A little clerical advice, please

[Jennaen]

When I left the lands a few months ago, I was frustrated with trying to play a swinging cleric, as well as with longterm migration, and waiting on fixskills to head on over to the casting side. Thanks to a move, I've lost most of my notes, and really have lost track of what I intended to do.. and am rusty at GS. So, I'm seeking advice on training to be a caster cleric, at level 52. Below are my current skills (keep in mind, they're still in migration, so kinda fubar'd), and current stats. Any suggestions?



Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 70 15
Shield Use.........................| 105 25
Combat Maneuvers...................| 86 19
Blunt Weapons......................| 150 50
Physical Fitness...................| 120 30
Arcane Symbols.....................| 62 13
Magic Item Use.....................| 93 21
Spell Aiming.......................| 174 74
Harness Power......................| 173 73
Elemental Mana Control.............| 40 8
Spirit Mana Control................| 140 40
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 25 5
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 140 40
Climbing...........................| 102 24
First Aid..........................| 195 95

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 26

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 27

Spell Lists
Cleric.............................| 65


Spell Ranks:
Minor Spiritual :27
Major Spiritual :26
Cleric Base :65

Stats: Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 87 (18) ... 87 (18)
Constitution (CON): 63 (6) ... 63 (6)
Dexterity (DEX): 79 (19) ... 79 (19)
Agility (AGL): 90 (30) ... 90 (30)
Discipline (DIS): 91 (15) ... 91 (15)
Aura (AUR): 93 (21) ... 93 (21)
Logic (LOG): 89 (19) ... 89 (19)
Intuition (INT): 89 (19) ... 89 (19)
Wisdom (WIS): 100 (25) ... 100 (25)
Influence (INF): 63 (11) ... 63 (11)

[Stunseed]

First and foremost, get into Brig. 35 ranks will make it happen for you. Personally, if you want to stay in the more physical aspect of Clerics, I'd aim for 50 ranks of armor, enough for beautiful torso chain. If in Voln, simply switch Blunts to Brawling and Voln-Fu. My Cleric doesn't use Spell Aiming, however I definately see its benefit.

[Jennaen]

Guess I should have added.. I'm a Bane cleric, and a Voln master. Definitely going to stick with Fu when I'm out of mana, but really intend to go heavy on the casting. I've played the physical side for 51 levels, and just am not thrilled with the wimpiness of my swing, even fully spelled.. and being dependent on said spellups. I rather like my spell aiming, but I'm just not sure where it should be, at this point, nor much of anything else, as a pure caster.

Keep in mind, as well, this is my first character. I played her for 6 months, got her to just shy of 52, took 6 months off, and here I am, 52 with a fixskills, and ready to go, but, suffering a lack of experience with the system, and memory loss of what I did know six months ago. :)

[Stunseed]

Try 35 ranks of armor, 52 ranks of brawling and shield. 1.5x HP, 2x SA, 24 ranks PF, .5 perception, and seeing as how you're a Muler, I'd aim for 25 ranks of Climbing. Give me a moment, and I'll post my Cleric.

[Stunseed]

Xasmed (at level 33), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 130 35
Shield Use.........................| 114 28
Brawling...........................| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 105 25
Harness Power......................| 161 61
Elemental Mana Control.............| 10 2
Spirit Mana Control................| 124 32
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 62 13
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 78 17
Perception.........................| 105 25
Climbing...........................| 102 24
Swimming...........................| 45 9
First Aid..........................| 155 55

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 25

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 15

Spell Lists
Cleric.............................| 35

I primarily Voln Fu. At 33, I'm able to handle Skeletal Lords in Inner Ward with ease. At your train, a trip to Teras and the Wind Wraiths at 63, you would have to be Warclaidhm to mess it up.

[Jennaen]

What is the advantage of going 1x in shields? I'm looking at my goals, with dropping Combat Maneuvers, Arcane Symbols, Magic Item Use, and Mana Control: Elemental, a reduction in Minor and Major Spirit lists, and still can't 1x in Shields. I could drop some of the First Aid, but, don't you need roughly 2x for skinning? (Yes, I should have included that in the facts earlier!)

Also, I thought you only needed 24 ranks of Climbing? And what about PF, does it need to be raised in the future from the 24, or that's all I really need?

Yeah, I know I'm a nub. :) Only other games I've played are Dark Age of Camelot, and World of Warcraft... this system is very alien to me, even after playing with it (read: being frustrated with it) for six months previously.

Anyway, this is what my goals look like currently, with your input. Still seeking any and all suggestions/discussion, as I want to understand what I'm doing, before I make any changes.



Set Skill Goals

Armor Skills
35 Armor Use
42 Shield Use

Weapon Skills
52 Brawling

Combat Skills
24 Physical Training

Magic Skills
78 Harness Power
102 Spell Aiming
40 Mana Control: Spiritual

Major Spiritual Spell Research
25

Minor Spiritual Spell Research
25

Cleric Base Spell Research
66

Spiritual Lore
5 Blessings
40 Religion

General Skills
25 Climbing
26 Perception
98 First Aid

Edit: Also, isn't brig going to hinder my casting a lot, even at 35 ranks of armor? Is 4x brig going to be sufficient for hunting, and, is that better than the doubles I'm in now (they're 6x or 7x, can't recall which)?

