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=================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=================
- About this FAQ
- The character classes
- Cleric
- Dark Elf
- Dragon
- Knight
- Minotaur
- Necromancer
- Troll
- Vampire
- Promoted classes
- Picking a starting character
- Skill development
- Recruiting notes
- My party
- Revision history
- Final words
===========================================================================
ABOUT THIS FAQ
===========================================================================
Having played Might & Magic 8 several times, and restarted to try a
different character mix more than once, I think I now know enough
about the ins and outs of each of the eight character types to give
some useful advice regarding which characters to pick and which skills
to develop in each of these characters.
This FAQ describes the eight available character types in M&M8. I do
not give full information on each character's starting statistics and
the skills they can develop; all that information is in the manual
already. Rather, consider this guide an addition to that particular manual
chapter - a veteran's advice regarding the selection of characters for
your party, and a strategy for developing them.
===========================================================================
THE CHARACTER CLASSES
===========================================================================
Character types and races have been through several changes during the
Might & Magic series. M&M 1-5 had you pick both a race and a class
for your characters. The class determined hit points, spell points,
and which equipment you could use, and the race determined innate
resistances, and applied certain bonuses and penalties to your
statistics.
In Might & Magic 6, only human characters were available, and only six
classes. In M&M 7, the races were brought back (and the number of
classes expanded). Might & Magic 8 uses a combination of the systems
of 6 and 7; for the first time in Might & Magic history, there is no
difference between a race and a class. There are eight character types
to pick, three of which are human. The other five are of different
races by their very nature.
Might & Magic 8 also offers rather exotic classes. The only classes
that were imported from previous games are the Knight and the Cleric.
The Necromancer is the third human character, and is the equivalent
of the Mage in earlier M&M games. Then there's the Dark Elf, the Troll
and the Minotaur, three new races to play with. The Vampire is a
particularly exotic choice, there sure aren't many RPGs around that
allow you to play one! And the last character type is one many people
will have been waiting for. Finally, we can have a Dragon in our party.
And yes, they *are* powerful.
So without further ado, let's take a closer look at each of the eight
character classes, in alphabetical order.
CLERIC
With the departure of the Paladin, the Cleric is the only truly
reliable healer in the game. He can attain Grand Mastery in the three
magical realms of the Self: Body, Mind and Spirit. The Vampire and the
Minotaur can also gain some skill in these arts, but not quite as much
as the Cleric.
Also, the Cleric is the only character in the game who can learn the
path of Light. Some of the game's more powerful spells are in that
realm, and they alone make the Cleric a worthy addition to your party.
In combat, Clerics are average. They can get pretty good with the
Mace (but not as good as the Troll), and can wear Chain armor fairly
well (but the Dark Elf does it better). They also make passable
Merchants.
You will find a Cleric for your party very soon. I suggest keeping him
around, replacing him only if you find a better Cleric. You do not want
to be caught without one. His healing abilities, his mastery of the
Light path, and the all-important Bless and Heroism spells are too
important to miss out on.
DARK ELF
The Dark Elf is average in combat, but has a few important skills that
can be useful to any party. In melee combat, they are decent with both
Daggers and Swords, but not excellent. They are, however, the best
archers in the game, and the only ones who can become Master or
Grandmaster with a Bow. This is an important skill, because only the
Minotaur and the Knight can become Bow Experts, and all other
characters are limited to novice skill. If you want to be truly
effective in ranged combat, a Dark Elf is essential.
Dark Elves cannot wear Plate, but they can become Grand Masters with
Chain armor, which is an acceptable alternative. They will usually end
up somewhere in the middle of your party, behind the Trolls and the
Knights but in front of the Vampires and Necromancers.
Dark Elves have other important skills, though. They can become
Grand Masters in the Disarm Trap skill (which guarantees 100% success)
and the Merchant skill (which means you can always buy and sell
equipment at its exact value). The Merchant skill is an all-time
favorite from M&M6 and 7, although it has existed since M&M2. It is
not especially important in 8, because there is so much more treasure
to be found. Money is not as much of a problem as it has been in previous
games. Nevertheless, the Merchant skill is very convenient to have.
