New cleric needs help. Any advice

[egreenleaf]

I'm new to GS and a new cleric. Does anyone have a guide or some useful info on training and spells for me? Thanks.]\

BTW, i'm a half-elf cleric. What's a good stat placement and training plan? I want to be a pure 302 user.

[Alarke]

I'm new to GS and a new cleric. Does anyone have a guide or some useful info on training and spells for me? Thanks.]\

BTW, i'm a half-elf cleric. What's a good stat placement and training plan? I want to be a pure 302 user.

There will be a lot of good information if you're looking around these boards, but to give you a start with your skills, it depends on exactly what you're looking to do.

If you want to go brawling/shield, that path is viable as a pure CS cleric. It does not force you to rely on as many outside magic skills for DS and also will increase your bolt DS by a lot.

If you want to go runestaff, you will want to focus on 8+ magic skills per training, typically for pure CS these will be 2.5-3 in spells, 1 in MIU, 1 in AS, 1-2 in HP, 1 in Lores, 1 in SMC and whatever extra points you have into additional magic skills/first aid/perception, etc.

You will want to focus on getting your cleric spells to +21 your level as soon as possible, this will result in +16CS for your skills. You will want to focus on defensive spells up to 103 and 202 quickly, then work your way towards 107, 219, and 120.

If you want to rescue, you will want to get to 130 and 225 as quickly as possible. This will likely hurt your CS a bit, but it's a personal preference, you can always make up cleric ranks after you get these spells.

These are just the tip of the iceberg, but let us know a little more about what you're looking for and you can search for some more information, or I'll do my best to help.

[Endaar]

Also, if you are still within your first 30 days, play around with FIXSTATS a bit. You will want a reasonably high starting Wisdom score, as your Wisdom bonus applies directly to your casting strength (not only with 302, but all other spells you will cast as well).

You don't want it TOO high, though, as your Wisdom will naturally grow quickly, and you don't want to neglect other stats. Go and look up the training-point formulas (right on the play.net site, even, or krakiipedia.org) to determine what will be a good fit for you.

Enjoy Gemstone! Glad to have new blood aboard.

Cheers...
-E.

[egreenleaf]

Thank you so much for the advice. There's so much info to take it, it can be a bit overwhelming.

I think I'd like to go the runestaff route. It just sounds too cool to pass up. I also wanted to try CoL instead of Voln for roleplaying reasons, so it seems like the brawling/shield route would be wasted without VolnFu.

Is there any type of site or something that can help me figure out my stat growth before I settle on a final placement? I tried Google, but couldn't find anything.. I tried GS for like 6 months about 5 years ago, and I remember there being a site like that.. but now I can't find it!

-Emma

[egreenleaf]

Also, what's up with Lores? What do I need them for?

[Alarke]

http://home.mchsi.com/~cphillips73/StatCruncher/StatCruncher.html

Also, Lores have different uses for different spells - you'll want to check out the play.net site and look through how lores effect each spell.

[Smythe]

An' while its all overwhelmin' 'member a simple fact - its hard ta go wrong if ya just do the core trainin' several guides will point ya to. An' more important, ya got plenty o' time ta adjust as ya go along. Ya know, make yer character image as ya see it.

So, don' get paralyzed, jes' jump in an' start!

- Smythe

[egreenleaf]

Thanks for the info!

[egreenleaf]

(at level 3), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Physical Fitness...................| 20 4
Arcane Symbols.....................| 20 4
Magic Item Use.....................| 20 4
Harness Power......................| 40 8
Spirit Mana Control................| 20 4
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 15 3
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 10 2
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 10 2
Stalking and Hiding................| 10 2
Perception.........................| 10 2
Climbing...........................| 15 3
Swimming...........................| 10 2
First Aid..........................| 20 4

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 1

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 2

Spell Lists
Cleric.............................| 6


Race: Sylvankind Profession: Cleric (not shown)
Gender: Female Age: 0 Expr: 13907 Level: 3
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 75 (12) ... 75 (12)
Constitution (CON): 56 (3) ... 56 (3)
Dexterity (DEX): 56 (13) ... 56 (13)
Agility (AGI): 56 (8) ... 56 (8)
Discipline (DIS): 61 (0) ... 61 (0)
Aura (AUR): 90 (25) ... 90 (25)
Logic (LOG): 61 (5) ... 61 (5)
Intuition (INT): 66 (8) ... 66 (8)
Wisdom (WIS): 96 (23) ... 96 (23)
Influence (INF): 51 (0) ... 51 (0)
Mana: 25 Silver: 340


Any thoughts? My CS is good enough to allow me to hunt, although I sometimes run out of mana before my mind is full.

I'm going to wait a while before I start adjusting my skills and stats. I'm not sure what to do with them yet.

[Endaar]

Based on where you're at, get 202 and 103 right away -- it will make a huge difference in your survivability.

I also don't get why you're training Stalking & Hiding... ?

[dminaug]

^^ yah, no point in stalking and hiding if you're not swinging. even then a cleric shouldn't have it. stalking and hiding needs to go.

id loose climbing and perception until you need it.

lores -- presumably you want to make nifty chrisms? i personally operate under the mindset that you can buy them so there's no need to make them. sink all your lore points into religion for 317.

again, my mindset is different then yours as you might want a more well rounded cleric then mine, but i generally try to maximize the effectiveness of my character's primary role, which is to hunt; in your case CS attacks. IMO, lose MIU, AS, and first aid (until you have a specific need). Sink all your points into cleric spells to jack up your CS. oh wait, you're using a runestaff i take it? hmm, nevermind. carry on

[Asrial]

I also don't get why you're training Stalking & Hiding... ?Just chiming in here real quick (I'll toss in my training thoughts later).

