The Future of Clerics

[infernofrost]

I didn't see anything about this, sorry if there is.

 

Now that we've been told that there will be minimal, if any, healing in the game and no real resurection (besides necromatic forms) I'm currious what they will do with the Cleric class.

 

Classically clerics are your healers and rez masters, along with a lot of magic/turning abilities against the undead. Now that the first part (and the only real part why I ever rolled them in my parties) is gone, what will be their main focus?

 

I have a few ideas as to where they might lead/be useful, as well as a couple things that I think would be poor choices for them.

 

What I'd like to see....

 

1. Undead destroyers: Since there will still be undead/demonic/evil creatures, clerics might be used as a wrecking ball against them, having immunities and being able to overcome their immunity/reductions as well. I like this idea because turning was nice sometimes but only worked on groups of low level skeletons and such, never having much of an impact on equal or more difficult undead. This could also have different forms due to which god you pray, I did like that they gave you options about healing/dealing damage with good and evil priest spells in IWD and BG.

 

2. Impetuous servants: This form I imagine as being able to pull upon their faith to ignore penalties/maimed wounds. I really am interested in the new health/stamina system, and since there is a good potential for having maimed characters it would be a real strengh if one of the classes had the abiltie to ignore some/or all of their maimed wounds (for a time at least) This class could also inspire others to fight with them, acting as moral boosters, I would like this change for clerics because in my opinion they were always a support fighter that didn't very much but soak up damage, but to have them lead the charge would be very refreshing.

 

3. Drawing upon holy might!: This class would be more about spell casting than the other two, but with the exception that the spells would really follow the ideals and principals of their god, as in if you pick a peaceful god, you can cause enemies to passify out of the fight all together, or if you pick a god of strife then have spells that would cause the enemy to fight amongst themselves. These could also be a lot of buffer spells to help your teammates if they do want to keep the cleric closer to it's roots.

 

4. Spiritual Masters: Since souls are integeral to this universe it would be awesome to have someone who can interact with that realm on command. Imagine if you could contact the dead and ask questions that only they know (necro) or use the flow of souls to predict future events, listen to spirits for secerets, that sort of thing, evaluate souls by interacting with different people, see who they were, or could/will be.

 

What I don't want to see....

 

1. Healing by another name: As I said the new health system in cool as well as maiming/permadeath, but I would hate it if you fire up a cleric just to look at his abilities or spells and see things like "Second Wind" or "Burst of Vigor" where you will imediatly or very quickly replenish stamina. To me that's pretty much healing, I understand if there were one or two of these spells and they were unlocked a higher levels, but not every spell level/tier with greater effect at each. My point is that if they really want healing out and make this game a harsher/more down to earth fantasy (yeah I know that may not make a lot of sense to everyone) then don't have work arounds or essentially healing by a different name.

 

2. Alternate spellcaster: As I said, the real reason I ever rolled or added a priest was for healing and rez, the other spells that priests had usually focused on the undead (or at least did more damage to them when cast) or was used to buffer teammates (Bless, Chant, Defensive Harmony, Protection From Evil) I don't mind the buffers but I wouldn't want priests to just have a set of spells that are different from wizards and if you wanted access to these spells, then you have to pick up a priest. To me that's just two mages with different books.

 

3. i also don't want clerics to push too much into other classes, or reversely, have other classes take too much of a bite out of them now that they wont be able to heal/rez. I mean that Paladins are probably warrior zealots, monks are (in my mind) are very spiritual, barbarians can shrug off wounds and fight past when they should be dead.

 

I really hope that clerics go some interesting way or are very distinct. What would you like to see from clerics or think about their role in PE?

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

Are there clerics in this game? I must have missed that update...

[nikolokolus]

I'm assuming that priests will function like they have for a long time. They'll have stamina buffs and restoratives (which is a kind of psuedo healing) and then they'll have an array of spells and powers that are probably along the lines of the bless-type spells and some righteous fire-from-heaven stuff too.

[chisled2bone]

i imagine, atleast when i thought about it after the limited healing update, that they would be used to restore stamina mostly, but like they said you can have low health and full stamina and still die. So that doesnt definitely mean they are healed and wont die just because their stamina is restored

[Gecimen]

There are priests in the game and they can heal/protect others in terms of stamina. It's health that requires resting. And I'm not sure I like the existence of health since "resting" after each few battles takes away from tension.

[infernofrost]

Sorry! Read cleric as priest. True about the low stamina, so it might not be as bad if they are able to restore stamina.

[Tomlerone]

I have to butt in and point out that clerics, at least in D&D, were not necessarily "healers" or "rez masters", in fact you had to build them in a specific manner to make them such, and clerics were much more famous (or infamous) for their offensive builds, because they could buff themselves and debuff enemies, all while having decent offence and above average defence. Clerics made great healers, but that was by far not their main purpose.

 

Considering the stamina/health system, giving them stamina-replenishing abilities bears consequences different from just upping a character's vitality. As I understand it, you will use stamina for abilities, subsequently weakening yourself. While clerics could be given the chance to remedy that in the short-term, your health can still be dented, and that damage cannot be undone. Once your health hits 0, you can have full stamina and still go down. I honestly don't see the drawback of stamina-replenishing spells, in fact I think they're mandatory.

 

I do agree that they should have at least a few undead-based abilities, or spells that interact with souls. Knowing Obsidian, though, that's probably a given. It'll be interesting to see what's the line where a cleric ends and a necromancer begins; where the line is drawn, at what point manipulation of a soul becomes taboo. Besides it giving clerics interesting and unique abilities, it would also serve well to flesh out the universe further.

 

Personally, I'm hoping we will able to choose our own god when making a cleric, because that will give cleric characters a bit more identity. In terms of combat, if they maintain the identity of D&D clerics - mostly supportive spell-casters that can either be a walking tower of debility or a devastating debuff-and-destroy powerhouse.

[infernofrost]

Found this on the Reddit thread, that seems pretty strait forward so far, still hoping for some fun to play priests! (though as this was pointed out could just be my ignorance to how good priests/clerics were in the other games!)

 

squiddybiscuit

You mentioned in an interview that there is no resurrection, and very little healing, in Project Eternity. What exactly does that mean for the Priest, who is traditionally very big on those two things - will he basically be a combat focused class?

Also, assuming there are "undead" in the game, will there be a "soul" twist to them?

 

Obsidian_Ent

JESawyer: It means the priest can focus on party buffs and being directly involved in combat instead of being a healing battery. Also, priests can restore Stamina, but several classes have similar abilities. Health is the statistic that requires rest to recover.

There's a little bit about undead and necromancy in today's update.