Randomly decided to check in after years and see talk of Doordie and Amel. Lots of fun memories! Arguably my first long time character, Narwyn, ended up closely aligned with Amel as his protege.
Doordie was one of the best RP's I ever played with. His stories, with his character Amel, were amazing. Rich, deep, complex. I hope Doordie is doing well! You have a really great Uncle!
Registered Member #1075
Joined: 10:48:57 pm GMT 06/19/07
Posts: 792
Hi all, long time no see. Hope you are all doing well, and hopefully when the new year rolls around I'll be able to grab some IG time
I've often seen it said on these forums that cleric is an (or even the most) overpowered class on Thain. I've been playing a cleric PC, Kaeridris, for a while, and I suck. I'm no PGer, but it would be nice to pull a bit of weight in a party, or go somewhere without always resorting to the invisibility spell. Any simple tips you can share about which spells to use, and how to use them effectively, would therefore be most welcome.
I'm playing a low-level cleric right now. So far it's just "buff up, sprint like hell, hope to kill something before the buffs wear off."
I've been assured they get super powerful later, but I am also told that about wizards, sorcs, etc. Everyone seems to leave out the part about being a carry, and finding new RP reasons for your char to sit down every few metres.
Registered Member #157
Joined: 5:18:57 pm GMT 06/25/04
Posts: 15510
Is Kaeridris full cleric? I can't remember his build off-hand.
More cleric levels seems to be what makes my cleric guy more able to hold himself in a fight (Tark is 18 cleric 2 fighter) .. then just picking a weapon buff (gmw or in Tark's case Darkfire) .. and picking all the spells that have AC bonus on them to cast. Boost STR, WIS and CON too and it seems that he's much easier than Willow to play and survive, along with having maximum healing skill and using frequent healing kits makes things easier too Add to that the odd offensive spells (he uses firey ones and implosion mainly due to his RP but there's others there too I'd wager including destruction) .. and the ability to pick other protections (eg clarity, neg energy protection, death ward), depending on situation gives you more flexibility. Then being able to add all those previous buffs to your companions to make any group that much more effective even when you go unbuffed yourself, makes the class an OK one to use .. and perhaps an easy one to get your head about playing imo (though I am used to casters .. and it might be that Tark's simplistic character makes picking his spells easy .. along with his high STR build too (though Divine Power would solve that for a low STR character)).
If he's multi-classed then perhaps someone else would have more advice about that .. since I have heard that some cleric multi-class builds can be effective too, though I would guess they go for the buffs to stats and AC too?
@Pwny: it was about mid levels (12-15) that I started to feel Tark getting more and more capable
The two I mentioned don't last long. I am a big fan of Extend Spell. It's not that expensive to use IMO.
Shield of Faith and Magic Vestment are the armor buffs.
At low level I just used spells that kept me alive rather than buffing armor and such because they don't last that long. I went more the healing and restoration for all the poisons and what not.
What level are you?
I play Amadom IG if you have questions while you're playing.
Registered Member #442
Joined: 8:50:19 pm GMT 02/24/05
Posts: 972
Throw up some longterm buffs for yourself and your party: Bless, Protection from Alignment, Shield of Faith, Bull's Strength, Endurance, Owl's Wisdom, Magic Vestment, Greater Magic Weapon.
In some areas, you should also add any (or all) of the following to the mix: Negative Energy Protection, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Spell Resistance. If you're uncertain, then feel free to add all of the above to the mix, always. You should have enough spell slots.
From there, you can pretend you're a fighter and just hit things. You won't be as good as a fighter, but you'll be good enough; your AB is at least on par with a rogue's. You should certainly contribute.
For challenging fights, break out the Divine Favor and/or Divine Power. Very occasionally (for bosses, mostly), prepare a Prayer and a Battletide, too. Note that Extend Spell will help a lot with these short term buffs. I'd recommend taking it.
That's about all you need to do to get by on Thain, really. Though for extra credit, you can add some offensive spells to your list. As a cleric, you'll primarily want to rely on disablers to make the whacking easier for you and your party.
Here are some decent spells in the evocation school (which is the one you should focus in, if you're concerned about power): Darkness, Sound Burst, Hammer of the Gods, Blade Barrier (for damage), Word of Faith, Sunbeam*, Implosion.