I train Stalking and Hiding as well. In fact, I'd train that as early as I could manage it.

You don't need a lot.. 10-15 ranks.. to make it really useful.

The reason I train it is because I want to be able to hide on the first or second try in front of people.

[Asrial]

yah, no point in stalking and hiding if you're not swinging. even then a cleric shouldn't have it. stalking and hiding needs to go.This is their first character it sounds like.

On your first character did you just hunt/rest in quiet?

Or were you out interacting with people and playing and having fun?

I find Stalking and Hiding to be a beneficial "out in the world" skill.

There are many many MANY times I have needed my cleric to hide (for whatever reason) and have been glad I had the ability to do it without needing to always cast 106 and 206 and then keep trying a few times.

[audioserf]

In the GS3 days, my 115+ sorceror had 40+ ranks of hiding. It was 100% useless from a hunting standpoint but as Asrial says, it was definitely a handy skill to have. Need to Wrack? Hide. Need to go AFK? Hide. Want to stalk someone just for the hell of it? Hide. Etc. Not a priority if you have core skills to train in with limited TPs, but picking up some ranks along the way as a "fun" skill is really no harm at all, provided you're not hung-up on the min/max game.

[Asrial]

Not a priority if you have core skills to train in with limited TPs, but picking up some ranks along the way as a "fun" skill is really no harm at all, provided you're not hung-up on the min/max game.I'd probably get to 5 ranks and re-visit it later as you get older.

My cleric has 12 ranks and I intend, one day, to get him to 15 but I've not really felt that 12 ranks wasn't enough. You could probably stop at 5 and see how that feels. If you keep failing to hide or stalk someone you could jump to 10 and re-assess then.

As has been mentioned.. you are NOT going to be able to use this skill while hunting (plus it will serve you no purpose to).

[egreenleaf]

Oh, I'm keeping stalking & hiding for the reasons other people mentioned above. I like to be able to hide on the 1st or 2nd try.

[egreenleaf]

Should I bother with Armor Use at all if I'm going to be using a Runestaff?

[Riltus]

Should I bother with Armor Use at all if I'm going to be using a Runestaff?

You'll want 8 ranks, eventually, to reduce the double leather maneuver penalties to their minimum. Maybe, try to work in 2 ranks per 3 levels over the next 12 levels.

Try and get some 4x (+20 enchant bonus) double leather at level 10. Armor DS is not effected by stance; it's a good investment.

Mark

[Asrial]

For a beginning cleric (especially a runestaff using cleric).. I echo what Riltus said.

[egreenleaf]

okay, so summary:

21 ranks over my level of Cleric spells (right now i have 10 ranks and i'm level 5)

103 and 202 (then more eventually)

8 ranks of armor (eventually)

1x physical fitness

1x arcane symbols

1x magic item use

2x harness power (i run out of mana on my hunts)

1x spirit mana control

1x lores.. still not sure which ones though or what they really do. play.net site is so vague about everything.

Any other comments? You all have been great, BTW. Thank you very much.

[Jayvn]

there's a lorechart that i keep losing the link to.. forwarning.. it takes a while to load for some reason... i'm sure one of the pc'ers has a link to it though.. caribels carribells?

[Elgrim]

I've always been of the mind that a weapon skill with a cleric/empath is usually better than 2x harness power. The cost gets pretty high and having the ability to hunt with a weapon has its benefits.

Plus, as a cleric you get some rather nice AS increasing spells, so even with 1x weapon training you can hunt very effectively with a weapon as needed.

2x harness power has always just been really "blah" for me. Very little bang for your buck.

[Jayvn]

http://carabele.com/odds/LoreBenefits.htm

[egreenleaf]

I've always been of the mind that a weapon skill with a cleric/empath is usually better than 2x harness power. The cost gets pretty high and having the ability to hunt with a weapon has its benefits.

Plus, as a cleric you get some rather nice AS increasing spells, so even with 1x weapon training you can hunt very effectively with a weapon as needed.

2x harness power has always just been really "blah" for me. Very little bang for your buck.

Ok, you're right, so I've switched back to 1x HP.

What weapon should I train in? Two-handed since I use a rune staff?

[egreenleaf]

Can anyone suggest a good stat placement for a Smite-throwing Sylvankind Cleric?

Also do those 5 chances to adjust my stats stay beyond the 30 days where I readjusted my skills?

[caelric]

Nope, you use or lose them in your 30 days

[egreenleaf]

Okay, i see it says the next fixskills is in 70 days or something.. does that mean i'd get another chance in 70 days?

[caelric]

You get one fixskills a year, everyone at the same time. That day is in about 70 days. You also get more or less unlimited skill transfer during your first thirty days, you don't have to do anything for that, just change your skill goals around.

Neither one of those have anything to do with a fixstats. You get 5 of those in your first thirty days, and then never again, unless you buy a fixstats potion from a player, or earn enough guild bounty points for one, both of which are very expensive.

[Celephais]

Er, you mean buy a fixstat potion through bounty points or from another player (1 million points, players sell them from 30-40 million silvers). Fixskill potions also exist that let you change your skills more frequently than the once a year free change everyone gets, and they are one quarter the cost of a fixstat potion.

[egreenleaf]

Ok, so I really need to get my stats placed right then.

Any suggestions for a Sylvan cleric? I don't want to be completely handicapped at younger levels, but I do want some longevity. I'm a runestaff bane cleric.

[LOL BRIELUS]

reroll - clerics are so boring

[egreenleaf]

reroll - clerics are so boring

No way! They're tons of fun.