Humans start with 45 to all attributes, 5 more than Hobbits, and 10 or 15 more than other races.

They are great for simple builds. Take my Human Rogue. He starts with 45 to all, including 45 in the "useless" stats of Intelligence, Piety, and Vitality. His profession requirements are in Dexterity, Speed, and Senses, pushing him closer to maxing them. Developed properly, he can max Strength, Dexterity, Speed, and Senses at level 28, while the "dump" stats are at 45 or better (+5 Intelligence from the Trynton Fountain).

The Human Fighter is only a step behind, with a profession requirement of 50 Vitality, he will still max Strength, Dexterity, Speed, and Senses at level 29.

The Human Ranger will not get the Giant's Sword, but will still benefit the same way as the others, with ranged crits, and the most total attribute points.

The Human Valkyrie will be very slow, due to her profession requirements (55 Piety and Vitality), something you typically don't raise. However, she is an absolute tank, and will dominate once getting her Speed and Senses up to par.

The Human Bishops are doing ok, with their extreme profession requirements (55 Intelligence, Piety, Dexterity, Senses). They will have maxed Strength, Intelligence (with help from the Trynton Fountain +5), Speed, and Senses by level 31.

Humans truly are a long-run race, with benefits given to all classes, running the guantlet from basic classes, all the way to elite classes.

I don't really agree.

Thing is, for every stat, there's some race that is better for that stat than humans. This means that a human will have a harder time getting expert skills, especially as a basic class, than a different race would. (For example, a dracon fighter can start with 75 strength, getting Power Strike at level 10. A lizardman fighter gets et even faster, at level 8, On the other hand, a human fighter can only start with 69 strength, not getting that expert skill until level 12. Or, for another example, an elven bishop can get Power Cast and Snake Speed at level 11/16, while the human needs to wait one extra level for each skill, getting them at 12/17.

Also, humans have no innate resistance bonuses. That means, for example, that a human fighter will end up being insane or turncoated more often than a mook fighter, and that can be disasterous. You really do *not* want your fighter attacking others.

Then there's the fact that there's a few races with special abilities, most notably the dracon (can breathe acid without having to have Dracon Breath cast on them) and the mook (can equip the Giant's Sword, if the character is of a compatible class). (And, of course, don't forget that Cane of Corpus, which is only usable by one race/class combination, and that race isn't human.) dwarven damage resistance is also a thing, though I can only think of one build where I expect it to matter.

The one thing that humans actually *are* good for is builds that need lots of stats. This includes, for example, builds that want to invest in stats that aren't required for their class, and many of the class changing builds that I've come up with (particularly those bishop mix builds).

With that said, at least humans in this game are far better than in Wizardry 1-5 where, in addition to having no good stats, they had one really bad stat (Piety, which has a base of only 5, worse than a, elf's Vitality of 6), and as a result had a worse stat sum. (Then again, I think this was before min-maxing was well understood; the min-max approach favors more specialized races, so that you can further minimize irrelevant stats to boost important stats, making more balanced choices less useful.)

Yes, resistances. This is why Magic Screen, and Element and Soul Shield exist. The (seemingly random) non-Human resistances, can usually be overcome by the above three.

Dracon Breath maybe can help early on, but grants no skill ups, so no.

Mook can equip the Giant's Sword, but is encumbered quickly by said weapon. He/She also, as a Mook, is slow (poor Speed).

Cane of Corpus is such a trash model, why would anybody create a Fairy Ninja? Just to get a weapon that has a 80% chance to spawn? It's not guaranteed, so have fun with Ironman parties.

Dwarven damage resistance is overcome with Body of Stone, just like how Iron Skin is overcome by the same.

Except that you need to cast it during battle, which has some implications:
* It takes a valuable combat turn. Thing is, in a turn-based game, turns tend to be the most important resource. (Note that this is still true on Continuous mode, as that doesn't change the number of actions you (or the enemies) can take per round.)
* Before the caster gets to act, the target isn't protected.
* Even worse, it's single target, so it takes a combat turn *per character* you want to protect. If using the potion, it has to be specifically the turn of the character using it that gets used up, meaning that character isn't also attacking or doing something else useful.
* It's a 5th level spell, meaning that, before level 11, the only way to get the effect is with a potion. (Don't think there's any other item with the spell.)
* And, since it needs to be cast, there's the issue of resource use; in addition to the turn, you use up Earth SP, which tends to be the most important for an alchemist. (Whipping Rocks, Crush, Quicksand, Earthquake.)

