Wizardry 8 is a wonderful cRPG for me. It has turn-based fights with randomly re-spawning monsters. Every play-through is a little different. And the many races and professions allow a lot of min-maxing for more fun at the next play-through. As an old school cRPG it gives no hints in-game about character creation, level-up or fight choreography. The explanation of the game mechanics in the manual is vague and incomplete. But - surprise, surprise - here is finally the simple game mechanics guide. I present a beginners party and all the spells and knowledge that you need to make it to Arnika without grinding on difficulty level Normal.

Fighter, Rogue, Priest and Mage are the traditional professions in a Wizardry cRPG party. Wizardry 8 has additional spell casters Psionic and Alchemist. Every party needs a priest, psionic or alchemist to supply the Player Characters (PC) with healing and stamina spells. A rogue is needed for Locks&Traps. A Mage, Psionic or Alchemist provides damage dealing (DD) spells like Fireball. More important are the crowd control (CC) spells like Sleep and Web. Most important are the buff or party improvement spells. Niccolò Machiavelli told us "a government must commit atrocities right at the beginning". Wizardry 8 is tough in the beginning. You can ease the pain with good character creation, good level-up selection of attributes, skills and spells, knowledge of fight choreography and some minor tactics.

Because there are six party members, and I like diversity, we will have one Fighter (FIG), one Rogue (ROG), one Priest (PRI), one Alchemist (ALC), one Psionic (PSI) and one Mage (MAG). We use the humble Hobbit race for the Fighter-type FIG and ROG and the Gnome race for the Caster-type PRI, ALC, PSI, MAG. Using Human race for all PC is fine, too.

The following party is a "Warehouse 13" TV show theme party. Pete Lattimer is re-cast as Fighter. Artie (Arthur Nielsen) with his bag finds a new job as rogue. Dr. Vanessa Calder, Artie's flame, goes as Priest, Leena as Alchemist, Myka Bering as Psionic and Claudia Donovan as Mage.

At character creation do the following. Use male characters for melee in the front row and female characters for spells in the back row. Some stamina regeneration amulets are female only. Give every character a VIT value of minimum 45 for easy game play. For initial skills selection see "at level-up".
- For a Fighter increase STR, DEX, SPD because STR gives "to Damage" bonus, DEX gives "to Hit" bonus and SPD gives later "# of Attacks" and "Max. Swings" bonus.
- For a Rogue increase STR, DEX, INT because INT improves the Lock&Traps skill.
- For a Priest increase PIE, SEN, INT because PIE gives bonus to the spell mastery skill, SEN gives Initiative (movement in combat) and Search bonus and INT gives magic skill bonus.
- For a Alchemist, Psionic or Mage increase PIE, INT, SEN because PIE and INT give bonus to the spell mastery skills.

At level-up increase the attributes to 100 to earn expert skills. After you have maxed out the first two attributes continue with the third attribute from above and/or SPD and SEN. The front row PC fight melee with Sword/Shield and later Sword/Dagger and fight ranged with bow or crossbow. The back row PC don't fight and are equipped with quarterstaff and feather darts just for looks. Important for the back row PC are good armor class and (maybe) Stamina regeneration amuletts. If the clothing is not acceptable for your spell casters, it is equipment for your "strong men".
- For a Fighter increase STR, DEX. Increase the skills Close Combat, Sword and Bow.
- For a Rogue increase STR, DEX. Increase the skills Close Combat and Locks&Traps.
- For a Priest increase PIE, SEN. Increase Mastery skills Divinity every time and the Realm skills like Divine magic, Mental magic as needed.
- For a Alchemist, Psionic or Mage increase PIE, INT. Increase the Mastery skills Psionic and Wizardry every time and the Realm skills like Air magic, Fire magic as needed.

The basic fight choreography consists of buff, crowd control, damage dealing and party healing. The "any time" buff spells like Enchanted Blade and Magic Screen can be cast before combat. The "combat" buff spells like Bless and Soul Shield are used in the first round of combat. Crowd control (CC) spells like Sleep and Web allow you a "divide and conquer" approach. Your spell-casters neutralize as many opponents as possible. Your front row melee damage dealers terminate the still moving monsters one by one. The "shift left click" mouse command focuses the attack of all Player Characters (PC) on one monster supports nicely this "slicing" tactic. If you use the "Party walk" option, as you should do with melee damage dealers in most cases, you should know that you can "shift left click" your preferred enemy after the monsters have moved. If all monsters are doing no harm and all PCs are full of health and stamina, then the spell casters will use damage dealing (DD) spells. A Fireball spell from the Mage, a Whirlwind spell from the Priest and a Shrill Sound spell from the Psionic help to finish the combat. With easy enemies you can skip the buff and CC phase and jump directly to the fun DD part. BUT, Wizardry 8 is an old school cRPG and expects that you know your fight choreography!

