Raising a Cleric in
Norrath
(up
to 11th level anyway...)
(revised 4/12/99)
What Do I Do First?
Pretty much the same thing that everyone does. Get used to the interface, go see your priest/priestess, train 1-Handed Blunt five times and then go kill things.
The only difference here is that you will also have two spell scrolls in your inventory. You should immediately scribe those into your spellbook and then memorize them for use in the field. These are your CHIEF ADVANTAGE at early levels, so get 'em set up right away.
You scribe your spells by opening your spellbook (left-click the book image), then left-click the scroll and left-click one of the empty spots on a page in the book. Then watch (patiently) while the spell is slowly scribed into the book. (Have no fear, this process gets much faster at higher levels.)
To memorize the spell, left-click the spell in your spellbook and then left-click one of the eight empty "spell slots" to the left of your book. You can only memorize eight spells at a time, but this isn't important right now because you only have two spells. Memorize both of them.
The two spells you get are usually Courage and Minor Healing.
Courage boosts your armor rating a bit (usually about 5 points), so you should always keep that spell going. You can also cast it on anyone that will hold still long enough so that you can train your Abjuration skill up.
Minor Healing is your great Band-Aid and you should keep yourself at full hit points as much as you can. You can also practice this spell on other folks because Healing is one of your primary clerical duties (and besides...it's a great way to make people happy that you're around).
Now you're ready to go kill rats, bats, and snakes. Do so. But be sure to /con (or right-click) them first. DON'T attack anything that's yellow or red...unless you really WANT to go pick up your corpse later.
Okay, I'm Level 1 now. What do I do?
Get back out there and start swinging some more. You need to swing that club a LOT. Take some time out to meet folks and keep the game interesting, but go kill, kill, kill. When you get enough cash to afford another spell, Strike is a good option. That way you can train your Evocation skill, as well as become able to "lure" a monster from range. (When you attack it with your spell, it will come running to you. This makes hunting a LOT easier and it can be used strategically.)
The only other spell that CAN be useful at this level is Divine Aura. When you are getting killed, this spell makes you invulnerable for 30 seconds. It will *never* seem like enough time and you can't attack or cast spells while invulnerable, but you CAN run like a girly man and possibly get to a zone or guard in time to avoid sure death. However, I have RARELY ever saved myself with this spell and can't recommend it highly.
By the way...don't rely on your offensive magic too much. Resist the temptation to blast away at stuff. You *need* to learn to use your club/staff/whatever. Learn both 1H-Blunt and 2H-Blunt. They are both useful.
If you find a 2H worn great staff, this is the best weapon you're going to get for a while. At that point, I recommend going and spending five of your practices on 2H Blunt (to get a jumpstart) and then going out and whacking things...a lot.
Level 2-3. Whoopee.
Not much difference here. Keep killing things. You may start killing goblin whelps now, and occasionally take on a spiderling or two. Be careful though to keep right-clicking monsters and checking their strength. It's very easy to get out of your depth at this time.
This is also a good time to point out that dying can actually save you money at this point in your life. How? When you die, you get five food and five water again. So...if you start running out of food/water, you may want to consider taking on some heavy powered monsters. If you win, well then the xp bonus is nice. If you die (more likely), then you are now fed and watered again. Just be sure to die near your respawn point so you can easily claim your body again.
Level 4
Notice that I have *not* recommended buying new spells. I know that you want to...but don't. You'll need the cash later. Just keep socking it away for now. Trust me. You're going to be poor for a loooooong time. Don't blow your cash now.
Remember those practices that you DID NOT spend on levels 2 and 3? Okay...spend *one* of them now. Put it into Channeling. This skill allows you to cast your spells more quickly, thus making it harder for monsters to interrupt your spell casting and making you able to pump more spells out in less time (important when trying to heal that warrior that's protecting your hide). It will train up quickly in the field, never fear.
After that hoard your practices for another level.
