Wizardry 1 party suggestions for the first game of the first Wizardry Trilogy. Characters will be expected to transfer to games 2 and 3 in the trilogy. Death can be permanent, mapping is required, and character development is key for a long journey. If you are playing the Digital Eclipse remake this information still applies for the classic rule set.
The Training Grounds
The Training Grounds, located just outside the Castle, ring with the sounds of swords clashing and timid battle cries. A closer inspection shows youngsters hitting targets with wooden blades, and many of the battle cries turn into yelps when the blade bounces back and hits them! It is here that you create new, novice characters.
Statistics
A measure of a heroes prowess in certain activities.
| Statistic | Description |
|---|---|
| Strength | Affects a hero’s skill in combat for front line heroes that swing melee weapons. |
| IQ | Affects a hero’s ability to learn Arcane spells and also identify enemies. |
| Piety | Affects a hero’s ability to learn Divine spells and also identify enemies. |
| Vitality | Affects a hero’s ability to withstand damage and survive resurrections. |
| Agility | Affects a hero’s turn order, trap avoidance, and ability to inspect chest traps correctly. |
| Luck | Affects a hero in many mysterious ways. |
Race
Race impacts the starting Statistics and also what Statistics will reset to, after a Class change.
| Race | STR | I Q | PIE | VIT | AGI | LCK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human | 8 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Elf | 7 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| Dwarf | 10 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 6 |
| Gnome | 7 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 |
| Hobbit/Halfling | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 15 |
Age
When a character gets old and decrepit they will be unable to continue adventuring. Beware of spending too much time at the Inn. Age is a pressure to be cautious and stay healthy in the proving grounds of the mad overlord, or at least try.
Alignment
Alignment describes your character’s general ethics and restricts Class selection. Good and Evil characters cannot journey together in the same party.
The alignment restriction can be circumvented if you use the Camp feature while inside the Maze. If you take an evil expedition to the camp and also a good expedition to the camp you can blend the expeditions, mixing good and evil characters into a single expedition.
From time to time, you will encounter “friendly creatures” in the maze and you will have the option to fight or let them go. Fighting will potentially move your characters towards Evil. Letting them go will potentially move your characters towards Good.
| Alignment | Example |
|---|---|
| Good | They go out of their way to help old crones cross the street. |
| Neutral | They help old crones cross the street when they are going that way also. |
| Evil | They help old crones cross the street for a small fee. |
Classes
A class defines what the hero is training to do. Heroes are awarded experience (XP) during the adventure. They can change class mid-adventure and then they will start to learn new skills whilst retaining some of their previous training. By the lore of wizardry, minimum statistics must be met before a Hero can change to a Class.
Basic Classes
| Class | Descriptions and Restrictions |
|---|---|
| Fighter | The basic man-at-arms. A lifelong Fighter has high hit points, can use any armor or weapon, and fighters are great in the front line. Any Alignment. |
| Mage | Mages have low hit points, can use only Daggers or Staffs for Weapons, and can not wear any Armor other than Robes. They can learn Arcane Spells and may be of any Alignment. |
| Priest | Priests have fairly high hit points and can wear almost any Armor and Shield but they cannot wear Helmets. Priest Weapons are restricted to Maces and Flails. Priests can attempt Dispel groups of Undead foes. Priest cannot be Neutral Alignment. |
| Thief | Thieves have average hit points. Weapons are limited to Daggers and Short Swords. They can wear only Leather Armor and use a Shield. Thieves uniquely possess the ability to Disarm and Open trapped Chests. Thief cannot be Good Alignment. |
Elite Classes
Elite Classes require higher Statistics and therefor they are less available for new Level 1 Heroes. At character creation, if you randomly get a high amount of Bonus Statistics to allocate you will have more access to Elite Classes from the start. You can create many new Heroes until you randomly get a high amount of Bonus Statistic points.