[Edited on 10-27-2005 by Jennaen]

[Shari]

You got a char to level 52 in 6 months?

God I suck so hard core.

[Jennaen]

Nope, only to 51.9'ish. ;)


Edit: Keep in mind, I came to GS from a player vs. player intensive world in Dark Age of Camelot, where the idea was to get to max level, for the realm wars. Taking my time was an alien concept.

[Edited on 10-27-2005 by Jennaen]

[Drew]

Originally posted by Jennaen
Nope, only to 51.9'ish. ;)


Edit: Keep in mind, I came to GS from a player vs. player intensive world in Dark Age of Camelot, where the idea was to get to max level, for the realm wars. Taking my time was an alien concept.

[Edited on 10-27-2005 by Jennaen]


Yep, when Chiv first met Jennaen he was 39 and she was fresh off the turnip farm. Now she's older than him :(

[TheEschaton]

I took 10 years to get to 52. <stare>

Granted, I had other characters too, but my primary character, a cleric, is 52. But anyways, I'd go for around 9-10 ranks of magical stuff per train if using a runestaff (which I do, as a magical caster). I'm also a Bane caster, and it works fine that much.I'm not a huge fan of physical skills if you're gonna be a caster, but if you want to still swing, occasionally, go for it, and ignore that 9-10 ranks of magical stuff. To maximize CS, I do about 2 1/3rd spells per train, keeping clerical up to par, and splitting the other 1 1/3 spell amongst my two minor circles. Spell Aiming - eh, I dunno, what can you use with it? 111? Not worth it in my opinion, got much better spells in cleric circle. I prefer to boost my lores with the points. Physical training is your call - as a giant, I stopped at 24, because I don't need the faster HP recovery rate, since I have so many already. And CMs? Pah. Brig, at minimum hindrance, will give you 7-8% hindrance, depending on the circle, which is not that bad, since your main hunting spell will only cost 2 mana on a fail. If you get FGB, better than 6-7x doubles, IMHO.


Other than that, you look fine.

KEep in mind - all this is from a guy who's been playing since 1995, and is the same level as you.

-TheE-

[Drew]

Originally posted by TheEschaton
If you get FGB, better than 6-7x doubles, IMHO.


Better than 10x doubles.

[TheRoseLady]

My cleric is a pure now, but used to swing. I am weighing in only to remind you about having 10 ranks of blessing lore and 5 of summoning to use Holy Receptacle. Putting 301 into gems and holding undead for 1 mana is pretty valuable.

As far as the rest, I had a pretty viable swinging cleric in GSIII, and by the time I got to GSIV and the Skull Temple she was really not very viable. I had spell aim which helped, but it was a challenge to hunt alone. I fixskilled her to a pure and have never looked back. I created a paladin to use her nice weapons.

[Jennaen]

Actually, I hadn't intended to make any changes to my lores. I can already bless gems, and I do use them..or, well I did before I took a break. Though, I do upon odd occasion fail on a gem bless-I'm guessing perhaps having more in Blessings decreases the chance of failure? However, I haven't had failures often enough to be a hindrance.

Any other thoughts on lores, and how much to put in each? Also, I have zero understanding of Spirit Summoning Lore... what does it affect?

With regards to spell aiming, vs. spell circles. Would 1x or 1.5x in SA still give me good returns on 111, while leaving points free to boost my cleric circle? CS is dependent on the cleric circle, isn't it? Or all spell circles combined?


To those that haven't..erm..been addicted to powerlevelling as I was... I had lots of time on my hands, and I've always had XXX to aid the levels along. I probably spent as many hours in this game in a few months as many have in a few years.

[Jennaen]

Regarding FGB and plain brig... the only FGB I found on playershops is 30m silvers, which I won't be seeing for a long time. If I jump to brig now, it will have to be 4x brig... anything higher than that is more coins than Jenn has, and I certainly cannot afford to buy coins with real money.

[Snapp]

As far as lores, the only lore my cleric really has is religion lore (purely for smite/bane). And with spell aiming, my personal opinion is to 2x it or 0x it. I just don't think 1x is enough to make your bolt AS viable. Just my opinion though.

Your CS is dependent on the circle your casting from. More cleric spells make your clerical CS higher, more major spirit make major spirit spell CS higher, etc.

[Edited on 10-27-2005 by Snapp]

[Jennaen]

Thanks for clearing up the CS question.

Still wondering about using 4x-5x plain-jane brig, not FGB, vs the 6x-7x doubles. Still an improvement, without the crit padding?

Also, does anyone recall, is using gems I've blessed dependent upon training in MIU?

[TheRoseLady]

Summoning lore helps with splash damage from 111. To use the higher tiers of Holy Receptacle you need 10 blessing and 5 summoning. Nexus is really nice. I know that you'll have 130 but being able to set a particular location to take yourself and a body to without sickness and all that jazz is pretty damn nice. Not that you are anywhere near it, but some of the upper planes of the rift can be exited without harm using nexus, that is a huge boon.