I need to do some experiments, but if the community SP formula is correct, a wizard with minimal piety who picks both spells at level three—via saving picks, of course—would have enough divine points to cast each spell at power level one. Of course, actually succeeding on such casts is a different story. The case is different for a bishop who can build up the divine realm before that point, has a (much) higher minimal piety, can have more spells in the realm, and has more book skills. That means more spells competing for use, but more SP, too. So, yes, it can be a problem early on—which, admittedly, is a problem, since the earlier both spells come online, the better.

I tend to get magic missile on my mages in Arnika, since I have enough multi-hit in my parties, and I focus the long-term buffs hard. It may not be optimal, but I like it. I've found that I've grown quite attached to a core of mage, alchemist, priest, and fighter with one of the four locks & traps classes, and a wildcard. Having tried a bit of all the trap springers, I actually prefer the ninja, but they're all great for most of the game. Don't discount how long energy blast can remain relevant.

Thing is, I generally want to case Enchanted Blade at a higher power level early. Actually succeeding isn't that unlikely, and if it doesn't work, I can just rest and try again. (Maybe save/reload just to make sure each attempt counts as practice.)

I've found that I don't like the way stealth works in this game, particularly the fact that you can't turn it off (it's the one thing I don't like about monks; you get that damage resistance, but it's not helpful if the enemies target someone else), so I avoid using classes that get that skill.

For traps, I tend to prefer the gadgeteer, with the bard coming second, as those are the two classes with that skill but not stealth. Failing that, a shield user can reach 20 locks & traps with a couple pieces of equipment; that plus Knock should be enough for any lock, and some classes (including Bishop!) can even do both roles.

Ok. Let's do a thorough analysis of Bard and Gadgeteer Sword options. The Bard gets the Mercucio's Blade very early from Higardi thieves, if she chooses to grind that. The Gadgeteer gets the Diamond Epee from the Bank vault, thanks to a tip from Myles. Neither are particularly great, beyond the middle game.
The cursed Bloodlust sword is present in Antone's vault, from grabbing his keycard. It does an extra swing per attack (not mentioned anywhere), and does the same damage as if a Fighter used Berserk to attack (X2 damage). However, it's cursed, and prevents you from using ranged weapons.
The Giant's Blade is off-limits to Bards and Gadgeteers (even if you were a Mook, it's not for those trades).
The Demonsbane is a specialty weapon, meant to kill Al-Sedexus. It can't be used by either.
The Ivory Blade, specially crafted from Ferro, isn't usable by either.
So now what? Light Swords and Fang seem like the way to go.

Even then:
* Fang isn't that great by late-game standards.
* The Light Sword is not reliably available, so I don't consider that weapon when theorycrafting for this game.
* Also, what sword should the *second* Bard/Gadgeteer use?

I only go as far as half SP for casting long-term buffs, and then cast at highest green if that fails. Sure, fizzles level magic faster, but I want some of the buff. The exception is light, since I don't care if I have it up or not, and it takes so few SP. (And, in the case of a priest, shares nothing for an extremely long time.) However, enchanted blade isn't that high of a priority for me, since I have enough magical damage to make it through. Sure, it helps on Gregor, but a ninja helps too, and I find missile shield more useful at that point.

Stealth allows for some real shenanigans. Mostly with all-party stealth, sure, but one can sometimes get melee foes to waste their turns. I like monks and ninjas a lot, minimal armor and stealth is a nice mix, plus they both get martial arts and polearms. (They also don't get infinity helms.)

Locks are a non-issues. Knock picks are purchasable, after all. It's the traps where having the skill matters. High-powered traps require a skill higher than one-hundred to safely disarm, and divine trap only goes so far. Save-scumming and ignoring chest are the alternatives. Ninjas are the worst trapspringers, sure, but it's better than foregoing.

