Ranged crits don't happen often enough for it to actually become a problem, and they certainly don't happen often in boss fights (though it's anticlimactic if it does happen). The enemies that you're most likely to crit are lower level enemies, and enemies that generally appear in bigger groups.

If you go at a lower level, stronger enemies will not appear. Level 5 is the level that I'd recommend; while not necessarily easy at this level, you shouldn't encounter those level 10 Brigands.

And, of course, if you do this at level 3, the road will be easy, at least the couple of times I've been there at that low a level.

Incidentally, I just read about one player who got the Angel's Tongue and Lightning Rod at level 1, then went back to the Lower Monastery. Also, that player apparently got the Piercing Pipes at level 3 then went back.

Arnika is more of a training area for me; it's where I build up my strength, skill, gear, and spell selection before venturing forth to more dangerous areas.

Yes, but some other players reading this might not share that opinion.

(For a hypothetical Wizardry 9, if I were designing it, I'd either make it an ability that could be toggled, or have it work a bit more like in Wizardry 6 and 7, where you have to spend your action to use the skill (which was called Ninjitsu back then, I believe).)

When I get around to heavy ranged combat training, all but the Ranger will be shooting away at the enemy. The Ranger will have his own training (he kind of ruins it with high HP enemies). Although, as you say, it doesn't happen often enough for me to totally alter my training that much (maybe 4-5% of the time).

At level 5, I believe that you can still get level 7 Higardi Highwaymen, which can be nasty at that level, as well as various plants. Your smooth Arnika Road run is not guaranteed at that level, though that is the level which you can have a good chance of killing Gregor, and those set level 6 Rabid Rats in the Upper Monastery.

You like to under-level, and I like to over-level. It's interesting seeing two polar opposite strategies work.

I like the idea of building non-offensive spells then changing to a staff Samurai. Seems like a useful character to me. There's even an argument for powercast there.

A Staff Samurai? Isn't the Samurai focused on Swords?
Edit: Powercast on a Samurai is very debatable.

Yes, but it doesn't have to be.

The Zatoichi Bo is a staff that can only be used by 2 classes, both of whose primary skills are weapon skills other than staff. So, to use it at all, you need to do this sort of thing.

Another build template, this time for hybrids in an MDP:
* At character creation, go Str/Int/Dex. After this, go Str/Int at level up.
* Use slings as your ranged weapon. This will improve Throwing & Sling, which in turn allows bombs to be used without too much backfire chance. This way, the character can contribute to magic damage.
* Once spells are learned, boost the spellbook skill at level up. The goal is to get access to area effect damage spells. (Hardest for Lord/Valkyrie, who will need 45 Divinity to get Whirlwind.)
* Once you get Power Cast, start using magic heavily. Before then, spells aren't that important (except to raise the spellbook skill), but now that you have Power Cast, you can raise it and your realm skills at the same time through use.
* As Power Cast improves, bombs become less necessary.

I'm going to investigate the Valkyrie case of this skill, but I think this build might be best suited to Ninja, who gets Throwing & Sling as a class skill, can use the Boomerang Shuriken, and gets thrown criticals/auto-penetrate (and sling use raises Critical Strike). The catch, of course, is no Infinity Helm, which would be a good choice for other versions of this build.

The Ninja had better be a stellar character, taking as long to level up as a Bishop, while only having one spellbook (Alchemy).

I'm building my Valkyrie with the traditional build of: Strength and Dexterity, then Speed and Senses. This build seems to work well with every non-caster (Fighter, Rogue, Bard, Gadgeteer), as well as even some hybrids, who don't care about Powercast.

Note that my Valkyrie has trouble with enemies who aren't at least in thrown range, having the Divinity spellbook. This is the price you pay for having the best defensive spellbook.

At least in my party, the Fighter, Valkyrie, and Ranger will all get Infinity Helms (Rogues, Ninja, and Monks don't deserve it, because they get the Stealth skill).

To hit at long range with a Valkyrie:
* Valkyries (unlike full casters) can equip Bows. To make them accurate at long range, get Eagle Eye along with good stats and skill.
* Instant Death and Death Wish can hit at long range, but aren't reliable.
* Banish and Falling Stars also work at long range. (Note that Banish only works against certain enemy types, but is very good when it does work, as long as the enemies don't have Soul Shield up. Also, its backfires are usually harmless.
* The Mauler can be used to cast Crush 4, which is long range. The catch is that you need 50 Strength, but this won't be a problem for typical Valkyrie builds (and even Vi Domina starts with plenty of Strength (68 IIRC), though you may wish to raise it to at least 70 to prevent unequiping it while hexed).
* There's other bombs, powders, and artifacts that can work at long range.

I typically don't like relying on consumables for the obvious reason (they are consumed upon using them, and train the Throwing and Sling skill, something that a Valkyrie typically doesn't focus on).

My Valkyrie is the slowest team member in my party, due to having stat requirements that typically are not optimal (55 Piety and Vitality). However, she hits like a truck when she *does* eventually hit. Note that her slowness isn't always bad; Enemies will run up to the party before she gets a chance to attack, and then she puts them out of their misery quickly.

My Human Valkyrie has Strength and Dexterity maxed, but every level up, 3 points are being put into Speed and Senses, so by the time she hits level 31, she will be an absolute beast (Probably sooner; Level 31 is just the point where she would max 4 attributes).

I look at it like this:

Divinity spellbook: Heavily in favor of defense.

