Advanced Tips for Party Creation - Crusaders of the Dark Savant (Also known as Wizardry Gold, Wizardry 7 or CDS).

This is not a walkthru, FAQ or general guide - all of which exist. It applies equally to the DOS version or the Windows version (Wizardry Gold). It assumes no cheats, use of the pageup bug or editors. It can be helpful to anyone who wants a "world class" party but is recommended for experienced users who have already played much or all of the game because it involves repetitive fighting that is more boring than going around and having fun, allowing characters to advance naturally. It assumes a 6 person party (a single character party canfinish the game without even having to restore from a prior save (at least for a faerie ninja or perhaps monk - I doubt if any other character can without repeated use of restoring) but this is virtually impossible unless you know exactly what to do and where everything is due to limited space for carrying objects).


Basic principles. All chars need ninjitsu and benefit from kirijitsu. All chars should have 98 in at least one spell class (99 or 100 adds nothing). All chars need swimming of 10 from assigning points - after 10 they can learn by practice without drowning. All other skills are secondary (mapping of 10 or more is very useful but less critical, diplomacy may be useful depending on style. One char with skullduggery of 100% is desirable but a high powered knock can open doors and chests nicely too). Ninjitsu raises slowly with use - spell skills and kirijitsu do not.


Basic constraint. When you shift class you go to racial and class minimal requirements. This means if you switch to a mage, for example, a class with no strength minimum requirement, your strength goes to the lowest your race and gender allows. This means 5 for a male faerie or 3 for a female faerie for example. Not good! So you want to switch to classes that have a wide range of minima such as ninja (12, 10, 10, 12, 12, 12) (pers is 8 but this is a useless stat that is relevant only if needed for a class you want such as lord where 14 is needed), valkyrie, ranger or lord (if you have the high pers which a faerie may often reach). You also want races that support stats that your choices of class will not support. Thus, a felpurr ranger needs +3 piety to become a valkyrie. An elf has minimum piety of 10 so she needs only +1 (she needs +2 speed but it is much easier to get +1 piety and +2 speed than to get +3 piety --trust me or do the math). On the other hand an elf is slow but a felpurr with minimum speed of 12 and good dex finds it easier to qualify for samurai. 


At each level you randomly gain (in theory you can lose but I have NEVER noticed this) stat points. Anywhere from no gain at all (ouch!) to a gain in every statistic (rare but possible). You can save right before a level increase and restore if the results aren't satisfactory. This makes life easier - the optimizing of race and class strategies is less necessary if you do this extensively and much of what I say can be disregarded (so what if a felpurr requires those 3 piety points to qualify as valkyrie - that is what the "boots of re" are there for!).


Roll up 6 female chars (so all can be valkyries as desired). Bonus of 16-18 is easy to get - you don't need more than this. Pick your ultimate objective first so you can work to it. I see no benefit to having any character end up as anything but a fighter type with spell abilities (monk, ninja, samurai, valkyrie, lord, ranger) so she can use better weapons and armor or benefit from the monk/ninja low armor class. A blend of spell classes is useful.


A good ultimate party is two valkyries or lords to wear top armor and stand in front, a faerie ninja to have enormously low armor class and stand in front (a monk also has low AC potential but the cane of corpus is the best weapon in the game and ONLY a faerie ninja can use it), two samurai to stand in back and use distance weapons like (by the endgame) theZ-bo, and I leave the 6th to you (obviously I leave the first 5 to you too - this is a text file not an interactive program that can control your game <g>). Possibilities include another ninja, a monk, a 3rd samurai (nuclear blast is a NICE spell), a 3rd valk or lord or whatever.


Have each char start life in a class that matches the ultimate objective in terms of spell ability. If objective is samurai start as a samurai or mage for instance. Note that you get enough HP (unlike Bane) that you can start all 6 as spell users with little risk. This maximizes gain of spell skills (a priest for instance gains 1-4 or so skill points in theosophy per level in addition to those given to you to assign until she reaches a moderately high skill level - around 36 but I never bothered to figure this out exactly) but minimizes HP (a ranger gets far more HP than an alchemist but far fewer skill points in alchemy). Of course if you switch class enough all chars of all classes will get high HP and skill points eventually. Give all points that you can to spells of the primary class so you can reach the mass destruction spells as soon as possible (unlike Bane asphyxiate, death wish etc. are enormously useful to gain XP fast by killing many foes at once). Kirijitsu can wait.