Finally, Dark Elves are skilled in magic as well. They can attain
good skills in the Elemental realms (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) and they
also have innate Dark Elf abilities. The most important of these
abilities is Darkfire, a powerful offensive spell that is both of the
Dark path and the Fire realm, and therefore bypasses most enemies'
magic resistance.
Although it will take a while until you can find a low level Dark Elf
for your party, a powerful one (Cauri Blackthorne) is available
relatively early. You'll probably be able to recruit this powerful
ally (level 50!) sooner than any of the other lvl 50 characters in
the game, and far before your main character reaches that level.
DRAGON
Without a doubt the most powerful character type in the game. I'd even
say they are overpowered. Unlike the other character classes, Dragons
do not use any weapons or armor (but they can wear rings and an
amulet). Consequently, they do not have any weapon or armor skills,
either. A Dragon's combat performance is solely determined by a special
Dragon skill. Every point spent on improving this skill gives the
Dragon a better armor class, better hit bonuses and increased damage.
The true power of the Dragon does not lie in the high damage it does
or its large supply of hit points. It is a combination of two factors:
its ability to allow the whole party to fly for an extended period
of time, and the fact that its breath weapon always hits, does not cost
any spell points, and does far more damage than a regular arrow. In
ranged combat, a Dragon is very, very deadly. And many dangerous areas
can be easily avoided with his flying ability.
In addition to his obvious combat prowess, the Dragon is the only
character class capable of become Grand Master at the Identify Item
skill. He has a few other skills, as well, but does not excel at any.
Note: the Dragon cannot be chosen as your starting character. It is
possible to get one fairly early in the game, though.
KNIGHT
The Knight has always been the epitome of Might in the M&M series. He
does not disappoint in this game, either. With a vast supply of hit
points and the best combat skills around, the Knight can safely be
called a must-have. His lack of magical or miscellaneous skills is
actually a blessing, because that frees up skill points to be spent on
more combat-oriented pursuits.
The Knight is the only character who can Grand Master the skills Sword,
Spear, Plate, Shield, Armsmaster and Body Building. You can choose
between Sword and Spear (I always seem to go for Sword), the rest are
all must-haves. One of the greatest features of the Knight is that he
is powerful in the beginning of the game and powerful in the end.
They'll never let you down!
In addition to his combat skills, the Knight has one more important
skill: he is the only one who can become Grand Master at the Repair
Item skill. Do not neglect this skill, or soon you won't be able to
repair any of your expensive equipment. And believe me, many things
will get broken in your quest.
You get a Knight very early in the game, and you'll probably keep him
around for a long time, possibly until the end. Other ones become
available over time.
MINOTAUR
You can either view them as powerful, fearsome monsters from Greek
mythology, or cows walking on their hind legs. Either way, though,
Minotaurs are among the more combat-oriented characters in Might &
Magic 8, and the undisputed masters of Axe combat. They are the only
ones who can attain Grand Mastery with them. In addition, since they
can never carry Shields, there is no reason not to give them one of
those amazingly powerful two-handed Axes.
Minotaurs wear Plate armor well, but cannot attain Grand Mastery. Apart
from the Axe, they can only Grand Master one additional skill:
Perception. They are also good at combat-oriented miscellaneous skills
such as Armsmaster and Body Building, but just not as good as the
Knight. Finally, Minotaurs have limited skills in the arts of the Self
(Body, Mind and Spirit), and can function as backup healers.
A Minotaur can be found early in the game. More powerful Minotaurs
are available, but you will probably outgrow them well before you meet
and recruit them. Minotaurs are not vital, as almost all of their
skills can be covered by other characters as well.
NECROMANCER
Though traditionally a master of the Dark path, Necromancers are also
the most capable Elemental mages in Might & Magic 8. They can attain
Grand Mastery in the four elements (Fire, Earth, Air and Water) as well
as the Dark path. In fact, they are the only characters who get to
learn the Dark path at all, and take use of its powerful (and costly)
spells.
