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Wizardry 8 Hints
Learning Spells
One aspect of character development not addressed by the game manual is the matter of learning spells. How do you know when your character is eligible to learn Fireball? There is a formula to learning spells. Some players may feel that knowing the nitty-gritty details will lessen their enjoyment of the game. If you are one of those players, please skip this section. Otherwise, read on...
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There are 3 factors that determine whether a character is eligible to learn a particular spell: their character level, skill level in their spellbook (Alchemy, Divinity, Wizardry, and Psionics), and their skill level in the realm in which the spell appears (Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Mental, or Divine)
There are two types of spellcasters in Wizardry 8: "pure" spellcasters consisting of Mage, Priest, Psionic, Alchemist, and Bishop; and "hybrid" casters consisting of Valkyrie, Lord, Samurai, Monk, Ranger, and Ninja. The hybrid casters learn spells at the same rate as their pure counterparts, but they don't begin learning them until they've reached level five. Thus they will always be four levels behind the pure casters when it comes to spellpower.
This chart details the character level and spellbook skill level required to learn spells of a certain level.
Pure|Hybrid Spell Lvl | Level | Skill 1 | 1 5 | 1 2 | 3 7 | 15 3 | 5 9 | 30 4 | 8 12 | 45 5 | 11 15 | 60 6 | 14 18 | 75 7 | 18 22 | 90
So, in order to learn the level-3 spell Fireball, a Mage must be of at least level 5, and have a skill of 30 or greater in Wizardry. A Samurai must be of at least level 9, with a skill of 30 or greater. With me so far?
The final factor in the equation is the character's realm skill. Each spell appears in only one of the six realms (Frost is a Water spell, for instance). When determining whether a character is eligible to learn a certain spell, ten percent of the character's skill in that spell's realm is added to his spellbook score. The equation looks like this:
It's the Overall Skill that is used in the above chart. To see how this works, take the example of a level 3 Alchemist, with a skill of 13 in Alchemy, 22 in Water, and 16 in Fire. This character will be eligible to learn the level 2 Water spell Dracon Breath -- 13 skill in Alchemy plus 10% of 22 = 15. But he can't learn the level 2 Fire spell Blinding Flash yet -- 13 skill in Alchemy plus 10% of 16 = 14, one point shy of the requirement of 15.