I like ninjas, because they are a jack-of-all-trades that pay many tolls. Makes this easy game a little more fun. I like rogues, but a fighter is enough. (Same reason I don't like the divinity gishes that much, a fighter is enough.) And I don't like using bards, gadgeteers, and bishops for many of the same reasons some players avoid fighters. In fact, I'd say the three thieves and the bishop are the game's "good" hybrids. The classes are more well-balanced than that sentence suggests, however. It's more they don't have the same issue as the gishes who have a period where both magic and melee are meh compared to other classes, and, thus, feel like dead weight. The thieves and bishop do fall off in various way, comparably, in the end, though, which is why I claim better balanced.

An enchanted broadsword is another good early mid-game option.

One, the *light* *sword* can be scummed via enemy drops if not tin/ironman, not that I recommend it. The book of holy water is bad enough. Similarly, a *light* *shield* can be scummed via an NPC, as well as those same enemies. So, for the average person, it's just unlikely, and shouldn't be considered. But, for RChu1982 here, I think it's fair game.

Two, while fang is weaker than a lot of late mid-game weapons, it is end-game viable. More importantly, the only real better option for those classes is the staff of doom, of which there is only one guaranteed. And, that gives up a shield! I'd say the shield bearer most suited to the staff of doom is, actually, an alchemist. Since the best one-handed guaranteed staff or wand is the winterwand! And, daggers will take forever to get a decent one. Of course, it's such a great weapon, slapping it on anyone isn't, often, a bad choice. Maybe a rogue's a bad choice.

Third alternative is to just accept the trap's effects. While there are traps you'll not want to do it with (like the one that destroys potions and scrolls), most of their effects can be fixed with some combination of healing magic (giving you practice!) and rest.

In any case, I would just save first, try disarming the chest, and if it's a bad one (like the one I mentioned, and I think there's one that destroys gold), then I reload. But if the trap's effect is something you can recover from, just keep on going.

(If you're playing Ironman, I hope you know which chests can have the nasty traps, and that you make sure you don't have much money or potions/scrolls on you at the time you try to open them.)

I find that a fighter is *too* much, and it just makes things too easy later on, given how game balance favors melee a bit too much, and the fighter's berserk just makes it worse. Also, I'd much rather have another character who can eventually learn the portal spells.

My counterpoint is that the spell the staff cases, Death Cloud, is something that an Alchemist will eventually learn to cast, whereas other casters will not learn to cast it. Plus, Bishops get a bonus to Artifacts, so that effect will be more likely to work in the hands of a Bishop (although a Bishop will probably be too busy casting spells).

The argument that I have towards the Alchemist getting the Staff of Doom is that: Obviously, he is tougher than the Psionic/Mage. Also, I don't use items like you perhaps do (using charges, for example, on the Staff of Doom to "cast" Death Cloud, which should not benefit from Powercast, similar to the Bard and Gadgeteer "casting" with instruments and gadgets).
The Psionic and Mage fall under the category of "can't" use a shield, where the Alchemist falls under the category of "won't" use a shield. Is he supposed to use a dagger, wand, or short staff with a shield (even the light shield), expecting to do good melee damage?
Upon looking at the chart, the Buccaneer Ghosts have a 20% chance to drop something. Which is a 80% chance to drop nothing.
The Light Sword has a chance of 2.5%, while the Light Shield has a chance of 5% (approximiating, of course, due to complex numbers).
This means that the Light Sword has a 20% X 2.5% chance of dropping, or 0.2 X .025 = 0.0050 (.5% chance, or 1 in 500). The Light Shield is double that, at around 1 in 250 (note that Jan-Ette can provide this service for me, provided I speak to her around 250 times on average).
The reason I bring this up is because I have never had a Light Sword or Light Shield, and would like to experience them. I have never needed to in the past, because I have always had strong melee characters like a Fighter or Rogue up front.