Necromancers are weak in combat. They can attain some skill with a
Staff and Leather Armor, but have few hit points and never become
particularly powerful. Their magic will have to see them through, and
fortunately, it usually does. With Toxic Cloud early on and Dragon
Breath later, Necromancers always have powerful direct damage at their
command from the Dark path alone, not to mention what they can get from
the Elemental realms later on.
Important miscellaneous skills for the Necromancer include Meditation
for additional spell points (very important as the Necromancer can
never have too many), Identify Item if there is no Dragon around, and
Alchemy if you wish to brew your own potions.
You'll get a Necromancer early on. Although they can be replaced by
Dark Elves, you will miss out on the most powerful spells of each
elemental realm (including such important magic as Lloyd's Beacon), not
to mention the entire Dark path, which has to be seen to be believed.
I therefore recommend to keep a Necromancer around at all times. Just
be sure to keep him in the back, and don't be surprised to lose him
on occasion even then.
TROLL
Can you spell "tough"? Well, he can't. The Troll is a powerful melee-
oriented character who prefers brute strength rather than finesse.
He can become Grand Master of the Staff and the Mace (Mace being the
better choice), and also has loads of hit points, more even than
Knights and Dragons. He is best clad in Leather armor, which he can
also attain Grand Mastery of. The Troll can learn Chain, but cannot
Grand Master it. Plate is not an option.
With no skill in magic and no important miscellaneous skills, the Troll
can focus on combat and combat alone. He is the obvious choice to put
in front of your party (and therefore makes a great starting
character), and can become a true machine of war with appropriate
skill levels in Mace, Leather, Armsmaster and Body Building. And don't
forget Regenerate - Trolls, more than any other character, are very
good at this skill. With Grand Mastery, lost hit points return at an
alarming rate. Alarming to your opponents, that is.
Trolls are hard to come by. Two live in the Ironsand Desert, but you
will need to complete quests for them before they join you, and by the
time you do, you'll probably have outgrowed their level. There is one
amazing lvl 50 Troll available, but you can't get him until very late
in the game.
VAMPIRE
I cannot help but consider this character to be left-over. Other people
may feel the same way about the Minotaur. The Vampire is the true
expert with the Dagger, and the only character who can Grand Master it.
They can wear Chain Armor and can carry a Shield (although wielding
two daggers is probably a better bet, once you have the necessary skill
level). They can actually dish out good damage in combat this way,
but are vulnerable to counterattacks due to their low hit point totals.
Vampires can attain Grand Mastery in the Identify Monster skill, which
isn't among the most useful skills. They can become fairly good at
Meditation and Alchemy, and have good skills in the realm of the Self
(Body, Mind and Spirit). All in all, though, the Vampire has a little
of everything, and no truly defining skills except for its innate
Vampire abilities. These can be useful, but are not all-powerful
either. The most important one is the ability to levitate, which can
help to foil floor traps and cross dangerous lava. This is particularly
helpful because there is no spell which can replicate this (apart from
Fly, which does not work in dungeons).
A Vampire will join you early on. More can be found later on. I myself
did not use them much, but feel free to give them a try. Just keep
them in the back of your party, with only Necromancers behind them, if
you plan to keep them "alive".
===========================================================================
PROMOTED CLASSES
===========================================================================
At certain points in the game, all character classes can increase their
power by getting a promotion. This improves their hit and spell point
potentials and allows them to get higher skill rankings as well. Grand
Master skills of any kind are only available to promoted characters, for
example.
Since this is a character FAQ, I won't go into any detail regarding
the promotion quests. There's another FAQ at www.GameFAQs.com which'll
tell you all about them. Here I'll merely mention where to get them and
what rank your characters are promoted to. This section was mainly
included to clear up any confusion, because I usually refer to high
level characters by their promoted rank.
