dtgreene: In the absence of a whip, on a Bishop I'd rather have the extra Speed or Stealth that I could get from a shield than the attack that a 2-handed weapon would give.

The only real advantage I see to giving the Staff of Doom to a Bishop would be to actually make use of the Bishop's primary skill Artifacts, but you don't really have the points to spare on it or the means to train this skill manually. Also, until level 16-17, a Bishop can't unequip that particular weapon without the Remove Curse skill (which can backfire, and whose backfire can crash the game in the right situation), and uncursing it is required to sell it so it can be recharged.

By the way, that crash is an assertion that happens in the following situation:
* The spell is cast from the inventory (not from the magic menu).
* The spell backfires, hexing the caster.
* As a result of said hex, the caster's current SP, in at least one category, drops below zero.

There's another assertion I found: If you use a potion (or other item) from a stack outside of battle, and then use the "use last item" keyboard shortcut to use the last one, the game will crash with an assertion. (On the other hand, this shortcut works fine witn items that don't get used up; using it with the Renaissance Lute is a fast way to finish maxing a Bard's Music, for example.)

dtgreene: It's not that I like Fairies; it's that I *would* like them if thety were better in the long run.

With that said, over the years I've moved away from a long run focus when playing Wizardry 8. In particular, some ideas that I've experimented with a bit:
* Use a Bishop, but spend all spell picks (or at least require that they eventually be spent on spells appropriate to the level at which they were acquired). Not as powerful in the long run (have to carefully choose level 6 and 7 spells, but some of them (like Quicksand and Restoration) are more useful than others (Pandemonium and Falling Stars), but more interesting earlier in the game.
* Start with a character who's great early game, like a Fairie Mage that focuses on Speed/Senses (yes, ignoring Intelligence); once in Arnika, or perhaps a bit later, I *replace* the character with a new level 1 character, like a Gadgeteer (fast leveling means XP isn't as much of an issue, and if I wait until Marten's Bluff, gadgets are a non-issue (Project Image and Noxious Fumes, both fun spells to have in gadget form, are available at that point); drawback might be the lack of a character to handle locks and traps until then.

dtgreene: Try using a Bishop *without* saving spell picks sometime; it's how I've payed them on recent playthroughs, and is more fun earlier in the game.

dtgreene: Which unfortunately means not until Umpani/T'Rang areas.

dtgreene: In the absence of a whip, on a Bishop I'd rather have the extra Speed or Stealth that I could get from a shield than the attack that a 2-handed weapon would give.

The only real advantage I see to giving the Staff of Doom to a Bishop would be to actually make use of the Bishop's primary skill Artifacts, but you don't really have the points to spare on it or the means to train this skill manually. Also, until level 16-17, a Bishop can't unequip that particular weapon without the Remove Curse skill (which can backfire, and whose backfire can crash the game in the right situation), and uncursing it is required to sell it so it can be recharged.

By the way, that crash is an assertion that happens in the following situation:
* The spell is cast from the inventory (not from the magic menu).
* The spell backfires, hexing the caster.
* As a result of said hex, the caster's current SP, in at least one category, drops below zero.

There's another assertion I found: If you use a potion (or other item) from a stack outside of battle, and then use the "use last item" keyboard shortcut to use the last one, the game will crash with an assertion. (On the other hand, this shortcut works fine witn items that don't get used up; using it with the Renaissance Lute is a fast way to finish maxing a Bard's Music, for example.)

dtgreene: It's not that I like Fairies; it's that I *would* like them if thety were better in the long run.

With that said, over the years I've moved away from a long run focus when playing Wizardry 8. In particular, some ideas that I've experimented with a bit:
* Use a Bishop, but spend all spell picks (or at least require that they eventually be spent on spells appropriate to the level at which they were acquired). Not as powerful in the long run (have to carefully choose level 6 and 7 spells, but some of them (like Quicksand and Restoration) are more useful than others (Pandemonium and Falling Stars), but more interesting earlier in the game.
* Start with a character who's great early game, like a Fairie Mage that focuses on Speed/Senses (yes, ignoring Intelligence); once in Arnika, or perhaps a bit later, I *replace* the character with a new level 1 character, like a Gadgeteer (fast leveling means XP isn't as much of an issue, and if I wait until Marten's Bluff, gadgets are a non-issue (Project Image and Noxious Fumes, both fun spells to have in gadget form, are available at that point); drawback might be the lack of a character to handle locks and traps until then.

dtgreene: Try using a Bishop *without* saving spell picks sometime; it's how I've payed them on recent playthroughs, and is more fun earlier in the game.

dtgreene: Which unfortunately means not until Umpani/T'Rang areas.

abbayarra: I've been following avidly what is going on with you but I'm sorry due to life getting in the way I've not been able to be more active.