Alchemy spellbook: Balanced, with no Mental realm, but with the opportunity to gain money by mixing potions.

Psionics and Wizardry spellbooks: Slanted to offense, why is why the Psionic and Mage get penalized so heavily in terms of hit points and armor selection.

Thing is, I have that tendency, but I've sometimes been trying to get away from that habit, since I end up never using them.

It's actually a bit harder in Wizardry 8, as items aren't as much of an advantage over other options, except perhaps for casting Heal All early on.

For a game to really get me to use items, it needs to be like Final Fantasy 5, where, with the right ability, items are strong (like Flare-level damage at mid-levels, or full revive well before you get that spell) and readily available (the non-buyables are all reliable steals or drops from something, and even Elixirs are eventually buyable (but expensive).

Wizardry 8, by contrast, has many consumables being more expensive than they should be, and there are some that are just rare and not good enough to warrant that rarity. Take, for example, the Scroll of Whipping Rocks, which cast that spell at power 3. This would be a decent item earlier on, but there's only 3 or 4 in the game (depending on whether Jan-Ette drops one), and the only one that you might get at a level where it might be useful is the one in the Northern Wilderness, and it might be guarded by that hogar. Items like that might as well not exist.
I see Alchemy as being good in offense after a while. 3rd and 4th level spells are comparable to what the Mage gets, 5th and 6th level spells are rather poor in area damage spells (these gaps are the reason offensive magic tends to fall off later on), and at 7th level the Alchemist has the better offensive selection.

For defense:

Divinity has Heal Wounds, Heal All, Stamina, Rest All, Cure Lesser Conditions, Cure Paralysis, Cure Poison, Cure Disease, Sane Mind, Bless, Soul Shield, Guardian Angel, Resurrection, Restoration, Armorplate, and Magic Screen.

Alchemy has Heal Wounds, Stamina, Cure Lesser Conditions, Cure Paralysis, Cure Poison, Cure Disease, Body of Stone, Chameleon, Element Shield, and Resurrection.

Psionics has Heal Wounds, Cure Lesser Conditions, Sane Mind, Hypnotic Lure, Soul Shield, and Chameleon.

Wizardry has Missile Shield and Element Shield.

You can clearly see the progression from defensive to offensive, hence, the lower HPs of respective casters.

Modern Weapons are clearly not implemented well in this game, which is why a character who has maxed Strength should focus on either Bow, or Throwing and Sling skill, which would take advantage of the Strength damage bonus. Even Gadgeteers, with their Omnigun, who hate blinding effects, could take advantage of creating Tripleshot Crossbows (I did that in my last party).

Obviously, casters are limited to the Throwing and Sling skill, with the disadvantage that stones tend to be heavier than other ammo, but with the advantage that they tend to KO more often, and the better stones weigh less, and KO more.

Many of those spells are healing rather than defense, which I classify differently.

Also, for Wizardry 8 I find a more useful distinction to be whether the spell is subject to resistance or not. If you do this, then you start counting spells like Light, Enchanted Blade, and Armormelt. (Well, and the portal spells, but all spellbook casters can use both of them.)

Eliminating healing from your lists (but counting Guardian Angel as defense, not healing), the list looks like this:
* Divinity: Bless (though I often see it more as offensive support), Guardian Angel, Armorplate, Magic Screen, Soul Shield, and (arguably) Superman.
* Alchemy: Element Shield, Body of Stone (Chameleon doesn't really work as a defensive spell)
* Psionic: Soul Shield, (arguably) Haste
* Wizardry: Missile Shield, Element Shield

So, if you don't count the arguable cases, it turns out that Psionic has the fewest defensive spells, Divinity the most, and Alchemy and Wizardry are tied.

As for Modern Weapons, the fact that Strength doesn't affect them mean that they can be a good choice for, say, a character with only 35 Strength. (Or even less: 15 if Hexed, 5 if a Hexed Fairy (though some Modern Weapons aren't usable by this race), and possibly even less if you throw in an Ankh of Death or 2.)

This is all agreeable or disagreeable on what counts as defensive and offensive, but the fact remains that the Divinity casters suffer a disadvantage to range.

The only reliable AOE spells are from thrown range: Lightning and Whirlwind. Holy Water and Banish are very situational (and said monsters affected by these spells can be dealt with by other casters, as well).

Instant Death and Death Wish aren't reliable, and don't work well if the enemy has a high Divine realm resistance.

The "Ultimate spell" is Falling Stars, which is inferior to Earthquake.

Usually, if unless a caster, you're better off going with Bows/Crossbows (same skill). You get the Strength damage bonus, and a lot of variety in weapon selection.

Banish is reliable; it's just that it's only useful in certain fights.

Falling Stars may be weaker than Earthquake, but it's still reliable and (with Power Cast) strong (stronger than any multi-target spell of 5th level or less at the same power level), and capable of penetrating resistance just as easily as Earthquake.

Holy Water is the same, though I should point out that that particular spell is only thrown range, unlike every other radius spell. (Similar, the non-learnable Dispel Undead spell is only thrown range, despite targeting all visible enemies with that range.)

Going Modern Weapons means you can ignore Strength, and there's a couple rare weapons of that type that don't need ammo. Of those two weapons, one can be imported from Wizardry 7 (which means you have less control over your starting stats unless you do a character replace), and the other one is a random drop from Jan-Ette (which, if you're willing to reload for rare items, is an easier case to reload, as all you have to do is skip through dialog; no having to load from outside the zone and fight/avoid combat on the way).