gettin to know ya...

[Sean]

well since im now CoMod of this folder with daina i guess it would be a nice time to try and get to know everyone.

so i'm inviting everyone to just post a little about their character or something cleric related such as what you think of gs4 clerics, favorite spells, favorite things to do, etc.

if you havn't guess i play a giantman cleric named Tijay. personally im a more pure spell caster and feel essentially the same in gemstone 4 as i did in gemstone 3. i've always enjoyed being a cleric because although we weren't the jack of all trades that rogues were i always found the variety interesting. some people love rescues, some people love hunting, some people love the social/religious aspect, etc. there is a little something for everyone.

well thats just a little something about me and again i invite everyone to post a little bit about themselves and why they enjoy being a cleric.

Im The Edine... I need not say more...

[GuildRat]

My cleric is a V'Tull worshipping mutant who's favorite spell is Bind combined with Fire Spirit. He swings an axe and is for the most part a loner that socializes with a very select crowd of people that share his views.

At this time he resides in Illistim and is commonly found kneeling at the fountain praying silently to his Liege.

[Flurbins]

I play a level 30 giantman cleric, and I think GS4 clerics are absolutely unfair. It's dissapointing how easy it is to kill anything I want to hunt. Naginata, Holy Bolt, and Smite are my three favorite attacks. Phoen worshiper.

[Sean]

did you find hunting to actually be a challenge in gs3? i find my hunting is almost identical in gs3 as it is in gs4 mainly because i didnt bother with spell aim. except im rehunting the stronghold which is only fun cause i make good coin doing it.

[Flurbins]

Yeah, hunting was a joke in GS3 also. I'm actually more powerful now though.

[Adhara]

Adhara is a smite cleric, worshipper of Lumnis. She was a pure repeller until she ran out of undead after bonespear.

She had great stats, her only weak point being dexterity (I didn't realize how slowly it increased when I made her originally, nor did I expect the CM change that would make dodging maneuvers more based on DEX than CM training). The following levels were insanely difficult on the Illistim glacier. All her spells were of course in the cleric circle with minor as secondary so she could hardly bind (and they would break within 10 seconds even if she did succeed) and with 1x edged and CM and capped AS spell bonuses, she was a mediocre swinger. Not to mention she needed a lot of outside spells for her defense.

Then came reallocation. Knowing that there would be another round of reallocations 6 months to a year later with GSIV, I took a chance and reallocated to be a swinger. Made sure appropriate stats were up there and made the major circle my primary. Hunting was still very difficult and slow. I would usually have to leave with at best a muddled mind due to either lack of mana or injuries (weather-related or not). When I had a hunting partner we went to the blighted forest. With a rogue I had a fairly easy time as he would leg them and I could use spirit strike on each of my swings.

With GSIV I still find myself to be a smite cleric with no undead to kill. I am not yet powerful enough for the first rift undead or for the tower in Illistim. I decided to double in spell aiming. Then I tested staves, weapon and shield, and archery on the test server. I totally hated staves. With 10 magical ranks per training, my defense was ridiculously low compared to the other two possibilities. I might have tolerated it if I my primary attack was magical but I didn't want to rely on spell aim as a primary form of attack.

Archery turned out to be the way to go. I am maxed in spell aiming and my strong circle is still major spirit since I don't use any CS based spell from the cleric circle. I wear chain mail and I hunt using a combination of bind, heavy crossbow and fire spirit. I do very well on my current hunting grounds.

My original plan was to use archery only for the first month, reallocating just before the end of the allowed period to a more magical cleric, whether with a weapon and shield or a staff. I have since changed my mind and will stick with archery and even keep major as my primary circle. When I am old enough for the next undead, I will use the crossbow on enemies weak against it in combination with holy bolt or solely holy bolt. I will downgrade to double leather and by sacrificing some first aid as well, should be able to single in lore to add power to my holy bolt.

Well that's pretty much the behind-the-scenes making-of of Adhara. I still think that it was utterly unfair to make the change from repel to bane/smite and not give smite clerics any undead to hunt. I have yet to hear a good reason to justify that. I have heard Uska (monster GM) posted that they plan on removing this undead gap... when they come around to it. Well I know what that means. Chances are, Adhara will be long past the gap before that happens.

I have mixed feelings about GS4. It does not allow me to make of Adhara what I wanted her to be when I created her. I can either choose to be that pure spell caster I want and struggle with hunting or go with a more efficient training path and get some fun and satisfaction out of my hunting. After stalling for almost 2 years training wise, it is good to finally level up again. That GS4 allows me to be able to hunt at all is something I am grateful for. That I am able to hunt totally independently and without any foreign spell is more than I was dreaming of and also something I am grateful for.