Level 5
Important note: This is the level where death means a great deal. You will begin to take greater and greater experience points losses each time you die at successively higher levels. This means that you now need to start grouping with other characters to increase your chances of survival (you don't have to do so...but it makes your life a lot easier). You have been making friends with other folks up until now, haven't you?
It's about this time that you might want to spend some of that hoarded cash that you've been saving on some player created patchwork armor. You should avoid the merchants for armor...you can usually get a better deal from players...you need to save your moeny.
This is another good level for you. This one gives you access to second level spells, which is where you start to shine. Here are the spells that I recommend you purchase right away:
Holy Armor: This raises your armor rating by 5 points and can be used in conjunction with Courage to give you a 10 AR bonus. You can also cast both these spells on other folks and "buff" them for battle. A very useful thing when keeping those warriors alive. (Remember, they are the wall of steel between you and the bad guys...)
Light Healing: This will pretty much make Minor Healing obsolete for you. I never used Minor Healing again once I got it myself. Be sure to pracitce using the F1-F6 hot keys for targeting your party members and make sure to put this spell on your hotkey pad. That way you can heal that warrior by hitting F2, then the hotkey number. Afterward, quickly hit F8 (for target nearest enemy) and you're back in business hitting the sucker with your club. Such is the true magic behind a cleric...quick use of your hotkeys.
Summon Drink: You can't get free food/water anymore by dying. So...you NEED this spell. Why? You NEED to not spend your hard-earned cash on such petty affairs as water. Those Rank 3 spells are EXPENSIVE and you need to save up for them.
Ward Undead: This might seem supeflous to you now, but trust me...undead are the one thing that clerics excel at solo'ing. You MUST HAVE this spell in order to be king of the undead killers. You might not need it right away. But you DO need it.
Also, if you are planning on learning a trade skill, this is a good skill level to dump 10 practices into it as a starting point. You can put more into it if you want to, but they'll start costing money after that, so watch your cash carefully...you'll need every copper soon.
Level 6-7
You'll find that your toughness is rapidly advancing now. You'll be able to continuously face new challenges all the time, and you'll die several times along the way as you bite off more than you can chew. Don't worry about it. It's part of the game. Go get your corpse and start again.
Again...keep resisting those tempting spells. And keep saving those practices.
Sometime during these levels, you probably want to pick up Furor. Furor is similar to Strike, but does more damage at a higher mana cost (20). However, it's nice to get that first blow in at range, before the monster can hit you, and I ended up liking it a lot better than Strike.
Level 8...now you're cookin' with gas!
This level gets you the biggest skill you're going to gain for the whole game...Meditate! Use ONE (only one) practice on Meditate to learn the basics of it. Now, everytime you sit down to recover mana, open your spellbook and hit that MEDITATE button. And then...zing!...watch your mana bar go up (as well as your Meditate skill level).
I have been told that the longer you meditate in one sitting, the faster your mana goes up. I can't prove that this is true, but it seems to be true. So, use your mana down to one bubble or so and then sit down for a long spell of meditation...you should see a slight reduction in the total time you meditate that way.
However, this is NOT a good strategy when in a combat situation. If that's the case, then you should meditate at EVERY POSSIBLE MOMENT. If the monster is about to get killed, then don't waste time swinging at it when your warriors have the situation in hand. Back away from the fight, plunk your butt down, and pump out a few "ohms". By the time they're done looting, you may have recovered as much as a half bubble of mana. This can make you MUCH more effective in the long run. If you're having a conversation with someone...don't be shy. Sit right down and start meditating. You can talk just fine without being able to see anything except your spellbook.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When meditating, you must always be ready to hit that DONE key. This will close your spellbook and stand you up. If a monster attacks you while meditating, this makes responding as quick as 1) hitting DONE, 2) slapping the F8 key, and 3) facing the monster that's attacking you. You must be able to do this quickly.
Level 9. PowerPlay time!
Ahhhh...Rank 3 spells. Finally. You're gonna love this.
