isn’t though). After starting the game, you change professions into the class you really wanted to aim for but receive the optimal amount of Mana regeneration from your Vitality, Race and Class bonuses. The article did suggest a starting party but didn’t use this one but you can see where the author might be heading with this basis.
A few things to note here are the heavy use of Mages and Priests as well as the Faerie. The thing about Mages and Priests is that they provide some of the best spell regeneration in the game. There is a handy table in the FAQ regarding Mana regeneration for each class:
Some important notes here:
- Non-magic oriented classes provide very weak regeneration
- Bishops only provide Mental and Magic at optimal rates
- Psionics give the best Mental regeneration but Mental spells are mostly weak here
- Alchemist also give good regeneration except to Magic and Mental. Again, Mental is weak but Magic is very useful at later stages in the game where you require frequent healing and dispelling of Undead and Demons.
With the Faerie Bard suggested above, the idea is to give the Bard +2 to spell regeneration on top of whatever Vitality bonus you can get. Faeries give +1 to all spell schools for regeneration. Also, for a starting party, you will most likely want a Bard because of the Lute they bring for the free Sleep spells. Even if you decide to ditch the Faerie Bard in changing professions at the start, you will want the Lute as the initial Bard character is the only way to acquire this item (not to mention that Lizardmen receive a -1 spell regeneration penalty which means you should avoid this race at all cost). And from what I’ve read, having a Vitality of 16 and up gives another +1 to spell regeneration.
While I understand the concept of min/maxing ones Mana regeneration, I still feel this really isn’t optimal for a starting party. For instance, I’m not really happy about the Mook Mage. I prefer a Faerie Mage because that means your Mana regeneration is even higher at the start. However, in taking two Faeries, you will run into a lot of equipment issues down the line. So sacrificing the Bard’s starting Mana regeneration and going full in for the Faerie Mage’s regeneration are the better choices here.
Nonetheless, I do admit to liking this concept a lot and I want to play around with this idea a little more here. I want to compare the FAQ’s suggested optimal starting party with a recent one I did:
- Male Dwarf Fighter
- Female Elf Valkyrie
- Female Elf Ninja
- Male Felpurr Bard
- Male Rawulf Priest
So this party was not unlike my previous one. The main difference was ditching the Male Dracon Ninja for a Female Elf Ninja. Admittedly, this was one of the hardest things to roll and required a minimum of 18 bonus points. I did try to roll a Female Human Ninja but that requires even more points. Without that utility that “fixes” the stupid starting bonus problems in Wizardry 6, I figured that it would take me forever to get a Female Human Ninja to start. But the principal in getting the Female Elf Ninja was to later change back to a Valkyrie and make use of the Maenad’s Lance weapon, which sat around collecting dust on my last play through. Also, I did use BaneEdit.exe multiple times to fix various issues like the stupid encumbrance bug, bad starting stats, gear, etc. just because I wanted to experiment a little more and speed back to where I was.
Right now, I’m in the end game grind mode where I’m running into a few problems mostly with gear and redundancy. As well planned as I had thought I done this time around, certain problems took my notice at this later stage of the game. The main one was the transition of my Mage and Priest into Bishops then changing later on. Part of the issue is that the time needed to level these characters is pretty high. In the case of my Rawulf, I gradually swapped him into a Monk where I’m having an impossible time deciding if I should make one last class swap (to a Ninja). I have a lot of spare gear sitting in my bags that feel as though it’s all going to waste. Then I have my Faerie Bishop whom I have yet to make a swap to a Ninja as I want to acquire more spells. Some of this is just bad planning. But I haven’t really attempted to sit down and determine what every single level should look like in terms of spell acquisition.
I’m not saying I did a bad job (outside of cheating) but it does make me wonder if I could further optimize what I have. In reading that article, I began thinking about the problems of Mana regeneration which made me take a second glance at my current party. So let me talk on how I see certain immediate problems given the way I’m playing:
- Male Dwarf Fighter -> The idea here was to swap to a Lord at level 9. By the time you hit level 9, you should be able to have 100 skill in Sword which means you can fully devote your skill points into Theology. The downside is that your Mana regeneration will always be really bad.