GSIV has potential. I still think it was released too early. I see some negative and positive and still haven't decided which side of the scale is heavier for me. I understand it's great for younger clerics though and I'm happy to hear that. I hope not too many young smite clerics will have to suffer through this undead gap.

That was very OOC. I could post about Adhara's personality and background I suppose but I'd rather you all find that out in the game instead. :)

Clerically yours.

[Edited on 12-8-2003 by Adhara]

give it another 15 trains and you will think diffrently... Your ability to hit things by using bolt spells will drop drasticly and you will only be able to hunt with 302

[Halfsilver]

Grays, the searcher.

2x archery 2x brawling.

awesome combo.

Thankfully, not many people from here know him in game.

I'm glad to say I know you, though, Tijay.

[Edited on 12-8-2003 by Halfsilver]

[Adhara]

I have heard just about the contrary from rift hunters Edine. I have seen logs from the rift where 302 does meaningless damage compared to bolts. I guess it all depends on your foe. I'll take a chance though since with archery, bind and fire spirit, I can always fall back on the living.

We Giantkin are nutered when it comes to casting bolt spells

and thoes that are doing it in the ryft must use 25 mana for 301 first then they can cast what ever else they need

[Sean]

honestly i tried bolting during the beta time and in my opinion it was only worth it to use over bane in situations where i was hunting undead and since undead can basically be avoided for better options i chose to not use it.

[Zeyrin]

Zeyrin is a dwarf cleric of the Khanshael clan. He has what many may call an addiction to grog. The title heretic suits him well. He's pretty much a rebel.

I've retrained him in shield and brawling to help with DS and have him maxed in religion. His bane is insane. I like the GSIII Zeyrin better. He could swing hard and cast harder. I miss that.

I am kind of worried about how weak the clerics have become. At least I think they are weaker. We are without 11 spells I remember correctly. I don't like the idea of being forced to go physical or pure. I enjoyed the variety of choosing to do either or.

[Sean]

i went the same route as zeyrin with my cleric in 4 1x brawl and 1x shield i hunt in stance off using channel so the lowered DS using a runestave wasnt acceptable to me. that and i never imagined walking around with a giant stick to defend myself.

[Flurbins]

Man, I wish I had a level 90 giant cleric to play around with so I could see just how much it goes from ridiculous to suck at higher levels.

[Edited on 12-8-2003 by Flurbins]

[Sean]

eh at 62 about to be 63 everything is a breeze for me stronghold is easy its just mana intensive unless im lazy and dont knock anything down. ogres are beyond a cake walk.

[Adhara]

I was doing great with fire spirit in Wyneb and that with no lore whatsoever. Still without lore, I do well with fire spirit in the griffin's keen but I only use it if I'm too injured to fire my crossbow or feel like burning all my extra mana before leaving. 20 mana for bind and 1 crossbow bolt is all it takes to kill anything in there.

I'll have to see for myself what the next undead are like but I do have a backup plan if holy bolt is not all I am hoping for. Shifting the few extra major spiritual ranks back to cleric circle shouldn't take too long. As for lores I plan 2/3 summoning for 1/3 religion but if I go back to smite, I will probably knock that down to 50/50. And even if I need to wait a couple weeks for the skill migrator to shift all the ranks, it still beats the two years during which I did all but nothing.

I'm happy to see we still have varied training paths. I was afraid everyone would jump into the staff wielding cookie-cutter.

[Sean]

i agree its nice to see everyone is doing their own thing. currently this is my training plan. yea i threw all my eggs in 1 basket and specialized but i really like the result.

Armor Use..........................| 70 15 15
Shield Use.........................| 164 64 64
Brawling...........................| 164 64 64
Physical Fitness...................| 114 28 28
Arcane Symbols.....................| 122 31 31
Magic Item Use.....................| 122 31 31
Harness Power......................| 200 100 100
Spirit Mana Control................| 122 31 31
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 50 10 10
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 140 40 40
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 70 15 15
Perception.........................| 149 49 49
Climbing...........................| 105 25 25
Swimming...........................| 105 25 25
First Aid..........................| 70 15 15

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 40 40
Minor Spirit.......................| 40 40
Cleric.............................| 80 80
Training Points: 2 Phy 2 Mnt (1070 Phy converted to Mnt)

[Lassitar]

Lassitar is 46, Human from Icemule....one of the first citizens...Yay Alpha testing...