Run...don't walk...to your local priest and buy the following spells (you have been saving your money, haven't you?):
Summon Food: Yup. Yet another way to save money. And, yes, you still desperately need cash, so this is still important.
Center: This spell obsoletes your Courage spell, but you won't mind. This spell not only adds 5AR (as Courage did), but also increases your hit points by 40-50 points. Not only do you need this, but your warrior friends MUST have this spell on them while fighting.
Hammer of Wrath: You didn't buy a non-rusty or worn weapon, did you? Good. Because now you can SUMMON ONE. Not only is it faster, but it does 6 points of damage and can affect monsters that can only be hit by magic weapons.
Root: I used to think this was a critical spell. It is...but only in certain situations. If you're not attacking green monsters, they won't run that often. However, if you adventure in a setting like Blackburrow or Crushbone, Root can save your life by preventing "runners" from escaping combat and going to get more powerful brothers to come back and kick your keester all over the place. When the "runners" take off, then root them in place and let your warriors take them out.
If I had to pick an absolute order to buy these spells in, I would choose Center, Summon Food, Hammer of Wrath, Root. Groups are always your best bet as a Cleric and Center is a group's best friend.
Level 10-11 (the limit of Tharkor's actual experience)
In theory, you should be holding those practices back again, and waiting for the Dodge skill that is coming to you at Level 15.
Also, go check the prices on your Rank 4 spells and start saving up for spells that you KNOW you're going to want (like Bind Affinity, Symbol of Transal, and Cancel Magic).
Also, you should probably loosen the purse strings a bit and go back to get some of the spells that you didn't get before (you didn't get them, did you?) Spells you should pick up now that you're fighting tougher monsters are:
Cure Poison: Spiders, snakes, etc., will start doing nasty poisoning things to your party. You need to be able to cure them. Don't be surprised when the tough poisons take multiple casts of this spell to dispel completely (for instance, Asp poison will take three casts of the spell to cure).
Cure Disease: Plague Rats suck. They're tough, they have no loot, and they plague everything they attack. But they're great xp and you're going to fight a bunch of them if you go to Steamfont. You will absolutely require this spell for that trip.
Lull: This isn't critical, but can be used strategically to placate a monster while attacking one close to it. This is especially useful if you're soloing a lot.
Gate: If you have wanderlust, you can greatly increase your radius of exploration if you can just gate back home whenever you choose. It's tough to use this to get out of sticky situations (although I have done so occasionally), but it can be very useful if you're wandering far afield with a friend and if that friend dies. You can then scoop up all his stuff, and gate back home and hand him his stuff. This can save a VERY long trip for him.
Combat Tactics
Always, always, always have your melee attack going when fighting a monster. In fact, start your swinging going BEFORE you cast that first Strike spell to lure the monster to you. Casting spells does NOT reduce the number of times you hit in melee combat with your club, hammer, or staff. Therefore, when soloing, you keep that club swinging, while you hit your Strike hotkey over and over again until the spell works.
Keep in mind that if you burn all your mana when soloing then you can't cast a strategic heal or divine aura. You'll need to juggle your mana strategies for your own personal style.
In groups, you should RARELY use offensive magics. It's very tempting to use them because they're flashy. But you will almost always be more effective reserving your mana for heals, buffs, and roots. Just keep swinging that hammer. Besides, your fighters can probably do more damage with their swords than you can with Furor anyway. The one exception to this is if you're fully charged and your warriors are knee deep in combat with multiple opponents. That can be a good time to drag out that Word of Pain spell (see below).
And practice those hotkeys. You must be able to target any friend at any time and then be able to retarget the monster as quickly as possible. The less time you have to take between these switches, the more effective you will be.
Practice your timing. You must NOT be moving when attempting to cast a spell. In fact, you should stop, count "one thousand and one" and then cast. Trying to stop and cast right away can cause frustrating "Your spell has been interrupted" messages that can cost you valuable time. And when soloing, you'll want to try to time your spell so it is cast in between the swings of the opponent monster. So...wait to get hit, then start the spell immediately thereafter, and (hopefully), you'll get the spell off before the next monster swing. It takes practice, but it works.
