Message 29 : Newbie Cleric's Guide (Vainamoinen)
Written on Fri Sep 25 08:29:21 1998

Newbie Cleric's Guide
 
 
This guide is meant to be a quick introduction to the cleric class and
provide some insight to what a newbie cleric should practise.
 
As a class clerics currently fall somewhere between warrior and mage class. We
have generally more hitpoits and better parry, but mages can get better dodge
as they are better in practise dodge which is thief skill. But generally
speaking clerics are better fighters.
 
Why I am cleric?
 
Clerics have the best mobility in the game. We have the best BOB (spell that
regens moves), we can fight without spells better than mages, and we can heal
ourselves if we lose.
 
 
What to practise first?
 
As a total newbie (level below 5) you should practise parry and a weapon
class. Good weapon choise is slashing (longsword, broadsword)
 
The following spells are more or less must, and you can practise them at low
levels: Armour, Create food, Bless, Blindness, Strength, Sense life, Remove
poison, Breath of Briskness.
 
Once you master these you can be of great help for other classes while getting
more levels. Blindness and Breath of briskness (bob) should be practised to
maximum soon as you can, while others are fine at around 40-60%.
 
 
High level spells
 
For offensive spells (to be practised after level 10) you have two choices.
You can go mage way and practise a mage spell like Lightning bolt or Colour
spray. Or you can practise cleric spells Dispel evil and Harm. I have tried
both with pretty much the same results. It is true that if you practise only
clerical offensive spells you will have pracs left for other skills. If you
are going to get Colour spray I strongly courage you to get Store as well to
get the best out of it. No matter what offensive spell you are going to get,
make sure you practise it all the way to 100%. This is also true for other
high level spells mentioned here:
 
Dispel Evil, level 12
The damage from this spell depends on your alignment, the target's align, and
the zone align. For maximum damage cast it on a very evil mobile in a very
good zone while having very good align.
 
Sanctuary, level 13
This spell will give you a protection so that every hit or spell can only
cause a certain amount of damage on you. It can also be casted on others and
is very useful against big supermobs when you are high level.
 
Heal, level 14
This will heal 100 hitpoint from anyone it is casted on and must be practised
by all clerics.
 
Harm, level 15
This is also used by almost all clerics. It is an offensive spell causing
a great deal of damage. Funny thing about this spell is that it will never
take hitpoints below 1, so it is impossible to kill anything with this spell.
 
 
Transport spells
 
If you don't know areas very well, you should practise Word of Recall. This
spell will take you to the nearest "safe" place defined by the builder of the
area. It can be handy when you get lost mapping a new area. Once you are high
level and know your ways around, you really don't need any transport spells
for yourself. Least I don't. Get Transfer if you want to be helpful and
transfer other people though.
 
 
Equipment
 
Clerics are stronger than mages, so they sometimes have two options when it
comes to clothing. The most common one is to wear light leather equipment to
get maximum dodge bonus, and the other one is to wear metal. I would not
suggest using metals until you are experienced enough to actuire good metal 
equipment and know the benefits and losses you get with them.
 
One alternative for the traditional weaponry is to use bows. You don't need
any additional skills to do it if you practise blind. I have recently written
a whole separate book on the subject, copies should be available at least in
library of Greyhavens.
 
 
If you have questions, feel free to write and ask.