Newb question on priests

[gmsh1964]

I still have not played this yet despite owning it and reading the manual. I have a question based on Das Tactics tutorial. The civilization he uses (forgot, Mandarin, or something) has a level 3 priest. Two questions (1) what is the difference between a level 1 and a level 3? (2) Can you increase up to a level 3 in game, or are you stuck at whatever the beginning level is?

Thank you

[blackwizards]

A level 3 priest can cast higher-level divine spells and also use lower-level divine spells more effective. He is also better at preaching and, depending on your nation, sacrificing blood slaves. You can look at what spells your priest can cast by clicking on the "cast specific spell" option at the particular priest's script in the army setup screen. If the spell's stats (range, damage et cetera) have a + beneath them, it means that particular stat will be higher for a higher-level priest (mouse over the + to see by how much).

There's at least one item (artifact?) that raises priest level. Also, making someone your prophet raises their holy level to 3, or, if it's 3 already, to 4. Other than that, you're pretty much stuck.

[Eldritch Gentleman]

A level 3 priest is quite powerful, since it's able to claim thrones of ascension.

[gmsh1964]

Wow, good stuff. Thanks.

[Fleshbits]

I was thinking today, is it worth it to spam priests for battle? I beleive a level 2 priest can cast smite? However the damage amount is not described in the spell. I wonder if it would be more cost effective to spam smite priests rather than mages for some nations and for some periods of the game.

[Swirler]

The items that boost priest level are all locked behind level 8 construction now. Apart from "crown of the shah" which is a nation specific item for LA Ragha.

In other words you're not boosting priest levels any time soon and you most likely will not be giving them to any old priest. Although those items are pretty strong.

Level 3 priests have access to spells that are far more important than the level 1 or 2 priests. Particularly "divine blessing" which gives your sacred units the blessing needed to trigger your bless effects.

Oh and 90% of priest spells have zero fatigue cost so they're always worth using if you have recruited some priests.

Level 1 priests are mostly used as a temporary blesser for a handful of sacred units or more often as a banisher force to counter undead and demons. (undead armies can have priests of their own that cast undead buff spells in their place like "unholy protection")

Level 2 priests are more varied from commanders to mages so you have some room to experiment with them.

Level 3 priests are pretty rare outside of a couple of nations (there are some who are summonable though). With the exception of your "prophet" who is essentially your second in command after your pretender god. They are critical for taking thrones of ascension and you will want to protect them.

Level 4 priests are even rarer. In fact according to the dominions 5 inspector all level 4 priests are unique or special summoned units in the highest levels of the conjuration research tree.

Level 5 priests don't exist. But there is a single spell for them, presumably by using an item or event to boost a level 4 priest. Divine channeling, which increases the spell level of all friendly holy priests by 1. Which is pretty huge btw.

Also some of the spells you have access to will be different for different pretender gods, as you can see from changing them in the pretender god creation screen.

[gmsh1964]

Looked up Divine Magic.., slightly confusing, but I see how you tied that in to the level of the priest/caster. Thanks.

[Mormacil]

Commanders who have both holy magic and other paths can boost all paths (including holy) in a communion. Easiest way to get H5 for spells.

[A Friendly Dog]

Originally posted by Fleshbits:

I was thinking today, is it worth it to spam priests for battle? I beleive a level 2 priest can cast smite? However the damage amount is not described in the spell. I wonder if it would be more cost effective to spam smite priests rather than mages for some nations and for some periods of the game.

Smite is H3 (as are all of its path-aspected variants, I believe), so there aren't many nations that can try this, but it seems potentially viable to me in the expansion phase. Smite never misses, ignores armor, MR negates, and does 10 damage, which notably kills heavy cavalry; LA Bogarus can recruit 3 Eparchs in the first two turns, and when I've experimented with using them in expansion forces each one often gets 2-3 kills per battle.

But the range of Smite is only 30, and even with arrow catchers the smite brigade took losses (most of the path variants have shorter/identical ranges, but air's Heavenly Strike and astral's Word of Power have 50 and 100, respectively). Eparchs are the cheapest recruitable H3, at 145 gold, and there aren't many nations with comparable prices. EA Ermor has Archbishop of the Sacred Shroud for 170, and MA Marignon has High Inquisitor for 190; MA Mictlan and LA Marignon have H3 mages in the low 200s. All of these are cap only, though MA/LA C'tis have recruitable anywhere Lizard Kings for 230.

From my limited experience, this seems useful mostly as a way to deal with Heavy Cavalry early and so seems most viable in LA, which basically means Bogarus during expansion (which can otherwise stumble with its mediocre guys). But I claim no Dominions expertise whatsoever.

[2spooky4me]

Originally posted by Mad hatters in jeans:

The items that boost priest level are all locked behind level 8 construction now. Apart from "crown of the shah" which is a nation specific item for LA Ragha.