Your MOST IMPORTANT Duties
This is getting its own section because it's absolutely the most important thing for you. You, and you only, are responsible for the health and well-being of your party members. You are their shepherd and keeping them alive is more important than ANYTHING else. Not loot, not glory, not anything.
Therefore, you must do the following at all times:
1) Watch all party member health bars. Learn your hotkeys by number and use them without having to refer to the visuals. You need to keep your eyes glued to those health bars.
2) Back off from a fight occasionally and do a 360-degree turn to make sure your group is not getting mobbed by other monsters. You are their only early warning system. Act like it.
3) You are usually going to be the tactician for the group. Why? Because when your mana starts to run dry, you need to continue to act as the cleric. This means telling people (IN ALL CAPS) that they need to back off and run when you're all tapped out and they're low on health. If a train is coming, then YOU need to be the one to yell "RETREAT RETREAT" three or four times until your warriors notice it. (This is a smart thing to keep on a Socials hotkey.)
4) You should always let the fighters get the first few blows in on a monster so that it stays focused on them rather than you. If a monster decides to kill you instead of them, you'll be absolutely no good to anyone if you're dead.
5) On the other hand, if you're tapped low on mana and a warrior starts to get hammered hard, then you should wade in, start whacking on the monster so it notices you and tell the warrior to "BACK AWAY SO IT ATTACKS ME" (again in all caps, so he can see it). Spreading the damage around is almost as good as healing it and, while you're not that good at dealing damage, you can suck it up with the best of them.
Spell Musings
Below is a complete list of the spells that I've used and my general impressions of them.
First Rank Spells
Strike: Very useful for luring monsters. Pretty lousy as a way of actually killing monsters. But, boy o boy, have I used the heck out of this to bring monsters to me.
Minor Healing: Learn it, love it, live it.
Flash of Light: I keep pretending to myself that this spell is useful for clerics. Pretty much though...it's not. You won't notice any difference fighting a monster that's blinded as opposed to one that's not. (Or, if you do, you have a more discriminating eye than I do.) The only good use I've found for it so far, is that it is the TAUNT of all taunts. If you use it on a monster in a group battle, the monster will almost ALWAYS attack you. This can be useful if your fighter is almost dead and you're very low on mana. (Remember...spreading the damage out amongst everyone is almost as good as healing it in the first place.)
Courage: You'll use it all the time. You won't notice that much difference in your defensive power, but you should always keep it up.
Cure Poison: Not really useful until fighting tough monsters who use poison a lot. Then, it goes from being useless to absolutely critical.
Sense Magic: I have NEVER needed this spell. It's probably more useful once you start adventuring in dungeons at a higher level.
Divine Aura: This spell is really attractive, but just isn't very easy to cast usefully. I don't recommend it highly. It's a better practice to just stay out of fights you can't win anyway.
Lull: Sometimes useful when soloing. Occasionally useful in groups. Pretty much not useful in most situations.
Spook the Undead: Why would you ever need this spell? hehehe. I have a hard enough time chasing monsters down in the first place. Okay, okay...it's useful if you're getting hammered and losing. But by that time, you're usually very low on mana and Spook doesn't always work the first time (or second or third time either), and you can end up wasting those precious mana points. Divine Aura is more useful than this spell, and you already know my opinion of that spell...
Yaulp: I didn't talk about this spell in the level sections. However, it increases your strength for a short (15 second) duration. During that time, you will do more damage with your melee weapon. Not much more. But 2-3 points per swing can go a long way. This is useful at low levels, but you'll find yourself saving those mana points for other spells once you get above 5th level or so. All in all, there are better uses for your cash than buying this spell.
Second Rank Spells
Holy Armor: Get it. With it, you're friends with every fighter everywhere. Without it...well, you're a walking band aid.
