How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Can nations without a level 4 priest, such as Jotunheim, get a level 5 priest and smite? I realize that making a level 4 priest a prophet will make you a smite-using priest. But what about nations like Jotunheim? Are they doomed not to ever get smite?

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I believe there is a forgable artifact(s?) that will increase preist level.

Other than that... no.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Communion/Sabbath works, if memory serves. However, it requires that your priests either have Astral or Blood, or are carrying the misc magic items that perform the same spells (crystal matrix, slave matrix).

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

I'm experiencing level 2 priests. I have sermon of courage envy on all priests except my prophet. Interested in the response, though.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Priest power levels aren't anywhere as improvable as mage power levels. About all you can do is make a prophet out of your best priest. Many nations won't be able to reach level 5, which is factored in as a minor balancing factor between the various factions.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

How does communion/sabbath work? What exactly is it?

Also, can you reach level 5 with it?

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Communion Master/Slave is a set of Astral spells while Sabboth Master/Slave are the Blood magic equivalents. They work the same way, aside from using different power sources, and can even interlink together.

When mages cast Communion/Sabboth Slave, they become "eligible" to support a mage who casts Communion/Sabboth Master. Any spells cast by the Master have their fatigue costs (before skill level reduction) shared out among the Communion/Sabboth. This leads to a tremendous increase in the amount of battlefield magic the Master can cast.

In addition, every two Communion/Sabboth Slaves also grants the Master a +1 to all his magic levels. This allows the Master to cast more powerful magic and suffer even less fatigue damage.

The drawback is that the Master can continue to "share" his fatigue costs even unto the death of the Slaves. The Slaves can be driven past unconsiousness and begin to take injury instead of additional fatigue, especially since they don't get the same reduction to fatigue that the Master will get from his increased power levels from the Commmunion. The spell-casting AI is good about not going to such lengths unless the situation is dire, however.

Note that there are also items that allow the equivalent of a Communion between item-holders.

I'm not 100% sure if this works with priest levels or not. Unless somebody beats me to it, I'll try to play a test game tomorrow especially to test that out. I don't believe it does boost priest power, but I've not specicially looked before.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

I believe the Sword of Justice adds one to priest levels.

Yo

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

LOL, but it's a unique artifact!

I was thinking of easier ways.

Can someone please explain what communion/sabbath is and how it works?

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Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I never understood how communion works exactly. So, 1 master and 2 slaves get all 1/3 of the listed fatigue if master is casting at his max level, right? And if he has e.g. 3 in astral and casting 2 astral spell, he will get 1/2 of the 1/3 of the regular fatigue, while the slaves will still get 1/3? And what if he uses gems to increase his casting? He gets even more reduced fatigue, while the slaves get the same as if he wasn't using any? And what happens if the slaves are casting their own spells after casting the slave spells? They don't affect the master at all in terms of fatigue, and/or shared benefits, like they would if master casts e.g. personal luck? And you can increase by 1 only the paths you already know, and it doesn't make those you don't know available, right? And what happens when there is more than one master, how is that calculated?

[ November 14, 2003, 01:26: Message edited by: HJ ]

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Not sure of the Communion math specifics.

If you have multiple communion masters, they all use the entire pool of slaves. Try not to make your poor communicant slaves explode, as all that fatigue can pile up.

The spell power boosts don't show when you right-click, but I'm pretty sure they only affect the paths the mages already have, and it's pretty clear something's up when they toss WAY more orb lightning than they otherwise would. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

When the communion masters cast personal-benefit spells, these seem to affect the communion slaves as well. At the very least, things like Body Ethereal, Fire Shield (!), Elemental Fortitude, Summon Earthpower (now your communicants get reinvigoration!), Phoenix Pyre, Astral Shield et al seem to. Oh, and Pythium Communicants are sacred, in case you want to abuse them even more with Earth 4 (yet more reinvigoration!).

Communion + Relief is a powerful combination because of the fatigue redistribution.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

So I take it that communion cannot raise a priest's level?

In that case, isn't it unfair that only some nations can get level 5 smiting priests?

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

LOL, did you say "unfair"?

