So, perhaps you like how, in Bard's Tale 3, AC can get as low as -50? (Or, in some buggy versions, even lower, to the point of integer underflow?)

Or, if you restrict the numbers to positive numbers (and 0), you could still have a situation where your attacks are dealing, say, only 1e-300 damage to the enemies. That does not feel powerful enough to be meaningful, even if the boss you're fighting has only 1e-299 HP, while also producing the same issues that large numbers have. (But at least, you can feel powerful if you somehow manage to deal 1e300 damage, while 1e-300 damage is just too low to feel good.)

Sometimes it's fun to get the feel of being powerful. Even Wizardry 4 does this late in the game with some easy joke fights before you get to the game's hardest (conventional) battle.

Well, you could give the Monk the PTorch and use it to cast Light.

(Or, rather, you *should* be able to, but as you might know that item is defective;; trying to use it just puts the item into your hand rather than actually casting the spell for some reason.)

I thought that the P-Torch is a Gadgeteer item (part of the gadgets), that nobody else can use. P-Torch + Magnifying Glass = Searchlight (unllimited Detect Secrets).

In Final Fantasy 1, (I'm sure that this is no surprise to anybody, due to how I power-level), I chose a Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage, and Black Mage, and ground them to level 50. That way, the last dungeon was much easier (no way to rest, and no mana potions like in later games, forces casters to conserve spell castings). I dislike how much earlier games punished mages like that, in that you only have a limited number of spell castings, unlike the more physical characters, who can attack all day long (with the balance that magic tends to attack all enemies on screen).

Wizardry 8 actually is a breath of fresh air, for us older gamers. It could be argued that casters are actually overpowered, as they have a way of replenishing mana (Mana Stones, Magic Nectar). Using a MDP this way, they are able to completely glass the battlefield, removing the need for melee and ranged combat (except certain bosses, though this is relatively rare).

I believe it has an unusual combination of properties. I'm pretty sure it's not a gadget, and that, in theory, anyone can use it. However, it's of a type that isn't meant to be used, and therefor the item doesn't actually work as was presumably intended.

A Gadgeteer can use it to make that Searchlight, which is a proper gadget.
In the late game, you get items that cast spells for free.

If you need some healing, just find a battle with some weak enemies, and have everyone use the Heal Staff/Helmet. After a while, your party will be healed, with no magic or consumable cost. (If you have the White Shirt, use that as well; after several uses, enemies won't be able to hit you physically.)

It might worth be looking at earlier SaGa games (specifically 1 and 2), where physical attacks actually aren't free. In other words, for most of the game there's no free attacks available at all.

(Interesting case: SaGa Frontier 2, where weapon durability and WP mean you need to conserve your physical attacks, but the way SP boosting equipment works means that you can just use magic all the time and not run out. It might even be feasible to get through the game using only magic, except for Gustave and army battles, though the final boss could be a challenge (it is when playing normally).)

In Saviors of Sapphire Wings, if you have a magic-heavy party, you have enough MP to go all out most of the time (except at the beginning), though some dungeons may take more trips, and many spells are really powerful. Bosses will die before they get to do much, usually in round 1 or 2. At postgame levels, you can even get a strong MP-restoring passive, and MP then becomes irrelevant.

(Note that I wouldn't recommend this game for your play style of power-leveling; Stranger of Sword City Revisited might be better, but you're going to want to do class changes in that game if you want to be powerful.)

It could be argued that MDPs are the most powerful, due to my last game of completely glassing the Rapax Castle Main level in 4 battles (leaving items littered all over the place, but I wanted to meet Al-Sedexus before more Rapax spawn).

In this way, specialist casters (Priest, Alchemist, Psionic, and Mage) are penalized more than specialists, though only by 20% (In the last MDP I ran, the Bard and Gadgeteer were never more than a level ahead of the casters).

So, you're saying that specialists > specialists, which simplifies to the obviously false statement 0 > 0. Are you sure that's what you meant?

