Advice on classes

[divinefistoka]

Since a lot has apparently changed since newangband, now that we're in portalis, i seem to be lacking in up to date information.

What advice can anyone give me on a mixed character, in terms of stats, skills, and abilities would make a character successful. A lot of what i knew is now apparently out of date, but some still applys.

Any help for any warrior or mage class would be appreciated, especially the latter, which i seem to suck at in Portalis. (ironic, since i used to love the mage classes in tome)

[Gando]

Well Paladins make a good starter class with Warrior/Fighter thrown in for certain combat abilities each class has. Sekira is working on a Kensai class that will probably require at least some of these to be good. Monk is a good alternative to Pally but you lose 3 equipment slots to make him effective.

Priest/Pally/Soul Guardian is an effective Wis caster.

Mage/Enchanter or Mage/Diviner with a lead into Monster Mage/Elemental Lord/or High Mage bringing varied results. My suggestion? experiment and figure out what works for you.

Keep in mind though just being a mage doesnt really help you unless you spend your skills well.
Spell construction is expensive and hard to get right. Schools can help a little by giving you discounts at 25/50 and 75 skill levels (except Divinination which is currently the only school without this but should be changing in the next build)

Hope this helps a bit. Please let us know what you find out from your adventures. A DITL or just a posted character build here would be cool (dont forget to post your selected abilities as the game doesnt do that for you)

[divinefistoka]

Won't be around long enough to do a DITL this time (I'm the one who requested that section of forums exist lol. Too bad Lavitz ain't around no more) As for a mage, when i played the early version of portralis i ended up with a monster mage/soul guardian calss. Monster magic worked fairly well for me and some really exotic spells exist, but since they don't create there spells, how would one of those best spend his skill points? (The main questor (first one) actually gave me the spell to use to kill him.) I had kinda envisioned a warrior type character who would use the monster magic and or soulguardian/elementlord powers to magically supplment himself. Monster magic can provide some of the best utility spells, summoning, healing, some nice offense... And soulguardians can simply expand on your monster magic by toting around some tame ones. Elementlords could supply you with magical damages that monster magic wouldn't if you go that route, allowing you to kill things from a distance with your abilities, but can be annoying (especially to summoners, since your spells don't distinguish between friend and foe)

Any advice along this route? (in terms of skill points and ability points, etc... as well as a good element to choose to help provide a winner.)

[Variaz]

Schools can help a little by giving you discounts at 25/50 and 75 skill levels (except Divinination which is currently the only school without this but should be changing in the next build)

Divination got that as well, and it's at skill level 100 that you get the third discount, not 75.

As for elements, I'd say Light is the best element for Elemental Lord. Not many enemies resists it, and many are weak against it. On the other hand, Darkness can be useful too. Even though it's less effective than Light in terms of offense, a lot of enemies uses it, so a Dark Element Shield can be very useful.

Other good elements are Fire, Acid, Electricity and Sound. Not much resist these at the moment. In future version, Cold will also be a good element for Element Shield, as Rhyzendal will be heavily cold-based.

[divinefistoka]

What about building a magic-oriented character, what would be the best route to go? I never seem to keep them alive long enough to move to high-mage, and always feel kinda lost in creating the spells. Any tips?