continued..
Looking at the Skill differences requires looking at our final Tier 3 War Witch class, AND looking at other Tier 2 classes that might have the same skills. Now the War Witch has Channel and Scribe, additionally several other possible magic secondary Tier 2 classes (Celestial, Monk, Sorcerer, Shugenia and Enchantress), also have one or the other skill (..or in the case of the Enchantress - both). Furthermore to obtain either channel or scribe does NOT require ANY class but Adept and Mage respectivly (i.e. its an "open" skill if you have the required base class). Now Heavy Poles is NOT an "open" skill - it specifically requires a 2nd Tier class, and just looking at skills here, this tends to favor the *Valkyrie* over the Paladin or Battlemage.
The Heavy Pole skill could be very important to someone desiring the use of Heavy Poles for latter in the game - the upside is higher damage, several different varieties with different magical properties, and a better "reach", the downside is that several require higher strength which might otherwise be used for others attributes.
Now lets go back and look at the Learning Bonus differences again between the 3 acceptable classes (Paladin, Battlemage, Valkyrie). The Paladin and Valkyrie are very similar, the Battlemage is somewhat different. Both the Paladin and Valkyrie have Rune Magic, the Battlemage has Arcane Magic. Essentially then we should pick a non-Rune Magic based Tier 2 *2nd* class IF we choose either the Paladin or the Valkyrie. IF however we decide on the Battlemage then we should have a non-Arcane Magic based Tier 2 *2nd* class.
Furthermore IF we choose either the Paladin or the Battlemage then our other Tier 2 class *must* be the Enchantress (..to fulfill a Sisterhood class requirement). IF we choose the Valkyrie then our limitation is only that we cannot choose the Enchantress as our 2nd Tier 2 class. So with that in mind lets look at the Enchantress:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...nchantress.php
Learning Bonuses are: Arcane Magic, Celestial Magic, Thief Skills.
New skills are: Channel, Identify, Scribe
Again remembering that we want ALL 4 Magic disciplines covered well - this rules out the Battlemage-Enchantress option. The reason is that only 1 learning bonus will be given to Rune Magic AND Nether Magic, AND those bonuses won't be available until late in the game when War Witch is achieved. Moreover, the Paladin-Enchantress route is also limiting (though not as bad) - this class combination will only allow for 1 Learning Bonus in Nether Magic (..again later in the game when War Witch is achieved).
By default then, one of the Tier 2 classes should be the *VALKYRIE*.
Additionally, the *2nd* Tier 2 class should have *2* magic Learning Bonuses, and neither should be Rune Magic. (..nor can the class be the Enchantress.) ONLY the Sorcerer and the Shugenja meet these requirements:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...s/sorcerer.php http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...s/shugenja.php
The only difference between the 2 classes is that the Sorcerer has a learning bonus in Magic Weapons vs. the Shugenja with access to the Diabolic Skill Nijitsu. The Shugenja gives a skill that while "cool", does NOT comport with our build - in that hand-to-hand combat does not have a magic effect that a magic weapon would have. So the Sorcerer appears better so far.
Then we need to look at Heraldrys between the "magic guild" and the "eastern houses":
http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlords/heraldry.php
Frankly there are good choices from both, and I think you could really go either way here. The only reason I would favor the Sorcerer over the Shugenja is if the Skill "Magic Weapons" was particularly difficult to uprgrade in the time you would receive a particular value of magic weapon in-game. This leads me to my next question:
___________________________________
Third question: how difficult is it to increase the skill "magic weapon" relative to achieving a particular weapon in-game?
___________________________________
Finally then we consider our 2 base classes.
One of them *MUST* be the Mage. This is required to obtain our 2nd Tier 2 class of either Sorcerer or Shugenja.
The other base class then would be Adept, Fighter, or Rouge.
Now HALF of the Rogue skills are NOT class restricted:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlords/thiefskills.php
The ones that are (Sneak, Steal, and Backstab) really provide little benefit even in melee combat except that they could have value with Nether magic and "summons" generally. (Furthermore "Backstab" isn't even available at the Rogue level.) IMO then this is not only a wasted base class for our purposes, but a wasted class group in general.
This then leaves the Adept or the Fighter..
http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...sses/adept.php http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...es/fighter.php
Learing Bonuses are:
Adept: Armor Skills, Celestial Magic
Fighter: Armor Skills, Basic Weapons skills, Shield Skills
Skills are:
Adept: Magic Weapon
Fighter: -nada-
IF we favor the Fighter over the Adept as Frodo1 suggests then we are effectivly discounting Celestial magic until War Witch, and even then we will have only the one Learning Bonus instead of 2 in Celestial. He mentions that the only reason to favor this class early-on is for healing, and that he states is taken care of by numerous heal potions.
The Celstial Spell listing is here:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...stialmagic.php
Now I "track" what he is saying with regard to healing, however the 2nd level Divine Radience seems to offer a serious alternative to some combat prowess AND its at a level that is still within "reach" fairly early in the game. Sure - its defensive as opposed to offensive. Furthermore most of the 3rd levels spells seem quite usefull and have nothing to do with healing.
So then, what would we be "giving-up"?:
We must base this on the lack of the Fighter Learning Bonuses: (Basic Weapon Skills and Shield Skills):
http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...onryskills.php http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlo...enseskills.php
Basic Weapons Skills include: Archery, Light Weapons, and Thrown Weapons.
Shield skills seem to compromise at LEAST light shields, and perhaps medium shields as well.. Given the class limitations on Heavy Shields I don't think there is a bonus for it as well.
This means we give up:
1. More rapid advancement to light weapons level 3.
2. The ability of more rapid advancement for light weapons beyond level 3.. but how likely is it that you'll want to use a light weapon latter in the game?
3. More rapid advancement of light and possibly medium shields UNTIL you achive Valkyrie class (where you will receive a Learning Bonus in Shields).
Perhpas then only the 3 skill points in the light weapon progression is "slowing down" your asscension to the Valkyrie class. This raises another question:
____________________________________
Fourth question: How much does the Fighter class, beyond the learning bonuses, "speed up" the process of learning weapon skills needed for the Valkyrie class?
also,
Fifth question(s): Does the Fighter class "speed up" the process of learning armor skills more than an Adept? (..and if so how much?)
____________________________________
If the answer is "not much", then I think we can safely say that compromising the early shield bonus can be compensated for magically with Divine Radience AND that we would rather have 2 Learning Bonuses in Celestial Magic than 2 Learning Bonuses in Shield Skill given our preference of magic over melee. Also we would like to use the Celestial spells more quickly, often, and with more power WELL BEFORE becomming a War Witch.
Finally - Even if the class speeds up the process considerably, I think it still violates the emphasis on magic use as opposed to melee.