In other words you're not boosting priest levels any time soon and you most likely will not be giving them to any old priest. Although those items are pretty strong.

Level 3 priests have access to spells that are far more important than the level 1 or 2 priests. Particularly "divine blessing" which gives your sacred units the blessing needed to trigger your bless effects.

Oh and 90% of priest spells have zero fatigue cost so they're always worth using if you have recruited some priests.

Level 1 priests are mostly used as a temporary blesser for a handful of sacred units or more often as a banisher force to counter undead and demons. (undead armies can have priests of their own that cast undead buff spells in their place like "unholy protection")

Level 2 priests are more varied from commanders to mages so you have some room to experiment with them.

Level 3 priests are pretty rare outside of a couple of nations (there are some who are summonable though). With the exception of your "prophet" who is essentially your second in command after your pretender god. They are critical for taking thrones of ascension and you will want to protect them.

Level 4 priests are even rarer. In fact according to the dominions 5 inspector all level 4 priests are unique or special summoned units in the highest levels of the conjuration research tree.

Level 5 priests don't exist. But there is a single spell for them, presumably by using an item or event to boost a level 4 priest. Divine channeling, which increases the spell level of all friendly holy priests by 1. Which is pretty huge btw.

Also some of the spells you have access to will be different for different pretender gods, as you can see from changing them in the pretender god creation screen.

It's actually pretty easy to make a level 5 priest in the late game. All you do is make your level 4 priest a prophet, since that gives them 1 more priest level. You can also do it temporary in battle with various spells.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Remind me -- if a commander gets declared Prophet, makes the Hall of Fame, is killed, and then revived as a mummy -- he keeps the H3 (or H4 if he were already H3 before prophetizing), right?

Does he keep the Prophet flag when revived, or can he be made into a prophet again?

[Morsigil]

If you already renamed your prophet after the first one died then the previous prophet comes back as an H3 (or whatever they were) with no prophet tag

[Swirler]

Originally posted by 2spooky4me:

Originally posted by Mad hatters in jeans:

The items that boost priest level are all locked behind level 8 construction now. Apart from "crown of the shah" which is a nation specific item for LA Ragha.

In other words you're not boosting priest levels any time soon and you most likely will not be giving them to any old priest. Although those items are pretty strong.

Level 3 priests have access to spells that are far more important than the level 1 or 2 priests. Particularly "divine blessing" which gives your sacred units the blessing needed to trigger your bless effects.

Oh and 90% of priest spells have zero fatigue cost so they're always worth using if you have recruited some priests.

Level 1 priests are mostly used as a temporary blesser for a handful of sacred units or more often as a banisher force to counter undead and demons. (undead armies can have priests of their own that cast undead buff spells in their place like "unholy protection")

Level 2 priests are more varied from commanders to mages so you have some room to experiment with them.

Level 3 priests are pretty rare outside of a couple of nations (there are some who are summonable though). With the exception of your "prophet" who is essentially your second in command after your pretender god. They are critical for taking thrones of ascension and you will want to protect them.

Level 4 priests are even rarer. In fact according to the dominions 5 inspector all level 4 priests are unique or special summoned units in the highest levels of the conjuration research tree.

Level 5 priests don't exist. But there is a single spell for them, presumably by using an item or event to boost a level 4 priest. Divine channeling, which increases the spell level of all friendly holy priests by 1. Which is pretty huge btw.

Also some of the spells you have access to will be different for different pretender gods, as you can see from changing them in the pretender god creation screen.

It's actually pretty easy to make a level 5 priest in the late game. All you do is make your level 4 priest a prophet, since that gives them 1 more priest level. You can also do it temporary in battle with various spells.

I don't know which nations have access to a level 4 priest. Looked on dominions 5 mod inspector and the highest natural spawn only go up to 3. Only special summons and unique units.

Ooh power of the spheres in astral. Wasn't sure if that affected priest levels.

[gmsh1964]

Most of the above is way over my head for now, but appreciated. I apologize for dumbing down this thread but I have another newb question -

I believe the Sacred Units are affected by the DIVINE BLESSING feature in the Battle screen
Spell organizer (not sure what to call that, I am still watching Das Tactic). Assuming I am correct, do you have to be a LEVEL 3 to cast the Divine Spell? Thanks again,

[Mormacil]

Sacred units can unlock their bless effect in battles when they're hit with the Bless effect spell. Divine Blessing is an upgraded version of that. Instead of a small area it hits the entire battlefield. Thus a H3 priest can unlock the bless effect of all your sacreds at once.

Pretenders are special and cast Divine Blessin every single round of combat. Thus any sacred on the battlefield with your pretender is blessed.

[gmsh1964]

Wow, wait a minute - that answer was totally unexpected. Can you hang on a a few minutes while I think of some questions.