Has double the number of kills as any other in my party. Bloodlust on a rogue is insane.

I am finding it ridiculously effective on my bard as well. Don't forget that bards get some nice strength boosting equipment, so reaching 125 strength on a bard isn't that hard.

Of course, I have a valkyrie who can attack twice per round with a lance or stun rod, and my party is still only level 9/10.

My priest is taking a bit longer to get powerful, but she has an Ebon Staff now, and will be my first character to get Power Strike.

I am thinking Bloodlust might be a viable end game weapon for him. In the off hand he has thieves dagger now. The party is level 15 or 16 and is shredding the Rapax on expert. Even the Dreaded Warmages.

My Bard is still doing well, though I have had to have her use instruments to get her Music up to 57 (I haven't found Puck's Cap in this playthrough).

I think I may need to take a quick trip to the Southeast Wilderness so my Bard isn't the only one able to stamina cast multi-target healing.

Then maybe a Mountain Wilderness trip to pick up a nice weapon for my Priest, and some nice weapons for my Ranger as well.

Incidentally, one fight I had to reload because the Holograph Projector only worked at level 1 and my Bishop (who is the one with the Amulet of Life) was killed in one hit by Boiling Blood. (If it had been cast at a decent level, she likely would have survived thanks to the angel.)

What is in your party?

Mine
Felpur Bard. Sword Dagger. Her goal is stamina heal and get Haste up quick.
Mook Gadgeter Sword Sheild and Omni Gun She opens locks as well
LIzardman Rogue Bloodust/Theives dagger (he is death incarnate) usually well over a 100 damage each attack.
Lizardman Fighter Sword / Shield he is main tank and has Fang Now.
Elven Bishop Staff of Doom and spells
Dwarven Valkyrie Polearm. Stun Rod is awesome.

Here is my current party:

Dracon Valkyrie: Stun Rod user, basically. Also helped with out of combat healing. (Past tense because my Bard can now fill that role without needing spell points.)
Mook Ranger: Mace/Staff dual wield. Currently Disrupter Mace/Shillelagh, but eventually going to be something like Diamond Eyes/Winterwand. May switch to The Mauler/Diamond Eyes eventually.
Bard: Bloodlust + Poignard. (Should get her a Stiletto.) Bloodlust is powerful, and she just gained the ability to use the Dulcimer of Mending. Has high Communication, giving me better shop prices.
Dracon Gadgeteer: Wrist Rocket. Planning on switching to Omnigun at some point. Port-o-Potty and Lava Lamp are useful, but I want a Regenerating Stone. Handles Locks & Traps.
Dwarf Priest: Ebon Staff. (Planning on Staff of Doom here.) Using a STR/PIE build, with DEX third. Has Iron Will and plenty of spell points, and will get Power Strike and the Heal All spell at the next level up.
Elf Bishop: My main spellcaster. Bullwhip and Thief's Buckler. Also got lucky enough to get a Cloak of Perception for a further initiative boost. Has Healing/Life amulets, allowing for an emergency Heal All/Resurrection if I need it.

Incidentally, I don't like using a Rogue (or Monk/Ninja) because I don't like the way the Stealth skill works in this game.

Looks like a solid Party. Is the priest a decent character? Seems to me the bishop and valk can handle your healing needs till the Gadgeteer and Bard get stamina heal. What do you have against stealth?

I mentioned it in another thread; the Priest is more like a differently balanced hybrid. Having a Priest lets you get Armorplate early, and later on a Priest with a good weapon and Power Strike can be a decent attacker while still getting pure caster progression. Just remember that a front line priest will wand a shield.

Also, one of the few class changes that actually works IMO is to start as a Priest to learn the important spells and then change to Valkyrie/Lord; essentially you delay the 4 levels where your spellcasting doesn't progress.

One other thing of note about Priests is that, at level 24+, Priests are the only class that can cast Restoration or Death Wish at power level 7 with no chance of failure.

The problem with Stealth is that it makes the character with the skill less likely to be targeted and can't be turned off. In a party, this means that enemies are more likely to attack your vulnerable spellcasters than your hgh AC Rogue. In a solo (which isn't my thing, by the way), high Stealth makes it so that enemies stop attacking you and just defend, and that's no fun.

Rogues are interesting. They start off really weak, but then increase very rapidly and plateau quite fast.

My usual setup is
1. Some sword / some dagger / Bow (train ranged combat a bit)
2. Bloodlust / Thieves dagger (both are cursed, so skip the Bow)
3. Fang (or Ivory Blade) / Canezu Dagger / Bow again (only for this setup it might be worth it to do the Rapax Castle quite early and leave the whole underwater/Bayjin stuff for later).

From my experience Rogue is somewhat better than a fighter. Mostly a single attack by him/her will score slightly less damage than by a fighter, but usually he gets in a lot more of them.
In the first third of the game it's a bit tough, but once you have pumped your Base AC a bit (Stealth / Speed / Reflextion / Items) he almost becomes invulnerable. Only magic attacks can be bothersome at times.

Regarding the route:

At the current point of the game I've reached, my current plan is as follows:

Southeast Wilderness, to get the Lazurite Stone. Sorceress Queen battle skipped for now.
Wilderness Clearing, for Instant Death (for my Bishop) and some light robes.
Mountain Wilderness, to get Staff of Doom and buy items from Bela. Maybe get Diamond Eyes now. (Succubus Song likely useless at the moment, and it's heavy.)
Bayjin for Heal All spellbook (lower priority becaue my party has others who can use the spell and my Bishop has an Amulet of Healing) and VapoRizer. Skipping Sea Caves for now (NegatAir and Renaissance Lute likely still useless) unless I have nothing else to do.
Sorceress Queen battle. Gets me some nice items.
Rapax, if hybrid at least level 15 (or close to it); I consider placing a portal by Ferro to be necessary.

By the way, one downside of my Battle Priest: She still has only one attack per round. (At least she will get Power Strike soon.)