Wizardry 8 implements the "learning by doing" approach. Train your spell casters in combat and you don't have to grind! In combat with an equal or weak enemy go through the full fight choreography and use your newly-learned spells. After the combat use the remaining Divine Magic spell points to heal you party. Then you are well prepared for rest interrupting monsters. If you increase the mastery skills Divinity, Wizardry at every level-up you can cast on the "yellow power level" without (too much) angst of backfire. The realm skills spell points and (I assume that) the INT value lowers the risk of backfire, but the Wizardry 8 manual is very vague about INT.

The fights on the road from Monastery to Trynton are easier if your party "slides" along the level boundary "wall". Do not walk in the middle of the road. I use the left hand boundary. Later you will probably walk back to get some fine weapons from the Monastery. In time you will have searched the "Trynton Road" game level both sides and have found some trinkets "in the woods". Look for a "wall corner" for resting. If the monsters come in the night - and they will do - only your front row characters get melee attacks. The high SEN value of your Psionic and later your Priest will wake you up the same as a Shadow Hound spell would. Sometimes two enemy groups of six bad-ass thugs each want to attack you. In this situation run away from the combat with the Shift-Walk key (Shift-G in my keyboard layout). Use the map to look out for enemies! The map is not totally reliable, but better than nothing.

Using our three (mostly) melee fighters in the front row and our three (mostly) spell casters in the back row in the described labor sharing method is playing "Rock–paper–scissors". An enemy spell caster hides normally behind some bulky monsters and hinders your fighters with Sleep, Paralyze and other CC spells. Your fighters can not easily switch off this annoyance. But your spell casters can buff the party with Magic Screen and can mute the enemy Mage with a Silence spell. Once in a while you can instant kill a small bug with a level-6 fireball, just to let go the many spell points you have collected.

I do not like grind, but I do not like waste, either. Therefore I do the Priest Light grind: After every rest I let the Priest cast Light until the Fire Magic spell points "storage" is empty. This grind is quick. Just hit the "cast last spell" key again and again. It is Shift-C in my keyboard layout. Another grind is Charm. You cast Charm on a trader until the storage is empty. Not a grind, but a necessity, is the Identify Item routine. Directly after a rest I identify items until the spell points storage is empty. The only other spell using the same storage is Terror. At the time my Priest learns the Identify Item spell there is no longer need for the Priest Terror spell. After the Light grind and the Identify item necessity I continue adventuring without(!) additional rest.

Three spells are my all-time-favorites: the buff Bless, the crowd control Web and the damage dealing Fireball. Get Bless and Web for your Priest as early as possible. Get Web and Fireball for your Mage. After you find Vi Domina in Arnika use her to spell Bless. This allows a Bless, Web, Fireball combat opening combo.

Buy books is a tip from dtgreene. In Arnika Lord Braffitt and Anna sell them. I sold all the clothing and weapons my party did not wear and the damage dealing potions and powders that my Throwing&sling skill is zero casters can not use. In hindsight I regret not doing this tip 16 years ago on my first play-through.

The details about the Beginners Party, the Priest, Alchemist, Psionic and Mage Party Spell list and my Keyboard Layout are in a second post in this thread. GOG has a posting size limitation.

I play Wizardry 8 since 2002 and got it again for my actual computer from GOG. Turn based cRPGs rock!

Revision:
07nov2018: Change fighter and priest level-up from SEN to DEX, mage level-up from INT to DEX.
08nov2018: SPD is more important than SEN like dtgreene said.
15nov2018: complete re-write. Add fight choreography, spells and WASD keyboard layout.
17nov2018: add Priest Light, Charm grind. Add Healing, Identify Item routine. Add buy books tip.
19nov2018: Change party to two Fighter-type and four Caster-type

Actually, this doesn't feel like a game mechanics guide to me. For example, it may mention VIT affecting HP, but doesn't say *how* it affects it; I can't predict the HP of a level 13 Fighter with 60 VIT from this guide, for example.

Anyway, I don't really agree with some of the advice in this guide. In particular:

Fighter: SPD is good because it gives you extra attacks (though note that Haste exists (but Haste can't be used underwater)). DEX is also good because it improves accuracy and extra attacks. Accuracy bonuses are important because they make the Berserk action more viable. (STR is still very important; I just think SPD > SEN)

Rogue: VIT isn't really that good. For low HP classes, VIT doesn't give you that many HP, and high HP classes don't need it. Also, Stealth (which you can't turn off) makes the Rogue less likely to be targeted, so they won't need as much HP.

