Lord

The Lord (Japanese: ロード, rōdo) is one of the character classes available to players in the Wizardry series of games. It is one of the advanced classes, and not normally available to beginning characters. This class is a blend of features between a Fighter and a Priest, capable of equipping all weapons and armor while using spells normally reserved to Priests. The Lord is the equivalent in Wizardry of a common fantasy archetype in several role-playing games, the Paladin.

Class Description
The Lord is a hybrid between the Fighter and Priest classes, with some benefits that aren't normally available to characters that change from Fighter to Priest and viceversa. The Lord begins its first three to five levels as a Fighter, using all weapons and equipment normally allowed to Fighters (including swords, shields, chain and plate armor, between others); upon reaching the third or fifth level (depending on the game), the Lord begins learning spells of the Priest class and also acquires the ability (in some games) to Dispell the undead, much as a Priest does. The Lord usually gains increases in statistics that would normally grow as a Fighter or Priest, such as Strength, Vitality or Piety.

In the case that a character passes from another class into a Lord, the rules for changing class apply (as detailed in the Classes section), but with a few advantages:


 * If the character was once a Priest, the Lord may recover some of the lost bonus spell points awarded to the class, as well as learn some of the spells that were not learned during the previous class. This applies to class changes done on games from the Llylgamyn saga.

Llygamyn Saga
In the group of games that compose the Llylgamyn saga (Wizardry I to V, excluding Wizardry IV), the Lord cannot be accessed at character creation due to the minimum stat requirements to enter the class. The Lord can equip Fighter equipment, and at level 4, it can use Dispell in battle and learn spells of the Priest spellbook. A Lord will not associate with characters of Evil alignment, thus you cannot have a Lord in a party led by an Evil character in the first slot, nor will any Evil character be accessible when a Lord (or any other Good character) is on the party. However, there are ways to circumvent this restriction.

To become a Lord, the character must achieve the minimum stat requirements:


 * STR 15


 * IQ 12


 * Piety 12


 * VIT 15


 * AGI 14


 * Luck 15


 * Must be of Good alignment

Dwarves and Humans are races often recommended to become a Lord. Dwarves have high Strength and Vitality as a racial stat standard, which makes them the first choice to become Lords. Humans, with their set of "balanced" stats, have less difficulty to become Lords but often have difficulty because of the Piety requirement, which Humans normally have as their lowest. This does not mean other races can't access the class; Gnomes, with their high Piety and similarities in stats with Dwarves, also make good choices.

Dark Savant Saga


In the group of games that compose the Dark Savant Saga (Wizardry VI thru VIII), the Lord still has steep requirements to be accessed, but there are chances to create one in the character creation section. Lords begin with the set of skills normally granted to a Fighter, but with some of the Priest skills (most notably Oratory and Theology. In Wizardry 8, they gain the ability to regenerate some health with time, which is favorable for those cursed items that drain HP over time.

To become a Lord, the character must achieve the minimum stat requirements (VI and VII/VIII):


 * STR (Strength) 12/55


 * INT (Intellect) 9/-


 * PIE (Piety) 12/55


 * VIT (Vitality) 12/55


 * DEX (Dexterity) 9/50


 * SPE (Speed) 9/50


 * PER (Personality) 14/SEN (Senses) -

Because of the similarity of racial stat standards, the Rawulf has the best chance to become a Lord at the earliest point of the game, with Dwarves closely behind. In Wizardry 8, the Dracon replace the Rawulf as favored for beginning as a Lord.

Duhan Saga (Tales of the Forsaken Land/Wizardry Alternative)
In Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land (also known as Busin: Wizardry Alternative in Japan) and their sequels, the Lord is known instead as a Knight, but it retains similar to earlier games. Since the spells in the game are not learned by level but by Magic Stones, the Knight is capable of casting from the Priest type of spells up to the sixth level, and also becomes capable of Dispelling undead from the very beginning. Because of the level requirement, a Knight cannot be made early in the game, and must be instead accessed after some time playing.

To become a Knight, the character must achieve the minimum requirements:


 * Level 8


 * Good Attribute


 * 20 for all stats except Luck

As with other games, the best races stat-wise to become a Knight are the Human and the Dwarf.

References to/from other games

 * As with the other classes in the game, the Lord in Wizardry VI has a Rank that changes as the character gains levels. The Ranks include: Squire, Gallant, and Knight. This is a reference to the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which provided a "level title" for each level gained by the character in the class.


 * In Seiken Densetsu 3, the sequel to Secret of Mana for the Super Famicom (SNES), the character Duran has a choice to change classes. The Light path of classes involve the Knight, the Paladin and the Lord. A remake of an earlier game in the series for the Game Boy Advance, the same class appears as the Warlord.