- Female Elf Valkyrie -> I have two Valkyries, an Elf and a Human. I ended up taking the Elf due to a better starting bonus. However, like the Dwarf Fighter, the Priest spell regeneration will be mediocre throughout the game.
- Female Elf Ninja -> This character took way too long for me to roll and I had multiple doubts on whether I could pull it off. Worse yet, the starting stats were the bare minimal. So I couldn’t even put any bonus points into Vitality, even though I could modify her encumbrance value via BaneEdit.exe. That means, her spell regeneration would be stunted throughout the game.
- Male Felpurr Bard – >You may notice that the suggested optimized party included a Felpurr Mage. I’m certain that was done to allow the player to swap to a Samurai quickly while receiving the bonus Mana regeneration points.
- Male Rawulf Priest -> My best bonus roll character. I can’t recall if I put enough points into Vitality to acquire the additional Mana regeneration. I did swap this character to a Bishop early on (level 9) after I rushed his Theology.
- Male Faerie Mage – I kept him as a Mage for a while as I developed my Rawulf Bishop. It took time before I felt any confidence in allowing my Rawulf to cast spells. Also, I gave my Bard the Prometheus Horn which allowed me to be lazier
So my party by comparison isn’t that far off except that I lack the optimized Mana regeneration route. Also, in this latest play through, I started to question the double Bishop class swap. Maybe for one class that’s fine but two might be much. Similarly, I had a lot of “redundant” class swapping moments where I was trying to synergize the class being swapped into from the previous class. For instance, going from a Bard to a Samurai seemed like a natural choice given that it would take less to get his Thaumaturgy finished (or acquiring the last spells) I think that works when you didn’t do what I did which was using BaneEdit.exe. So that brings me to my next point:
To use BaneEdit.exe or not use it?
At this stage, I’m trying to push faster just because I don’t want to spend hours in one zone grinding for half a level. I’m not talking about my usual Enchanted Forest spin-to-win area either but the lower level stuff. I could always try one of those “power gamer but hardcore route” type of deals in using a strategy such as the optimized party but center is closer towards the way I was going. However, since I no longer am young and that there’s other things I wish I can do as well, doing the “long grind” type of deals feels like a waste of time. Given my feeling on this subject, BaneEdit.exe just becomes a must for my own sanity (not to mention I did beat this game ages ago and everything here on out is just for my enjoyment and experimentation)
Now, that we got that issue out of the way, let me preface that I want to construct a similar “optimized” party but with the qualification that I will be using BaneEdit.exe to modify them because of how I detest certain aspects of the game (namely weak starting gear, lack of vendors for class gear and the irritating drop in attributes after swapping professions). Not to mention I don’t think I can patch my game. This version of the party is meant to immediately swap to, account for the lack of a patch utility to allow for the 18-26 min bonus roll, account for the inability to modify spell regeneration with a tool and edit their base equipment as a result of being able to obtain certain mid/end game items:
- Male Dwarf Priest -> Lord
- Female Elf Priest -> Valkyrie
- Female Elf Alchemist -> Ninja
- Male Felpurr Mage -> Bard
- Male Rawulf Priest
- Male Faerie Mage
The class to the right means the immediate change of profession upon entering the game. Theoretically, you could avoid BaneEdit.exe for each character except the Bard and possibly the Ninja. A Monk might be easier to deal with if you can nail down the exact stats because you would just require robes and sandals for gear to start and those are sold by Queequeg. Also, the hybrid classes would receive higher than normal spell casting and Oratory skills at the start. For the Ninja (if you manage to get one), this is huge since most of your initial points as you level will end up going towards Ninjutsu, which is infuriating to level early on. Without BaneEdit.exe though, your Skulduggery will suffer early on and those doors and traps at the beginning of the game suck.
At the very least after getting this party assembled (where I would only take bonus rolls of 18+ to dump into Vitality) and before the class change, I would probably use BaneEdit.exe at least once to provide enough stats to be able to immediately switch into the ideal starting class as well as changing some gear around (like adding a Lute and Ninja uniform). Admittedly, I would dump 100 points into Skulduggery simply because doors and traps in this game suck and I have no patience for reloading. Also, I would adjust each characters’ encumbrance level just because the design of that is stupid.
