You know I REALLY thought I understood this game!

[KraGorn]

Okay, so I'm not an expert by a mile but having played the monastery 4 times I thought at least I knew how it balanced monsters vs. party.  I knew to fear Gregor and expect the Seekers to give me some grief, and the Hagardi bozos also could hit hard ...

... so, I go up the lift, see Burz then on to terror number 1 Gregor ... this is my party

Dracon Rogue
Mook Ranger
Rawulf Priest
Gnome Alchemist
Faerie Psionicist
Elf Mage

... and Gegor never even approaches my party except right at the end where he took a half-hearted swing at the rogue before being splattered.

Same went for everything in the Upper monastery.  Whipping Rocks is broken beyond belief, doing 10-12 per monster and 4-5 monsters at a time sometimes  ;D

They're all level 5 going on 6 and just about to follow the yellow brick, well brownish stoney, road ... no doubt I'm about to get the thingyiness kicked out of me but right now these guys are kicking far more bottom than any of my previous groups.

Oh yes, started on Novice until level 2, so I cheated a bit I suppose, then upped to Normal where it still is. Even from this early sojourn with all available spellcasting classes I already know I love the Mage and Alchemist, lovely damage and buff spells. The Psi is great fun with Insanity but I'm not at all sure in the long run she's going to keep up with the other two; and I'm still not convinced about a Priest's long-term usefulness Merkin  

[Spydah]

Here are the spells that ONLY the priest can cast (discounting Gadets and Instruments, wich, with your current party, you don't get to use anyway ;p)

Bless
Make Wounds
Guardian Angel
Holy Water
Magic Screen ****
Armorplate ****
Rest All ****
Whirlwind
Superman ****
Heal All ****************
Lifesteal
Lightning
Death Wish
Restoration
Falling Stars

* = important spells (says I of course)

Of all those, only these can't be cast as an Ins or Gad

Make Wounds
Holy Water
Rest All
Lightning
Death Wish
Falling Stars

and yes, all info above is from mine site ;p

(Works rather well methinks)

Now, as I've said before, I'd switch that Priest to a Bishop, or if you had yer druthers, start with one, but that's just me

[Spydah]

About that Psionisisty thing guy...

(Same rules as above)
Here are Psi only spells:
Mind Stab
Insanity ****
Slow ****
Hypnotic Lure ****
Psionic Fire ****
Mindread
Eye for an Eye ****
Haste ****
Ego Whip ****
Psionic Blast ****
Pandemonium ****
Might to Magic
Prismic Ray ****
Prismic Chaos ****
Cerebral Hemorrhage ****
Mind Flay ****

Of which only these are non-ins/gad:

Mind Stab
Psionic Fire
Mindread
Ego Whip
Might to Magic
Prismic Chaos
Mind Flay

He's great all the way, save vs. those pesky things around the sea-caves... I think that's where they are...

[kiwi]

I started out with this party:
Lord
Samurai
Ninja
Gadgeteer
Mage
Priest

I was very disappointed with the priests offensive output and found that with the lord, ninja and sometimes the vi, I ended up with more then enough healing.  So I switched my Priest over to a bishop.  She's made for an excellent bishop.  I can't remember the numbers exactly, but 85+ in divinity, 58 or so in psionic, 39 in wizardry and 37 in alchemy.  I've basically tried to learn almost every spell that I can find in books.  This has been very helpful, as I seldom run out of spell points.  I have well over 200 points in every realm.  My Priest/Bishop is now Level 4 priest, level 11 bishop... so she'll be picking up level 5 psionic spells soon.  I've been practicing mage and alchemy spells, in the hopes of moving up to level 4 spells as well.  I think that I should have all the spell books maxed out skill wise by level 20 or so.

I'm thinking that once my mage reaches level 18 or 19, I'll switch him over to a bishop, so he can learn spells from other spell books and get tons of spell points.