I would not have put hours into these spell(!) tests with 1.26
if not sure that the changes from 1.24 to 1.26 have no impact on the mechanics how magic works on monsters.
While i may not dare to call me a coder, al least managed to change some stuff in the exe, like base xp requirement, hardcoded spawns, loot lvl sensor values, class/race default items/skills/attributes, teleporter destinations, etc.
A check of changes from 1.24 to 1.26 showed nothing more than the cosmetic stuff and higher character resistance.
Afaik the main reason to increase cap for resistance of characters was to prevent overflow from boni of items and spells,
Powercast also gives the same dmg bonus with 1.24,
a couple of new spells which were developed under 1.24 work exactly the same under 1.26,
as do the modified vanilla spells who have their missiles ripped off so the new spells have the appropriate realm,
as all new spells require a missile to work, and all new missiles are fire based.


Tldr:
regarding how character spells work on monsters, there has no difference been noticed between 1.24 and 1.26,
despite explicitely looking for it during a 3digit number of h,
before even accepting it at all as my new default exe and then recommending its use to others, many years ago.

This is my birthday (42 years old). I just now got my Ranger's Divine realm skill to 97. It's amazing how controlling attributes play into maxing skills. Normally, most full casters would be able to max their realm skills (good Intelligence and Piety), early. However, with hybrids, they can't.

In order for a hybrid caster to max out their skills, they would have to hang out in the Monastery for an absurd time. Note that this is easier than hanging out in Arnika, with unwanted help from friendly Higardi and Monks.

This party, once maxed, would easily be able to handle the game. Whack Rattus Rattus, Milano Calzone, and Don Barlone (completely clearing out an evil faction.). Whack the Breeders, then the rest of the Rakkin Common, who are now hostile. You've completely cleared out the Sixth Bough.

A party like mine wants to completely clear encounters, not hang around. Therefore, no deaths, and no stragglers.

Put it this way: If I were to whack the Don, and Milano, before speaking to Rattus Rattus: Rattus Rattus would be hostile to the party.

Sorry, got off topic.

On topic: PowerCast works wonders for MDPs, interested in clearing out the game quickly. PC isn't essential for hybrids, like the Lord, Valkyrie, Ranger, Monk, or Samurai. Ninja (especially Fairie Ninja), don't need it as well, as they will have the Cane of Corpus (from whacking the Don).

It's just that hybrids have so many attributes to focus on, that they will probably want to go the standard route of Strength, Dexterity, Speed, and Senses maxed first.

Full casters will never be that tough physically, so they should go for PC.

I'm trying to run a Lawful Good party, where, by being high-level, I can keep all friendlies alive. This is why I'm training in the Monastery, where I don't have unwanted help. For example, in Arnika, you have Lay Brothers and Higardi Patrols prolonging the battle. With my party setup, I have to worry about defeating the enemies, while also keeping all friendlies alive.

Similarly, outside the UBC walls, sometimes monsters spawn. My party has to keep all Umpani alive. This is why being high level is essential.

I'm pretty sure that generic friendlies can spawn randomly just like normal enemies. In other words, whether they stay alive doesn't matter, because if you leave the area for a while, the enemy spawns will reset, resulting in the despawning of firendlies. Also, if a group of friendlies gets eliminated, the slot is then freed so you can possibly get hostile enemies to spawn in their place. (The reverse situation is probably why, if you spend a long time in Arnika, you stop fighting Higardi outlaw types there; patrols are using up all the slots.)

Also, being high level may not be good for keeping friendlies alive, as it will make random enemy spawns higher level, but won't make named NPCs higher levels, and those named NPCs are the ones you really care about because they *don't* reaspawn.

One other thing: Keeping all friendlies alive means keeping those friendly Rattkin, including Don Barlone, alive. If one further extends this to neutrals, then you can't (easily) kill the Rattkin breeders, as they then become hostile. Also, you'll need a special rule for Rapax Common, who are hostile until you do a certain quest, and then there's still some cases where you have to fight automatically hostile Rapax (like the Ascension Peak fight).

