Splashing a bit of Int (like 7 to start) and getting early game magic schools on a Dex or Str based marksman or warrior is a great way to go.
My first play was a pure Man-At-Arms warrior, who quickly picked up 1 point of Marksman for Tactical Retreat... and then I realised that this synergy is entirely viable and even stronger in many ways than staying pure.
In terms of winning combinations:
- Aerothurge 2/3 on a Warrior: Become Air, Lightning Strike, Teleportation = unsurpassed mobility, defense and utility. Bring distant enemies to you, halve physical damage and teleport-stun through enemies before engaging in melee.
- Pyrokinetic 2/3 on a Warrior: Explode, fireballs, Wildfire... this is a high-risk - high-reward playstyle until you get decent fire resistance, and turns you into a selfhealing nuker when you pass the 100% resistance barrier (beyond 100%, fire damage will heal!)
- Witchcraft 1 is a no-brainer, for Oath of Desecration - 50% damage is huge and the investment is minimal - you could even run this with 6 Int and just gear bonuses.
- Hydrosophist 1 for especially Water of Life: Constitution bonus at 4 AP fits melee perfectly and is a 'hidden' spotheal, because the added HP is not lost when the buff ends. Also, you can use Slow Current to make more use of the Bully talent which is awesome melee synergy, and wet enemies are easily stunned with lightning.
- Geomancer is pretty useless in my book, although Fortify is nice but if you need Fortify to survive, generally you won't survive anyway. Summons are generally too weak for their AP cost and required investment, but maybe I haven't really played into their strengths yet. However there is no synergy there like there is in the above schools.
So, yeah. They're viable
My current playthrough is with 2 Lone Wolves, one as a Dex/Int hybrid with a Bow, and the other as a Str/Int hybrid with a 2hander. I'm destroying the game and have such ridiculous margin for error, its unreal. You can do this with 4 party members too however, just halve the amount of schools you pick up, or max out at 3 and see how deep you can go into them. But I am guessing that the pay off for investing beyond level 2 or 3 in those schools is going to be higher than the benefits, especially when compared to the first 2 levels with all those utilities.