Priest: PIE really isn't that great; skills can be increased just fine without it, and the SP bonus is actually rather small. It might be preferable to increase something else, like STR or SPD. (A priest with high STR can do good melee damage, but will not get many attacks.)

For other casters, I don't recommend VIT, as the bonus to HP just isn't significant; if the character keeps dying due to low HP, try the Priest spell Guardian Angel. I don't recommend PIE, as the bonus is too small; I would rather have SPD and/or SEN to cast spells early in the round.

INT does not increase SP. PIE does, but the effect is minor once you have a decent number of spells in your spellbook, so it's not worth it.

Also, in the long run Bishop is probably the best class due to the large selection of spells, and the large amount of SP gained from learning all the spells (and having multiple spellbook skills). Bishops also have decent equipment options (the same as a Priest, actually), and the Artifacts skill actually does have its uses.

Int contributes to spell points, although indirectly, as hight int increases the chance of realm skill to rise from practice.

Advices that could be given to players are mostly based on specific playstyle/approach and may be completely wrong for different one,
e.g. melee hvy party may limit speed to certain value so all party members act after enemies moved,
while caster party profits from high speed as their spells hit first, together with all classes that have crits like ranger ninja monk ...


Vit may be the most obsolete attribute in a fast party.

Main benefit of pietiy is imo higher base stamina and its faster regeneration,
but bards and gadgeteers who would take most advantage have attribs with higher priority like dex, int, sen & spd.

Thank you dtgreene and townltu for your comments. I agree to "Advices that could be given to players are mostly based on specific playstyle/approach".

About VIT: I do not advise to level-up VIT. Only to have at character creation a VIT value of 50 or more.

My intention was to write something for the Wiz8 beginner to have a level-up that is not frustrating. Personally I do not like grinding. And I like to have expert skills early in the game. A rawulf or dwarf priest that always trains PIE has expert skill at level 9.

But again, each taste is different. And Wiz8 supports many tastes quite well!

A question to the Wiz8 fans: What do you think about my theme parties? Do you use this idea, too?

Wizardry 8 is such an exceptional and outstanding game because of its endless variability in character and party creation and development. Play a standard party, a random party, a themed party, parties with special rules or reduced number of members.

My 2 cents from my own experiences:

Difficulty setting makes a lot of difference. Setups working smoothly in Novice or Normal may utterly fail on Expert. Classes going for melee must develop STR and DEX, and Weapon Skill and Close Combat, leaving 3 skillpoints for other things. Ranged combat for some strange reason doesn't seem to have the "to hit" penalty of Expert as Melee has. Statistically not fully worked out, but the hit rate of ranged at melee distance is significantly higher than melee, despite much less skill.

If you want your caster to go first almost always, eg to get the Shields up or a Heal all out before the slaughter of another combat round begins, she needs to develop SPD and SEN at each level up to boost her INI. No points left for INT.

Other casters should focus on INT, because of Powercast, which keeps magic combat reasonably effective in most parts of the endgame. The other attribute depends on preference: STR if you want the caster guy to join melee, when there is nothing to cast atm, DEX for ranged combat as secondary profession, PIE for more mana and the additional resistances from Iron Will or VIT to stand one attack longer.

While it is correct that VIT doesn't add a lot of HPs for casters, those few additional HPs have saved my parties quite often in tight battles. So I would agree to the TO and get VIT to +/-50 at creation, it makes my games more fluent.

With the exception of the super fast caster or special themed builds, SPD should always come from the spell haste from a Psionic caster, or, better, from a bard.

DEX is more important than SEN for ranged combat. STR also improves CtH.

Any char in a party should start with 31 SEN, 30 SEN gives a malus for CtH (biogoo).

About governing attributes of skills, I found them relevant in Expert melee only. To me, a Mook fighter is much more effective later on than Dracon and Lizard, because INT and SEN influence skill development, which is more important for the hit rate until +/- L15 than the advantage in STR/DEX. Mook has excellent starting values, contrary to the Dracon/Liz. Mook also has good resistances, no malus on Mental, and of course, can wield the giant sword.

Generally I find it is more important to build an effective party for the levels 5..15, not for the endgame. To be honest, the endgame is not a real challenge anymore with any normal party. All those nice endgame weapons are effective, make battles short, but they are not critical to win the game.

A guide on game mechanics is available from peddroelm in the Steam Forum. It doesn't answer all questions, but provides lots of insights, ao the HP formula for all classes.

Priests don't need Power Cast as much as other spellcasters, as their most important spells (aside from the likes of Death Wish, which is mostly useful against low-level high-HP monsters once you finally learn it) target party members and are therefore not subject to resistance. Therefore, you could focus on melee combat (STR and DEX), initiative (SPD and SEN; maybe I should try this setup and see how well it works), or survivability (VIT and PIE; mastering PIE gives you Iron Will, which protects against status ailments, and the Priest can then cure other characters of those ailments).

