I played the first two GF games as a Shaper, because I've always loved the idea of being a summoner and having them do my fighting for me. I just started on GF3 and decided I wanted to try something completely different, so I went with a melee Guardian.

I've cleared the first three areas (on the big map, I'm not counting each floor of the School individually), so I've done a fair amount of fighting. I'm a little disappointed to say that for an "I'm going to engage you in physical combat" class, I feel like my character isn't quite how I imagined him. I was hoping for more of a "charge into battle & slay the enemies" character (similar perhaps to a barbarian or even a traditional damage-soaking fighter). Although I've got a party of 4 to provide variety in attacking (2 ranged, 2 melee), I feel like I'm almost being forced into playing more of a strategic (read: weasel-like) melee class by having to take advantage of terrain by running, hiding, waiting for the enemy to approach me, and then striking (much more like a rogue/thief class).

I ain't dying, we're winning our battles on Normal setting, so it's not that at all. I loves me some rogue/thief action in an rpg...when I'm in the mood to play as one. But I wanted to be more of a beefy, damage-dealing & damage-soaking hulk this time around. Maybe I just need to start over and add points to different stuff as I level up. I wouldn't object to it, I'm really not that far into the game (I think I'm Level 4 now?).

I played Geneforge 2 as a Guardian, and my memory is that I was pretty much a damage-dealing and damage-soaking hulk. I still had a few creations to help out, especially with more magical / ranged attacks, but by the end of the game I was a formidable fighter.

I don't remember exactly what skills I used, but I do recall that some of the more defensive skills (like riposte) were very useful. Good equipment, which can be found later on, helps a lot too. What have you been spending points on?

How did I know it would be you who would reply? ;-)

I attached a pic. So far I've raised my Strength & Melee for damage (I'm one-hit killing nearly everything within striking distance), Quick Action so I can hit first (haven't had any extra attacks yet), and Mechanics & Leadership to make the game a little easier on me.

I'm pretty sure I added 1 point to Endurance, but I haven't added anything to Parry. I read that in 1 & 2, Parry gave 5% increase per point but it was deemed "overpowered" and is now (in GF3 anyway) only 2% per point. Still, it is pretty cheap to raise from where it is now, so maybe for my damage-soaking desire I should put all the points from my next Level-Up into it so I can be more Barbarian/Fighter during combat.

It's been a while, so my memory is fuzzy. But Parry was definitely very useful in Generforge 2. Even if the bonus is reduced in the third game, it's probably still useful. Quick Action was also good at high levels.

If you want to be able to take more damage then some Endurance is probably a good idea. Mostly, though, I'm guessing you just need to get a little farther and score some better equipment.

Mo' Parry, mo' Endurance, mo' better loot...sounds like a plan!!

I don’t want to hijack your thread, but my problem is very similar. Possible spoilers incoming.

I am playing a Guardian in Geneforge 3 (easy) and have now reached the end of the second island where I have to defeat the two servant minds. I invested mostly in Strenght, Endurance, Melee, Quick Action, Parry, Mechanics, and Leadership, some points in Healing Craft for convenience. But I can’t defeat the minds. My creations are too weak and die too fast. I tried speed pots and throwing gems at the minds, but I run out of gems before I can do any significant damage. Running back and forth between both minds to attack them alternately works good at the beginning, but I cannot keep up with running around, healing myself and attacking them, before I eventually die.

Any hints?

I haven't gotten that far yet (I've only cleared a couple of areas on the 2nd island), but I'm sure someone can help. GameFaq's has this to say about them...

Two servant minds confront you. They heal each other if their hitpoints are significantly different. Focus your attacks on both if at all possible. You can weaken them with some leadership, just try to command them.

Yes, I read a walkthrough to this section. I already weakend them by trying to command them, but they still have quite a big health bolster, at least if you are Guardian without creations or companions, like I was. I tried several things to attack them alternately, and I finally managed to do it. Here is what I did:

I had four ice crystals left, which – of all the crystals I had – seemed to do the most damage to the minds. I went up to the first mind, hit it once, then the combat round ended. For the next four combat rounds, I first threw a ice crystal at the mind on the other side of the room, then attacked the mind next to me with my fire-enhanced weapon (base damage 12-20, if I remember correctly). This way I kept the health levels of both minds fairly close to each other. After I had used up my crystals, I used a speed pod and ended the combat round. In the next round I attacked the mind next to me two times. Since its health was lowered to about 1/3 of its original value, this was enough to kill it. Then I went over to the other mind and killed it as well. Edit: And I cast Augmentation before I entered the chamber of the minds, so that I would not have to waste precious time with healing myself.

(I know, I could have given the canister to Larkan instead, to leave the island, and that’s actually what I did first. But Larkan went totally nuts when I did this, and I was like, "Whoa, you got serious mental problems, buddy," and instead, I wanted to leave the island by helping the Shaper and destroying the source of the rogues.)

In the first 2 GFs, I played a Shaper & always relied on my creations, so I never used crystals. This time around I'm still not using crystals, because for some reason (maybe I read it somewhere or maybe I just got the idea stuck in my head on my own) I felt they were best suited to the Agent...maybe I should re-think using them. We'll see how I do when I get that far in the game.

I don’t use crystals that often myself because most of the time some aimed blows with my sword and casting a healing spell when fighting a greater number of enemies are enough. But there were some situations where I found crystals very helpful, like enemies on low health that are running away from me, for example. Since these crystals do a certain kind of elemental damage, certain enemies will be resistant to certain crystals; it might take several tries to find out what is the right crystal to use in a certain situation.

Now that I have reached the third isle, however, I do get the feeling that crystals become less useful as the health bolster of enemies grows.

In GF3, guardians sucks.
For inexperienced players, I recommend play a servile in GF4 if you want to play a melee class.

GF4 engine is a lot more friendly for melee characters. You can move and attack as long as you have 1 action point left. Melee in GF3 does the least damage of the entire series: d4
Parry skill is also weakest in G3

I am halfway through the last island, and I must say, with the right equipment, the Guardian really kicks butt in the last third of the game, which feels very rewarding. Crafting an artifact chest piece with +2 Action Points and enhancing my weapon with a Reviving Crystal allows me to get swarmed by enemies and survive the fight ... with almost full health!

Just wanted to chime in quickly... I only tried a Guardian in Geneforge 2 (played a Shaper in Geneforge 3), so it may well be that they are much tougher to play in Geneforge 3. But it sounds like the troubles with the servant minds may have been due to not having creations (or to having only very weak creations). Even though I built my Guardian to be a melee powerhouse, I still put some points into shaping skills and tried to keep a few (two or three) reasonably powerful creations with me. I would swap them out when I learned how to shape more powerful creations. I feel like Shapers are all about building armies to fight for them, whereas Guardians charge into battle themselves but still lead a small group of creations to help out.

I've never tried an Agent, but I got the sense that they're the class that's really designed to go "creation-free". Guardians can become really powerful in combat, but they'll still have trouble taking on everything on their own.