UNPROMOTED PROMOTED WHERE TO GET THE QUEST
Cleric Priest of the Sun Murmurwoods
Dark Elf Dark Elf Patriarch Alvar
Dragon Great Wyrm Garrote Gorge
Knight Champion Garrote Gorge
Minotaur Minotaur Lord Ravage Roaming
Necromancer Lich Shadowspire
Troll War Troll Ironsand Desert
Vampire Nosferatu Shadowspire
All recruitable lvl 50 characters in the game are already promoted, and
I *think* all others (lvl 5, 15 and 30) aren't. Naturally, your main
character isn't promoted either at the start of the game.
The difficulty of the promotion quests, and therefore the level at which
you can safely perform them, varies per character class. Here's some
information regarding where to look for the solution of your quest, and
the level you'll roughly need to be at to have a good chance of success.
For any more details, refer to a different FAQ, or wait for my full
walkthrough to come out. The former is a safer bet.
CLASS WHERE TO GO RECOMMENDED LEVEL
Cleric Dagger Wound Isles 5
Dark Elf Murmurwoods 30
Dragon Garrote Gorge 50
Knight Shadowspire 35
Minotaur Alvar 35
Necromancer DWI and Shadowspire 40
Troll Murmurwoods 35
Vampire Ravage Roaming ??
All promotions quests are worth doing as soon as you can, but not vital.
If one turns out to be hard, feel free to leave it alone until you've
built another 5 levels or so. How much a promotion helps in terms of
hit points and spell points depends on your level (the higher the better),
but it doesn't matter at what point you get the promotion. The bonus is
applied to all levels you've already gained as well as those you gain
in the future.
===========================================================================
PICKING A STARTING CHARACTER
===========================================================================
Unique to Might & Magic 8 is that you only create one character at the
beginning of the game. All others must be recruited later on.
Fortunately, you do not have to adventure with one character - you can
immediately pick up three more in the town you start in, and a fourth
one at the beginning of the first dungeon. You'll have a complete five-
member party then. Other, more powerful characters can be found and
recruited later on, but you'll have to replace existing party members.
The one character you may never replace is your main character, the
Hero of Jadame.
There are basically two important things to consider when choosing
the class for your starting hero:
1. Your hero is always in the front of your party, where most enemy
hits will land. It would be wise to pick a combat-oriented character
who can survive this.
2. You'll find a Cleric, a Vampire, a Necromancer and a Knight early
on. This doesn't mean that you may not pick any of these classes for
your starting character, but it's something to keep in mind. If you
choose one of these character types, you'll probably want to drop the
NPC with the same class at your earliest opportunity.
Ultimately, you're best off with a mixed party, because almost every
character has his own set of important skills. Not much use in having
two Dark Elves if only one has to disarm traps, for instance.
Considering their vulnerability and the fact that you already get them
early on, I do not recommend picking a Necromancer or a Vampire. A
Cleric can be done, but he's on the edge. Also, you are not allowed
to pick a Dragon as your starting character. That leaves four:
Dark Elf - a little vulnerable, but a good all-round character and a
fun one to have. Keep in mind that there is a very powerful Dark Elf
NPC available relatively early on. Until you can get her, you can
probably make do without a Dark Elf.
Minotaur - good all-round character, but other character types excel
at nearly every skill he has. Therefore, having a Minotaur near the
end is not essential.
Knight - since you will always want to have a Knight in your party,
and they are suitable to have in the lead, a Knight is one of the
best starting choices.
Troll - my favorite for a main character for two reasons. First, he
has more hit points than any other character, making him great to
have in front. Second, Trolls are very useful to have around in
combat, and they are the hardest class to find good characters in
early on.
Whatever you pick, make sure to spend your bonus starting points on
that character's prime stats (designated in green). They are cheapest
to build up. It is also a good idea to decrease your Luck as far as
possible, because there is a well in the first town that can
permanently increase your Luck to a certain level (16 or 17, I
believe). You might as well free up those extra points to put them in
other statistics.