I have not looked at races to determine which race is best for the SPD/SEN Priest. For The other two, Dwarf is a good choice due to good STR, VIT, PIE, and physical damage resistance. I also haven't checked to make sure that Priests can get better initiative than Bishops at the mid-levels (that sort of thing *is* something one should check), but I know that Priests get more HP (though I wish they got the same attack rating that Bards get, as it feels like they should).

This sort of makes me want to play Wizardry 8 again to try out a fast Priest setup. Fast Heal Wounds, Guardian Angel, Paralyze (don't forget that Priests get that spell), Soul Shield, and so on I could see coming in quite handy. This sort of thing is why I have moved away from saving spell picks with a Bishop and instead using them as I get them (unless I don't quite have the skill to learn a new spell but want to level up now). I actually play with the constraint of not using any spell pick for a spell that would be too high in level to learn right then, and I like how Bishops feel with that rule.

Also, I find that melee does a bit *too* much damage later in the game. I remember still using a lot of melee when I played with a party of Priest, Mage, Alchemist, Psionic, Bishop, and I don't remember the 6th character (might have been a Bard or something?).

Another trick I've developed is to start with a character who is good early game (Faerie Mage with a SPD/SEN focus, for example), get to Arnika, and replace the character with someone who shines in the mid game and doesn't need lots of skills (like a Gadgeteer, for example). If you do the change before level 10 or so, the character will be only 1 level behind once everyone else has gained a level, and for fast leveling classes (Gadgeteer comes to mind), might even advance past slow levelers like Bishops.

Edit: Maybe Rawulf for SPD/SEN Priest? 10 points needed for class requirements, leaving 17 for each SPD and SEN, so 57 SPD (Snake Speed at 16) and 67 SEN. It's worth noting, however, that Faeire woulld actually start with more SPD and could perhaps get Snake Speed sooner, but are worse in other respects (amd may have worse initiative before that point).

Edit 2: Correct Snake Speed level in first edit.

I installed the game to check the starting SPD of a Priest, and here were the results:

For a Priest, the most SPD you can start with is 64, which gets you Snake Speed at level 13; you need to be a Faerie or Felpurr for this. A Faerie Bishop can start with 69 SPD (Snake Speed at level 12), and both Faerie and Felpurr can start with more SEN, but other stats (in particular Vitality) will be worse. Also, note that Faeries can't equip the boots that boost your Snake Speed skill, but you don't get those until later (buy in Rapax castle).

So, for fast Priest spells, Bishop > Priest, believe it or not. (The 55 VIT requirement is a bit steep for the high SPD races.)

Here are the details about the Wizardry 8 Beginners Party, the Priest, Alchemist, Psionic and Mage Party Spell list and my Keyboard Layout. See the first posting in this thread for clarification.

Name______Sex______Race_____Profess_____Start Attrib.___Start skills
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------
Pete______Male_____Hobbit___Fighter_____STR, DEX, SPD___Close Combat, Sword, Bow
Artie_____Male_____Hobbit___Rogue_______STR, DEX, INT___Close Combat, Dagger, Locks&Traps
Vanessa___Female___Gnome____Priest______PIE, SEN, INT___Divinity, Divine Magic, Water Magic
Leena_____Female___Gnome____Alchemist___PIE, INT, SEN___Alchemy, Earth Magic, Water Magic
Myka______Female___Gnome____Psionic_____PIE, INT, SEN___Psionics, Mental Magic, Divine Magic
Claudia___Female___Gnome____Mage________PIE, INT, SEN___Wizardry, Fire Magic, Air Magic


The Priest, Psionic and Mage Party Spell list
==================================
Every level-up you can add one spell. Many spellbooks you can buy from traders like Lord Brafitt and Anna in Arnika. Some spellbooks you find with a high SEN value. The spells given below are available if you spend every level-up three points on the mastery skill. Some important spells like Heal Wounds and Web are learned by two casters.


