Personally, I dislike rules like this. If I were to play with this rule, I would add a third rule:
3) No using more than one character of the same class, which would make your party illegal.

It's also worth noting that Valkyries aren't quite as good as in Wizardry 6; they now level more slowly than Priests (and the advantage becomes moot once you reach the teens) and can't spend as many skill points on Theology any more because of the way the skill system works. If you want to get high level priest spells at a reasonable level without class changing, you need a Priest.

Some of the other balance issues have been resolved as well. For instance, Rangers can now score critical hits with bows, and they have better armor options as well. (In fact, some armor that Rangers can't use in Wizardry 6 can be used by them in 7.) The XP table has been changed so that slow leveling classes now level up as fast as everyone else once you get into the teens; gone are the days when Thieves gain over twice as many levels as Ninjas at high levels, with Thieves reaching ~30 when Ninjas are stuck at ~20; now the level gap will no longer widen.

Another thing to note is that Death Cloud now exists, giving Alchemists a nice spell to use at higher levels. There are other new spells as well.

Yeah, that's why I called it a "personal" rule, it's just how *I* like to play. Good to know, thank you, this is exactly the type of information I was looking for :)! I will certainly include at least one Priest then. Yeah, Ninja definitely felt underpowered to me in W6, I'll give them a second look then. Thanks, I'll look into those new spells in more detail.

I guess I was assuming that W7 was pretty much identical to W6, but I see now that there are many subtle differences.

You won't be able to use most of the best items.
It's also a boring party which will only be able to sample a limited amount of the things the game has to offer.

Boring is a very subjective judgement, such a party would not be boring to *me* and I'm the one who's going to be playing :). For W6 I made a very balanced party, and I was not happy with many of my choices. If I can't use a group of particular spells or particular items it's really not a big deal to me at all, unless that lack will make the game overly difficult.

I like your idea of playing 3 Valkyries and 3 Mages (I recommed 3 dwarves and 3 faeries), not the perfect party but it should work. I don't think a Priest is worth it if you don't change classes. Valkyries wit INT+PIE=24 still gets 3-6 academic skill points at level up, about level 9 they'll be able to to cast the armorplate and will be able to max out long before the game is over and pick the highest level spells.

If you want earlier access to priest spells replace a mage with a bishop, bishops get the most academic skill points so one focused on theology will raise this skill as fast as a priest and still be able to max out both thaumaturgy and theology before the game is over.
You can even consider replacing all three mages with bishops, they'll get 1-2 extra HP per level (removing a weakness) and still be able to cast nuclear blast, they also have better starting equipment (the polearm will help in combat, it will take some time until you find a weapon trader).


Some things which are different in Wizardry 7 (compared to W6):

- All classes level now effectively at the same speed
So simple classes like fighters or thieves are now totally useless since other classes which can do much more don't level more slowly any more. Pure casters like mages will still get faster access to spells and reach their peak more early but hybrids focused on the same spell school will be able to cast the highest level spells later in the game and be able to do more damage without spells.
Hybrids are much more powerful now. Lords aren't worse than Valkyries any more.
- Carrying capacity isn't set at creation any more, it increases when STR or VIT increase. So no need to pump up STR at creation.
- Spell regeneration rate is still set at creation (depending on class and faeries get a +1 bonus), but you get a +1 bonus if you start with PIE+PIE+VIT = 42+ and a +2 bonus for PIE+PIE+VIT = 51+.
- The sum of INT+PIE affects now how many of the important academic skillpoints you get.



A party of 3 Valkyries and 3 Mages won't have access to heal wounds before level 3 so it will have to rest a little more in the beginning. The mages won't be able to attack from the back for quite a long time until you can buy quarterstaves for them. If you want to solve the game yourself the psionic spell mindread can help (if you have a monk or psionic in the party), but you might as well use a walkthrough.

Do you, by any chance, have any information about the spell regen rates for the various classes in Wizardry 7? I am especially interested about what the Bishop gets.

Of course, there is the trick I've read about where you use the Recharge Item spell on Mana Stones or similar items, but you need 90 Thamaturgy/Theology to learn the spell, and level 11 to recharge a Mana Stone with it. (Apparently there's an item you can recharge at only level 9, but its effect is, of course, weaker.)

