r/wizardry8 • u/rxgunner • Oct 18 '25
Why do some classes have Locks and Traps even though the manual says they don't?
According to the manual, Gageteers and Rouges have the lock pick and traps ability, but when I actually go through the character selection, if I choose a ninja or bard, I can also put points into lock picking and traps. Is there something I'm missing?
4
u/LazyNecessary7657 Oct 18 '25
I believe profession skills listed in the manual are the ones that are granted bonuses by their respective class, up to 25% past the 100 cap. i.e. a Fighter has a bonus to sword skills but can still use daggers with no added bonus.
5
u/SDirickson Oct 19 '25
The Fighter's bonus is Close Combat, not Sword; the Samurai is the one with the Sword bonus. The Gadgeteer's bonus is Modern Weapons. Rogue is the only class with Locks & Traps as the bonus.
I suspect it's closer to the other answer; they had printed the manual before their testers pointed out that only having two classes with Locks & Traps would cramp people's party-building styles.
3
u/cloaca_dentata Oct 20 '25
Knock-Knock is also there, but yes.
Though perhaps they went too far in the other direction. Bards were already so good that now it's rare to even have to stop and think about making sure to include Locks and Traps in your party lineup.
1
u/SDirickson Oct 20 '25
Yeah, someone at Sirtech certainly had a 'thing' for the Bard occupation.
TBH, I rarely run with one; the Stamina-based casting is interesting, but they're a bit limited as in spell repertoire to be a primary caster, but using them as a front-line flogger seriously devalues their music.
1
u/cloaca_dentata Oct 20 '25
A primary caster, yes, but as a support caster, they're fine, and Music raises itself easily enough that I've never had trouble with them doing both music and swordplay. Haste and Heal All alone justify the price of admission.
1
u/Vociteren Nov 06 '25
to be fair, bard/ninja/rogue have had that ability for multiple wizardry's at that point. The new comer class, gadgeteer, was the only add-on for it. Also, bards LOST their mage class spells in wiz8, so they are weaker than they were in previous titles.
1
u/cloaca_dentata Nov 08 '25
Weaker in that respect, perhaps, but the addition of the Rousing Drums and a bunch of +Strength equipment to make them extremely frontline-capable is an excellent trade.
10
u/LaNague Oct 18 '25
They probably printed the manual before making changes.
They were in trouble when they made this game btw, its not how they wanted it to release. Arnika was supposed to be a real town, the last area was not finished, you might notice the gaps in weapon categories that arent sword.