Clerics in SoA

Aubreii · Post by **Aubreii** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 3:20 pm

Which cleric do you use (if any)?

I bring aerie along and leave it at that. Even though she is not the best cleric she has other abilities and I can not justify bringing another cleric when I can use that spot for a tank.

I usually end up with:

Me (Cavalier cuz I love rockin' the dragons

)
Minsc (cuz he is minsc and I have known him for 3 years now)
Mazzy (archer-tank = good and she is not at all annoying)
Aerie (the "swiss army knife" of BG2 spellcasters)
Jan (because no other thief option exists)
Imoen (she's my seestor after all and she and minsc and I go waaay back

)

I wish you could have 8 people in your party.

hwttdz · Post by **hwttdz** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 3:29 pm

Amoen is kind of annoying but you said you did not want to give up a space that could be a tank. He can tank quite well.
Spoiler:

If you get him to pass his test his wisdom equals that of a real cleric and he seems to be pretty good.

PS: how does one do that thing so that if you have a spoiler you have to highlight it to make it show up.

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 4:24 pm

I always have at least one Cleric (or Druid) in my party. I also like making my main character a Cleric (dual-class or multi-class) sometimes.

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 5:08 pm

Originally posted by hwttdz
Amoen is kind of annoying but you said you did not want to give up a space that could be a tank. He can tank quite well.
Spoiler:

If you get him to pass his test his wisdom equals that of a real cleric and he seems to be pretty good.

PS: how does one do that thing so that if you have a spoiler you have to highlight it to make it show up.

I very rarely use clerics. The only cleric spells I use are Chaotic Commands and Heal. Jaheira is often enough for my playing style.

For the spoiler blackout option, set a different colour for the text you want hidden and change the colour to read black.

Here's an example without the last ]:

text[/COLOR

Aubreii · Post by **Aubreii** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 5:49 pm

The only cleric spells I use much are the restoration ones. Aerie handles those just fine.

As for Anomen being a tank, I guess that depends on what you mean by that. You can get his AC to a point where he can take some hits but his weapon choices aren't great because he is a cleric (mace of disruption is not bad though). Also, if you are using the cleric to tank then why have a cleric?

As I originally said, I prefer a tank for that extra spot.

Hope I do not sound like I am arguing. I enjoy the discussion.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 5:57 pm

I've used Aerie, Anomen and Viconia at various times for a wide variety of spells. All are excellent, and they serve well when you run up against undead.

Kassaras · Post by **Kassaras** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 5:58 pm

Anomen can attain grand mastery at the flail of the ages which is one of the best weapons.
He can use any armor and with Draw upon Holy might his stats improve drastically.
So he can easily be used as a tank.
IMHO he is the best cleric in the game!

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 6:04 pm

Hang on one cotten-pickin' minute!

Anomen is really a great tank. While I wish that SoA hadn't dualed him so early into a Cleric while he was such a low-leveled fighter, he still is quite a good blocker. He has more hit points thatn Jaheira, he levels up faster than Aerie, and he dishes out MAJOR damage when wielding either the Mace of Distruption or Crom Faeyr. I've seen him do an average of 30+ damege with that war hammer.

Anomen is my second-in-line fighter next to Jaheira. I don't have Keldorn, Korgan, Minsc, Valygar or any of those typical "front line" people. I actually have a party that Powergamers would consider "weak":
Jaheira
Anomen
PC Totemic Druid
Imoen
Viconia
Jan

Four priest scrolls is very handy, however, and clerics are some of the best charactors in the game! But, I'm not going to go "preaching" about it, but I usually take the Dual classed Anomen and occasionally Single-classed Viconia simply because Aerie levels up to slowly for my pace.

Just thought I'd through that in. Once again, I object strongly to all Anomen insults.

Lata

baudib · Post by **baudib** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 10:59 pm

I agree that Anomen is quite powerful. With Crom Faer or Flail of Ages he dishes out serious damage and if you use any other sort of battle spell like draw upon holy might or blade barrier he's quite deadly.

I like Viconia the best as a cleric. all she needs is a belt of giant strength and she's pretty unstoppable, what with magic resistance and the high wisdom, etc.

Ode to a Grasshopper · Thu Jun 13, 2002 12:15 am

Anomen is very annoying

p@Aqua-Chan), but he's also quite useful.

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Thu Jun 13, 2002 12:38 am

I think Anomen is outstanding amongst the Clerics in BG2. I've even used him as my only tank in a few games with very good result. And I'm very fond of him as a character as well, I think his history and personality is great!

I like Vic as well, and the few games when I don't bring Anomen along, she always makes it into my party. Never could stand Aerie, which is unfortunate since her class offers some nice possibilities.

Thrar · Post by **Thrar** » Thu Jun 13, 2002 1:29 am

i have a game with me as archer, Ano and immie atm, close to the end of SoA. imo, Ano rox both as cleric and as tank. no crom, but no need imo - belt of frost giant str + DUHM = 25 STR, with grand mastery in flails and shield of harmony. normal AC -13, add defensive harmony whenever needed (he can memorize so many spells now, at least 9 of each level), and when there is time to prepare b4 battle, blade barrier, a deva, chant, summons,...

he is lvl 29 or 30 now (my whole party is that high - right after bodhi and in 3rd lvl WK), and still cannot blow up liches

. what level is needed for that? he can scare them already, but that doesnt help much.

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Thu Jun 13, 2002 3:37 am

Thrar, at that level, Anomen should be making "ordinary" liches explode (along with vampires, mummies, skeleton warriors, etc), but I don't think he can make the "extraordinary" liches explode, such as Kangaxx, the Demi-lich in WK, the Shade Lich, the Elemental Lich, etc. Just for fun, why don't you try summoning a few with CLUAConsole and try it?

LICH01 - Lich
GRVLCH01 - Lich @ City Gates
HLSHADE - Shade Lich
HLLICH - Elemental Lich
DEMILICH - Demi-lich @ Watcher's Keep

BTW, "scaring" liches (as you put it) certainly does give your party an advantage in combat: it makes the lich stop attacking your party. If that's not helpful in a combat situation, I don't know what is.

Aubreii · Post by **Aubreii** » Thu Jun 13, 2002 10:39 am

So anyway, I am using Anomen this time and so far he seems to be pulling his weight