===========================================================================
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
===========================================================================
First of all: every character should have 1 skill point in learning,
giving them a 10% bonus to all experience gained. No more is needed,
unless you wish to develop expert skill levels or better (not all
characters can do this, so check first).
Veterans of Might & Magic 6 and 7, be advised that there is no Ancient
Weapons skill in M&M8. Develop your characters' combat and magic
skills carefully, because there is no cheap substitute for them at the
end of the game.
Here is an overview of the skills you should develop for your party,
sorted per character.
CLERIC
First priority: Spirit magic. Expert Spirit allows effective
casting of Bless and Heroism, both of which significantly boost your
combat strength. Master Spirit means you can learn Raise Dead, which
you'll be using more often than any Might & Magic 8 player is willing
to admit.
Second priority: Body magic. It's not just hit points that you need
to be able to cure, there's also Poison and Disease. An important
Body spell later on is Protection from Magic, which offers immunity
against "status attacks". At Grandmaster level, this is the only
reliable way to protect yourself against enemies with instant-death
attacks.
Other important skills: Mind (Cure Insanity and Cure Paralysis),
Light (Paralyze and Day of the Gods), develop combat skills at your
leisure. Develop Merchant if low on cash and no Dark Elf is available.
DARK ELF
First priority: Disarm Trap. You need to keep this up, because the
traps become more dangerous and harder to disarm later on. Build up
this skill at a steady rate and you can open chests wherever you go
without blowing up your party.
Second priority: Bow and Chain, directly followed by some sort of
melee skill (I'd go for Sword).
Other important skills: Dark Elf skill (for Darkfire, takes a while
to get there though), Merchant, the Elemental realms (particularly if
no Necromancer is available).
DRAGON
First priority: Dragon skills. These determine how powerful the Dragon
is.
Second priority: Identify Item. You'll need to identify a lot in your
travels.
Other important skills: Regeneration, Body Building and Meditation,
all of which help the Dragon fight, but none as much as the Dragon
skill does.
KNIGHT
First priority: Sword (or Spear if you prefer) and Plate. They allow
him to kill others and stay alive, respectively.
Second priority: other combat skills, including Shield (unless you use
two weapons), Armsmaster and Body Building. Also build up Repair Item
as your equipment becomes more powerful. Ideally, the Knight should be
able to repair any weapons and armor you are currently using.
Other important skills: Nothing, really. When you've Grand Mastered
all the skills mentioned above (choosing between Sword and Spear, or
both if you want to fight with a Sword in one hand and a Spear in
the other), just improve on those skills some more. The Knight is
meant for combat.
MINOTAUR
First priority: Axe and Plate, to contribute to combat.
Second priority: Disarm Trap if you have no Dark Elf. Perception is
also useful.
Other important skills: A little expertise in the Self realms won't
hurt if your Cleric needs backup. Also pay attention to the
miscellaneous combat skills Body Building and Armsmaster, which can
boost the Minotaur's strength significantly.
NECROMANCER
First priority: Dark magic. It's your best friend. Also, Meditation to
help you cast all those expensive spells.
Second priority: the Elemental realms. They are your other friends.
Other important skills: Alchemy, Identify Item if you have no Dragon,
and finally, combat skills (Staff and Leather, mostly).
TROLL
First priority: Mace (or Staff, but I'd go for Mace) and Leather.
Second priority: Armsmaster, Body Building and Regeneration, in that
order.
Other important skills: none. Keep improving on the combat skills. You
can add Bow if you like.
VAMPIRE
First priority: Dagger and Chain, to boost the Vampire's combat abilities.
Second priority: Basic skill in the Self realms, and the Vampire ability.
Other important skills: Perhaps Identify Monster. Perhaps. Personally, if
I used a Vampire, I'd go for additional skill in the Self realms as well.
You'll never know when it's your Cleric that is killed or paralyzed, and
he can't heal himself in such cases. After promotion, a Vampire can learn
the Self realms up to Master level, giving him access to such powerful
spells as Raise Dead and Protection from Magic.