What can change the nature of an RPG? Heh, this dev discussion bores me, it's too safe. It sparks neither joy nor enthusiasm. Especially when someone is in a facetious mood. Suffice it to say, the niche games have done it better; also worse. Sure, don't slaughter sacred cows just for the gore—although an appropriate cRPG response—but, as an Englishman once put it in some speculative fiction, rules are there so you think before you break them. It's part of what separates the mundane from the giants. [Exercise for the reader: what are the necessary and sufficient elements of a cRPG?] (From an outsider looking in: genre is more there for the user than the creative. Of course, "true" creatives don't need to be taught this.)

I've made it to the Trynton fountain. I like giving it experience myself. Just shy of level ten after the sprites. The ninja got her second attack just before leaving hell road again, and the ranger finally got it when dealing with the cemetery. I've not had luck with merchants and books. I was planning on doing the cemetery retro after the next visit to Arnika, but without knock knock, might be better to put it off. The long road, with the slow map, was like a desert. But then a horgar made me think maybe I can speak to that rat on the way back—heh. I could probably take a horgar on, maybe even two at once, but why push it? Well, the sammy has about one hundred fifteen kills, with the valk the next murderous. The monk has fallen, but the alchemists are the least good at final blows. Lowest average armor class is seven. Everyone has thirty, or more, book skill. I think I'll pump points until forty-five, though. I'm bad at hybrid magic skillin'. But yeah, significantly more fun than those MDPs I've played. Because, you know, the thing. The party is pretty awful until the second attacks come rolling in. That's the appeal of dracon breath, to get past the tough spot. Every class herein pay for it though. Magic should be coming online in the low teens or so, we shall see. The samurai's buffs are still pretty not great. And we'll just start to build magic screen soon. Oof. Late game will probably be the worst part of this party though, but then again, not having range advantage might actually make it more fun, since it gives more importance to positioning. Losing attacks hurts.

Clearly I just prefer warriors. I mean, magic is nice, and thief skills are super fun. But something about armor, strength, and health is just so appealing. Cleric, being a sort of hybrid, should be fun, but CODzilla, you know? Wizards sometimes have a similar problem.

What I'm saying is that there are clearly 4 tiers of experience levels:

Specialists (Fighter, Rogue, Bard, Gadgeteer).

Specialist Casters (20% level up penalty): Priest, Alchemist, Psionic, Mage.

Hybrids (40% level up penalty): Lord, Valkyrie, Ranger, Monk, Samurai.

Elites (60% level up penalty): Bishop, Ninja.

So in a MDP like I created last time, the Bard and Gadgeteer were never more than a level ahead of the specialist casters.

Complex, but maybe I'll say that experience and levels are not necessary for a CRPG. In particular, the one I'm going to make will not have thee mechanics.

In my experience, this is when enemy resistance begins to get rather high, though it is when you expect to get Power Cast.

The late teens are where offensive magic gets weakest. Level 5 lacks area damage spells (except for Psionic Blast, which fails to outdamage Ego Whip and is mostly useful for its unusual targeting), so when the level 4 spells cap out, there's no room to grow in offensive power until you get 6th and 7th levels. Even then, 6th level attack spells don't really feel that exciting (just 2 cone spells, 1 of which adds a status ailment you usually don't want).

It's in the early to mid 20s that you get to see the power of 7th level spells, including the nukes and Tsunami.

I pushed a little further, Trynton Zoo, everyone level ten now. The monk finally made two attacks, the power of full BAR. Magical buffs are already much better, but it'll be a while till we get x-ray and the shields. The level ten sprites (while still at level nine) weren't that bad, and those pestilent rats were a joke. But those rank weeds were no slouches. They, however, have low hp, so even the current low damage of multi-attack spells helps a lot. Day twenty-one, over seventy thousand gold. Looks pretty good.

Honestly, it's amazing how much the party still misses. Expert mode works well for a seemingly lazy difficulty option. The accuracy of magic really helps.

