Do priests ever level up?
 

or do they just get more experience stars? sorry I know this a totle noob question.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Every unit gets experience and levels up, so the answer is yes, just like any other unit.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

They don't get more priests lvl by experience.

When you make a commander your prophet it become priest lvl3, or if it already has lvl3 or more gains +1.

There's a sword, mmm sword of justice i think that gives +1 and there's a sword of injustice.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

There's a thread somewhere which gives the benefits of experience at each level. Spellcasters don't improve their magic abilities with experience though, although research does increase.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

A more experienced priest is more accurate at casting spells that have less than 100 precision, such as banishment.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Perhaps Dominions_4 will provide a 5% chance to increase one priest level for every 2 stars of experience.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Probably not... I think that the level of recruitable priests is supposed to be one of the major distinguishing points between nations.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

It still would as the 5% would be the same for all nations. It would also allow the high level priests to reach even higher.
Currently it's almost impossible to see a level_6 priest or higher... unless using map edit commands.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Maybe priests should be able to empower, using astral gems perhaps? Maybe at a different (meaning more expensive) cost than magical empowerment? Just a thought...

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

FWIW, you can always give a priest a Crystal Shield. Since priest level outside of combat matters only for reanimation AFAIK, that's about as good as empowerment.

-Max

Edit: Duh. vfb is absolutely correct.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Priest level outside combat also strongly affects preaching and sacrificing. So besides re-animation, preaching, sacrificing, and searching for holy sites, priest level doesn't affect anything outside combat http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

That's a nice idea about the crystal shield though, especially for a bless nation that normally only gets H2 priests.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Oh, yeah, Communion Master works too IIRC. This is nice for nations like Marverni that have priests (Druids) with Astral. Marverni doesn't really benefit from a bless but Fanaticism is always nice; 4 communion slaves will boost a Druid to H4. For nations that don't have this you can use a Crystal Matrix to do the same thing. However, a Crystal Shield is really less hassle if you don't need H4 spells.

-Max

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

iirc the crystal shield only works for priests if they also have some other magic skill.

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Oh, bother! It looks like mivayan is right. Sorry for the misinformation--I noted the H-boost in passing a while ago on a unit I was boosting for other reasons, and it never occurred to me to check it on a pure Holy unit.

-Max

Re: Do priests ever level up?
 

Note also that the Crystal Shield is a Tower shield and thus can't be used by mounted priests, as I found out when I got one from a random event as Vanheim.

I thought, briefly, I'd have another Divine Blesser.