===========================================================================
RECRUITING NOTES
===========================================================================
I will not go into detail about which characters are available to recruit,
where they are, and how to get them. There is a specific guide on GameFAQs
on this topic already. I will, however, give some basic advice on where to
find the first character of each of these classes, so you can quickly
assemble a party with the five classes you wish to use.
Keep in mind that most NPCs, of both low and high level, are poorly
equipped. (There are a few exceptions.) The high level characters usually
have good, well-rounded skills. The low level characters have low skills,
but they have a lot of them, and a bunch of unspent skill points. This
allows you to customize their skills. Just don't forget to spend those
skill points when you get them!
As far as I've been able to determine, all NPCs are of level 5, 15, 30 or
50. There appears to be at least one of lvl 5 and one of lvl 50 for every
character class, although I have never encountered the lvl 5 Troll. (In
case you were wondering, the lvl 50 Dragon does exist. Be afraid.)
CLERIC
The first Cleric, Frederick Talimere, will join you from his hut in the
Dagger Wound Islands as part of the first quest (initiated by speaking to
Brekish Onefang in the Clan Leader's hut). His equipment is unimpressive,
but he has a few useful spells. At any rate, he's the only Cleric you're
going to get for some time, and you'll be able to make him powerful soon
enough.
Other Clerics become available during the game. Dyson Leland (lvl 15) is
part of a vital plot quest and must spend some time in your party. Dervish
(lvl 50) is the best Cleric available, but he's not fully built up the
way Blazen Stormlance (Knight) and Cauri Blackthorne (Dark Elf) are.
DARK ELF
A low-level Dark Elf can be recruited in Alvar. Also, of all the lvl 50
NPCs in the game (one exists for each class), the Dark Elf is the easiest
to recruit. Most others require your main character to be at lvl 50 as
well, but Cauri Blackthorne will join you as soon as you rescue her in
the Murmurwoods. That can be done as early as lvl 10 if you're a quick
runner :) Or at lvl 30 if you prefer to fight it out with the local
monsters. Either way, Cauri makes a valuable member at that point in the
game.
DRAGON
Ithilgore, the "weakest" Dragon in the game, can be recruited from the
Dragon Lair in Garrote Gorge. At lvl 5, he is a good addition to your
party even if you are at lvl 15-20 (and he'll gain levels quickly). Since
you do not need to fight any monsters to get to him, you could go to
Garrote Gorge immediately from Ravenshore, early in the game, and get him
there and then. Two more Dragons are available later on, but you must
fight hard to get to them.
Be warned, using Dragons can make the game a lot easier. They are cool,
but in the long run, you may wish to skip them at all. They can
really take the challenge (and the fun) out of Might & Magic 8 if you
ask me.
KNIGHT
The first Knight in the game, Simon Templar, will join you as soon as you
enter the Abandoned Temple on the Dagger Wound Islands. He comes with
a Rusty Breastplate, fairly good armor this early in the game, and a nice
sword.
The best Knight in the game, Blazen Stormlance, is lvl 50 and has excellent
statistics (and decent equipment, especially his armour is good). You must
rescue him from Mad Zanthora's Lab in Shadowspire. You get a lvl 50 Cleric
in the process, although I did not use him.
MINOTAUR
The first Minotaur, Arius, can be recruited in Ravenshore. His equipment
is poor, but that can be fixed easily at the local shops.
More Minotaurs can be found later on in Balthasar Lair in Ravage Roaming.
I assume there's a lvl 50 Minotaur among them, but I haven't been able to
recruit him yet.
NECROMANCER
You'll find a Necromancer in the Adventurer's Inn on the Dagger Wound
Islands: Devlin Arcanus. He has a wide variety of skills and some good
spells, including (ouch!) Toxic Cloud.
More Necromancers are available in Ravenshore (lvl 15) and Shadowspire
(several, I assume there's a lvl 50 among them).