Other defensive spells (except Guardian Angel, which, unlike Body of Stone, is good for saving the life of someone who is about to die) don't have all of these issues. They protect the entire party, and Armorplate and Magic Screen don't have to be used during combat.

By contrast, dwarf/monk damage resistance and iron skin are always active; they don't take any resources to use. (There's the opportunity cost of gaining the resistance in the first place, and it's not worth it for most builds, but once you have them, there's no turn or resource cost.)

Also, don't forget that multiple sources of damage resistance *stack*, so it's not useless to get multiple sources.

I'm a man that's been on the front lines for years. When in Arnika, certain Savant machines spawn. In particular, from the Savant Tower, level 17 Savant Berserkers, and level 21 Savant Slashers spawn.
From my last party, I would have my Bard and Gadgeteer protected with Bless, Guardian Angel, and Body of Stone, and they would be solid. Enemies would usually miss, and of the hits that landed, they were only doing 1 or 2 points of damage.
The Monk damage resistance, or Dwarven racial damage resistance, is dwarfed by the 70% DR offered by level 7 Body of Stone.
How do you think a level 20 Fighter and Rogue up front will fare against said enemies, with a Valkyrie and Ranger on the flanks with extended-range Polearms?

The way I see it, you really *don't* need that much protection.
* Bless does help a bit, but unlike the others, it's multi-target, so you only need to cast it once (and again when it wears off), not once per party member. Also, Bless wearing off isn't usually catastrophic, the way Element Shield or Soul Shield can be in the wrong circumstance. (Also, note that the instrument that casts Bless is found very early on, in the Upper Monastery.) With that said, it is a good spell for a bishop to cast, since it's only in the Divine spellbook (handy if it's lagging behind), it's available at level 1, it can't backfire, and there's a spellbook in the Upper Monastery.
* Bards and Gadgeteers have enough HP to not need Guardian Angel most of the time. I find that the spell is best used on low-HP characters (like full casters), those who have already taken significant damage (as an alternative to healing; doing both in the same round is a good way to mitigate the possibility of failing to heal the character while avoiding waste if both spells go off), or when you really don't want to get hit by a status ailment delivered by an enemy attack.
* Body of Stone is even less useful. It's only good if the character is still healthy, as a 1 HP character protected with Body of Stone is still going to die if hit again. It's also 5th level, used by a spellbook who doesn't have exclusive access to any critical spells (all the important non-combat spells are Mage or Priest spells), and has no associated instrument or gadget.

In any case, I'd say that, particularly with regards to mid/high HP characters, you might be better off just taking the damage and healing when needed. This way, you don't need to spend turns and SP on characters who the enemies don't target, not to mention that Heal All can target the entire party at once, unlike Guardian Angel and Body of Stone. (This is especially true for easier fights, where spending turns on GA/BoS is useless unless you're doing it specifically for the practice.) On Novice, no problem; they'll win easily without magical aid. In fact, it may be worth having the Valkyrie and Ranger cast spells during the fight just for practice.

On Expert, you might need to worry about paralysis, but if you've been developing your magic nicely, your Valkyrie and Ranger should both have Cure Paralysis. (And maybe give the Rogue Cure Paralysis Powder just in case things get ugly, particularly since that Rogue is less likely to be targeted.) Also, things might be harder without Enchanted Blade and Missile Shield, since none of these classes can cover those spells.

I started out playing W8 (I was 19 when the game was developed), and was playing it on CDs, until computers didn't have CD drives anymore. At that point, I joined GOG, and have been a member since 2017.

I have no experience with earlier Wizardries, but from what you tell me, W8 is like "Revenge of the Humans", and "Revenge of the basic classes".

Humans, for once, are the dominant race (the game states that Humans are the race to which all others are compared, get 45 to all stats, and have the highest stat sum).

Meanwhile, basic classes like the Fighter, Rogue, Bard, Gadgeteer, and basic, single-spellbook casters, get things that nobody else gets. These 8 classes level faster than hybrids and elites.

The Fighter gets the best HPs in the game, Stamina regeneration, Berserk attack option, the ability to KO enemies with any weapon (melee or range), and the best armor selection, along with the Lord and Valkyrie (the Ranger still gets the Infinity Helm, along with the other 3).

The Rogue gets Stealth skill, can Backstab for up to 4X damage, and gets a bonus to the Locks and Traps skill.

The Bard and Gadgeteer are decent at melee and ranged combat, and can Stamina-cast their instruments and gadgets "for free", since Stamina regenerates so much faster than Spell Points.