I hunt in Pinefar these days...I went the way of the runestaff, just because there was so much I wanted to do with the magic skills, it seemed to work out that way. I am glad I have the ability to cast the bolt spells effectively.

Favorite spell of 4....Holy Recepticle...

Orb gems are easy enough to find, being married to a Bard and all...that added with blessing the gem with 301--saves an ASSLOAD of mana when the undead are farting around.

[Edited on 12-8-2003 by Lassitar]

[Sean]

reading lassitar's post has brought a question to mind ... i cant personally find a real use for the tiers for 325. does anyone actually find themselves using the common teirs and wasting your orb gems? or do you just use the imbed function of 325? assuming you use it at all.

me personally would have much rather seen cleric imbed be 218 have been our imbed spell and scrapped the whole tiers system. in addition i would have moved spirit servant to 325 so it could actually be a decent spell and maybe do something worthwhile.

keep in mind the above really is just my opinion because of how my character is trained. i dont carry a weapon so i dont need a spirit servant to pick it up for me. and with DR pts how often do you plan on dying that the LK function becomes worth having it in a spell slot? anyhow thats just my opinion on those two new spells.

the only spell thats new that i find myself using is 119 when i hunt.

[Overlord]

Ehe I have a lil cleric level 16. In gs3 he was a giantman CoL War Cleric named Zestro, two hander weilding a 4x fel-hafted executioners axe with acid flares... well anyway was easily hunting steel golems at ten and they served a good purpose till GS4 came around and well... just didn't quite have the TPs for what i wanted to do, so for the meantime hes an all out caster hunting nedum or zombies with holy bolt and ocasionally holding them (Currently attuned to the destroyer Marlu).
Works fairly well with a 206 bolt AS at level 16 lol.

Looking to go paladin as soon as the option is available but i might stay pure cleric, all depends on the paladin circle.

[Flurbins]

What did you want to do in GS4 that you couldn't?

[Souzy]

Whoa Tijay's a mod in here?? All clerics are gonna die now. *runs*

[Lassitar]

The Deity bless tiers for 325 are kinda weak, durring the beta test, i was all stoked about them, then comes release time and all I could think of was "Wow, this is a waste of orb gems...." My personal favorite was "SIlver to Gold" but after GS4's release, I could never get more then one charge out of a gem....seems kinda useless then. but hey, I can get 26 charges of "Prayer of Holding" into a black opal....now we're talking.

So, yea, the Common tiers seem to be a bit useless....whooptie freakin doo....I can waste a gem so someone else can meditate, excuse me while I go whack "it."

[Edited on 12-9-2003 by Lassitar]

[Sean]

ive gotten more then 1 silver to gold in a gem but it still didnt make up for the cost of the gem. nexus wouldnt be terrible if it was unbotchable .. botching leaves you manaless and hurts you.

[Bewitchindryad25]

Congratulations Tijay on becoming a mod.

To keep on topic my cleric is around 48th, I have her as a brawler/edged user but I use mainly 302 and Volnfu to hunt if its undead, otherwise I do just fine. Though mostly right now I'm doing raising in Illistim because my boyfriend gets to talking to me in IM's and lets his wizard die in the aquaduct or his rogue in Sprites.

[Czeska]

My cleric's been around off and on for awhile, although she's still quite young. She is pure RP for me, and honestly it gets exhausting after an hour or 2.
She's a caster, and a Zelia follower. Neither good nor evil, just a bit eccentric. She'll stick around as long as she's not bored.
Examples.. the day she met Edine he bound her about 5 times. She found it interesting.

Two days ago Nevik blinded her (he also follows Zelia). She considered it a spiritual epiphone, and now thinks of Nevik as some kind of high priest super amazing hot shit connection to her goddess.

[Sean]

i cant imagine ever enjoying being bound or blinded i think ive lashed out on everyone whose used either on me.

[Czeska]

well my cleric also chews on a toy rat when she's starting to get bored, and she refused to leave House Sovyn (of which she is not yet a member) cause she didn't have enough silvers for a pin.

Besides after Nevik blinded her he kissed her forehead <grins>

[HalflingHeretic]

I started playing back in 1997 when GS was on AOL. My childish tendencies of dueling were put to rest when demonicing my wizard, Nitergen the Elf.

Through my growing up point, the cleric life has been great. Though, I created great strife four years ago with my spawn of a halfling cleric pure repeller. I will continue to spread tricks of the trade, as I am learning them now.