RChu1982: After level 10, the exponential experience is starting to catch up to me. It's taking a long time to get to level 11.

RChu1982: This is the only party(all magic) that I have to grind heavily for, as there is no way to get magic regeneration items yet(from Burz).

dtgreene: Once you reach level 11, the common ractio decreases from 2 to 1.2, while the XP given by the stronger enemies that spawn continues to increase significantly. As a result, level 10 is really the slowest part of the game, and once you get past that, leveling will get faster.

(Also, it is only past this point where two characters with the same XP total can differ by more than one level.)

dtgreene: When I did my all-mage party, I managed with my usual strategy of leaving the monastery at level 5, and I don't remember having more problems than usual at this point. (Then again, I believe I had both my Priest and Alchemist focus on Strength.)

RChu1982: I want to go in all guns blazing, with magic being cast on full power(level 7 in the green).

dtgreene: Coundn't you just use them when they're not green, and reload if things go badly?

dtgreene: Coundn't you just use them when they're not green, and reload if things go badly?

RChu1982: I have finally reached level 11, after getting good spawns with the level 10 Emerald Slimes. My party is now able to cast level 5 spells(Set/Return to Portal, Heal All, Summon Elemental, Psionic Blast, Freeze All). I wonder if level 5 spells cast at power level 1 will be effective. Only time will tell.

dtgreene: It depends on the spell.

The Portal spells work really well at PL1; in fact, that's the only power level at which they can be cast (and you're guaranteed to have enough SP for your most expensive spell).

Heal All is a bit weak, healing only about 10 HP per character, but that can still be useful. (Remember, if you're desperate, you can try casting it at a higher power level; PL2 is twice as effective and, with enough skill, the chance of failure isn't high, plus I'm pretty sure that spell can't actually backfire.)

A low level Summoned Elemental is still great for taking hits and can do some damage, but will be vulnerable to status ailments.

Psionic Blast and Freeze All, on the other hand, aren't as good at PL1, though you might get them to work at least for a short time on lower level enemies; Freeze Flesh is probably still better than Freeze All in most situations at this point. (Instant Death might be more useful at PL1; it hits only a single target, but is likely to work on low level targets, like enemy elementals.)

RChu1982: Thanks for the info. I've never done a magic party, and this is foreign to me. The most magic I've had is a party with one Bishop, and I never had many level 5 skills, saving all my spell picks for level 6 and 7 spells(You can buy level 5 spellbooks from Ferro, but he is so hard to get to.)

dtgreene: In more recent playthroughs, I've actually stopped saving Bishop spell picks. Specifically, I've been playing with the self-imposed rule that spell picks may only be used for spells that the character would be high enough in level to cast.

Or, a simplified (though somewhat less restrictive) version of this self-imposed rule is this:
* Spell picks gained at level 13 and earlier may not be used for spells above 5th level
* Only spell picks gained at 18th level or higher may be used for 7th level spells.

These rules result in there being some interesting choices to be made with lower level spell picks, and make Bishops more useful in the earlier parts of the game. (It's also worth noting that this game has an inverted difficulty curve (once you leave the Monastery), where the game gets easier as you progress.)

Also, I've reached Ferro in the early teens; the one thing is that some spellbooks, like Psionic Blast (one of my favorite attack spells because it isn't limited by line of sight), aren't buyable until 18th level.

dtgreene: In more recent playthroughs, I've actually stopped saving Bishop spell picks. Specifically, I've been playing with the self-imposed rule that spell picks may only be used for spells that the character would be high enough in level to cast.

Or, a simplified (though somewhat less restrictive) version of this self-imposed rule is this:
* Spell picks gained at level 13 and earlier may not be used for spells above 5th level
* Only spell picks gained at 18th level or higher may be used for 7th level spells.

These rules result in there being some interesting choices to be made with lower level spell picks, and make Bishops more useful in the earlier parts of the game. (It's also worth noting that this game has an inverted difficulty curve (once you leave the Monastery), where the game gets easier as you progress.)

Also, I've reached Ferro in the early teens; the one thing is that some spellbooks, like Psionic Blast (one of my favorite attack spells because it isn't limited by line of sight), aren't buyable until 18th level.