Spell List PRI, ALC, PSI, MAG
Lvl Character Spell Name_________Realm____When________________Description
=======================================================================================
1__PRI________Bless______________Divine___Combat Buff_________Improves Armor, Gives Bonus To Hit
___PRI________Paralyze___________Water____Combat Crowd Cntl___Cause Paralysis
___ALC________Itching Skin_______Earth____Combat Crowd Cntl___Causes Irritation
___ALC________Acid Splash________Water____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
___PSI________Mind Stab__________Mental___Combat Damage_______Mental Attack, May Cause Insanity
___PSI________Heal Wounds________Divine___Any Time____________Regain Hit Points
___MAG________Sleep______________Air______Combat Crowd Cntl___Puts enemy to sleep
___MAG________Energy Blast_______Fire_____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
2__PRI, ALC___Heal Wounds________Divine___Any Time____________Regain Hit Points
___PSI________Sleep _____________Air______Combat Crowd Cntl___Puts enemy to sleep
___MAG________Frost______________Water____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
3__PRI, MAG___Web________________Earth____Combat Crowd Cntl___Paralyzes enemy
___ALC________Blinding Flash_____Fire_____Combat Crowd Cntl___Cause Blindness
___PSI________Shrill Sound_______Air______Combat Damage_______Raw damage
4__PRI________Identify Item______Mental___N/A_________________Reveals Info on Item
___ALC________Sleep______________Air______Combat Crowd Cntl___Puts enemy to sleep
___PSI________Paralyze___________Water____Combat Crowd Cntl___Cause Paralysis
___MAG________Magic Missiles_____Divine___Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
5__PRI________Armorplate_________Earth____Any Time Buff_______Improves Party's Armor Class
___ALC________Whipping Rocks_____Earth____Combat Damage_______Raw damage
___PSI________Psionic Fire_______Fire_____Combat Damage_______Raw damage
___MAG________Fireball___________Fire_____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
6__PRI________Silence____________Air______Combat Crowd Cntl___Prevents enemy from casting spells
___ALC________Noxious Fumes______Air______Combat Damage_______Air Damage, may cause Nausea or KO
___PSI________Insanity___________Mental___Combat Crowd Cntl___Causes Insanity
___MAG________Whipping Rocks_____Earth____Combat Damage_______Raw damage
7__PRI________Magic Screen_______Divine___Any Time Buff_______Improves party's resistance to all magic
___ALC________Razor Cloak________Earth____Combat Damage_______Physical hits wound attacker as well
___PSI________Silence____________Air______Combat Crowd Cntl___Prevents enemy from casting spells
___MAG________Missile Shield_____Air______Any Time Buff_______Missile Protection
8__PRI________Whirlwind__________Air______Combat Damage_______Raw damage
___ALC________Fire Bomb__________Fire_____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
___PSI________Haste______________Fire_____Combat______________Increases Party Speed, Cures Slow
___MAG________Iceball____________Water____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
9__PRI________Soul Shield________Divine___Combat Buff_________Increases resist to Divine/Mental
___ALC________Acid Bomb__________Water____Combat Damage_______Acid Attack
___PSI________Ego Whip___________Mental___Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
___MAG________Element Shield_____Earth____Combat Buff_________Increase Resistance to Elemental Spells
10 PRI________Rest All___________Water____Any Time____________Regain Stamina
___ALC________Chameleon__________Earth____N/A_________________Party more difficult to see
___PSI________Slow_______________Water____Combat Crowd Cntl___Slows enemy
___MAG________Shrill Sound_______Air______Combat Damage_______Raw damage
11 PRI________Heal All___________Divine___Any Time____________Regain Hit Points
___ALC, MAG___Summon Elemental___Divine___Combat Damage_______Create elemental who fights for party
___PSI________Psionic Blast______Mental___Combat Damage_______Mental attack, may cause insanity
12 PRI________Sane Mind__________Mental___Any Time____________Cure Insanity, Turncoat
___ALC________Body of Stone______Earth____Combat Buff_________Protect Vs Penetration, absorbs damage
___PSI________Armormelt__________Earth____Combat Crowd Cntl___Worsens Enemy's Armor Class
___MAG________Dehydrate__________Water____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
13 PRI________Purify Air_________Air______Combat______________Removes all Cloud spells affecting targets
___ALC________Toxic Cloud________Air______Combat Damage_______Air Attack, may nauseate, poison, KO
___PSI________Hex________________Mental___Combat Crowd Cntl___Lowers enemy's abilities
___MAG________Crush______________Earth____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
14 PRI________Lightning__________Fire_____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
___ALC________Boiling Blood______Fire_____Combat Damage_______Damage, plus splash damage if target dies
___PSI________Prismic Ray________Fire_____Combat Damage_______Random Condition or Damage
___MAG________Firestorm__________Fire_____Combat Damage_______Fire Attack
15 PRI________Resurrection_______Divine___Any Time____________Cures Death
___ALC________Draining Cloud_____Divine___Combat Damage_______Drain HPs, Stamina, and Spell Power
___PSI________Might to Magic_____Divine___Combat Damage_______Damages target, gives Mana to PC with least
___MAG________Blizzard___________Water____Combat Damage_______Water Damage, Chance of Blindness
16 PRI________Lifesteal__________Divine___Combat Damage_______Drain HPs into PC with lowest health bar
___ALC________Quicksand__________Earth____Combat______________Target must save or be swallowed by Earth
___PSI________Pandemonium________Air______Combat Crowd Cntl___Makes all enemies afraid or insane
___MAG________Freeze All_________Water____Combat Crowd Cntl___Causes Paralysis
17 PRI________Banish_____________Divine___Combat Damage_______Damages Undead, Demons, Summoned
___ALC________Resurrection_______Divine___Any Time____________Cures Death
___PSI________Turncoat___________Mental___Combat Crowd Cntl___Makes enemy fight for party
___MAG________Remove Curse_______Divine___Any Time____________Allows Removal of Cursed Items
18 PRI________Falling Stars______Earth____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
___ALC________Earthquake_________Earth____Combat Damage_______Raw damage to all Enemies
___PSI________Mind Flay__________Mental___Combat Damage_______Raw Damage
___MAG________Nuclear Blast______Fire_____Combat Damage_______Raw Damage