TROLL
Trolls are hard to come by. I've never found a lvl 5 Troll, and I'm not
sure there even is one. There are two lvl 15 Trolls, both of which take
some time to get. A lvl 50 Troll can be found in Ravenshore, but getting
him to join you is another matter. Your main character will have to reach
lvl 50 as well.
VAMPIRE
Elsbeth Lamentia, the first Vampire, can be found in the Adventurer's Inn
on the Dagger Wound Islands. Her equipment is unimpressive as usual, but
she has a good Cloak.
===========================================================================
MY PARTY
===========================================================================
To have an idea of what party I used, here's an overview of my party in
my latest game. Although I never finished the game, I've played the
first half of it many times already, with different starting characters
and parties.
Note that I intentionally did not use the dragon Ithilgore this time,
because I feel Dragons upset the game balance too much.
INITIAL PARTY
Main character: Stenax (Troll)
Recruited from DWI: Frederick Talimere, Elsbeth Lamentia, Devlin Arcanus,
Simon Templar
Party order: Stenax, Simon, Elsbeth, Frederick, Devlin
FIRST SWITCH (lvl 5)
Dropped Elsbeth, recruited Arius from Ravenshore
Party order: Stenax, Simon, Arius, Frederick, Devlin
I made this switch because I much prefer Minotaurs to Vampires. The
raw combat power Arius gave me was useful this early in the game.
SECOND SWITCH (lvl 30)
Dropped Arius, recruited Cauri Blackthorne from Murmurwoods
Party order: Stenax, Simon, Cauri, Frederick, Devlin
When Cauri became available, she was much stronger than the rest of
my party - 20 levels higher and with her skills fully built up. I
dropped the least vital character to make room for her. This character
was Arius, who merely gave me some extra muscle, and no vital skills
except Disarm Trap (which Cauri had as well).
THIRD SWITCH (lvl 35, temporary)
Dropped Frederick Talimere, recruited Dyson Leland from Shadowspire
Party order: Stenax, Simon, Cauri, Devlin, Dyson
As part of my quest to ally with the Temple of the Sun, I needed
to recruit Dyson Leland. You cannot complete the quest without him.
(Even if you choose to ally with the Necromancer's Guild instead,
you still need Dyson to complete *that* quest. You can't get
around him.)
Unfortunately, Dyson was only lvl 15 at the time and considerably
weaker than Frederick. I put Dysan in the back, did my best to keep
him alive during the quest, then put Fredrick Talimere back in again
as soon as I completed the quest. Dysan will spend the rest of his
wonderful adventures within the walls of the Adventurer's Inn.
FOURTH SWITCH (lvl 44)
Dropped Simon Templar, recruited Blazen Stormlance from Shadowspire
Party order: Stenax, Blazen, Cauri, Frederick, Devlin
Blazen was thrown into my lap when I rescued him from Shadowspire.
Actually, I had missed him on my first go - if I had rescued him then,
I would have had him as early as lvl 35. Regardlessly, he was still
better than Simon Templar, which is why I replaced him.
Ironically, the reason why I rescued Blazen was to get Simon promoted
to Champion. But when Blazen turned out to be a Champion already,
I dropped Simon before he ever got that promotion.
On the way, I was also given a chance to put the game's lvl 50 Cleric,
Dervish, in my party. His skills were similar to Frederick's at the
time (who was only lvl 43), and although he was Grandmaster in Light,
he wasn't as skilled in Spirit. By now I'd grown addicted to Frederick's
Grand Mastery of Spirit and his 18-hour Bless and Heroism durations,
so I decided not to make this switch.
FIFTH SWITCH (lvl 55)
Dropped Devlin Arcanus, recruited Ventrinus Taleshire from Shadowspire
Party order: Stenax, Blazen, Cauri, Frederick, Ventrinus
Upon reaching lvl 50 and having completed the Lich promotion quest, I
was allowed to recruit the game's lvl 50 Lich, Ventrinus Taleshire,
from Shadowspire. I had seen powerful characters before (particularly
Blazen and Cauri), but this completely blew me away. Ventrinus starts
with completely built spell skills (grand master in all elemental arts
as well as dark magic), all other skills at very acceptable levels,
and over a hundred unspent skill points which can be invested
immediately. And as if that wasn't enough, he has *all* spells in his
five arts in his spellbook! I immediately switched out Devlin to
recruit this powerful character. It also saved me the trouble of
finding all the grand master spells (Devlin didn't have any of them
yet) and visiting all the grand masters in the elemental planes and
on Regna.