This goes without saying, that a Lawful Good party doesn't Pickpocket (I don't even develop this skill), and doesn't Shoplift. You don't want to anger NPCs and factions that are already Friendly to the party (Brotherhood of the Ascension, Higardi, Trynnie, Mook, Umpani, T'Rang).

You noticed that too? If you hang around in Arnika for a while, sometimes, Friendly Higardi Patrols will spawn, though they don't last forever (they de-spawn, just like a normal group of Higardi thieves would). This gets annoying, because it's more friendly characters to protect.

I'm guessing that this mechanic is if you killed all Higardi in Arnika, for example. New (Hostile), Higardi Patrols would show up. This goes for Trynton, the Umpani Base Camp, and Marten's Bluff, if you killed all of their friendly residents.

As far as I know, in Arnika, there are 2 set Higardi Patrols (of 4 each, making a total of 8), wandering around. One goes around the town, in a square formation, and the other is random; They can explore the Savant Tower (sometimes annoying), or hang out on the NE docks, you don't know. Any more than that is more people to keep alive. Also, there are 3 Lay Brothers connected to Lord Braffit.

The other locations aren't as much of a challenge to keep all friendlies alive, in my experience (assuming a high level party).

The Rattkin are another matter: The Rattkin Common start out as Neutral, can't be made Friendly, and won't help you in any fight (usually Wasps are the enemy in the Sixth Bough). They don't need to be kept alive, as they will retreat (if you made it this far, the Wasps should die quickly).

No matter; If you do all quests honorably, you will eventually come across the Rattkin Breeders and a few Rattkin Archers (hostile upon sight). If you kill them all (you have no choice), all remaining Rattkin Common will now be Hostile (grind them for items).

The rub comes with Rattus Rattus, Milano Calzone, and Don Barlone (Rattkin Razuka faction). They start out Friendly, but are all scumbags. It makes sense to whack Rattus Rattus when you meet him, because he sets your party up for a bank robbery, and if you don't whack him after talking to him, he disappears forever (at least you have closure if you whack him, as you know what happens to him.). After that, Milano and the Don are hostile, and you can whack them, completely clearing out the Sixth Bough, beheading an evil faction, and gaining the Jazeraint Tunic, Astral Dominae, 2X Thieves' Daggers, and 80% chance of the Cane of Corpus.

With the Rapax, you have no choice. Kill all hostile Rapax, all is forgiven once you do Al-Sedexus's quest. Once you kill that b*tch,(note that she attacks your party first) your enthrallment ends, and you can resume your gameplay (just kill her before she summons help, and kill the Rapax party on AP with instant death spells, so that your faction rating doesn't decrease, as you don't want Rapax enemies around Ferro).

"if you complete all quests honorably"
What if not all quests are ethical?
The party is not automatically lawful good if it completes all the quests in a game,
e.g. extrajudicial killing of squatters does not fall under lawful good for me.

The fact is that the AD is the only artifact that can be acquired in the most ethical way,
the CM must be stolen from the Mook, to get the DD either Brekek, Crock or Marten must be killed.
Why not just admit that the game, like most others,
creates an untenable black and white picture of good and evil
and demands behavior from the game characters,
which in some cases far exceeds the borderline to fascist.

If the player becomes aware of this,
it will be easier for him not to adopt this attitude in the real world
and to be or become one of the good ones there

Does this include the "destroy the spaceship" quests? I could argue that destroying the Dark Savant's spaceship would be acceptable, and perhaps required, but I would argue that the "Lawful Good" playthrough should not destroy either of the other spaceships. In particular, I would argue that destroying the entire Umpani or T'Rang race would not be "Good", for any reasonable definition of that term.
Just a reminder: Not all players of this game use he/him pronouns.

How about using [z] at the beginning of a new pronoun that stands for all genders?
I.e. in that case the term [ze] would replace [he/she/it/whatecer],, similar e.g. for [zes] = [his/her/its/...] etc pp.
But as long as there is no generally recognized and therefore commonly understood simplification of an imo superfluous spelling rule,
i will stick with the convenient spelling of using a single he/she/it as a "one size fits all" placeholder
the way my limited english allows me to estrimate as fitting
instead of wasting time on contemplating what may be the correct gender
and which additional keystrokes to perform for sake of politically correctness.