Keyboard Layout
=============
My keyboard layout uses the WASD standard and uses hopefully good mnemonics.

The MOVEMENT KEYS
---------------
W_______Move forward
S_______Move backward
A_______Turn left
D_______Turn right
Q_______Strafe left
E_______Strafe right
Num 8___Look up
Num 2___Look down
Num 5___Look level

INTERFACE and COMBAT KEYS
-----------------------
B_______Breathe
C_______Cast spell, Shift-C cast last spell
F_______Fight (Attack)
G_______Go (Party walk, Shift-G Party run)
H_______Harness (Equip)
I_______Inventory
J_______Journal
K_______Kill (Berserk)
L_______Last (Repeat last combat action)
M_______Map (Automap)
N_______Next (Swap weapon, Shift-N swap all weapons)
O_______Options
P_______Pray
R_______Rest (Camp)
T_______Turn Undead
U_______Use item, Shift-U use last item
V_______Vather (Protect)
X_______eXclude (Defend)
Y_______Yielding (Pause game)
Z_______Zoom (Toggle radar zoom level)
Space___Start combat (Toggle Combat Mode)
Enter___Start Enemy move (Start Combat Round)
F1______Quick save, Shift-F1 Quick load

Non-Configurable Shortcuts
------------------------
Shift left click on enemy = All Player Characters target this enemy
Right click with item as cursor on character portrait = store item in Party Items inventory

Revision:
15nov2018: New content Party, spells and WASD keyboard layout.
19nov2018: Update Party to 4 casters, update Spell List.

Looking at the list:
(For one thing, I would probably go with Alchemist instead of Psionic, as I think Alchemy is more useful, especially once you reach the point of learning spells like Toxic Cloud and Quicksand, plus Alchemists get more status cures.)

* Why doesn't the Priest get Heal Wounds right away? I consider that spell to always be a first pick if I am not going to buy it; until Heal All shows up, you need this spell on as many characters as possible.

* I note that you don't take Mind Stab; since that spell can't be bought, you need to spend a spell pick on that spell or you'll never get it.

* I would not take Slow. It isn't guaranteed to work, when it does work the effect isn't that significant, and worst of all, when it *does* work, the enemy's animations get much slower, making combat take a lot longer. Is that *really* what you want?

* You really should take Missile Shield; that spell makes a big difference.

* Similarly with Armorplate; I would actually take Armorplate at level 5 and Magic Screen at level 6. By contrast, Silence doesn't work reliably enough when you need it to.

* I find that I typically prefer Noxious Fumes to Fireball, unless I have multiple characters who can cast such spells (in which case the Mage gets Fireball and the Alchemist gets Noxious Fumes).

* You can't take Soul Shield or Element Shield at level 7, so that's not going to work.

* Again, you can't learn 5th level spells until level 11, 6th level until 14, and 7th level until 18; your choices for later levels are messed up because of this.

* Hex is not worth taking; it fails as often as other status ailments, and it's better to disable the enemies instead of just weakening them. Psionic Blast would be a better spell to take first if you have a Psionic, either that or Sane Mind (to take advantage of the fact that Psionics are immune to Insanity).

* When you first get access to 7th level magic (at level 18, not 13 as your table seems to assume), you can only reliably cast those spells at power 1. At power 1, damage spells are too weak to be useful but instant death spells can work; for this reason, you should take Asphyxiation first for the Mage, and your Priest should take Restoration and Death Wish first, saving Falling Stars for last. (For a Bishop, I would go with Restoration first if your Divinity is high enough, then favor instant death before going with the likes of Earthquake and Mind Flay; Falling Stars would be one of the very last spells I learn.)

