Only ever really played Wiz7, but I own 6 through 8. I understand a badass party in 7 might not translate to the other two, so what does?

Pretty typical for me is something like:
RAW Lord (stared as ninja, changed ASAP)
FAE Ninja
FAE Ninja (cheesy exploit for two CoC)
FEL Monk
DRA Valkyrie (started as ninja, changed ASAP)
ELF Samurai (started as bard, changed ASAP)

Evenyone has fighting skills, spells, ninjutsu and kirijutsu. I also get a samurai who can play magical instruments and use the Elven Bow.

But only bards import the music skill to 8. So then what? Change the order of the class change? But then they don't import with mage spells, so I'm mageless in 8. Maybe change my second ninja to a bishop? IDK. What changes would you guys make from 6 to 7 and from 7 to 8?

In Wizardry 8, there is one major difference: The class changing mechanics are considerably less favorable, to the point where, in most cases, it is not a good idea.

Bishops are really good in Wizardry 8, and can certainly handle your mage spells well enough. Also, you don't need both a Lord and a Valkyrie; maybe change one of them into a Samurai before transfer?

Ninjas, on the other hand, are not that good. Therefore, I would recommend changing one of them to another class (like Bishop).

One other option I should point out is the "replace character" option; this is a good idea if you want to have a Gadgeteer in your Wizardry 8 party (because there is no way to have a character transfer as a Gadgeteer).

Is the class changing actually harmful, or just not worth it? Would it be bad to change a character to a Gadgeteer at the start instead of replacing them? Also, is there any drawback to replacing?

You know, I was kinda thinking I might replace one of my two priest casters with a Samurai. Ninjas got nerfed that hard? I know in 8 you can spot an encounter coming, so the CoC keeps you from easily alternating with a ranged weapon, but dang. Are monks really better than the mighty Faerie Ninja now?

I read that now every class has specific things they get bonuses to like Fighters get a bonus to close range combat and that sort of thing. Is a Fighter's bonus enough to make them preferable over a Lord now?

Class changing is actually harmful; a character who is changed to Gadgeteer right away will be permanently one level behind her peers in terms of Gadgeteering abilities. Note that XP requirements in Wizardry 8 scale exponentially even at high levels, and class changing does *not* reset your level for this purpose.

The drawbacks to replacing are that:
* The character doesn't get any bonuses from being imported (because the new character wasn't the result of importing).
* The new character will only be level 1. However, if you do this early, it won't take long for the character to catch up.

On the other hand, you will be able to control the new character's starting stats, which can make it possible to get an expert skill sooner. What makes Fighter the best melee class isn't the close range combat bonus, but rather the ability to go berserk. For a cost of some accuracy and defense (not a problem past low levels), you get to deal *double* damage with melee attacks. Note that only Fighters have this capability in Wizardry 8.

Lords, on the other hand, get natural health regeneration. Of note is that this allow a lord to equip items that grant negative health regen (such as cursed items, many of which are actually quite good) and not end up with net negative regen as a result.

Valkyries, incidentally, get a different ability that distinguishes them from Lords; they will often refuse to die when reduced to 0 HP or instantly killed. This can be quite handy and sometimes can happen multiple times in one battle (though note that the Valkyrie will be unconscious afterwords).

Don't worry about the classes to take in Wizardry 8 now, you can switch to your desired W8 classes at the end of Wizardry 7.

You already played through (and exploited) Wizardry 7 so focus solely on getting the best experience playing through Wizardry 6.

You're obviously going to use the cheat mod for better rolls at character creation and spell regeneration so you shouldn't have too much trouble going through the game, your all ninjutsu party will be very cheesy, boring and easy to play since the monsters won't do anything while your party is hidden.

Saying class changing is harmful is an overexaggeration. I mean: if you'd change "Wizardry 7 style" it certainly would be. If you know what you are doing certain changes can be very powerful however. That mostly concerns aquiring skills or magic levels to add to a class that doesn't have those otherwise. All magic schools count their own levels separately (a Bishop adds all at once). In any case you are not a level 1 char after the change but continue the same progress. E.g.: a lvl 21 char being a lvl 18 Bard & a lvl 3 Fighter, currently Fighter. Can use all instruments (requires lvl 18 Bard), can use his Music skill but can no longer raise it as a Fighter, can use Berserk and wear Fighter armor, can't use Bard equipment, doesn't improve camping and casts less good than a lvl 21 Bard.
Class changing requires to adapt your attributes, so your attributes fulfill both classes' requirements.
Honestly: I'd skip on class changes but some people love them.

Fighters are indeed mostly priced for the Berserk attack but there is more to them. The highest HP among all characters make sure the best armor possible has something to synergize with. Fighter armor doesn't only offer AC but also a huge boost to your resistances, plus other boni. That aspect is pretty similar for Lords & Valks however: 2nd highest HP, same equip. Fighters also got extra Stamina regeneration though and that's really nice as well as constantly overlooked. Last but not least they've got the best attribute requirements one could hope for and typically the earliest powerskills (unlocked by attributes hitting 100). I love those guys.

The Faerie Ninja still is the Faerie Ninja... The Cane of Corpus renders any wielder a monster w/o doubt. Besides that Ninjas are okay I guess but not particularily strong. You won't find two Canes. The one you can find is slightly random: 80% drop chance.

My 2 cents for what it is worth.

1) I love the Faerie Ninja. He is a total bad ass with the Cane of Corpus. He is a fair caster as well as alchemy is arguably the best spell book

2) Class changing is powerful done correctly. My Bishop started off as a mage and got the great realm bonuses and then switched to Bishop at second level.
I am planning on switching my bard at level 18 to rogue to get backstab . Since she wields Bloodlust berzerk will stack with that.

Okay, so I'll probably avoid class changing in 8, maybe I'll still play 7 with a similar party (though without the second CC, that was cheesy even my standards), but what of 6? Are there any classes that stand out? Is class changing good in 6?

Class changing works almost identically in 6 to 7. That said, there are a few little quirks in 6 that make life harder. Unless you're using an appropriate fix patch, your carrying capacity never changes as you level up and increase your stats. (That's fairly easily fixed, though.) The other thing is that magic point regen is heavily skewed towards specialist casters. Magic regen is fixed at creation, and hybrid casters (and even Bards and Bishops) have severely limited regen, which significantly limits both your mana pool and your actual regen. You also only get bonus mana regen if your Vitality is 16+ at chargen, rather than it being a combination of Vitality and Piety.

So, if you are ever intending a character to be a caster, even a secondary caster, you want to create them as a specialist caster with a vitality of 16, and then class change them afterwards. Bishops having shitty regen is particularly annoying because class-changing into them is fairly difficult, especially if you have to spend all your chargen attribute points on Vitality.

sorry for bump , was struggling to post a new topic