From what I gather, you can rank the NPC clerics like this:

1. Viconia (assuming you've increased her strength somehow)

2. Anomen

3. Aerie

I'm just wondering how these three have fared long-term from a cleric perspective. No romantic considerations either (I know I'd get flamed by Aerie fans otherwise). Main char is a sorcerer so I lean towards Anomen (need the beef up front). How much does Anomen improve if he passes his test? Is Viconia a better bet down the line? I think Aerie's lack of stats dooms her to 3rd place. Are there any other NPC clerics I missed?

If you want beef, go with Jaheira http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif. She has all the healing you need plus good summons, and you can buy restoration spells. Aerie is good if you want back-up mage support as well as healing.

After passing the test, Anomen earns experience faster than any other character in the game. He is also a good fighter, given the flail of ages and at least one point in flail proficiency.http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/fight.gif

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Calvin the bold - the malt beer lord is in!
http://home.nikocity.de/calvinundhob.../anigif030.gif

he's hell and death on undead with the illithium coated mace of disruption too...

Anomen gets my vote.

For reasons unknown you got alot of people on here getting peeved with Anomen because of his banter. Shoot I dont care if Anomen curses or makes noise thoughout the whole game he is the best cleric in there. While Jaheira is pretty ok in her own right, the ability to kill mass amounts of undead in one setting is the topper on the cake. Anomen fights better then Jaheria. He is level 18 while the rest of my party is 15-16. Jaheria is level 13/13 and does not even have level 7 spells yet. Sure her insect swarm and Summon Elemental rock but I got a wand of monster summoning that Nalia seems fond of. There is my cannon fodder right there. I made Jaheria my primary healer and Anomen my backup healer/offensive spell threat. Try casting Unholy word and Holy Word at the same time. The enemy barely touches you.

...and his holy smite spell rocks against undead and almost every other "low" evil enemies. http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...les/blitz1.gif

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Calvin the bold - the malt beer lord is in!
http://home.nikocity.de/calvinundhob.../anigif030.gif

how do you get the ilithium?

Anomen is the best cleric in the game. His WIS stat is low but when you complete his quest he's got a boost to 16 and he got lots of spells. Also he's a great fighter and he can spend 5 slots in any proficiency.

But I disagree about spending his proficiencies in flail or mace. He's already specialized in mace and It will be such a waste to go on with mace or turn a new page in flail, Go with Hammer, he's the most IDEAL person to wield Crom Faeyr.

One more thing,
Yes he gains 50,000 xp after passing the test, and only he gains this xp but then he gains level as normal characters not faster than any character in the game as I know? If I'm wrong please correct me.

Aerie is nice if you want a backup.. and also for makin' love http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif) she's such a hot baby show this babe what is love man http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

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A note from heart may heal all the wounds of my blessed friends..

Aerie stats may be low but once she reaches reaches higher levels you can combine a few of her clerical and mage spells to turn her in to a virable goddess of battle.

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All of the mage spells that allow you to store up magic (minor spell sequencer, spell sequencer, contingency, chain contingency, spell trigger) will hold both cleric and mage spells, if the caster has access to them. This allows Aerie to set up some nasty combinations (say, oh, 3 holy smites in a spell trigger? http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif ). Combine this with the Robe of Vecna (casting time reduced by 4 applies to ALL spells cast by the caster, thus speed up her cleric spells, too), and she gets to be really nasty on your opponents.

With that being said, Anomen is definitely your best bet. He is a great backup fighter, and you should DEFINITELY get his proficiency in hammer and flail up (as well as 2 slots in dual-wield). This will take you into ToB to get him maxed out on all three of these, but Crom Faeyr (warhammer) is the best weapon in SoA, and the Flail of Ages becomes an awesome weapon in ToB (it gets upgraded quite a bit). If you have Minsc in the party, ignore maces for Anomen (Minsc is quite good with them, and his racial enemy of vampire ensures that the mace of disruption will do more damage to the many vampires you meet in his hands).

Jaheira is good, but weapon selection in early stages is pretty awful (other than a +2 scimitar of speed you find in the trademeet quest), and her hp leaves a lot to be desired. Aerie has even worse hp, but she is great as a backup to both mage and cleric. Viconia is not bad, but you need to buy her the girdle of hill giant strength to make her effective, and her hp also leave a lot to be desired. None of these characters can be as good with cleric weapons as Anomen can, and other than Viconia, none of them level up as quickly as Anomen does (the other guys are multiclassed, slowing their progression down significantly). If you are playing a sorcerer (i.e. need lots of fighter support), Anomen is your best bet.


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Death is only the beginning...