Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

I only promote priests to prophet if I am playing Pythium or Marignon (to get level 5 priests--though this may not be necessary for Marignon if you get Carmont the level 5 cardinal later on). Otherwise I always promote melee heroes to prophet & turn them into a super combatant. What about you guys?

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

Oh, by the way, I also promote a priest or magic-user to prophet when I play Arco. Arco doesn't have a melee commander strong enough to worth promoting.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

You might want to consider that your prophet suffers badly in enemy dominion, and one of the major attractions of supercombatants is to go out and conquer.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

I like to promote a fairly rainbow mage. That way I can do priest and magic searchs with one guy (for nations that dont already have this). Also he can build any building I need. I tend to keep him inside the dominion but near the edge so that he and his army can quickly support if needed plus he pushes the dominion that direction to give me a look ahead

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

If I have level 4 priests I'll usually promote a scout or assassin. With Marignon, if I have a low dominion I'll promote a high inquisitor to level 5 (for better preaching rather than Smite).

If I have level 3 priests I'll promote one of them to get Fanaticism and Mass Blessing.

With Ulm and Man I'll use a foot commander or Warden.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

I usually forget to promote a prophet and don't have one till turn 30. I usually like to pump up assassins and make them a prophet.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It could be a reasonable tradeoff. If you had 5 candles in a province, your prophet will have double the hitpoints. For monsters with 40 to 50 hitpoints, that will be a major boost - not to mention the new bless effects in dom 2. You just need to make sure the dominions effect work for you.

Moreover, the hitpoint of your prophet in a battle is determined by the Last province he's in. You can recharges his hitpoints in friendly dominion before attacking - the ability to fly will be very helpful in this case.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

I've found that the new bless effects make a difference when I choose, keeping in mind that your prophet seems automatically/permanently blessed. That is, assuming that the units in contention aren't all sacred anyway (which is sometimes the case). I am not big on combat prophets, but with certain bless effects this becomes a much more interesting possibility.

Unless there's a compelling reason to wait (like an uberpriest available for boosting a turn later) I will often put it on one of my starting commanders on the first turn - no matter how bad they are - to increase my dominion faster in the early game.

With Ermor I try to wait until I have the most powerful base unholy priest available, just to be able to reanimate more powerful undead.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

Has anyone ever made a level 5 priest a prophet? Is there such a thing as a level 6 priest?

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

The Doms I Abyssian AI just made an Anathemant Dragon its pretender, and attacked me on the same turn with his pretender and a bunch of blood summons leading the way.

I don't think I've even seen an Anathemant Dragon before. Don't tell me; I'm enjoying the suspense! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

PvK

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

I've gotten 2 level 5 priests as national heroes: Carmont (Marignon) & Bartholomeu (Pythium). I suppose they become level 6 if you make them prophet. Bartholomeu is nasty. The most powerful magic user in the game arguably.

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Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

If I remember right, you could get to level 7 in dom 1, but 7 didn't do much for you. You could do level 5 prophet with the sword of justice (I think that's the name, it was the two handed artifact that increased priestly power by 1).

For prophets, I always pick a strong combatant at the beginning of the game. Unless you have a combat pretender, your prophet is your best general in the beginning game. In the late game it can be lots of fun picking a prophet. Gift of Reason plus high end summoning can give you Iron dragon prophets or abomination prophets. I've been speculating that some of the Ryleth void criters could be a fun prophet http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

If I'm in a tough game, I like using a wraith lord rainbow mage as my prophet. Pretty tough, makes a good rainbow mage, and if you keep him in your dominion you'll never loose him.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

Originally I went for boosted combat types. Tough knights and the like, but as was already pointed out, campainging outside your own dominion really takes a lot out of the prophet.

These days, I always go for a priestly type. Even promotin a lvl 3 priest to lvl 4 is worth it in my books, especially if there's trouble with the undead.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">"Even"? "Trouble with the undead"?

Level 4 holy is incredibly valuable, simply due to Divine Blessing and (most important) Fanaticism. If only you could force-cast Fanaticism... still... it is the most important prophet ability, in my experience.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

I agree with Cherry. Morale is arguably the most important factor in combat and with Fanaticism your morale problems are gone...95% of the time, anyway.

If my nation has level 3 priests I always make one my prophet.

[ December 05, 2003, 00:36: Message edited by: Raen ]

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, according to the Devs, the priests are smart enough not to cast fanaticism when it won't make any difference, which is before a unit has failed a morale check.

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Actually you could reach level 8 with Carmont or Bartholomeus (although you had to die while in the HoF and be revived as a mummy).

Re: Who do you usually promote to prophet?
 

I just discovered something cool. If you are playing C'tis and make a Lizard King your prophet. You get a new unit! The special Dragon's Lair Lizard King with mace!

Has anyone found other special prophets?