| Class | Descriptions and Restrictions |
|---|---|
| Bishop | Bishops have average hit points. A Bishop can learn spells from Arcane and Divine schools but spells are learned slower than a Priest or Mage. A Bishop must reach level 4 before Divine spell learning starts. Bishops can wear Leather Armor and Shields but no Helmets. Bishops use Maces and Flails for Weapons. A Bishop has a unique ability to Identify Items for free at Level 1. Bishops cannot be Neutral Alignment. |
| Samurai | Samurai are exceptional warriors and can use all Weapons and Armor. Similar hit point levels to Fighters. At Level 4, Samurai begin to learn Arcane spells, although much slower than a Mage. Samurai cannot be Evil Alignment. |
| Lord | Lords are exceptional warriors and can use all Weapons and Armor. Similar hit point levels to Fighters. At Level 4, Lords begin to learn Divine spells, although much slower than a Priest. Lords can also Dispel groups of Undead foes like a Priest. Lords must be Good Alignment. |
| Ninja | Ninja has hit points similar to the Thief and can use any weapons and armor however at higher experience levels they prefer to fight bare handed with no armor. Ninjas have the unique ability to kill foes with a single blow. Ninja AC goes up as their experience level goes up, so long as they are not wearing armor. Ninjas do not learn spells. Ninja must be Evil. |
Class Minimum Statistics
| Class | STR | I Q | PIE | VIT | AGI | LUC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fighter | 11 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Mage | – | 11 | – | – | – | – |
| Priest | – | – | 11 | – | – | – |
| Thief | – | – | – | – | 11 | – |
| Bishop | – | 12 | 12 | – | – | – |
| Samurai | 15 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 10 | – |
| Lord | 15 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 15 |
| Ninja | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
Changing Class
Changing class enhances hero versatility, enabling a party with increased Spell Points per rest, higher frontline HP, and greater single-turn burst Spell damage. Having multiple characters capable of similar roles reduces downtime; for instance, if the sole divine caster is paralyzed, it usually necessitates a return to town.
You can Change Class in the Training Grounds after selecting Edit Character. Your current attributes must meet or exceed the class minimums to be eligible for each class. Also consider alignment restrictions in the lore of wizardry.
Changing Class, mundane notes
- Changing class will reset your Attributes to the starting minimums for the Race
when assigning attributes, prioritize the next class change and then extra points to Agility. If it is the final class, allocate attribute points to maximize (or balance) as per intended usage such as stacking STR for melee or PIE for Divine spells. - HP that you already have will be retained.
- Access to Weapons and Armor will follow the rules of the new class.
this means that a Priest that used to be a Fighter can no longer use Swords.. or a Mage that used to be a Priest is now stuck with Robes.
Changing class, magical notes
- Spells that you already know will be accessible even if the new class cannot learn new spells
- Bonus Spell points will follow the rules of the new class.
this means that a level 5 Fighter that used to be a Level 5 Mage will have less Spell Points than a level 5 Mage.. off-class spell point totals are equal to 1 point only for each spell known per spell level. - Learning more spells will follow the rules of the new class with an exception
this means, If you know at least one spell of a particular type and level, then you will eventually learn all the spells of that type and level, even if your new class doesn’t learn spells of that type. So, for example, if you change a mage into a ninja, and the mage knew the 3rd level mage spell MAHALITO, then the ninja would eventually learn MOLITO, the other 3rd level mage spell.
Builds Spotlight
Power Bishop
You take a Priest to 13 to open Divine VII and then you switch them to a Mage to 13 again to open Arcane VII. As a Mage, your Divine Spell Points are minimal. So finally, you switch to Bishop and do your final leveling grind and statistic allocation to play out your career. You will have some powerful VII spells for both Arcane and Divine already, you will have Spell Bonus points for both Arcane and Divine, and eventually you will learn all Arcane and Divine spells as you continue to level.