The Priest, Alchemist, Psionic, and Mage level quicker than hybrids and Bishops, and can dominate the game, if they have stacked magic, as I did in my last MDP.

Guardian Angel, for some reason, doesn't advertise when it wears off.

Non-Human races, like an Elven Bishop, won't have as high stats as a Human, and while they may get expert skills sooner, they won't have the Human's stats (worse Strength or Vitality, meaning less HPs, Stamina, and Carry Capacity).

Meanwhile, non-Human Fighters, like the Dracon and Lizardman, will have terrible Mental and Divine resistances, making them more vulnerable to Insanity and Turncoat. Also, they will have worse Initiative, having low Senses. The Human will be more balanced in this regard.

Having a Human Fighter and Rogue up front, and a Valkyrie and Ranger on the flanks with extended-range Polearms, and Bishops in the center with extended-range Quarterstaves, means that everybody will get melee training. Casting Bless at the party, then giving the Fighter and Rogue Guardian Angel/Body of Stone means that they will be able to survive any attacks.

* When the angel takes too much damage, you get a message saying the angel has departed.
* The icon disappears. (One annoything thing: If the character is hasted, the haste icon takes precedence over the GA icon, which is annoying. You can check by moving the mouse cursor over to the icon. But, if the race is chosen well, the stats I actually care about are higher. Not the case with the Mook fighter:
* Mooks actually get a resistance *bonus* to Mental.
* Racial divine resistance isn't too important, seeing as some equipment, including the Amulet of Healing (which is *very* useful for its other properties, like its +3 AC, and is buyable) provides huge Divine resistance bonuses, and I'm pretty sure that Mooks at least aren't weak against it.
* Mooks have high Senses; it's Speed that might be lacking. This isn't necessary:
* Fighters have plenty of HP; they don't need any more, and they don't need any more AC, either. Just heal them if they take too much damage; high HP means there's a lot of leeway here. If a Fighter doesn't survive an attack, either you're severely underleveled (rather unlikely, given the level scaling, not too mention that you specifically tend to overlevel rather than underlevel; also by underleveled I'm thinking like level 1 on Ascension Peak here), the Fighter is already severely injured (but you have ample time to heal before it gets to that point), the Fighter has previously been Drained most of their HP (Drain is rare enough that this is unlikely, to the point where getting this to happen on purpose can be time consuming and tedious), or the enemy's attack was an instant kill (which Body of Stone won't protect against unless you somehow get 100% damage resistance).
* Your Rogue will naturally get some Stealth, and is therefore less likely to be the one targeted by enemy attacks.

And of the Bishops. Let's not forget that the Wizardry 1-5 Bishop was *incredibly* slow at learning spells; they didn't get the second healing spell until level *16* (when Priests can get the Restoration equivalent at level 11), and they don't get access to the game's Nuclear Blast counterpart until level *25* (Mages get it at 13)..

Mage is actually quite good in the early games; they learn spells significantly faster than others, and group hitting offensive spells are *really* good in the early games (*much* better than in 8), to the point where Fighters would only be there as meatshields (and later, for magic resistant enemies), and Thieves were only there for chest traps. Priests weren't far behind Mages, actually being better offensively than Bishops until the Bishop level 25.

(Then again, in the Apple 2 version of Wizardry 1, the Bishop could be used to trigger the identify glitch, which allows, among other things, a character to be awarded 100 million XP, enough to level past level 200 (not a typo; I actually do mean two hundered here(.) For comparison, in Wizardry 1:
* Fighter still gets the best HP (except at low levels, where Samurai gets more HP), and has the second fastest leveling rate. This means that, if you level up to high levels, the level gap between Fighters and hybrids will continue to increase (as XP requirements stop increasing after level 13). Can use almost all the good weapons and armor, the exceptions being among the rarest items in the game.
* Thieves (as they were called back then) were just terrible. Only class good at dealing with chests (well, a Ninja can disarm them fine, but needs the help of CALFO to identify the trap, not to mention that you can't create a Ninja), and that's it. They did level up faster than other classes, which can be useful if you're looking at someone to cast HAMAN/MAHAMAN at high levels (provided you learn it first via class change). There's no hiding or backstabbing; that wouldn't appear until Wizardry 5 (and backstabbing both wasn't that good and could only be done from hiding).
* Bard didn't appear until Wizardry 6; Gadgeteers are only in 8. The Wizardry 6-7 Bard could learn Mage spells, but the instrument selection was significantly worse, with a lack of higher level spells, and the Horn of Prometheus (not available until late, if at all) being the only damage option. (The Cornu of Demonspawn's old effect, I believe, is instant death to demons when it works, not damage as in 8.)
* Priest and Mage, especially the latter, really do dominate the early games, from as soon as level 1. Meanwhile, as I mentioned, Bishops are terrible, except for their unique ability to identify items.