Or:
* The Thieves' Buckler, which provides a speed bonus. (Also boosts Locks & Traps, allowing a character wearing Posseur's Cap to reach 20 in that skill, handy if the party has nobody who naturally has Locks & Traps)
* The Lithe Buckler, which provides a small amount of stealth, making the character slightly less likely to be targeted.

Neither of those shields needs the character to be in melee to work; they work just as well for characters who are just casting spells all the time.

I tend not to use items, but I've actually been trying to break that item. This one, in particular, has a very powerful effect that it would be nice to be able to use before you're even close to level 18, particularly if, say, you're attempting the Rapax Rift at a low level.

It really does help that you can sell an item and then buy it back to get its charges back, and with high enough Communication, it might not even cost any money to do this. Of course, there's a complication here, in that the Staff of Doom is *very* cursed; removing it (so that you can sell it) requires a high power Remove Curse spell or a high level Bishop.

(By the way, one thing that I'm wondering that should be easy to test: If you change a high level character into a Bishio, hen equip the Staff of Doom, can that Bishop remove the curse on it without casting the spell? I'm thinking along the lines of a Bishop with only 1 level in the class, but 18+ levels in another class.)

Interesting that the melee merchant fighter main is advocating for magical damage and advising against barbarian disarming. Fun really is subjective, eh?

Sure, three fighters, a bishop, and some other two can beat the game before level twenty, but if going for an explorer's route through the game—including the retro dungeons—magical damage is far, far more efficient than melee damage. But sure, if a nuke can't end a battle in a single round, it's weak and useless. /s (Not you all, but I have seen people say such things about this game.) Yes, if this game had a traditional blob combat system, then melee damage would be too over-tuned, but it has more downsides than people seem to realize. A fighter only does 167% more melee damage than a hybrid—not accounting for zatoichi, which is only usable by two classes that would probably prefer other weapons—at a hefty accuracy penalty, once they are both maxed. Yes, that penalty becomes less and less of an issue eventually, but it hurts for a long time, at least on expert. The real BS that a fighter enables is tanking melee mobs like the breeders, trivializing such fights. A ninja can trivialize Nessie almost just as well. (Six ninjas can trivialize The Dark Savant, but that's an extreme example of missing the forest for the trees.)
My issue is more that one heavily armored unit is enough. In fact, divinity is arguably the best book, and having lots of it is useful, but harder to get a lot of lightning up and running. Lords and valkyries tend to forgo magical damage more than other hybrids, though, but seems to me, that Wiz8 is one of those offense being the best defense games, and lords and valks feel more like defensive classes.

If death bombs were readily available, the staff of doom's on-cast would be useless. And, those shield properties are meh on an alchemist. (Speed casters are a luxury, and can still have problem with sprites. Also, an alchemist has half the HP of a fighter and the same AC of a priest.) Not to mention that the nuclear blast from a certain earlier weapon is just as good as death for a long time, and a bishop can use that too. A monk's the usual choice, though. Of further note, clouds don't stack.

Seeing as most class abilities scale on levels in that class—fighter's knock-out, rogue's backstab multiplier, priest's pray for miracle, etc.—my assumption would be it's the same for bishop's remove curse. But, a test would be nice.

P.S. thanks to a certain portal, two portal casters are enough, more is just gravy. Why would you need six? One technically doesn't even need one, even if any balanced party will have a few.

@RChu1982. Power cast doesn't really do much for clouds, and death cloud is arguably the best cloud. Death bombs are a wonderfully destructive item for a bombs and powders fighter, for example. Fun fact, a throwing fighter or rogue is, at times, a stronger caster of the few spells they get. Artifacts help too, and combining both on a bloodlust rogue is a wonderful strat. Might as well tack on the thieves dagger on the off-hand as well. Sometimes, pungent cheese is the best cheese.
... But, a fighter is enough.

What earlier weapon? I don't remember that spell being on anything that's really easy to get.