Hello dtgreene,

you've got me! My last Wiz8 complete play-through is more than 10 years ago. After I bought the game again on GOG I went as far as level 10 in Trynton in one play-through and started again for experimentation: Reverse engineer the game mechanics. The spell list is for my current play through and I am on level 5. I do remenber that getting new spells available depends on character-level but on Mastery and Realm skill points and - I assume - on PIE and INT, too. If I run into "artificial" barriers as you mentioned (Again, you can't learn 5th level spells until level 11, 6th level until 14, and 7th level until 18) I will update the list.

To the choice Psionic versus Alchemist: I do not like the potion making, I like more the chaotic nature of the mind meddler. It's just my taste.

Because the party starts at level 1 with buff Bless, two times crowd control Sleep I tried this time only one caster with heal wounds. It worked fine. My goal was and is to have in the beginning every new spell from a different Realm to fast-start earning "learning by doing" spell points. Because of this I did not start the Priest with Heal Wounds/Bless.

Mind Stab is a nice damage dealer for the PSI. But because I concentrate heavily on crowd control by casters, I was content to have the Energy Blast for the Mage. By the way, at level 5 after I have cleaned out the spiders to open the Monastery upper levels, my Priest still has 0 kills, the Psionic has 10 kills - thanks to Shrill Sound - and the Mage has 1 kill. At level 4 the casters had 0 or 1 kills. The Psionic starts with Shrill Sound to make some noise. I take it slow this time. At the moment the dual weapons Rogue is still kill-king, but the Mage will sure take over!

The extreme labor sharing of the current play-through is new for me. I picked Slow as part of this approach. And up to now it works fine. I crowd control in every "equal" combat from newest spell down. Believe me, this idea works best if you max out PIE and INT and spend all skill points only on casters skills. It is extreme, but in its extremeness it works fine! I hope that on Ascension peak the throwing&sling skill of my casters is still 0.

I like Noxious Fume like everybody - it is a mixture of crowd control and damage dealing. But because of its neither fish nor meat nature I will not use it this time.

One good point about Psionic is Shrill Sound, an "enemies in Cone" damage spell on spell level 3, character level 4. And specially I like the Priest spell Whirlwind. This "enemies in Cone" damage spell makes the Priest more than a by-stander in combat.

You are right: doing crowd control until the front row fighters take down the enemy is slow. But this is my way to do my needed grinding. And if you have bad luck with monster re-spawn and get your rest again and again interrupted by another monster party you can see this slow go approach works fine: there are still enough spell points left for the next fight. Once the chain of fights lasted 30 real time minutes or so.

The buff spells Missile Shield and Armorplate are fine. It is part of my experimentation with Wiz8 game mechanics to not have them this game play. As you have noticed I concentrate on anti-magic spells like Silence, Magic Screen, Soul Shield and neglect the anti-weapons spells.

I am looking forward to Summon Elemental. I can not remember using this spell in a play-through.

Have fun!

Shril Sound is only second level (otherwise you wouldn't be able to learn it at level 4).

To make the priest less of a bystander, I usually take the approach of maxing STR; at that point, the priest can hold her own in melee, albeit with the drawback of not getting extra attacks until really late. With a decent weapon and max STR, the priest can actually do decent damage when she hits an enemy. (Actually, if you manage to get the Staff of Doom, *any* character with max or near-max STR can do decent melee damage; I think on my pure caster party playthrough I gave it to my Alchemist, who can also use one particular HP regen accessory that is conveniently found in the same spot.)

By the way, have you been having the Priest pray for a miracle during combat? It's the only thing that priests have that bishops lack (other than being able to eventually cast 7th level spells reliably at power level 7, but that doesn't happen before level 24).

About Shrill Sound: My mistake. It is spell level 2. Because Fireball is spell level 3 this Psionic spell closes nicely the gap between Mage Energy blast and Fireball.

Normally I forget the Priest Pray skill. It is handy if your Priest runs out of spell points. But with the current setup this is not the case. Turn undead is for me the better Priest skill. It helps a little with the ghosts in Arnika temple.

Like the Rogue the Priest is front row material. With four casters the front row is Fighter, Rogue, Priest. In the current play through I speed up the Priest with SEN. The initiative rises and I will see if the Priest can become first in combat with the Bless spell - the bets are still open.

I have never played Bishop. I like min-maxing. And bishop is the opposite of min-maxing: the one profession that can do all. The first PCs of my party will reach expert skill at level 10: Rogue with dexterity and Mage with Intelligence. This is good. And the cost per level are low for the "pure" professions like they are in my party. The "mixed" professions need more levels and every level needs more experience points. These are two negative aspects of bishop.

Because Wiz8 is very well balanced, the bishop is balanced, too. But everybody has his or her taste. My taste is specializing, not generalizing.

