Hi guys,

Some of you may remember me from vnboards and postcount - good to see some of the long-time players over here!

I'm trying hard to play Wiz7 (DOS) for the first time...after at least 10 years of playing Wiz8 and have a few questions.

Here's my progress so far:

L4 Rawulf Lord
L4 Lizard Ninja
L4 Felpurr Monk
L4 Hobbit Bard
L4 Gnome Alchemist
L4 Faerie Mage (+1 level Alchemist)

Cleared out the starter dungeon and am now in New City - got the Black Wafer and releasing the prisoner seems to be next. My party can't seem to beat the guards, so perhaps I need to level up. Heading to NE Wilds next to New City, but have questions about multi-classing.
After reading various threads on spellcasters I thought I'd start my Faerie as an Alchemist (for Heal Wounds) and then change class at Level 2. Boosted Piety and Vitality at the start for the spell point regen, but think I may have made a big mistake as her 14 Piety and 14 Vitality became 6 Piety and 6 Vitality after changing class! Also, when should I change class - at level up, just after levelling or somewhere in between?

None of the other chars have changed class yet so what do you suggest? Don't want to ruin their stats if I'm making the wrong decisions. My weapons aren't great at the moment - only 400 gold and low Artifacts skill stopping me from identifying half of the loot I've picked up so far.

I haven't got too far yet, so can restart if I've made a mess of things.

Class changing in Wizardry 7 is like arcane art.
The objective is: getting as much different skills and magic schools as possible.
When you class change you are starting at level 1, so you will quickly level up and gain new skills, but your attributes are lowered to racial minimum. What you want to do is to level up in one class and when exp required to next level becomes really high to change class. You want your characters to learn all magic schools, hiding in shadows, critical strikes and finish in with some elite class (like ninja).
To achieve this you need some serious planning - if you are not carful you can get "traped" in one class, because your attributes were reseted and it can take ages until they grow enouhg until you can class change again.

This is really interesting subject and there is much to say, but don't worry - this game can be played and completed without class changing. In the end the most important stat is character level.

Your party will work even if don't do any class changes in the future and don't reload at level ups.
No need for cheesy save/reload and class-switching orgies.
The main weakness is that you get priest spells (including enchanted blade and armorplate) later than normal but if you put all your lord's academic skill points into theology it will be bearable. Your mage will also be two levels lower than normal because no skill points could be put into thaumaturgy at creation.
Combat will be a little harder for quite some time because of this but you can reach high enough levels to max those skills during the game.

There's an identify spell in the game for identifying items. If you find an unidentified stack of wands use them during combat with the use command, this will yield free artifact skill raise.

If you need money fight your random encounters where you meet monsters which have money.

Thanks for the help - going to try to press on this weekend.

Your Ninja and Monk don't need any weapons at all, they're better fighting unarmed. Get their hands&feet skill up and also train hiding (ninjutsu) to improve armor class.