Once your level is high enough, Nuclear Blast > Lightning. (Assuming a Bishop, not a Priest, Valkyrie, or Lord.)

This is where I'm going with my Valkyrie. I have noticed (even as early as the Monastery), that she suffers from not being able to hit in long range with magic (unlike the Ranger, and two Bishops, who have much more magic versatility).
However, she has much better defensive magic, can use her Bow in a pinch to hit from long range, and hits very hard in melee with her slow Polearm. This will change (she's getting +3 per level in Speed and Senses), so she will be a melee and ranged powerhouse, just like the rest of the party.

Lightning vs Nuclear Blast: I did this in my last party. The best example would be Bayjin. The only enemies that spawn are crabs and Rynjin, all weak to Fire magic. However, most are mediocre, or low level crabs and Rynjin. The best MDP approach, or, failing that, hybrid approach (with no Powercast), would be layered/stacked magic, where each party member fires off their cheapest Fire spell. Divinity: Lightning. Alchemy: Fire Bomb. Psionics: Psionic Fire. Wizardry: Fireball. This seems to work 90% of the time, although there may be one survivor or two (in long range), where they will easily finished off in Round 2. This saves a lot of mana, as Nuclear Blast is expensive, and can only be cast (safely), at PL6.

One of the rapax dropped a book of mindread, which I could actually use. Nice. But the real score was a mystic spear in one of the razuka chests. This is what spear +2 transfers over as, right? Yeah, I see the appeal of making sure to bring as many over as possible. We also got a lance there, which was sold off later. Turns out tanking doesn't work well without healing. I thought as much, but nice to test. The samurai got a lucky crit on one of the breeders, so, well. We cheesed the wood spirits, so that means a lot of upgraded spears. And we even got a spirit staff.

I decided to go back down Trynton after opening the shortcut. Talking to the characters about the rattkin. Yay! small bits of experience. Went back to Arnika, installed the tracking device, and made some cure diease potions. Yep the ranger managed forty alchemy on Arnika-Trynton Road. Anna didn't have a book of knocks, but we wanted to go back to UBC anyway. On Arnika Road, the party gained another level. Everyone but the ninja now has at least forty-four book skill. The samurai was the first to hit an unmodified seventy-five in a weapon skill. Nice. Since twelve is coming up, I should make a plan on what spells to take, and if I want to save the level thirteen spell pick or not.

We were about to snag a knocks book from Kunar, as well as fireball. Now, the plan is to do the cemetery retro. We'll do the swamp to bluff before Northern retro, though. I'm going to break out Gridmonger and make fresh maps, because I find it fun.

Also, we slew Bobo, because we're jerks.

Did you whack ALL the Rattkin on the Sixth Bough? Including the Don and Milano? You can save a lot of money on the Astral Dominae that way (I believe that you can always get the AD right away by whacking the Don, but you have to go to the Swamp, and wait for the Dark Savant to throw his temper tantrum, for the Don to have the AD to buy, the peaceful way.
Edit: Probably not, as your party isn't near the Don's level of 20. I grind my parties so hard that, by the time I reach the Sixth Bough (Rattkin Tree), my part has the clear temptation to whack the Don right then and there, and not have to run to the Swamp, then run back for the AD.

I have the power of alchemy, why do I care about money? And why rush the sphere? I'm not getting it until I'm returning with the idol. Which is going to be a while, since I'm going to do the filthy casual method of fire before water. Might as well go to the clearing before the templars take over. (Yes, I know, put one of the mcguffins in a chest, sure. But, hey, I don't have to do that.) Although, I might do it before that, depends on how high walking everywhere gets me. I'd like to be at least fifteen before mountain.

Most monsters are easy now, as long as I position properly. Some level twelve drones were more annoying than difficult leaving Arnika. Being surrounded remains a bad strategy, as a big brawl with over twenty foes showed. Thankfully, x-ray is only a level away. And Anna had a knocks book this time. Now only my ninja wants one. Also, terror for the monk—whoo.

Well, I'm at the cemetery again. Time to find those runes!