Why not just make a Bishop from the start you say? Two reasons. First, the Bishop learns spells very slowly compared to a Priest or Mage, and so it would take the Bishop more levels to learn the same amount of spells. Second, the Priest/Mage route gets access to VII spells of the first class much quicker. As a bonus, consider that it takes a lot less XP to gain levels 2, 3, 4 , and 5 but those lower levels also have a chance to learn spells. Priest/13 to Mage/13 to Bishop 10..that is 33 levels, you will have all the spells.
Feeble Samurai
Be careful of the Mage to Samurai path.. the result will have very low HP early in their career for a front line hero. Eventually the HP will level out but they may struggle in the front line until their HP catches up.
Creating your Party
An expedition party is made 1-6 heroes but should almost always include 6 heroes. The first 3 heroes form the front line and only those front line heroes can swing a melee weapon at foes during combat. As you may expect, foes can only attack the front line heroes with their own melee attacks.
The front line heroes should have the best melee weapons, the best armor, stacked STR, stacked VIT, and the most hit points. The back row of heroes will take no melee damage but may be targeted by spell casting. The back row heroes will only attack the foes with spells, dispel undead, or with some limited items that actually just cast spells. There are no ranged weapons nor weapons with reach in Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.
Planning a Party Long Term
Wizardry games, at least the classic versions, allow for moving your Party to the next game in the series. It is feasible to create a Party in Wizardry 1 and use the same party in 2, 3, and 5–if you can live that long. As a little teaser, Wiz 5 magic system affords great value to high level Mages so it is worth while to plan at least one.
Long Term Party Planning
Consider the following horizontal graph. For each Character line, the capital letter represents a Class. Take the first for example, F, or Fighter marks Level 1 then there are 8 dashes then a 1. The 1 marks Level 10. For a pure class character this graph shows 60 levels. Take the fourth for another example, Starts out as a Fighter, changes to Priest at 13, then Mage at 13, then Bishop at 13 to play out.
1 E-DWF F--------1---------2---------3---------4---------5---------6>
2 E-DWF F--------1---------2---------3---------4---------5---------6>
3 E-DWF F--------1---N--------1---------2---------3---------4------->
4 E-HBT F--------1---P--------1---M--------1---B--------1---------2->
5 N-HBT F--------1---M--------1---------2---------3---------4------->
6 E-HBT P--------1------M--------1---B--------1---------2---------3->
This example just gives an idea for notation method. As you move your characters on to 2 then 3 and 5... they will see some adjustments and resets so do no get too attached, its just a rough plan.
Hit Points over time
If you have raised any levels you may wonder why sometimes you will only earn 1 hit point even if you are a Fighter with a great CON stat. This is not intuitive and a common cause for alarm, however, it is behaving as intended. Basically stated, each time a character raises a level their HPs are recalculated with 4 factors: Level, Class, CON Bonus, and RND. If the result is higher than the previous HP they gain the difference but if the result is equal or lower than the previous HP they gain 1 hit point.
For a deeper explanation with great examples, check out this Reddit post by archolewa.
Ideal party makeup
The ideal party has a front line that can absorb and dish out a lot of melee damage. The ideal party collectively has a vast amount of Spell Points for spell casting. You want to build in redundancy so that if one falls another can step in and finalize the combat in a positive way.
Make considerations for Class Change before you create the heroes due to alignment and statistic limitation for each class. After any class change there is a slight backslide in power for that hero but with a few quick level gains they will be superlative to the original class.
Bonus Points
When creating your characters you will get a random Bonus value. You want to get a value of at least 15 for most characters. Higher is better of course. Take the time to create a few characters and take the best ones. If you really want to put in some time here, you can get some insane bonuses. Here is a 26!
High bonus is really great if you want to start out as an elite class and never change your class. However, if you plan to change your class along the way then a 15 is more than enough to get started.
Attribution
Official Manual is here.
How to obtain a copy of this game:
eBay link – Ultimate Wizardry Archives PC CD-ROM version (1998), includes Wizardry 1-7
eBay link – SNES cartridge version (translated)
GOG link – PC Reboot by Digital Eclipse