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Comparison of Cleric Kits?

MaltaMalta Member Posts: 11
in Archive (General Discussion)
So we have the Alignment range of Clerics from Lathander to Helm to Talos. What are the major differences and which ones and is it possible to make a Fighting Cleric without muti classing?

Comments

  • LordsDarkKnight185LordsDarkKnight185 Member Posts: 615
    Well clerics are intended to be front-line fighting-men, they just wont do the damage straight fighters can. But for sacrificed damage you get the best healing ability.
  • wissenschaftwissenschaft Member Posts: 229
    The Lathander kits has a buff that gives you an extra attack. Very VERY useful for a pure cleric.
  • DragonspearDragonspear Member Posts: 1,838
    Also the Cleric of Helm gives you a special ability that lets you summon a sword that hits as a +4 weapon.
  • The_New_RomanceThe_New_Romance Member Posts: 839
    edited December 2012
    I think they are all viable. True Sight (Helm) is always good to have around, Seeking Sword is handy in the beginning (i.e. BG:EE). Talos' abilities are also rather useful (although I personally don't like the bouncy lightning bolt as it always seems to turn on me). Boon of Lathander is very strong, and Hold Undead is especially useful in BG2.

    For a fighting cleric, I'd say Lathander if you are okay with being of good alignment, or Helm if you don't want to import to BG2.
  • MaltaMalta Member Posts: 11
    The_New_Romance said:

    I think they are all viable. True Sight (Helm) is always good to have around, Seeking Sword is handy in the beginning (i.e. BG:EE). Talos' abilities are also rather useful (although I personally don't like the bouncy lightning bolt as it always seems to turn on me). Boon of Lathander is very strong, and Hold Undead is especially useful in BG2.

    For a fighting cleric, I'd say Lathander if you are okay with being of good alignment, or Helm if you don't want to import to BG2.

    What is the problem in BG2 for Helm?
  • LiggLigg Member Posts: 187
    I would vote for Priest of Helm. True sight is the best of the free abilites - for my style of play. Seeking sword is just as good as Boon of Lathander as you can actually attack 3 per round and, also, it's a blade weapon for those creatures who are immune to blunt weapons. You can also backstab with it. Hold undead? You're a cleric - turn them.

    True Sight though dispels all illusion spells on enemies. This includes casting blindness on an enemy. Blindness is a great disabling level 1 spell - but true sight ruins it.
  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    Out of all the times I've played BG1 and BG2, I've never had to use true sight.
  • DragonspearDragonspear Member Posts: 1,838
    Oh you don't have to use it, but its a tremendously useful ability if you do have it around to use. I use it (especially in its special ability form where its usually insta cast), to get rid of mirror images and improved invisibility quickly.

    It's definitely not a requirement though. More a fun quality of life thing.
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    edited December 2012
    Helm sucks...the truesight is nice, but the sword prevents spells casting till it disappears and lasts a pretty long time.

    Lathander and Talos are pretty similar, Both give an extra attack, Lathander gives immunity to level drain, talos gives a massive resistance to elementals, and immunity to ranged weapons I think...for the duration of the buff.

    In the long run it doesn't matter a whole lot, since it's more of just an alignment flavor. And the abilities ultimately have only a very minor impact on the cleric involved.
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    The real problem with all the cleric kits in bg1 is that all the spells last one round per level (6 secs) so they don't really have any time to kick in properly.
  • The_New_RomanceThe_New_Romance Member Posts: 839
    @Malta It's not really a problem as such, but it prevents spellcasting. In BG1, that's okay (and the sword has a powerful bonus on it), but in BG2 I guess you'd rather cast spells with your cleric than attack with a mediocre weapon and mediocre THAC0.

    That being said, I'm playing a Cleric of Helm right at the moment (in BG:EE). It's very nice, but I didn't use the special abilities yet since a) there was no real use and b) I feel they're somewhat overpowered for the start of Baldur's Gate.
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    edited December 2012
    The reason the sword sucks, is that having it, means you're a single class cleric that can't cast spells while it's out. While they have the 2nd best overall thac0 progression, it comes at a weird rate, compared to other classes, meaning they go longer without changes, before getting a 2 point thac0 bump and then another few levels before their thac0 improves. And they never have more then 1 base attack, and can't specialize in two weapon fighting so you'd take a penalty to thac0 (which hurts at this low a level) just for a measly two attacks if you dual-wield. And the sword adds no extra damage, it HITS as +4, it is NOT however a +4 sword, so the damage is atually pretty crappy vs using Ashideena or some of the new blunt weapons they added. And in BG2, it's easily replaced by a plethora of other stuff.

    While they are quite strong at higher levels, since they can buff their str/dex/con to 25, and have a bunch of defensive spells and such, they aren't quite so much at a lower levels when DUHM doesn't have much umph, and that lack a lot of their buff/debuffs.
  • DinsdalePiranhaDinsdalePiranha Member Posts: 419
    illusionist or berserker. maybe true class ranger.
    I love clerics and all, but singleclassed, they're... let's just say not too useful, and leave it at that.
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