The Hidden Forest

I played a Cleric on Live for way too many years to count, and in another game that I play, I run a priest-class, as well. Don't ask me why, maybe I like having the power of Life, Death or Repeated Purple-Bar over another character in my diabolical, coffee-swilling little hands....

But I was wondering if there was a way to give the player-run Clerics here a few "goodies" to make them a bit more attractive to actually -play- as opposed to using as a "pocket healer" when a bot isn't an option?

Mierrie, the original "Cranky Cleric(tm)" is hoping for a Cleric-only damage shield. Nothing as potent as a Magician's or a Druid's, for I understand how those two classes would feel if yet another class had usurped part of their "thunder". But something to help peel off the mob's hitpoints when they are out soloing with their bot, because the gods know that melee-ing and Smiting a mob to death takes a long, long time...even with a Pallybot helping. On Live, Clerics had access to the player-made potions and let me tell you, I kept the local alchemists in business and quite wealthy with what I spent for those potions.

I do know that at higher levels, Clerics get the "Mark" series of spells, which are, in essence, reverse damage shields as in the "Mark" is cast upon the mob and does additional damage to the mob whenever it strikes another player. But that's further on down the line.

I believe that Clerics do -not- need a haste item or spell, when you look at "Yaulp" and that pretty little Silvery Belt of Contention that can be looted in the lower levels and which Mierrie is still searching for.

But a self-only damage shield or perhaps a more potent "nuke" for those of us who consider ourselves to be "Battle Clerics" would be incredibly sweet to have.

And please, don't suggest that I create a Druid bot to hang out with my Cleric if I want a damage shield that bad. While I have a bot running behind my characters, it's not always my preferred style of play, and no Druid is going to tank as well as my PallyBot, no matter what they think.

Like I said, this was just a small Wish List. Thanks for reading and not laughing hysterically at me.

It's very true that clerics don't solo well. My Cleric now can bust our 400+ DPS sometimes, but still he just doesn't get the job done - but a cleric has always been that way. Sure, I could solo, but I don't because it takes forever (like what you said, with a damage shield). However, you can get an item in Guk that gives you a clickie 40 pt damage shield and it is tradeable.

Other than a damage shield, did you have any other ideas on improving a cleric's ability to solo? I personally don't - I'm not good at the imagination department anyways

Well, a bigger "nuke" would be a good start, one that does NOT have a long cast-time. Either that or a zone or two with a whole lot of undead mobs, because nothing beats a Cleric when it comes to killing undead, except for a Paladin. As you know, Clerics have some undead-only spells, such as the "Sermon" line, which are DoTs, as well as undead-only Fear and I think nuke.

Mana-regen isn't that much of an issue anymore. Neither is spellcasting speed.

Perhaps a few items, such as shield that we can use, with some Cleric-skewed focus effects, so we can have something worthwhile in our off-hand that we can Bash with.

But now I'm kind of curious as to player-made potions, here. Because if potions were available, that would eliminate the need to do anything more to the class, for damage shields would be just a bottle away...

catthib wrote:Well, a bigger "nuke" would be a good start, one that does NOT have a long cast-time. Either that or a zone or two with a whole lot of undead mobs, because nothing beats a Cleric when it comes to killing undead, except for a Paladin. As you know, Clerics have some undead-only spells, such as the "Sermon" line, which are DoTs, as well as undead-only Fear and I think nuke.

What level are ya? at 70 you should try the ssra basement killing the skeletons. Kilmer (paladin) slaughters those mobs and he's gone from gimp to top aa'd toon in a matter of months. Damn slay undead!

Right now, my Cleric is 33. Too young to have the "Mark" spells, or any of the slightly better nukes. I ran a Cleric all the way up in levels on Live and elsewhere on Emu servers, so I know they do get a bit better as they level, but for now the frustration is making me whine for a few things.

dont forget that clerics have the advantage of having one badass cleric bot later on, i mean look at jerant hes one beast of a cleric, but then he does have the dwarf advantage

catthib wrote:Right now, my Cleric is 33. Too young to have the "Mark" spells, or any of the slightly better nukes. I ran a Cleric all the way up in levels on Live and elsewhere on Emu servers, so I know they do get a bit better as they level, but for now the frustration is making me whine for a few things.

Do you have crushbone leggings? Unless the click was changed, they summon a great cleric pet that really helps with lvling up until lvl 50 or so.

Thanks for your feedback. Input from lower level players is not given as frequent so it's even more valuable

Anyways - do you remember the name of the potions? It would give me an idea to start from. Also, it is very possible to put in a lower level version of the Mark series , lets say 30+. That's a good idea really.

On the other hand, there are lots of things in game that make the Lifes of everyone easier. Starting in Crush/Paludal over to the Toys found in Guk or CoM these days.

The name of the damage shield potions is "Distillate of Skinspikes" and it spans from level 1 to level 13, made via the Alchemy skill. They varied in how much damage they did per hit plus how long they lasted. The lower levelled potions lasted 15 minutes, and the higher levelled potions lasted for half an hour.

As for Cleric pets? The best Cleric pet was -always- a Warrior, no matter who says what. Except for that whole "defective taunt" thing that seems to occur whenever the Warrior would be mad at the Cleric....

Now to go hunting for some more toys for her....

Next reload will have a Mark of Thel spell, (think lev35ish). First of the Mark of Karn series.