Probably, the biggest change in this party structure is the immediate swap of my Dwarf into a Lord. The advantage of going from a Fighter into a Lord is that Fighters level very quickly and don’t have any particular skill that the game auto assigns skills into upon leveling. I find that by the time I get to the Mines, my party will hover around level 9. Swapping from a Fighter into a Lord class means that I will be able to assign points into Theology fast. While this is kinda true, I found that the class swap really didn’t do me that much of a benefit since my Valkyrie was in a similar position. The only difference was that my Valkyrie had less points assigned into Pole & Staff by that point. So that makes me question whether the class swap was worth it outside of being easier to do at a later stage.
I’m not going to lie and I will admit that if I tried this “optimal” party, I’d give myself an advantage of multiple BaneEdit.exe upgrades just to get through the game faster. That idea alone changes my strategy drastically compared to a more “purist” ideal. In that situation, going from a Priest into a Lord is much more fluid and provides better long term value. However, when it comes to the rest of the party, given my lessons on my current play through, what other things can I change?
The big questions revolve around the Priest and Mage. Originally, with my last two parties, I would switch the Priest and Mage into a Bishop. The Priest would be the first to change classes at level 9. The idea there is to rush towards Cure Poison and having a dedicated healer early on. Then at level 9, swapping to a Bishop would allow him to put his points into Thaumaturgy to build up his offense while filling in missing lower level Priest spells. I still think there is some value to this strategy but the issue becomes gear later on as well as determining when to swap to another class like a Monk (which is what I prefer him to be in the end game).
Monks are a class that start very slow due to developing Ninjutsu. If you go from a Priest/Bishop into a Monk like me, you’ll find that you can devote all your leveling points into Theosophy fast since most likely you will use a 2H weapon that automatically levels as you use it (like say a Holy Basher). That means, by the time you’re ready to swap to a Monk, your Pole & Staff skill should be maxed out, freeing you to put your points into non-trainable skills like Theosophy and Kirijutsu. But with Mental spells, there’s a very large overlap between Priest and Psionic spells and there’s not a lot of unique Mental spells. That means you’ll cap out on your Psionic side very fast, leaving you to twiddle your thumbs around as you try to play level catch up to your Bishop class (and most likely you’ll be forced to push your Bishop level high to get as many spells as possible)
A different way to deal with this issue might be to also switch this character into a fighting class like a Lord early on to finish up his Theology aspects. That would give the Priest some fighting capability. However, it also makes him feel redundant when you have a Valkyrie or Lord already in the party. Another way to handle this is to swap this class to a Bard mid game. Now, for my last two sessions, I leveled my Bard up high before swapping him into a Samurai. Part of the issue with Samurai is that their gear stinks until you hit the Hall of the Dead. The other thing is that the Lute in particular is incredibly useful up until that point. The Angel’s Tongue is decent but I read that Bless doesn’t stack which makes the Horn of Prometheus the only instrument really worth using in the later stages of the game.
Swapping the Priest to a Bard at level 9 rather than a Bishop does limit their end game Priest spells at an odd point. But one reason to do the swap early on is to move to a class with Ninjutsu and Thaumaturgy since hiding in shadows becomes crucial and it’s something you’ll want for each character. Acquiring Ninjutsu early on means you’ll have an easier time adjusting to a class like a Monk or Ninja. Also, in swapping to a Bard, I could switch my Bard to a Samurai earlier and move my Valkyrie into the 4th party slot. But the nice thing is that my new Samurai will have some Ninjutsu developed through being a Bard and begin critically hitting from Kirijutsu.
The problem with the Bard I’ve found is that at some point, I ended up ditching the class and having a fair number of instruments taking room up in my pack. There’s some other gear that I acquired for a Bard too which meant toting excess items around. The early levels of a Bard can be rough because of how the game will constantly put points into Music until it’s above 51. On a positive note, you’ll be playing your instrument at every combat turn so leveling Music is quite easy. It’s just tedious. On the other hand, because of the previous Priest class, you’ll probably have more points in Oratory which I found more painful to level once I became too dependent on my instruments. So the mid game switch might prove fruitful.