By the way, the FAQ I found for Wizardry 6 claims that, in Wizardry 7, SP regen rates do change with class change. Have you tested this in Wizardry 7? Note that this is only true at high levels (12+). At lower levels, there will still be a difference. Note that, of the classes that get spellcasting, Priests actually level the fastest in Wizardry 7, and your level does affect the highest power level you can cast spells at (which maxes out at level 12). On the other hand, it may be worth using Valkyrie for the better fighting capability, but you can also use Ranger, Samurai, Monk or Ninja.

Of note, there is a powerful weapon that only a Faerie Ninja can use, but getting it requires killing an NPC. (This is true in both 7 and 8, though of course the NPC in question is different.)

Funny you should mention that, in W6 my Valkyrie was a Dwarf and my Mage was a Faerie! I was thinking about varying the races this time around, but I hadn't made any firm decisions yet. Thanks, good points! I think dtgreene is of the opinion that Bishop is one of the weaker classes in W7, I take it you are not of this opinion.

I have not gone over the spell lists in detail yet, but I will be doing so before I make the final decision for my party. Thanks, vey helpful summary :). I always prefer to use magic rather than melee, so I don't envision my back row making normal attacks except as a last resort anyway. The lack of healing at the start is a bit more of a problem though, but perhaps not insurmountable. A Bishop would solve that problem though.

So would an Alchemist or Psionic, actually; both classes learn Heal Wounds and get better offensive spells than the Priest. I have read that too many late game enemies are highly resistant to Psionic spells, however (could someone confirm?).

Here's the info I got:

FIG, THI: 1.00
RAN, BAR, VAL, LOR, SAM, MON, NIN: 1.50
BIS: 2.167
MAG, PRI, ALC, PSI: 2.50

Which stat bonus are you going to roll for with your characters ?

Based on my notes from W6, I'm not going to spend a lot of time rolling for perfect/great stats this time around, I'll just stick with whatever minimums I need for the classes I choose... but honestly, I'm not sure I'll be able to follow my own advice :D!! I'm already thinking I'll want pie+pie+vit 42+, and int+pie 30+, and ...

Int is secondary. For a faerie mage starting with 12 int, 14 pie, 14 vit is much better than 14 int, 16 pie, 10 vit since he'll get a HP-bonus for vit earlier. The small bonus to academic skill can be evened out by grinding one extra level while the earlier gained bonus HP might need 4 extra levels to even out on the long run.

My original party idea (Valk x3, Mage x3) was based on a very heavy Mage spell offense, backed up with a minor in Priest spells. And I still want to stick with that philosophy.

So, if I make one of my Mages a Bishop instead this will dilute my Mage Power a bit, while giving me more Priest Power... but I'm really not sure if that's a useful tradeoff for me. I could also make one of my Valkyries a Samurai instead for extra Mage spells, but based on my experience in W6 my Mook Samurai was not that effective with Mage spells, it was more of a supplementary/backup thing.

I was also thinking of making one of my Valkyries a Lord instead, but I noticed that the Lord's primary skill is Diplomacy, so I'm worried that he'll waste too many skill points auto-allocating them to Diplomacy instead of somewhere useful?

Consider an Alchemist instead of one of your Mages, Here are some notable spells looking through the Alchemist spellbook:
Acid Bomb: Cloud spell that does damage. (Apparently Earth this time around.)
Deadly Air: Air damage to all enemies. Weaker than Nuclear Blast, but it likely targets a different resistance.
Deadly Poison: Instant death, but if it doesn't work, still does damage.
Death Cloud: Cloud spell that does instant death.
Draining Cloud: Another cloud spell, this time water realm.
Fire Bomb: Group attack spell, similar to fireball.
Poison Gas: Cloud spell that causes poison and damage.
Toxic Vapors: Yet another cloud spell. (I think there's a theme here.)

If you'd rather go with a psionic, there are some notable spells here:
Dazzling Lights: Similar to Prismic Missile
Mental Attack: Damage + Insanity, and it's only 1st level!
Mind Flay: Damage + insanity to all enemies. (One source claims it doesn't cause insanity; anyone care to confirm this?)
Mindread: Lets you read an NPC's mind, and NPC interaction is more important in this game than in Wizardry 6.
Psionic Blast: Damage + Insanity to an entire group. (Notice a theme with insanity?)
Psionic Fire: Similar to Fireball, but it is only 2nd level.

Note that these lists only cover spells that are not in any other spellbooks.

Note that both Alchemists and Psionics get Heal Wounds. (For Alchemists, it's the only Divine spell they get, interestingly enough.)