I accidentally set my game to hard (meant to play as normal) and didn't find out until later. Single enemies were not that hard with strafing but multiple enemies and corridors where there is no room manoeuvre made the game difficult. Still had fun though. Total playtime was about 12 hours and I got 41/71 secrets. I tried to look everywhere but some were obviously too devious for me. My party was level 13 at the end which means you get about 50 skillpoints to distribute among your skills. You get (at least) 2 skill tomes for additional skillpoints (5 per book) so you have some leeway there but if you want to max a single skill don't expect to put points in anywhere else.
My party was:
Sir William - Human fighter
I put skills in armour and swords. I was pretty happy with my choice in the end. I found a kickass sword named Sword of Nex which requires skill level 10 in swords and Valor heavy armour set. If I had to remake my char I would probably put 10 points in swords and rest to armour.
Grakkar - Minotaur fighter
I put points in athletics, axes and armour. Definetly take the headhunter perk if you take a minotaur. I found 3 skulls (there may be more) and that is +9 attack power right there. Also put a lot of points in dexterity to offset the racial penalty if you want to hit anything in melee. As for equipment I found Chitin light armour set and Axe Norja for him.
Lizzie -Lizardman Rogue
I put all my points to assasination and I managed to max it in the end. I have no idea what master assassin perk was supposed to do and I couldn't figure it out. Also I couldn't find any decent daggers so I just used leftover sword of my main fighter. Lizzie was in the back row so he did not need any specific protective gear. He had more strength than my minotaur thanks to assasination skill tree. With backstabbing he held his own in dps game.
Buggy - Insectoid mage
I put points in air magic and spellcraft. I just spammed lightning bolt with him all day. No enemy is immune to lightning so air magic is solid choice for any mage. For a mage I would recommend putting 32 points in a spell school of your choice and rest to spellcraft.
A couple of additional tips:
- Fall to every hole. There are secrets to be found in the pits.
- Minor tactical hints for the boss fight:
SpoilerShow
Save some lightning/fire bombs for the final fight. The boss is immune to at least cold (not sure about poison) and it is really hard to hit him with melee weapons without dying. So equip some long range items for your party to deal with him.