AND THAT'S PROBABLY IT...
I have met and recruited all the lvl 50 characters in the game, except
for the Dragon, which I do not intend to use. Having decided on which
characters to use, I've also skipped out on the Minotaur (Ulrich) and
the Vampire (forgot his name). They're both in the Adventurer's Inn
and ready to join, but I'm not using those character classes.
Furthermore, Thorne Understone the lvl 50 Troll isn't travelling with
me, either. My main character is already a Troll and even if I could
drop him, he's still better than Thorne. I've also decided not to use
the lvl 50 Cleric, Dervish, because his skills and spell levels were
actually below average. Compared to the other lvl 50 characters, he's
poorly built up. I'm sticking with my original Cleric, Frederick
Talimere.
That leaves three lvl 50 characters: Blazen Stormlance the Champion,
Cauri Blackthorne the Dark Elf Patriarch and Ventrinus Taleshire
the Lich, and all three are in my party. Therefore, I'm probably
done with character switching now.
Since Ventrinus has the Fly spell (in addition to all the others),
the need for a Dragon has been completely eliminated. The one thing
I still miss is a Vampire to levitate me over lava pits; although
I haven't run across any underground ones yet, and above the ground,
the Fly spell can be used instead. It also worked in the Plane of
Fire, which had plenty of lava.
My usual combat tactic is to have Frederick cast Bless and Heroism, and
Ventrinus cast any appropriate resistance spells. Frederick casts
Protection from Magic when fighting opponents capable of petrifying
or paralyzing the party, and Ventrinus usually casts Stone Skin,
although I barely notice the difference.
Then, depending on the enemy type, I either go into turn-based mode and
fire arrows (for melee opponents), or charge them and perform melee
attacks in real time, usually using hit-and-run tactics. For tough
opponents, I go into turn-based mode and have Cauri and Ventrinus use
Darkfire and Toxic Cloud, respectively. Both can do around 100 damage
points if they're lucky and the enemy isn't too resistant. By now,
both Stenax and Blazen can deal similar damage in melee. Blazen usually
does more (I've seen up to 150 per blow from him), but Stenax has a 20%
chance to paralyze and a 20% chance to stun with every blow, which makes
him very powerful indeed.
Now that Ventrinus is part of my team, I also like to use the Grand
Master Dark spell, Souldrinker. I must say this spell has to be seen to
be believed. That one alone makes it worth having a Lich.
===========================================================================
REVISION HISTORY
===========================================================================
v1.0: (23 Oct '00) First version of the FAQ.
v1.1: (26 Oct '00) A few spelling and grammar corrections, and some minor
additions.
v.1.2: (7 Nov '00) Added to the overview of my own party, and turned it
into a section of its own. More coming as I reach the final stages of the
game.
v.1.3: (15 Nov '00) Added some more to the overview of my own party,
probably my last character switch.
Future plans include updating the overview of my own party, as I proceed
in the game. A full walkthrough may come in the future, but don't count
on it. (Besides, there are plenty of good ones around already. Check
GameSages, www.gamesages.com, for example.)
===========================================================================
FINAL WORDS
===========================================================================
For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism, contact the
author, Sashanan, at sashanan@hetnet.nl. Any serious mail will be answered.
Please put "Your Might & Magic 8 FAQ" or something like that in the topic.
If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check
the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and
can't do.
I have a small RPG review/walkthrough site called Sashy's RPG Temple at
come.to/sashy, feel free to check it out.
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)
This document copyright 2000, Sashanan. All rights reserved.
Sashanan
а по русски можно???