The Mage is a harder situation because of how dependent you will be on a good one. While the Bishop sounds like a great idea on paper, in practice, the Bishop is a bit of a scam class. It takes forever to level one and the spell split becomes infuriating to keep track of. If you’re a Faerie, you lose out on some key gear whereas a pure Faerie Mage has some very good pieces. So you want to get your Mage to a reasonably high level before swapping because this character will be your big hitter in large fights.
The downside of a pure Mage is that due to the general slow Mana regeneration in this game, you won’t be able to cast spells all the time. XP grinding sessions generally only occur at three stages: the very start, the mines by the Fountain and in the Enchanted Forest from the Castle Basement connection point. There are two additional regenerative fountains, one on the island in the River Styx next to the Tomb of the Dead and the other being in the Hall of the Dead. The Tomb of the Dead ground floor spot is an awful spot to grind XP because of the spell casting demons you’ll face. The Hall of the Dead is slightly better but suffers from bad, low XP mobs. I simply prefer to acquire the end game items from the mini bosses in the Hall of the Dead then heading to my spot in the Enchanted Forest area.
Regardless, the Mage is both one of the most powerful classes in the game by itself and one of the weakest because of the downtime. Now, when it comes to class swapping, one may think that changing into a Bard might work out well due to the complimentary nature of the spells. Also, a Faerie has naturally lower AC compared to other races while Bard’s have mediocre gear. Finally, many people prefer to play their Bard almost bare to get the most out of as many instruments as possible (or least not use any weapons).
However, the Faeries simply don’t have enough gear options to make them worth playing anything besides a pure Mage, Alchemist, Psionic, Bishop, Monk or Ninja. A Bard almost would be worth it once the Faerie Bard could level his Ninjutsu up to a respectable level. Then that character could play their instruments or cast spells safely from the shadows all the time. One thought here is that if you decide to swap to a Bard from a Mage rather than a Priest, you would do so around level 9-10 where you should have the bulk of the group spells (like Fireball, Iceball, etc.) and enough Oratory skill that you won’t lose too much in the switch. You would have to forgo most spell casting until your Music skill is at 51+ and you will need to practice Ninjutsu at every opportunity. But your overall armor should be the same or you should be unhittable once you get your Ninjutsu up.
The downside of not switching to a Bishop for a Faerie for the Mage is that you probably won’t be able to acquire Priest spells. The only other class that you could switch into is a Priest but you lose out on a lot of attributes. If you change to a Lord or Valkyrie, you won’t be able to use most gear, which defeats the purpose of swapping into a tankier class. For myself, I like the idea of my Faerie ending the game as a Ninja simply because of the massive AC advantage that combines the Faerie’s naturally low AC with the various bonuses that a Ninja receives.
Perhaps, the solution here is to just transition one class into a Bishop (Faerie Mage). With the Rawulf Priest, I can always end as a Lord to finish up his Theology. One class route for the Rawulf might look like Priest -> Bard (level 9) -> Monk (?) -> Lord. It’s a little roundabout but I get more transitions during the mid game around level 9-11 and less downtime with a Bard class.
I’m still working out the kinks with this party. I have a general idea of what my end game party will look like. I think part of the missing component has been the mid game and Ninjitsu parts. Unfortunately, it’s looking like my poor Faerie won’t receive it for a while given the need to swap to Bishop down the road. The main solve here will be to fix mana regeneration for the end game. I don’t know how much of an impact that will be though. Generally, what I’ve done lately is equipping everyone with an Ankh of Wonder which provides bonus regeneration. Regardless, this is an interesting thought experiment. I might revisit this if that urge to start from scratch hits me again. The downside is that I’d have to create more characters and hit 18 min in all their attributes to get close to this ideal party. Either that or I’d have to track down this so-called patch/fix that un-fucks the stupid RNG of the bonus rolls.
- Male Dwarf Priest -> Lord
- Female Elf Priest -> Valkyrie
- Female Elf Alchemist -> Ninja
- Male Felpurr Mage -> Bard
- Male Rawulf Priest
- Male Faerie Mage