Unless I'm playing a strict "no-cheat" game, I just edit and give my characters GM levels of ID Item and ID Monster. Item identification is just too much of a time suck otherwise; I get more gratification from the game by not having to deal with it (or waste an NPC on it). (And why would anyone who is sufficiently familiar with the game (or who can look up monster stats on line) waste skill points on ID Monster?)So what NPC's do I use? It depends on the party makeup, and what sort of game I'm looking for:
Solo sorcerer: Spellmaster, Mystic.
K/T/C/S: Spellmaster, Prelate. (Can you tell I like magic?)
Party with no elemental mastery: Gatemaster, Windmaster.
Heavily cheating, butch party: Explorer, Pathfinder. (No need for a carriage, thanks. We walk faster than your horses. See ya!)
Close combat party: Spellmaster, Weaponmaster, Squire. (Any 2, depending on skill ranks.)
I also like picking up a Cartographer early, on the rare occasion that I lack expert Air magic.
Clever tactics, fast reflexes, grey magic (save early, save often) and knowing when to run are much more effective than healers. Even my solo peasant sorcerer didn't much miss convenient healing.
Once I have the NPC's that I'm going to keep for the rest of the game, I like to replace their icons (in ICONS.LOD) with pictures of other people. (63x73 256-color bitmap. Remember to back up the originals.)