But hey, what can you expect from a person who does not play lawful good characters in crpgs :D

There days, you can use "they" when referring to a single person of indeterminate gender. You need to grammatically treat it as plural ("they are" rather than "they is"), but it's definitely reasonable to use it to a single abstract person. (If referring to someone whose pronouns are known, you should of course use those pronouns, but if you don't, then "they" is OK.)

Singular "they" actually predates singular "you", which we use all the time.

(Incidentally, Wizardry 1 slipped up on pronoun use in a couple situations, both which are in text strings that nobody wants to see: 1. When a character gets level drained and the game reports XP lost. 2. When the character casts HAMAN/MAHAMAN and their spellbooks get mangled (the game uses "his", but it really should be "their" in modern English, though at the time the game was made, it would have better to try to remove the pronoun entirely.)

I will not argue that *I* am good, nor the party (Marten's Ghost hints that both the party, and the Dark Savant, have both good and evil in them).

However, from a reasonable person's perspective: It wouldn't make sense to side the the squatters (Rattkin). The Sixth Bough is rightfully the property of the Trynnie, and some foreign race (Rattkin) have occupied it. The Trynnie have basically hired the party to get rid of the Rattkin's breeding capabilities (why didn't they also demand that you take out the mob boss)?

Regardless, the Trynnie are the native race, and the Rattkin are the foreign race, so we know who to side with.

The AD can be obtained the peaceful/honorable way, by paying off the Don, but you have Rattkin harassment squads later on threatening you for "protection money". You should have just whacked the Don, and be done with it.

The CM, there is no way around it. You can either whack all 8 Mook in the building, or switch the real device for a fake device. The choice is obvious.

I don't know what you're talking about with the DD. Brekek is a side-quest, which shouldn't even be a thing, if you whacked Crock before grabbing Marten's Idol, so that no kidnapping occurs. Marten died long before the party came along, so the only path forward is to talk to Marten's Ghost, to get the DD (need the Helm of Serenity).

Whacking the Rapax King and his gang (saving the Rapax Queen, and the Umpani and T'Rang prisoners), seems like the most humane thing to do. Destroying the Umpani or T'Rang Motherships is clearly wrong; The right thing to do would be to form an alliance, and destroy the Dark Savant's Mothership instead.

So, regarding Kunar, what's the right thing to do with him? Do you turn him in, or do you let him keep his position? Or do you simply avoid investigating the situation, and never find out that he's a spy?

Being disgruntled, by itself, doesn't justify a whacking (just take myself, Antone Rapax, Kunar, Sgt. Glumph). They still do their jobs, and don't put the party in danger.

Antone is jealous of his brother, Ferro, who is a better armorer than him, and he hangs out with the Higardi, in Arnika. Perhaps he doesn't have a choice.

Kunar is working for the T'Rang, and hates the new Umpani leadership since Yamo died, and Yamir is in charge. He has a right to be angry. Regardless, he still does his job. Assuming you do things "the right way", this is a moot point, since your party forms an Umpani-T'Rang alliance (it doesn't matter if he's working for the T'Rang, as they're allies). So no, don't be a rat, don't turn him in.

Sgt. Glumph was sent on a failed expedition, to do something (who cares?), and his party ran into Nessie, and was slaughtered (you can retrieve Umpani IUF tags near her). Somehow, he alone survived (cowardice?), and was taken prisoner by the native Rynjin. He does have a right to be angry, however, you can minimize his complaining by having a portal next to Yamir. Just unlock his cage, listen to his angry diatribe, and portal him back to his leader.

The line is drawn with the Rattkin, who are literally designed to be scum (they are a mafia). Rattus Rattus cowardly sets the party up for a bank robbery (he's not man enough to do it himself, or is too lazy). If you don't whack him after talking to him, and leaving his line of sight, he disappears forever (coward). At least, if you whack him yourself, you know what happened to him (he put your party in danger).

This allows you to take Milano and the Don out, one at a time. This completely clears out the Sixth Bough, exterminates an evil faction, and gets you items unobtainable anywhere else (Jazeraint Tunic from Milano, Astral Dominae from the Don).

I think the EMH would consider the use of a hypo as critical