( * Word of Faith is almost always better, but honestly, Word of Faith is so ridiculously good that casting it feels much like cheating.)
Destruction, Gate, and Storm of Vengeance are also worth a look. If you have the Travel domain, be sure to abuse Web and Haste as well. And don't forget high level defensive spells such as Heal and Greater Sanctuary to bail yourself out of nasty situations.
And that's pretty much it. With careful play, you shouldn't have to rest much and should never have to hide. Just reserve your spells for the fights you can't simply whack your way through. A well-played cleric really is just a fighter, except better.
Registered Member #1523
Joined: 11:40:54 am GMT 02/01/10
Posts: 167
The best fighters on Thain are clerics. There are clerics that are nearly as powerful as sorcerers; certainly able to take on things like the ancient dragon and live to tell the tale; though the people around the fire will just think you've been drinking too much again
Pure clerics can be awesome, but judicious multiclassing can make them even more effective for life on Thain. Clerics have two strong saves, but with the right feats and gear to boost reflex it's good to take a class that will get you evasion and a further boost to reflex. Then you end up with better saves than anything this side of a paladin. Mixes I've found effective have been 16 cleric, 2 rogue and 2 COT. That way you'll get evasion and have access to discipline, tumble and UMD. (14 intelligence on a human will let you (nearly) maximised concentration, spellcraft, discipline, tumble and UMD). If I remember rightly, I had a cleric here with 54 AC with the right gear and long term buffs. And he was doing criticals of over 100.
Of course on top of that you have spells. GSF evocation seems to be the way to go. Take extend for your buffs and empower to make your blade barriers (evocation school) *really* hurt. With huge AC massive saves, immunity to pretty much everything and spell resistance you're safe from pretty much anything. You still have enough feats to take a nice selection of warrior type feats as well; weapon focus and critical, knockdown, that sort of thing. Of course power will eventually corrupt you and you'll turn to the dark side and end up playing sorcerers.
One last tip is to work out which buff spells last an hour and which last a turn. Then you extend the ones that last a turn so that they all last the same length. Easier to manage things that way.
Registered Member #442
Joined: 8:50:19 pm GMT 02/24/05
Posts: 972
Another thing I didn't and should have mentioned is that the heal skill is great for clerics. Not only is it wisdom based, but clerics can immunize against almost all of the negative side effects of stimulants with the right spells, rendering a well-prepared cleric even more ridiculously powerful. Mind you, that's pretty much overkill; you don't really need it.
Registered Member #1523
Joined: 11:40:54 am GMT 02/01/10
Posts: 167
Forgot domains. Heal will give you heal spells at level 5 and will empower healing of all potions. If you go with 16 cleric / 2 rogue / 2 COT and take rogue first you also have enough skill points for the heal skill. The other domain which works well on Thain is plant. It gives barkskin as a level 2 spell which means you'll get 5 natural AC and free up the amulet slot for a wisdom boosting one.
I also forgot that the recent changes mean that you can now swap weapons without losing buffs. That means Zen archery is viable so you can accurately hit things at range because of your high wisdom score; remember divine favor will give you +5 to all attacks including ranged and give +5 magical damage.
Registered Member #1009
Joined: 7:04:13 am GMT 03/26/07
Posts: 539
hahah I was about to say something but I realized this pretty much covers it, at 20 your pretty much a tank and a basic implosion will wipe out most mid level bosses and a few high level ones (if you get lucky, of course any boss without immunity is an instant kill as I have found out with a few epic level bosses) anyways, once you get into places like the underdark, Beholder Caves, or the Abyss your playing back up and healing most of the time as up front usually results in a lot of disrupted spells and usually a buffed fighter can pound out better and bleed longer then you can. As for average AC, I used undead focus items so I lose out in other places however with full buffs per spells I usually level out around 30 or so, crap for PVP but most the time vs NPCs I am usually with the Horde so I don't completely have to rely on my own. (Bork and Byran boosted is like watching a wood grinder fighting with a Chicken: bloody, one sided and funny to watch.)
[ The Island of Thain ]
Cleric tips!
