IMHO the most powerful way to go is:
1. Hero = Mage. Pump up your Elemental Focussed skill, use a Bow (and Splitting Arrows) as your walking around weapon (especially in the Battlefields, with the Hero leading). Do not worry too much about putting points into Melee weapons, you won't use them much at all. Save your best gear with 3 or 4 charm slots until you can load them up with pickpocketed Gold Charms (Ydra, Koor, Zand, & Joph mostly with a couple Ustr and Vorr. Forget about the rest). Keep Shaman Magic - Hammer as high as you can get it and use it often. You might also consider starting the character as a Survivor, then building it into a Mage.
2. DK = Warrior. 2-H Melee is very powerful, but you have to decide if using 1-H melee W/Shield plus Shield Blocking is better (you get extra charm slots if you go with the shield, a big plus). Pump up the Melee skills mostly, but put some points into Bow or X-Bow for use as the primary weapon in the Battlefields, and only switch from Bow to Melee when necessary.
Keep pickpocket max'ed, but use it wisely for the most expensive and best items and gold early in the game. In the Battlefields don't pickpocket from Keith much until you are done with the Act then pickpocket him for all of his high quantity of arrows at one time. To make pickpocketing less messy do all of your selling with Annabelle (the potions merchant).
Sharpen is a skill worth a few points throughout the game, just be careful that you keep the weapon within your agility range.
If you intend to play in the After-Game battlefields a very strong Mage will be a good way to go. The monsters there may say they are your same level, but they are more powerful than you expect.
That's for the most power... anything else is just fun and experimenting <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Last edited by Grim; 02/12/04 04:02 AM.