Every nation has strengths and when they employ strategies to maximize them, this process creates weaknesses in other areas. If you want Smite, you might have to try a different nation to get it. Or you could “steal” enemy commanders with a wind ride/charm ambush.

The nations with weak priests were an endless discussion point in DomI.

There are sites that allow you to recruit High Priests (although I think you may need a high level priest to find them!). You could always let an enemy uncover such a site and take it from them.

You may have more fun in your quest for smite then you would playing the “regular” game.

Yo

[ November 14, 2003, 11:44: Message edited by: Yojinbo ]

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

How effective is wind ride/charm?

And isn't it unfair as well if that is too effective? LOL.

And are there any counters to wind ride/charm?

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Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

ROFLMAO. I got Bartholomeus on my 2nd turn. So I have 2 smiting level 5 priests. The way they mow down units is outrageous.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Communion/sabbath does pump priest levels.

Wind ride is very potent. However it cannot pick up large targets. Also I think that it cannot pick up ethereal targets. The text claims that earth mages get some protection as well.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Unless you play me or Gandalf you probably will not have your commanders stolen this way. (grin) It's expensive and time consuming. However, it is a way to "recruit" some diversity into your ranks.

Smite is cool, but it's just another tool in the box. That's the beauty of Dominions; there is no "tank rush". Everything has a cost. Dominions is not balanced perfectly (I or II) but the players balance the game out with tactics and planning.

Yo

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Speaking of priests, what ever happened to level 1 holy priests? Did they exist at some point early in the creation of dominions? I notice that there are now spells and such for level 1 unholy priests but it seems that if you made a level 1 holy priest all he could do is preach badly.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

Even normal Ulm gets level-2 priests, but perhaps there's an independent level-1 priest I've not noticed.
As for Charm (or its blood equivalent, Hellbind Heart), if memory serves the range isn't all that great on them, and they are resistable using MR.
Wind Ride was (probably still is) rather expensive to cast -- 20 Air gems or so in Dom I, requires good Air magic as well. It can be blocked using dome spells (can be expensive, not guaranteed), or mitigated by using cheap commanders as spell-fodder. At least in Dom I, I think the victim also gets to know where the Wind Riding mage was, because he gets the battle replay incl. province identification, so it opens up the possibility of retalliation.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Are there such spells? I think they're Ermor / Desert Tombs specfic, if they do exist. But the point is not preaching badly, it's reanimating. If Ermor recruits indy Holy-2 priests, they become Unholy-1 priests. But I've never seen a Holy-1 priest.

And a correction on communion - it's not 1 level per 2 slaves, but rather an additional level per log(base 2) of the number of slaves; so 8 slaves give a bonus of 3. The number of slaves may be divided by the number of masters first; I'm not sure.

Re: How do you get Level 5 Priests?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I never understood how communion works exactly. So, 1 master and 2 slaves get all 1/3 of the listed fatigue if master is casting at his max level, right? And if he has e.g. 3 in astral and casting 2 astral spell, he will get 1/2 of the 1/3 of the regular fatigue, while the slaves will still get 1/3? And what if he uses gems to increase his casting? He gets even more reduced fatigue, while the slaves get the same as if he wasn't using any? And what happens if the slaves are casting their own spells after casting the slave spells? They don't affect the master at all in terms of fatigue, and/or shared benefits, like they would if master casts e.g. personal luck? And you can increase by 1 only the paths you already know, and it doesn't make those you don't know available, right? And what happens when there is more than one master, how is that calculated? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">All Slaves on a side, be they Sabbath or Communion, are available for all Masters to draw from, and they gain none of the bonuses the Masters have for gem use, Slave # boost, or anything else except for what they themselves already have. That's what makes it dangerous for them. They also don't get to draw from the Master when they cast spells themselves. (I've noticed the spell-casting AI seems to take that into account and Slaves go for less fatiguing spells than they would otherwise. I'm not 100% sure that's the way it works, but it is at least circumstantially appearing that way from what I've seen.)

On the plus side, many spell effects are shared. On the negative side, many spell effects are shared. The various units making up a circle get seperate MR rolls, but still: beware Mind Burn and the like! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

There are some units with Priest 1, I believe, but not many, and they are magical combo types that one would think of as mages first, priests second. I can't come up with any examples off the top of my head, however.