I am just wondering whether it is feasible to take a Fairy Fighter through the Dark Savant trilogy and have her be useful in all three games.

In particular, are there enough decent weapons for her to be able to contribute meaningfully to most combats throughout each of these games?

Also, are there any other good melee Fairy setups that are viable throughout the trilogy? (Note that a setup that relies too heavily on a specific weapon, such as the Cane of Corpus, doesn't count because that setup is not useful before you obtain it.)

This is based on my opinion, as i started play this series from W7. I guess none will select faerie fighter for their char, unless for fun and test or something. Btw, i can say it is possible to build faerie IF AND ONLY IF you do dual class for both W6 and W7. Depending on what style or gameplay you want to do, for my case, i will change them to thief to train their ninjitsu or stealth, then turn them back to fighter.

The real problem is to get faerie's equipment. Sorry, i can't tell much but i think you know what i mean.

First of all, it certainly is feasible, I just don't think it's very good.

Melee fairies in general are absolutely viable, but you have to be able to somehow get your AC up (or down for W6/7). This means Monk and Ninja faeries work out well in W6 through W8, since you can handle your AC by means of Ninjutsu/Stealth.

Other melee classes really have those AC issues. You might give your fairy the best misc equipment around, but in the end I presume it will just not be enough.

Then there is the lack of weapons of course... Monk and Ninja have their hands.

Ninja also have arguably the best weapon in the game.

Yes, but what should a ninja use *before* you get that weapon?

Also, that weapon doesn't transfer from 7 to 8, so what weapon should your fairy ninja carry when transferring the party over? (Also, I believe it doesn't even exist in 6, for that matter.)

Incidentally, in Wizardry Gaiden 3 and 4, most of the oriental weapons are usable by fairies, allowing fairy ninjas (and Samurai!) to be effective even without the Cane of Corpus existing in those games. (There's also the fact that the Fairy AC bonus is 5 rather than just 2, but keep in mind that AC uses old-school mechanics where you have just one AC score for the whole body.) It is, in fact, this observation (which is different from Wizardry 6-8) that led me to ask the question in the first place.

In W8 there are good weapons anyway. Apart from the Light Sword, which you do not fancy I understand, there is the Ivory Blade, the Vampire Chain, the Staff of Doom... I'd say unless you want axes or a polearm you are fine weapon wise.

Obviously the Zynaryx Plate & Dolls Armor aren't that great: AC6. Add a Cloak of Many Colors (+3), 2x Amulet of Healing (+6), being Fairy (+2), Ivory Blade (+1) and Reflextion 100 (+6) you get AC 24. Armorplate is what? +4 I think? That's pretty much it. As a Fighter 28 isn't that great but probably okay.
Better Misc stuff could potentially add another 2, high Speed another 2 for AC 32. A bit of a stretch. Now Body of Stone could solve this anyway (+9?) but apart from that it's quite an effort to get to decent values. I'd say there is hardly a way to skip on maxing Dexterity early, powertraining it and giving him the best equip. If you do that he gets to an average value at least.

All in all it isn't a good choice for a Fighter but since you knew that... I'd say it can work in W8.
Now I wonder: what's the best fairy armor in 6 & 7? The net tells me that the Gown of Divinemail and the Robes of Enchant could be worn by Fairies back in W7. If so you are fine I suppose?
I'd bet there's enough stuff on the weapon side. If you know what you are looking for anyway.

I usually visit Mt Gigas for the Vampire Bats. There are two kinds: level 10 & 12. So if you go there around these levels you should meet some. Otherwise you can use the Ivory Blade, with the AC + 1 being at its best on your Fairy.

In W7 you can reliably get the Light Sword anyways.

The "Ymmu's Paw" will transfer from w7 - w8 and allows you to build staff skill up from the start of the game... ime a Fairy Ninja is better of using spells for the first 10 levels or so but you play the game your way mate.

p.s, my fav weapon is "Rod of Sprites" but you have to farm for it so perhaps not for everyone.

All this is just how I play the game, and I am not saying it is the best. But it works.
A fairy ninja can use the skull dagger and to get through wiz 6. It has a kirijutsu bonus that does stack with your skill and is available fairly early. You can buy another from Mai Lai and dual wield them. The SAI may be better than the skull dagger?? I forgot Fairies can use them.

The Cane of Corpus may be a great weapon, but I personal forgo it for a fairy monk instead. Not a popular choice but works for me. I personally like the fairy Monk for rp reasons. Ninja and monk get reduced AC from the ninjutsu skill and the fairy has an AC bonus, this gets an insanely low AC later in the game making them hard to hit. There is also some Stix and rods with sleep and ko bonuses they can dual wield for crowd control in later games. A fairy monk in wiz 6 is mainly hand to hand or a bo but combined with ninjutsu and kirijutsu it is still great. The only class worth switching in and out of would be the Valkyrie ( too much micromanaging otherwise ) but that still requires a lot of planning and it seems like you want this to be a pure class. Long story short, I don't find the Fairy Monk or Ninja to be as gear specific or class switching dependent as other race/class combinations.

This is my favorite character for using powders and damaging potions as well because they are most likely going to be your fastest character and when you need those, you usually need them to be used earlier in the combat sequence.

I suppose you could focus on a fairy fighter with maxed speed and dexterity using utility weapons allowable to fairies, but I have not tried it. By Utility weapons, I means ko ,sleep, and poison.

Maybe with a mod allowing Faeries to use better equipment, Faeries would be more viable.
I usually hyperfocus when it comes to individual characters, and generalize when it comes to the party. You need a viable party that can handle all challenges. I have found that an all-human party, composed of various races, seems to fit my vision of that party. It doesn't seem to be a popular choice, but humans have the best stat total, and no weaknesses. Everything starts out at 45, and you can min-max from there.
I'm doing a magic damage party with a Bard, Gadgeteer, Priest, Alchemist, Psionic, and Mage. I get all the magic spells, 4 portal spells, and all the instruments and gadgets. They all level up fairly quickly, as those are the two easiest experience tracks. They may start out slowly, but once humans hit their groove (around level 30 you get 4 expert skills and 4 maxed stats), they just rock. In the end, they will wind up with the most attribute points TOTAL.

They suffer from the lack of specialization in their starting stats. This means that, for every expert skill, there's some race that will get that expert skill sooner than a human. Also, humans don't get any resistance boost, and they don't get Dracon Breath.

Also, Humans can't equip the Fey Ring (which is nice for the Stealth boost that's great on a caster), while Elves can.

(Note that Human Bishops get Power Cast and Snake Speed one level later than Elven Bishops. On the other hand, Human Bishops do get more HP, but in my experience that doesn't matter in the late game.)

Humans were actually lousy in Wizardry 1-5 (excluding 4 as usual), as not only did they have no really good stats, they had horrible piety, and had the *worst* stat sum of any races.

(By the way, in Wizardry Gaiden 3, Lizardman is actually the best race in the long run, even for casters, though note that Vaslkyrie > Priest in the long run in that game due to Valkyries leveling up faster than Priests.)