Most parties, at a bare minimum, max 2 stats for each character, by the teens to level 20. The highest reasonable level that most parties would achieve would be level 35-40, assuming some Ascension Peak grinding (also assuming that no party members, or friendlies, died). Therefore, we can assume that 2-5 stats were maxed.

For your non-casters (Fighter, Rogue, Bard, and Gadgeteer), it should be obvious that Intelligence and Piety would be the dump stats. Intelligence does largely nothing (except serve as a controlling attribute), while Piety only gives stamina, which you can get from Strength and Vitality, and which have other benefits. Also, PowerCast won't help them, and Iron Will can be substituted for with Magic Screen, Element Shield, and Soul Shield.

Likewise, your hybrids will consider Intelligence and Piety to be their dump stats as well. PowerCast is questionable, with their -4 caster level penalty, and low spell points due to low Piety can be made up for with Infinity Helms (Lord, Valkyrie, Ranger, Samurai).

Battle-Priests and Battle-Bishops, who consider protecting, healing, and curing the party first, while fighting is second, will also consider Intelligence and Piety to be their dump stats. Especially Divinity casters, will get little benefit from PowerCast, while they can stockpile Mana Stones or Magic Nectar to replenish spell points.

This leaves only the full casters as different. They get the full caster level when casting spells, so will want PowerCast. Therefore, Strength and Dexterity are the dump stats, as PowerStrike and Reflextion won't come into play too much (they should be protected in the center, or on the back lines). Their high Piety and Vitality will give them good hit points (assuring that they won't be 1 or 2 shotted), they will have decent stamina, and spell points (they won't have to use Mana Stones or Magic Nectar as often).

I think that INT -> Power Cast skills do not impact Divine spells, tho.
But correct me, if I am wrong.

Power Cast works just as well on divine spells as it does on any other spells. Case in point: Both Enchanted Blade and Magic Screen last 30/PL rounds, or 210 at PL 7. Use either spell with Power Cast, and it will last longer than that.

While not quite as obvious, Power Cast also affects healing. The most powerful multi-target heal is PL7 Heal All with Power Cast, for example.

(Worth noting that Power Cast also affects the magnitude of Haste and Superman.)

Edit: I think the bonus is something like 1% at 0 skill and 26% at 100 skill.

Speed & Superman -> do the stat boost values go beyond visible cap (125), so even if I see 125 in the char screen, can actually be the real values considered for combat (130... 135)?

Also, even with pretty improved Power Cast, spells like Paralyze fail way too often, without the enemy "Immune : Paralyze" and their resistance is not even 100 (60...80)

Is it question of my caster level vs enemy level, or something else?

I am just guessing it's about character level. As normal hogar when I was on level 7, pretty much resisted all paralyze attempts, but above level 9 (10+) paralyzing him is peace of cake. Battering Hogar on the other hand, is totally avoiding being paralyzed, (at least did when I was level 10, 11)...

And my skills did not jump high between level 7 and level 10, only marginally, yet the difference in success ratio is astronomical.

Only intermediate values; the final value is clamped between 1 and 125 (inclusive). Values above 125 would not help in combat. (Resistance is the same way; it's clamped at 100 for your characters.)

If you combine high power Haste and Superman on a character whose Speed is already high, there's the risk of an overflow, resulting in the character having only 1 Speed. I believe that caster level is what's used, though there's some strange behavior with multi-class characters. Items (including instruments/gadgets) uses a more favorable formula, while Power Cast helps with spells.

Now, as my party is level 15, battering hogar does not even pop up, only brute hogar is spawned (which is again stronger version)

So I failed to test my stronger party against battering hogar (maybe I will encounter battering hogar eventually in other locations)

brute hogar again resisted all 5 out of 5 paralyze attempts.


Speed (or even other stats) can overflow and drop to 1?
Wow, didn't know that.
While my current is still not in risk of going over 125, I often play with at least one char with high speed and haste is nearly always my spell to go for during most combats (not under water, tho :D )
I will keep it in mind, thanx for sharing.

I'm pretty sure that it's a formula that takes into account all of your characters' levels, Speed, Senses, SnakeSpeed (if unlocked), etc. This is why I stress Speed and Senses for all of my characters, so that they don't need to rely on Haste and/or Superman.