What is your favorite party build and why?

I always created my own parties when i used to play this but they were never any good, I do remember psionics (think that was the class) being crap due to how limited its magic was and the few opponents it would work on

Repost from old thread :D

My party - Gadgeteer-Mook, Fighter-Dracon, Bishop-Elf, Ninja-Faerie (worth only if you later find Cane of Corpus), Samurai-Hobbit and Monk-Elf (not very good choice, better would be Psionic)

And for most of the game I had Vi Domina (Valkyrie) and Saxx (Bard) as my companions.

edit: This is for Wiz 8 ;)

The best party I ever had was:

Felpurr Thief - Bloodlust for berserk+backstab for crazy damage
Dracon Fighter - Berserk+staff of doom mad damage
Fairy Ninja - Must be fairy for Cane of Corpus , useless char until you get the cane, could probably be replaced with some better char
Elf Psionic - Invaluable for healing and crowd control

Only 4 chars to make it harder. The three melee guys mow down everything at a crazy rate and the psionic keeps the rest occipied with insanity,sleep and heals if necessary.

I completed an Iron Man, expert difficulty game a while back. I ran with 3 dwarf valkyries, a hobbit ninja, rawulf priest, and elf mage/bishop (started as mage for higher starting INT and thus access to power cast sooner).

Worked extremely well. The only tweak I'd really make is to swap the ninja for a mook fighter/bard/fighter (starting as fighter for pumped up strength and maxing it quicker, then playing out most of the game as bard, then swapping back to fighter finally for access to the best gear in the game plus the giant sword - a mook only weapon; all music ability retained too).

Edit: All this for Wizardry 8.

It has been a few years since I played; but I always prefer the lizard fighter (for commic relief); gadgeteer or bard (or sometime both) and a couple of casters - I try for parties of 4; (with less than 4 I find I have to struggle a little - though I know people do solo play through; my min has been 2 - but I find it less fun). I recommend 6 the very first ime but after that 4 with one 'gimp' character.
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The very first time I played i went with magic but later one I found alchemist or psonic spectular (late game I really like the alchemist). I never really had much success with the dual classes (ninja, and similar).
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Probably my typical party will be:
lizard warrior
thief (some random new race)
mook gadget
human or elf alchemist

Most satisfying, imported from 6->7->8:
Human Lord
Elf Ranger

Most different:
Lizardman Fighter
Hobbit Rogue
Mook Gadgeteer
Rawulf Bard
RFS-81

For wiz8: I cannot recall races correctly, but professions: warrior(mook), ranger, ninja (fairy), mage (elf I think),priest(dwarf?),bard(female, elf?). Even priest is badass at higher levels :D

It's been a while since my last complete playthrough of Wiz 8, but I would advise against sticking with a priest for the entire game, since they have very few offensive spells and most of their best buffs can be cast before combat. Get a Lord/Valkyrie or start with a priest and eventually class them into a Lord/Valkyrie/Bishop. Also Gadgeteers are awesome and if you are using Ninjas then putting points into maces is a good idea because Nunchaku have a decent chance of KOing a foe. That's what I remember at any rate.

I couldn't say much about 6 or 7, but I understand that multiclassing is a bit more flexible in those games than it is in Wiz 8, so starting with basic professions and classing up is more viable without grinding.

I assume you mean because they don’t have a lot of damage spells except ‘Shrill Sound’ which they get early but they are disablers eg. ‘Pandemonium’ turns an encounter with juggernauts into a cake walk because they have little mind defence. You get more group spells than the other casters and a lot of them don’t need to be targeted but IMO the best reason to take them is because they will NEVER go nuts so when that Gazer turns your party into a pack of loons in steps the Psionic with ‘Soul Shield’ and ‘Sane Mind’ to save the day.

To answer your other question my party is;
1. Fluffy <Female Mook Bard> {Eccentric Voice 2} Gloria
2. Sparky <Male Human Bishop> {Intellectual Voice 1} Kelan
3. Zapper <Female Elf Gadgeteer> {Kindly Voice 1} Lady Zan!
4. Scaly <Female Dragon Valkyrie> {Burly Voice 2} Celia
5. Red <Female Faerie Ranger> {Loner Voice 1} Alinnia
6. Freal <Female Lizardman psionic> {Laidback Voice 1} Zerrra’la

Notes:
I changed the Mook into a Fighter at level 19 because the extra stamina/ armour of that class helps & 18 levels of Bard is enough to use any instrument you have picked up... I swap Saxx at level 11 (Heal all).
Rangers don’t instant kill with modern weapons.

Spoiler: Saxx & RFs-81 are my npc pick because they are the only ones that will stay in your group for the final battle!

Issues;
1. The Lizard Physic worked a treat with useful crowd control and a strong arm when spells aren’t needed.

2. The Human Bishop was useful but I want more from him so should try a dog next time for the extra ring (Devine) or a cat if going Mage. Spells was mage first then Priest and physic with alchemist last... I needed this because the party had no other mage caster but the damage was down from last time when I went alchemist 1st.

3. The Faerie Ranger works until mid game with the extra doll armour and got great use out of the flame thrower... the Mystery ray can’t be used in the offhand however the ‘Resurrection’ spell was a nice end game bonus but she is still the weakest character overall.

