For me past level 20 or so, I never had a $ problem - make sure one of your hirelings is a merchant (+10% on ALL gold incoming), every character has at least level 1 merchant, level up merchant on your cleric ASAP....at the end of the game (just finished), level 67, I had 860K gold....the costs of leveling do not go up as fast as in the other MMs.

All skill trainer location and costs: http://mikesrpgcenter.com/mm7/skills.html

For level trainer costs....*shrug*....never really was a concern. Make sure you have Wizard eye on at all times, pick up all the blue dots you see, go into higher level areas and RUN to the chests/blue dots etc....remember that areas respawn treasures after a certain time....go to all the stables and get all the horse shoes to make life easier.

BTW - I use the patch, if that makes a diff.

I always play MM6-7 (and now 8) with at least three elemental spellcasters, because early in the game there is a very useful "sparks" spell. Now with three casters on expert level there's 15 sparks, each inflicting 5-10 damage is the ultimate dungeon-cleaner. You can cast it from a distance, and while the enemy walks into those sparks, you can still shoot them with arrows. So basically, that's it, I go in, keep hitting 'S', and enjoy the results.

The three elemental mages also will have later the master spell "meteor shower". Combined with flying, and turning turn-based on and off, the creatures will come closer, but can't reach you. Move a bit, and release the meteors. Instant kill even for the most powerful enemies.

MM6 is easier, because it doesn't have restrictions for master spells.

Having a grandmaster level protection from magic spell going will prevent the death, stoning, eradication effects.

I know this post is 6 years old, but I just figured out a way to exploit that for the dark side route. Simply place a Lloyd's Beacon inside the little alcove with the chest (you can get it directly inside, behind the wall) and one outside the breeding ground. Every time you leave the Breeding Ground the Divine Intervention book will respawn, so you can rapidly teleport in and out and get unlimited Divine Intervention books.

I'm not sure this works; I seem to recall that beacons don't function like that in The Breeding Ground or Walls of Mist.

Some of the Bigger Monsters can't get through doorways.
Keep them interested and hit them by angles with Rock Blast.
Edit: MM7

It works, I've been doing it all day. I'd make a video if the game was easier to record.

I tried the aforementioned trick with the divine intervention book and Lloyd's Beacon again, and it didn't work. It seems to have something to do with whether or not you've taken the book to the woman in the Bracada Desert, after I did, the book in the chest stopped respawning.

(1) This is a very simple, multi-step process. First walk between the two big hills along a path that goes by the Healer's Tent. Kite one or two of the dragon flies back into the city and slightly to the right. The goal is for them to attack the one guy that offered you a wand in exchange for 'future favors'? Have them bump him off. There is a very slight chance a nearby guard will intervene too quickly and save his life, then just redo until he is at least killed and you can freely lot the wand. Secondly, you want everyone in your party to have a bow and/or crossbow and be able to use it. So you want them to get the Bow skill from the Arms Dealer and it helps, in terms of funds, to finish the contest first. Third, get both of the pedestals near the cave. On is right by it, the other on the hill with the canon. Make sure your game is saved,

When you first enter the cave, The dragon is straight ahead but it's busy taking care of rats. Attack from a distance with bows/crossbows. You will most likely barely scratch it but continue until it runs out of rats then duck back and to the left of the entry-way. The dragon moves to its right and it cannot hit you from this angle. You can pop out, fire a fireball from the Wand to hit him, and then duck back. Repeat ad naseum. When the want runs out of charges, he will have around 20-25% of his life left. Then strafe around, firing form a distance. It can take a while, (the dragon has a had-on for killing your Cleric, btw./) but eventually the dragon wiil go down. Avoid leaveing the cave, it will insta-heal the dragon fully.

After it dies, save your game. The dragon can easily be looted for some cash and an item, and still be there for more looting. Some caveats. First of all, the dragon tends to spit out money in the low thousands and reduces over time. It also gives out items you may have no use for.. For example, a helm, mask and gloves great for Monks. Rings and paraphanaiia that give excellent dodging/disarming/stealing skills great for thieves.Also, the more ouo loot, the more likely the body will vanish and also the quality of items you get will diminish. Either way I routinely get a Ulysses (amazing Artifact now), Charele (amazing artifact Spear), some killer leather armor, an assortment of items that raise key skills and stats

Play a ton of MM7, there’s so many. Here’s the five most important off the top of my head:
1. Day of God Pedestal in Emerald Isle makes it extremely easy. Heal at temple.
2. Always get pedestals and wells for stat boosts to make dungeons easier.
3. Berserk is one of best spells as monsters take each other out, important at high level dungeons.
4. Alchemy is super important to cheaply heal poison, disease, and curse.
5. Hiring the Scholar Hireling gives you GM identify item with xp bonus.

The best early game weapon is the bow. Such a time and trouble saver.

The best early game attack spell, in "bangs for bucks" terms, that is making the most of limited spell points, is Fire Aura. Cast it on the bows.

The best early game melee weapon, for the sorcerer (that one has some chance of finding) is the spiked club! Fire Aura'd of course. Displaying the attack recovery time (with Grayface patch) we can see it gets in twice as many attacks as a dagger, and three times as many as a staff.

(And anywhere there is a Day-of-the-Gods or a Heroism pedestal, the plain club is next best)

I don't like taking Identfy Item skill right out of play that way. Just as I won't use MM6's exploit of the early teleport to Shrine of the Gods and the NWC dungeon. MM7's Sage hireling is a reasonable one to have in the game. I wish the Scholar was for Learning bonus only, with the weapon Smith, Armorer and Alchemist hirelings doing unlimited Identify to go with their unlimited Repair, but only for their respective specialisms (since the most we could hire is two of the three).

Yeah, I used to do the game without hirelings and do sometimes do it that way. ID item just drains a little bit of gold so it honestly doesn’t matter much either way as the drain it has on your gold is extremely small. It’s more of a convenience thing.

The shop keeper pays out according to the value with or without identification. Lots of rings? Wait till the Shopkeeper offers you some good money. Then pay for the ID. So, I agree, it becomes a convenience.

Training: go to the training center as close to 6 pm as you dare.

In MM6, where a session in the training center uses up one in-game week - 8 nights to be precise - for any amount of training, wait until able to train up several levels in one go. (Early on, two levels at once is enough skill points for one round of expert teaching.)

In MM7, the opposite - it is 8 nights PER LEVEL so train one level at a time, then make use of the "day off" between levels for 8-and-a-half hours of adventuring. Just be careful to get back to the center in time.