A question about searching. First I use the high initial SEN of the Psionic for searching and later I max-out the Priest SEN for a.) fast Priest buff spell casting, b.) good searching and c.) high SEN makes the Shadow Hound spell obsolete. How do you do things?

Nice to write to you about a game that reaches adulthood soon!

Magic Missiles can also fill the same gap (though note that it shares SP with Enchanted Blade). It's worth noting, however, that this is one of the spells whose book is buyable in Arnika (most Mental and Divine spell books up to level 3 can be bought there, plus (at high enough levels) there are a few higher level Divine spells for sale, including Banish (but not Heal All)).

I generally do one of 3 things:
1. I put a Ranger in the party. Rangers can search without entering search mode, and they get a skill that improves their ability to search (that no other class gets).
2. I have someone learn Detect Secret and use that spell whenever I need to search. (The spellbook can be bought in Arnika.)
3. I have a gadgeteer in the party; you eventually (though later than I'd like) get a gadget that allows you to cast Detect Secret using only Stamina.

Before I get Detect Secret, I just turn on searh mode whenever I know there's something to find; since I am familiar with the game, I already know where things are hidden.

Actually, I find Bishops to be quite fun from a min-max perspective. Bishops have more knobs to tweak than other classes, especially if you're trying to make one useful earlier in the game. In fact, if you want a character with Priest spells who focuses on initiative at the expense of other things, you can actually do better with a Bishop than with other classes.

Whenever I get around to playing this game again, I may opt to use 2 Bishops in the party; 1 my standard Power Cast Bishop (haven't decided whether I would still boost initiative or try boosting something else), and 1 a speed focused Bishop.

Hello dtgreene,

you are right with no Soul Shield on level 7 Priest. Available is Armorplate and Holy Water. I decided on Holy Water as preparation for the Arnika temple ghosts. Is there information in the manual about this inconsistency?

Interesting PSI spells at character level 7 are one-enemy-DD Mind Stab or CC Insanity. I picked Insanity. MAG allows me to choose between Whipping Rocks and Magic Missiles and the not-so-sexy Noxious Fumes. Because Divine Realm actual only has buff Enchanted Blades and Earth has the more often used CC Web, I choose Magic Missiles.

Together character level 7 adds one CC spell and one and a half DD spells - Holy Water does not work for every enemy. We see the progression from buff to CC to DD.

You wrote "Magic Missiles can also fill the same gap": I used Magic Missiles in the last play-through. And I wanted to have two casters that can do Web. These are the reasons to shift from a MAG spell to a PSI spell.

About your Bishop party: I thought that you have six Bishops in the party. If you have one or two Bishops what professions have the other PCs? You told about ranger, gadgeteer. Do you have any "pure" professions in your party? With a little care there is room for two fragile casters in the party. My first complete play-through many years ago was done with two Faerie Mages. Two high level Fireballs in every combat round are fun.

I include PC 7 and 8 in my planning. Vi will replace the party Rogue in the front line and will be later replaced by RFS81. I'll keep Vi or the Trynnie gadgeteer in the party as flank PCs. The final party setup is 3 in the front row, 3 in the back or middle row, one left and one right. With Myles and Vi in the party my Rogue and Myles are the flank PCs. What is your eight PC setup?

At the moment I think only about finish play-through with my "caster don't fight" party. Maybe many years later I try the "what the heck is a Bishop party" topic.

A few options here:
1. Go with a somewhat conventional party, with a bard, gadgeteer, ranger, and something else (not something with Stealth, as I don't like the way that skill works, which is a shame because Monks are otherwise interesting).
2. Go with Mage, Priest, Alchemist, and Psionic for the other classes. Believe it or not, from what I remember there is room for 6 fragile casters in the party.

Also, while this is not commonly done, Bishops aren't *just* useful for spellcasting. In particular:
* A Bishop can, with the right stats and skills, fight as well as a Priest, albeit with lower HP. (This is one reason I think the Priest should have had the Bard's attack rating instead of the same one as the other pure casters.)
* The Artifacts skill, which Bishops have as their primary skill. has its uses, especially if you take advantage of the ability to recharge items by selling them and buying them back. Many items that use this skill cast useful spells, like Mana Stones (Restore Magic, one of the non-learnable ones, and in a magic-focused party a rather useful one) and Amulets of Healing (Heal All at a high power level, and you can get such an amulet before you get access to the spell, and the amulet is one of the best accessories even if you ignore that spell). Also, don't forget using the Staff of Doom to cast Death Cloud (normally a level 7 Alchemist spell, very useful against low level high HP enemies). My only complaint is that many of the game's consumable items, including the Scroll of Heal All (gives you Heal All even sooner than the Amulets of Healing become available), are more expensive than they should be, which is one reason to invest in Alchemy and make some potions.