4. Rfs-81 still can’t fight at range... cleans house in melee.

5. The Mook Bard performs well with the horn of banish almost worth the price of admission... crossbow and swords are the way to go with her.
6. The Dragon anchors my party with solid staying power... I liked her dual weapons but the cheat death is worth more than a Lord bonus... I did consider switching late game but was unsure of spell progress... don’t take the Priest starting level next time as it slows down her end game a lot. Musket damage was mostly disappointing but with ‘Superman’ on her she truly owns the melee combat.

7. The Elf Gadgeteer is one of my better fighters and the early bow use allowed her to keep up with the ammo because by mid game she could use arrows until her bow got empty then switched to the ombigun... stamina was about right.

8. Saxx makes a good Fighter... that’s the best way to use him.
• Priest buffs are ‘Bless’ then ‘Superman’... ‘Resurrection’.
• Alchemist buffs are ‘Chameleon’.
• Mage buffs are ‘Enchanted Blade’, ‘Shadow Hound’, ‘X-Ray’, ‘Missile and Element’ shield.
• Psionic buffs are ‘Chameleon’, ‘Haste’ & ‘Soul Shield’... ‘Pandemonium’.
• Bard buff is ‘Haste’, ‘Bless’, ‘Soul Shield’ then ‘Magic Shield’... ‘Banish’, ‘Pandemonium’, ‘Restoration’ & ‘Heal All’.
• Gadgeteer buffs is ‘Armormelt’, ‘Detect Secrets’, ‘X-Ray’, ‘Heal All’ & ‘Superman’.

The weakest (Party) character was the Ranger and then the Bard... bad weapon picks mostly... I want to try a Samurai next game so that the Bishop is not the only party mage caster... going Priest / Alchemist first then Mage and Psionic last...

Third weakest was the Dragon because she couldn’t fight at range... modern weapons really helped mid game and the flamethrower aced these.

-gnome alchemist
-gnome mage
-mook bard
-dragon lord
-dwarf priest
-felpurr gadgeteer

this is not the best party out there still lots of fun thow ;]

Back in the day I liked:

-Rawulf Lord
-Felpurr Valkyrie
-Faire Ninja
-Mook Bard
-Hobbit Bishop
-Elf Mage

This time around I'm going to finally play 6 and 7 first, then 8, and I'll be importing my saves the entire way. Probably going to do a similar party to what's listed above, we'll see.

I am playing for the first time Wizardry 6 , read a bit the manual but didint think it would matter much what race i was for what class , and didint know that you get diferent bonus points each time you are creating a char xD anyways this is what i am playing with right now :

Human - warrior -male
Human - cleric - female
Human - rogue - male
Elf - ranger - male
Elf - wizard - female
Elf - bard - female

Ive read many guides now and really thought about starting new , but i keep pushing on haha , cool game so glad i found it even if very late :)

The following pics are the party I just made for My Wiz 6 team. Took me a bit of doing, but, I finally got some good stats I think. Well It will only let me post five pictures, so, the last is a human mage, suffice it to say he's not bad either. I am currently rocking in the castle versus some giant rats and some angry vines. Yeah, I already had to reload a few times when the rats became too much for these guys. ;-P

May favorite build for Wiz 8:

All humans. Not for any particular advantages, as there wer none. Just because I wanted to play it that way.

Lord
Samurai
Monk
Ranger
Bishop
Bard

The Bard was great for covering lockpicking functions and providing spell-effect support through their instruments while my bishop was still developing. The Bard's Lute is very useful in the early going, say, the monastery to Arnika. I would make sure to pick up the Shrill Pipes on the way to Arnika even if I couldn;t use them right away. They were great for softening mobs in the firat one or two combat rounds. Also acted as a good 'bomb thrower' from the back. I concentrated points into music, lock picking and throwing.

I would develop ther bishop as evenly across the four books of magic as I could. This made for a slower path. But by the time the group was around level 11-12, the bishop really stared coming into their own as I could cast level 4 spells in all disciplines. Yeah, it's a bit of a pain having to nurse them along casting not much beyond ennergy blast, heal woumds, mind stab, and itching skin for the frst handful of levels. But it was an investment that paid off, imo.

The lord, samurai and monk could hold their own in the front rank and, since they all worked in different magical spheres, they gave the widerst range of magical supplement. I concentrated the monk and samurai on their critical strike and close combat scores. By level 7 or so, they were dealing out insta-kills at a decent rate. I made the lord a bit more 'tankish'.

All in all a fun, if slow developing group to play. Care had to be taken up to about level 10 or so. But once they were sfaely over the hump, they were an entertaining killing machine as it became less a question of if they would win the combat and more a question of in what style they were going to win it. :-)

Lizardman Fighter
Dracon Valkyrie
Mook Ranger
Hobbit Bard
Human Gadgeteer
Faerie Bishop

The Fighter and Valkyrie are my main front-line tanks and damage dealers, the Ranger is a master of bows, but switches to his special Mook sword in close combat, the Bard is indispensable in the first half of the game, but continues to be a great support in the second, the Gadgeteer is more of a utility PC at first, but turns into a power house in the last third of the game, the Bishop acts as a main caster/healer. No joined party members, as I want all of the XP for my six created characters.