IMPORTANT - If you gain a skill only by virtue of being a particular class e.g. skullduggery as a ranger you MUST give at least one point to the skill before leaving the class. Otherwise it reverts to zero and disappears and you cannot add to it later. As a general rule give a point to secondary spell skills (the valkyrie mentioned above gaining alchemy as a ninja for instance) since you may want to raise them later (perhaps not to 98 but maybe to 18 or 36 both to gain more spells and because each time you gain a spell you get more spell points to use and having your valk with skill of below 18 in priest spells go up a level and get no spells since she has learned all basic spells is a bit wasteful). Note that you get new spells available at skill levels 18, 36, 54, 72, 90 and 98. Note especailly that the alchemy spells blind and confuse are among the best in that they can effect even very powerful foes and you need skill of 18 to get them. But if you don't want to change classes more than you must just shoot for 98 in your objective and don't waste points in secondary spell classes. Each level is worth 1HP until you exceed previous maximum level in prior class but even 1 HP per level can add up.


I recommend starting as valk, samurai, ranger etc for good HP or mage, priest etc for good spell skill points as noted above. You do not need skullduggery yet - the starter dungeon traps are mild except for the last chest (guardian) which you can save for later or try your luck with. Go to fountain in starter dungeon. Spin in place for random encounters and then drink to resore HP/SP. Or walk around if you don't mind a mild risk of death. At level 2 or 3 open the chest with the key and go downstairs for better encounters (on average). At level 5 (4 if impatient) open other chest on top level to get the cherry bomb and head to the ambush. Kill ambushers (I find cherry bomb and faerie dusts can be a lifesaver if my party is weak in offensive magic) and head to town. Paluke your way in and go to Paluke and/or black market to buy weapons/armor. Then go to Father Rulae and say "sacrament". Go below to fountain which restores HP and SP even more than starter fountain. You have a nice base! BTW the chest nearby is worth 5,000XP and the map inside is the Legend map which must be in your personal possession for you to finish the game - unlike all other maps - so grab it (the traps are deadly but random - save first). 


Go up the ladder and spin to get random encounters - mostly demented munks who are easy. Occasional dark forest munks are much harder. Go down to fountain as needed. The fountain stays there until you leave the area after which you need to talk to Rulae again. If you die no big deal if even 1 char survives. Go out, come back in, ask for healing and sacrifice all gold and the fountain now restores everything even death (but not SP). At level 6-9 depending on your patience switch to ninja (not all at once - leave a char or two able to use higher level magic until the ninjas reach level 5-6 or else even demented munks can be hard to kill). This gets you kirijitsu, ninjitsu and skullduggery as needed. At level 6-9 switch to valkyrie (lord if qualified). Rotate between ninja, valkyrie, ranger etc depending on what you qualify for and your mood until all skills, SP and HP are high enough or you are bored out of your mind, whichever comes first. To defer boredom you can leave the good father's area when strong enough and clean out the old city, rescue the prisoner etc. Once you rescue the prisoner you can gain levels far faster near Orkogre although you will have to rest instead of drinking to regain points. Sleep works well against the Gorns (death wish or asphyxiate kills them wholesale). 


You should NOT kill Lord Galliere - give him the letter instead. (This is an effort to protect my personal favorite NPC - if you want to off him and have the ability do, what you must <sob!!>. Please don't let me know <g>).


When done rotating switch to final class and start getting your levels up. I recommend being 10 or more before facing the Orkogre spirit or it may toast you (if you don't mind restoring prior saves face it at any level).


Want good weapons early on (I do!)? Either rest repeatedly to use up game time (quality of items in stores goes up with elapsed game time - you did know that didn't you?) (actually this is not all that well known at all and most who have noticed the progression assumed it was level related) or get the spear +2 for all who can use it. Captain B may sell it to you (he will have a new one each time you see him if he has it at all - twirl in place and you can meet him up to 4 times in a row and buy them) although he often doesn't have it. Ditto for Lord G and the Gorn King but they have less chance than Captain B of having the spear.


When you face Gorn Lords there is a random chance of getting the spear +2, a good sword (no dachi) or extra armor (usually junk but occasionally good). The first loot item is ALWAYS an ordinary spear or awl pike or similar item. No need to even identify them. If you get a second or third item it may be special - ID it for sure (or wear it if it is armor to test it out - it won't be cursed). 


Of course the Land of Dreams can provide an even better weapon (for a native party most of us find the sword the best choice although the regenerating armor etc is VERY nice - it can be essential to have one high quality weapon through the middle game after which you can get better).


Any questions? Post them on the CIS Gamers forum in the CRPG section. There are a number of CDS/Gold experts who can answer EVERYTHING.