Furor: Stronger than Strike, but costing more mana. It seems to be a better bang for the buck than Strike, so I obsoleted Strike and used exclusively from the time I got it.
Light Healing: Again, get it, learn it, love it, live it. This will obsolete Minor Healing. I originally kept both of them memorized under the theory that I could use Minor Healing when someone only needed a few hit points healed. But the truth of the matter is that this rarely happens. People either get hammered, or they don't need healing. I ended up scrapping the spell so that I could keep one of the eight slots open for other spells.
Gate: Useful. Not important. Not useful that often...but darn it...it's cool. hehehe.
Summon Drink: One of the few ways you can actually savemoney. Get it right away.
Cure Blindness: At 11th level, I never needed, nor purchased this spell. I'm sure that one day I am going to regret that decision. But I have no idea when or where.
Cure Disease: As discussed above, you will need this spell. Whether facing plague rats or putrid skeletons, you will get diseased and it takes a LONG time for diseases to go away without this spell.
Reckless Strength: Somebody needs to tell me if this is a good spell or not. I haven't used it yet because the description said something about your strength dropping down below its normal level as the effect wears off. This seems dangerous to me, but if the initial boost is high enough, you might be able to do some serious melee damage when using it and this could be a good soloing spell.
Stun: Virtually useless. Yes, it stuns your opponent. Yes, you can get some free whacks in while they're stunned. But it costs 60 MANA to cast this sucker. It is NOT worth the points in battle. If you must use offensive magic, then use Root and run away, or cast Furor instead.
Ward Undead: You can do *major* points of damage (I did 38 pts at 9th lvl, and 40 at 10th lvl), to the undead of your choice. This is one of your best, most useful spells.
Third Rank Spells
Summon Food: Get it. Money is good. Spending it is not.
Center: Raises your AR by five or so and gives 40-50 hp to the recipient. Very, very useful buff spell. It takes a lot of mana, but you should always make sure your front line fighters have this spell cast on them.
Sense the Dead: Pretty useful when soloing. When you cast it, the spell automatically faces you toward the nearest undead. Unfortunately, the undead may be out of your range of sight and might be moving. If you follow a straight path after getting oriented by the spell, you may still not find your chosen foe because it might have moved laterally to your direction. Ah, well...it still increases your likelihood of finding the suckers so you can Ward them.
Invigor: Never used it. Never saw a real need to renew stamina in anyone. I've heard that at higher levels, when fights can go on for VERY long times, being able to recharge Stamina might be important. But, you get stamina back awfully quick by just stopping for a sec. I never saw a use for the spell.
Hammer of Wrath: Get it. 'Nuff said.
Endure Fire: At 11th level, the only monster I fought that used fire was drakes. And their fire wasn't that tough. This is probably more useful at higher levels (much like Cure Poison didn't become useful until 8th level or so).
Endure Poison: Didn't get this one, but if it prevents your fighters from being poisoned as easily, it's a middling useful spell. It'd be hard to reserver a slot for it though. However, you could sit down, do a quick memorize, buff everyone with the endure, and then rememorize something more useful for the actual fight...
Fear: Much like Spook the Undead...it's just not that useful. If you're in a situation that's so dire that you need to use this spell, you probably don't have the mana to cast it anymore.
Root: Described above, this is the "runner rooter". Very useful in congested monster situations.
Word of Pain: This does more damage than Furor, but can only be used at close range and has a very high mana cost. So...against single monsters, it's not near as effective as Furor. HOWEVER...it is a radius spell, so it can damage all monsters around the target. Here's how you should use it...target one of your fighters who's knee deep in trouble, cast Word of Pain on HIM. This will damage all the monsters around him, but will not hurt him (unless you are flagged -PvP). Then...get ready to run...you probably really pissed off all those monsters.
Soothe: This is Lull on steroids. I haven't tried it yet. It might be more useful at this level than it was earlier, simply because even groups can't afford to get hit by some of the really big critters you're going to start fighting (like giants, mammoths, etc.)