Is this your first Wiz8 game? If yes, then be careful with the ninja. AFAIK they can become extremely powerful (especially if it's a Faerie
), but it takes long and depends on an intelligent distribution of skill- and attribute-points.Anyway,
the class-changing was modified in Wiz8:
- The only chance to class-change is at level-up
- You'll keep all your skills, but I think that there are some penalties. You'll definitely lose class abilities (rogue -backstabbing, fighter - berzerk)
- Biggest change: In Wiz6 + 7 the class-changed characters started at lvl 1 - experiencewise, so that you only needed a couple of thousand exp to get to lvl 10 again (which was the perfect point to class-change again
). In Wiz 8 the added lvls in the different classes determine the amount of exp needed to advance. So, if you change your bard to a ninja on lvl 10, you'll have a lvl 1 Ninja and need as many exp-points as a Lvl 10-Ninja to gain another lvl (which is pretty much). That said: "Rotating" through the classes like in Wiz6+7 (Ninja --> Monk --> Lord --> Sam) is feasible, but not advisable.
Some people report that starting for example as a mage and then switch to a bishop at the first lvl up creates a character who is much stronger than a lvl 2 - Bishop can possibly be. This goes for any "simple" class, which peaks early in the game (fighter, rogue, specialists - spell casters...). Haven't tried it myself.
I've switched my Mage & Priest to a Bishop once they'd learned all the important spells (around level 18) in their profession.
PS: On the "general board" here someone recently posted how he got stealth for all his chars to 100.