Priest build

[Valenus]

Hey guys

I have made a great many fighters and even a few wizards and their builds are fairly straight forward. A priest's build is different however. there are so many different things that a priest needs and I am afraid I will end up making a jack of all trades and a master of none. Can anyone offer me any advice as to a few builds for a priest?

[Tavik]

Suggesting how to build a character is a hard one, especially in a RP intensive game. There's never really any 'wrong' way to build a character (granted, you can do some things that just don't make sense, but those are pretty obvious). I know my characters, and I'm sure others will agree, tend to build themselves. I create the mindset and background for the character and play them to those attributes and where the character goes from there just sort of happens without much guiding on my part.

I don't really want to tell you "Take this feat and not that. Learn these spells, don't waste your time with those" and so on. What I've generally found is that by playing the character for a little while and going the 'jack of all trades' route to start with, I tend to identify an open niche that interests me and that ends up guiding the build.

The bottom line here is not to get too wrapped up in trying to create the perfect character. Make something that interests you and that you are going to have fun with.

[Valenus]

I plan to RP with every character. However I dont want to RP out begging for others to help me travel constantly because a bandit could kill my lvl 45 priest An exaggeration, but I think you know what I'm saying. I want to make a character that is fun to RP but also is good for more things than just being a walking arrow catcher.

[Athon]

It all depends on how you want to RP your priest. Just because this is an RP mud, doesn't mean you can't tailor your character around your playstyle.

I'd recommend keeping your CHA fairly high in any case. It's the best stat in terms of RP. Also, I'd recommend 18 WIS so that you can get a +1 WIS item (or sagacity) to cast level 9 spells.

Aside from CHA and WIS, the other stats can be adjusted in a lot of ways. Go STR and CON if you plan on playing more offensively (such as an evil cleric or any of the clerics that use a lot of melee combat). A priest that's pure defensive would probably be most effective with a higher CON and DEX.

All-in-all, though, priests need a good balance to their stats. And this is just my opinion and not law.

[Anguin]

I love my priest! But I would build him differently, today.

Max out your Wisdom. If you are planning on a fighting priest, using heavy armor, you want good Str and Con. I constantly regret not having a good Con. Don't bother with Dex, you won't get much out of it if you use heavy armor. Charisma only seems to be good to increase your turning ability.

[Selveem]

I agree with pretty much everyone else here; there's pretty much only one way to actually mess up a priest: low Wisdom. Since +1 bonuses to Wisdom are the highest of any item I've ever gotten, if you give yourself 16 Wisdom you've severely handicapped yourself. Of 9 levels of prayers, you'll innately only be able to cast up to level 6. The only way you'd reach level 9 spells would be sagacity prayer, so if you're dispelled you're going to be pretty weak.

Everything else for a Priest is fairly minimal in necessity. Even health now that healing is a small fraction of what it was, is less important as long as you have a good alias for healing and your group members actually know rescue.

I don't agree with most that Dex isn't really important to a priest. There are a lot of touch attack spells that rely on Dex bonus to AC and a Priest's Reflex save is also their lowest gaining save. The other stats can be righted with prayers like Bulls Strength, but Priests do not get Slink.

As far as feats, I highly recommend tailoring to your own personal preference. Priests get so few feats (since the correction of feat gains was lowered properly) and there are so few feats that the differences are pretty negligible. Spellcasting Prodigy only gives two extra spell slots no matter what (because spell slots are based on primary casting stat), but personally I like Persistent Spell as a Priest. Does it give you a big advantage? No, but I don't like casting buffs on myself repeatedly.

[Nysan]

How to build a priest, Nysan edition:

Step 1: Ask yourself what your priest will be. Battle priest? Group healer? Prayer/Skill Teacher? Craftsman? Religious Zealot?

Step 2: Besides a high Wis, decide what stats and feats are needed for your answer to Step 1. Any feat need Int, Cha, ect? Battle priest need a solid Con? What stats are used for the Craftsman's trades?

Step 3: What spells benefit your choose path? You don't NEED to train every prayer on your list. So take a moment to sit back and think about what would really build on your path and what is a shiny babble you trained for fun.

Step 4: What religion matches your path? Priest, above nearly every class except paladin, demands a fitting faith. This is not really something you need to decide before you create the character, but the sooner you give this one serious thought, the better. The list of spells open to a non-faith priest is not that impressive, to the sadness of non-coded faiths.

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These are by no means a set in stone method or anything, merely my thought process to building a priest... or at least my thought process after years of reflecting on Nysan's shortcomings. If it helps someone out, great. Enjoy.

[Mele]

I'm actually sort of known for my (annoying) affinity to play Priests, and have had some fairly strong ones if I do say so. ;) (Read: Daunyelle/Lunette)

Unlike everyone above I actually quite literally -never- spend points on CON. Consistently, and I couldn't even tell you why, I max CHA > WIS > STR > INT. Every time, and for some reason that tend to work out very well for how I personally play! (I'm not talking roleplay, we're all aware this is a roleplay mud ;) I mean how I use the mechanical part of the MUD part. ;) )

I think you best bet is to feel it out, it depends on a lot of things to do with how you'll play, what spells you'll get, etc.

I've always felt like the skills were the more important part in survival as a Priest. Someone once said to me for my first level 50, a bard "Never forget you have cures" and since then I've always taken special attention towards cures on any alt of mine, which has left for much greater survivability IMO. But this is my style to play - to max cures and attacks so things die fast and more potent cures require less of them. It's how my brain ticks on what to do, and how to react in situations without much time to react. You have to tailor it to your train of thought, and reaction time.

[Valenus]

Ever since I dove into the Forgotten Realms books I have had an extreme urge to make a Drow priestess of Lloth. A combat based priest of course, nothing else would even come close to fitting the characters in those books if you guys have ever read them. I think I could really get into the RP with this character and just didn't want to mess it up since I have never made a priest before. If you guys have any more suggestions I would love to hear them. I hope I haven't annoyed too many of you.

[Nysan]

Minor addition: Aliases help very much for a healer type. Typing mcc instead of "cast 'mass cure critical'" can mean all the difference in the larger fights. Not really build related, but a useful tool any caster should at least dabble in.