On the Merits of Clerics

That's right. No pick.

 

Hmm that's interesting i got a rare every single time so i assumed it was locked down... well my additions to the wiki are pointless then :#
did you at least get a rare?

 

I honestly don't remember, but I know I don't have a pick.

 

Still not quite there. I keep getting to 1 star left to win.

 

I did it!

Party here:

Dumthaggrong
Level 6 Dwarf Priest

Blessed Branch​

Long Axe Of Repentance​

Thick Healer's Hide​

Cover Shield​

Tough Fencer's Boots​

Blessed Demon Claw​

Medallion Of St. Beldar​

Novice Piety​

​

Drenggrund
Level 1 Dwarf Priest

Club Of Wrath​

Thick Hide Boots​

Tarnished Goblin Skull​

​

Grungghalskrat
Level 1 Dwarf Priest

Club Of Wrath​

Thick Hide Boots​

Uncertain Juju​

​

Never really had issues with anything but the final fight, of course, but things that helped there:

1. Thick Hide Boots - Being able to stave off burning damage Thick Hide Armor (Armor 2, Keep) helped a lot, but the fact that this card doubles as a single move card allowed me to close in on stuff I couldn't otherwise reach.
2. Club of Wrath on both Level 1s - They have 13 cards total, so with 2 cards out of 13 being Violent Overswings, they came up fairly frequently.
3. Bad Medicine - Long range damage, deals 4 over time, leaving the Imps with 6 HP (can be finished off with Bludgeon or Reaching Swing + Frenzy/Misguided Heal)
4. Rushing/Positioning - I drew a couple heals, and a Healing Presence, which meant I could rush the victory area; this caused some of the Imps to back off and made positioning to avoid/spread out their damage easier

All I got was a rare treasure tho.
/sadface

 

You also get our most earnest congratulations.

Thanks for managing the stunt. The rest of us can only imagine how tasty the 5 gold from that rare treasure must be.

 

Idea!

So there's some issue with the level of awesomeness that Priests can dish out by themselves. Specifically, they seem dedicated to support: if you add more Priests to a party, the party seems to get WEAKER, as the Priests have fewer attacks by themselves and they are no longer (e.g.) boosting Warriors.

Solutions are best when they fit the problem . . .

Remember those cards that give a bonus to "all Elves"? I think there's an "all Elves get to move" card, and "all Elves draw" or something. If you add more Elves to a party, those cards get BETTER.

Can we put two and two together?

Consider a series of cards for "all Priests get Frenzy 4," "all Priests draw a card; discard it if it isn't an attack; keep drawing until you have drawn two attacks," and even weird stuff like "when you play this attack, all other Priests may make the same attack." THIS would be the "holy crusader" build, with card titles that play off that theme ("Crusading Frenzy," "Holy Mob Scene," maybe even "Inquisition"). Suddenly a three-Priest party is awesome: it can go on the offense specifically because there aren't other classes to support.

Whaddaya think? Huh? Huh?

 

Couldn't clauses like that be added to the existing cards? So, say "All allies, including this one, gain Frenzy 2. Priests gain Frenzy 4." Or should it just be separated off into individual cards? Granted, that wouldn't work for all of your (cool) ideas.

 

I too finished the all-Priest challenge on Ruby Portal. Reward: another copy of Blessed Demon Claw. I understand that these rewards are not necessarily meant to be unique, but I was hoping that they would at least be special relative to the supposed level of the mission. I had three of those by the time I finished the Trog caves.

Thick Hide Armor and Reliable Hide Armor made the day, and I failed when I didn't draw them early enough. Unholy Wellspring was helpful even with just one copy among my three Priests. That card prompted the first time I really stopped to think about, "If I give Maya the damage boosters, which attacks will she be powering up on the other two?" Of course I did misuse the Wellspring at one ignoble moment when I knocked out my own ally from a Misguided Heal, but we all learn from our mistakes.

I was expecting Priests to have some kind of Holy/Unholy attack magic much sooner in the game. Something along the lines of Tiny Smite (Holy, Damage 2, Range 3) or Small Fist of Wrath (Arcane, Damage 2, Range 2, Knock back 1). These would not have to be so common to find as other classes' attacks, but even one offensive magic on a low-level Divine Item would go a long way toward giving Priests some early choices without necessarily destroying their buff-support focus.

 

Bad Medicine has become my go-to "attack spell" for clerics. I'd take more holy poison options or some earlier unholy items. I'm floating around level 8 and still can't commit a cleric to unholy nearly as well as holy.

 

Hey, that's from PoxNora!

~

Another idea would be to give Priests more draws, even if they are not sure things. Say, Minor Heal has a Draw on a roll of 4+. That way, the Priest rolls through the deck slightly faster on cards.

 

I think Altruism mostly satisfies this, but always like seeing more draw. The problem will still remain with the sheer number of non-attack spells you'll likely cycle through while you wait for that one Bludgeon.

I could envision an unholy tree of cleric magic which would lose the holy card drawing abilities in leu of lifesteal and debuff. The cards are already sort of around, just not early or all that frequent. Maybe I just need to play more!

 

Yes, I was really expecting to see something more potent on early Divine Items than the Unholy Frenzy and Misguided Healing I used to kill an Imp. Touch Of Death is great, but I only got it recently.

Given all the "demonic" powers, the flavor is clearly around. "An unholy tree of cleric magic" starting at lower levels, as you say, would be a handy way to proceed.

I do still like the idea of "give benefits to other Priests" cards, just like the "Elf" ones. The latter are an interesting strategic idea and make up for possible weaknesses among Elves; why not do so for Priests? (Though I'm now envisioning a triple Elf Priest party. Hmm . . . )

 

Good to see you, too, soko!