Mindblast rod. Requires a little bit of theft and knowledge. Don't even need to engage the t'rang. It's extremely early if using glitches to use the teleporter located at the Umpani Base Camp, but that's super-run strats. :P

I'd say the Staff of Doom is easier to get, plus it can be used by more characters and doesn't use a weapon skill that some classes that can equip iot don't get.

Edit: Often, I like to play without doing things that might be considered illegal or unethical, which means no stealing the Mindblast Rod (and also means no Bloodlust). I don't have the same issue with the Staff of Doom, or with the Diamond Eyes for that matter (murdering anyone who starts as hostile is acceptable, particularly if they're undead).

Getting to Marten's Bluff is easier/just as easy as the mountain wilderness. Either way can aggro hogars, will probably have to deal with swallowers—more via northern/southern wilderness—but mountain wilderness requires either dealing with a nasty golem or going past Marten's Bluff. The golem guarding the staff is, admittedly, easy to ignore. The worst thing that can happen in the swamp is probably unicorns, if a party has good ranged combat, magical or physical. (And unicorns can sometimes be cheesed via sleeping, of all things.) One doesn't even need to go via the mine tunnels.

Seeking unlimited power is arguably amoral at best, but that's opening a philosophical can of worms. Some of the voice sets imply such evil behaviors, and theft is more-or-less required to complete the game via the intended route. One could always role-play mercenary aliens that see such petty theft as meaningless on the cusp of godhood, sure.

But, back to the topic at hand, the better argument is that, since earthquake is practically the strongest damage spell in the game, someone else is better used to cast death cloud, when necessary, than an alchemist. But slings are rather good on mages and psionics, that only an aversion to resource management—one of the best aspects of role-playing RPG games—makes sense to give it to one of those two when taking all three classes, admittedly a rather big if. (Since direct damage is more reliable than instant death, and when magic doesn't work, neither spell will, and physical damage is what's required, and an alchemist has more support spells than a mage or a psionic! So, any way you cut it, it's not much of an optimization to avoid giving the staff of doom to a character capable of casting death cloud, but it is a good idea to give it to someone. (Five shooters is enough.)) Joke addition: an alchemist can equip the medicine bag, so there. :P

Thing is, I, like many players, have a severe bias against attacks that involve consumables, and there are times I try to break the habit. Thing is, a consumable's effect has to be powerful enough, relative to other options, for me to consider using it, and I also need a reliable supply (unless I'm familiar with the game and the circumstance involves a non-repeating situation like a boss fight). This is particularly true when there are options that consume no resources (like, in Wizardry 8, melee combat and arguably instruments and most gadgets).

One solution that some games use (and that I'm planning on using in the RPG I'm developing) is to have everything cost something, and not give the player any free attacks.

Another solution, which is what you see in Final Fantasy 5, for example, is to make actions that consume items *really* powerful. For example, breaking rods allows you to cast high level spells early in the game, and the Chemist's Mix ability is incredibly powerful and versatile.

Going back to Wizardry 8, there's one issue with consumables: They're overpriced for what they are. It seems that Sir-Tech has overvalued consumables, and as a result, made them weak and expensive. In Wizardry 1, for example, the only consumable I'd consider worth using is the Latumofis Potion, which is available in unlimited supply in the store, isn't too expensive (cheaper than the Dios Potion), and does something you can't easily do early in the game (cure poison, in a game where poison doesn't otherwise wear off unless you go back to town). (Incidentally, Cure Poison potions in Wizardry 8 aren't that important, and the game gives you way too many of them, to the point where it makes sense to sell most of them just to free up some carrying capacity. To put it another way, In Wizardry 8 you can just sleep off poison, unlike in Wizardry 1 where you have to make it back to town first.)

It looks like dtgreene has met her match, upon replies.
I have nearly successfully maxed my party of: Bard, Gadgeteer, Priest, Alchemist, Psionic, Mage (in order of decreasing HPs).
Everybody has maxed everything except Snakespeed.
I will have to sit tight until Snakespeed is maxed for everybody.