Piety is often a great dump stat making hobbit a better choice. Specialization tends to better in RPGs, more so in party-based ones. One can actually use racial resistances well, but they often don't matter much on expert. Fun fact, a faerie ninja is still going to be turn-coated extremely often, on expert. Even a mook fighter will have problems on expert.

Dracon breath, like bombs, can turn the tides of battle. Prevent a few deaths here and there. In fact a dracon alchemist giving the gift to his fellow mook fighter can be extremely useful. But, they are many ways to trap a rat. A vit dwarf can be extremely useful in some challenge parties. In fact, a vit/pie dwarf in an iron will party might be very useful.

Body of stone is great for melee mobs. Just need to get to the right ground so they only have the one option. That means one cast. Sure, it's less useful on a fighter, but it's great for a samurai. The guaranteed potion makes the breeders significantly easier at lower levels, but so does a death bomb. But that rat doesn't always carry one, and not every party has a good grenadier. And once again, this is more pertinent on expert.

Getting to, or over, one hundred damage resistance means immunity to statuses that come with physical damage. Yes, there is guardian angel, but this can mean one less spell to cast. The opportunity cost is, typically, far too high, yes. And most battles don't need that technique, let alone magical foes later on. If only silence didn't peter out.

Or you could get the Staff of Doom first and use that as an item. Yes, it does cast Death Cloud.

Another thing is, every character needs stamina. Whether you fight in melee, ranged, or magic combat, you get tired from taking actions. Therefore, you need a way to get Stamina. You can only get it from 3 attributes: Strength, Piety, or Vitality (most classes would probably choose Strength). Also, it seems that casters get double-punished; Their spell-casting costs both Stamina and Mana, with heavier penalties to both with higher level spells, and higher power levels selected.

Guardian Angel usually wears off after about 20 rounds, though it can be annoying, as you said, with Haste, as you have to constantly check to make sure that it hasn't worn off, lest you either be damaged, or miss out on leveling Divinity/Divine Magic skill by casting too early, before it wears off.

A Human Ranger might be better than a Mook Ranger, at least, in the long run. Yes, Mooks get the Giant's Sword. However, Mooks are slow (low Speed), while the Human will be decent in every stat, getting decent Initiative, swings per attack, attacks per turn, damage, chance to hit, hit points, stamina, carry capacity, etc.

I'm pretty sure than an instant kill is an instant kill, whether you have 0% or 100% damage resistance. I believe that's magic resistance.

I'm guessing that the only way to get 100 damage resistance is to have a power level 7 Body of Stone spell cast on a character, and have 100 skill in the expert skill of Iron Skin. Either that, or be a Monk or Dwarf.

If you're not overloaded, the stamina cost of spellcasting is low enough that it's generally not a factor. Even in a longer battle, those who are attacking or stamina-casting are going to use up stamina *first*, and then Rest All will restore everyone at once, so casters don't even come close to having to worry about it.

And if you're using magic exclusively to attack, either the battle will end before stamina becomes a concern, you're fighting a huge group of enemies (in which case you might need to retreat after killing some if it's too much for an MDP to take care of), or you're fighting enemies against which even an MDP wants to use physical attacks.

Thankfully, I have set up my Bishops (and Valkyrie and Ranger,), successfully. I have Rest All, Heal All, and a number of healing, curing, and restorative spells (namely, level 1 Restoration).

The Valkyrie and Ranger can be more liberal in their spell picks, only having to worry about maxing 1 spellbook, as does everybody but the Bishop.

The Bishops have to be much more selective with their spell picks, and only pick from the top 10 or so "ultimate level 6 and 7 spells", that we talked about.

The only battles where that would be a concern would be against magic-resistant enemies, or same level enemies where magic falls off; At this point, I had better switch to ranged combat, which doesn't suffer from the same penalties that magic does.

Edit: "Same-level enemies" would be, for example, level 22 Savant Minion when entering Arnika, or level 40 Magma Scorchers on Ascension Peak, when the party is around level 35-40.

Certain bosses are almost, or totally, immune to magic. These include: Nessie, Rapax King (immune to instant death), El-Dorado, Savant Behemoth (found inside the Savant Tower), Pee Wee (optional), Dark Savant. Even full casters had better have a physical attack to deal with them.