I was looking over the info for both, and at first thought that the ranger/cleric was so cool because I could cast all the spells. But then I started looking over the cleric spells and found I was not all that impressed. Here's a list of the spells that the cleric can't cast:

Entangle
Charm Person or Mammal
Goodberry
Call Lightning
Hold Animal
Summon Insects
Call Woodland Beings
Insect Plague
Ironskin
Pixie Dust
Dolorious Decay
Conjure Fire Elemental
Fire Seeds
Conjure Earth Elemental
Creeping Doom
Nature's Beauty

With all of these spells, either they aren't that great or mages have something similar. Other than Ironskins (which is pretty nice), the extra spell benefits doesn't amount to much.

Then I realized, as a Ranger, I'd get a racial enemy, and two free slots in two weapon.

Overall, I'm on the fence on this one. Anyone have opinions?

Don't give up on the spells just yet. Insect Plague/Creeping Doom and Nature's Beauty are great. The first two are my favorite anti-spellcaster spells and Nature's Beauty instakills weak opponents, but the permanent blindness-effect it has even when the save vs spells is successful makes it extremely usefull against powerful baddies as well. The only drawback to this spell is that it only affects enemies of the opposing gender as the casting priest. Call Woodland Beings can be very handy throughout the entire game too.

Apart from this, then yea, fighter/clerics and ranger/clerics are pretty much the same. Fighter/clerics tend to be just a bit stronger melee-wise.

Don't underestimate the conjure elementals! Yes, as a mage, you get the spells too, but later and - if I remember correctly - it is neutral in the beginning and there is an 85% chance of it turning friendly and a 15% chance of it attacking you. Whereas elementals summoned by the druid/ranger are immediately friendly. Also, insect plague/creeping doom affects six enemies, doing some damage, nice duration, save or run in fear, and - 100% spell-casting failure! This is one of the most useful spells (anti-mage) in the whole game IMHO.

but in a party with Jah, a Ranger/Cleric probably isn't worth it, no?

Though wouldn't they be even melee wise. Advanced weapon specialization was nerfed so bad that I never go past 2 *'s in any weapon. With the Ranger 2 free in 2 weapon, that leaves me 6 free slots to start to put in what I want, and if I wait until 9 to dual, then I get one more.

Hi StarVid!

Many of those spells are indeed useless, but some of them are simply amazing. Here's my list with annotations of the good ones:

Call Lightning -- Good damage, repeatedly, against either one or many foes. This spell works very well against anything you'll find outdoors, including the occasional dragon.

Summon Insects -- 50% spell failure. Not too bad.

Insect Plague -- 100% spell failure. Now we're talking!

Call Woodland Being -- This summons a Dryad (or Nymph or something that looks and sounds like a Dryad [img]tongue.gif[/img] ). She can cast two Hold Persons, one Hold Monster, Confusion, Call Lightning, Cause Serious Wounds and some other less-useful enchantments. She can also cast one healing spell, Mass Cure. She'll teleport to your foe and kiss him to death. All in all, a very useful summon.

Ironskins!!! You are a tank. You love Ironskins. You need Ironskins.

Pixie Dust -- I never had need of this, but I hear Mass Invisibility is very useful when battling spellcasters. Some day I'll try it out.

Conjure Fire Elemental!!! I am a HUGE fan of Fire Elementals. Everyone talks about how wonderful Skeletal Warriors are (and they are pretty wonderful) but these elementals will eat most undead for breakfast. Shadows, Mummies, Ghasts, Ghouls, Shadow Fiends, Greater Mummies. They have trouble with Wraiths and Vampires, but anything else is toast.

7th level spells: eh, Earth Elementals are okay, and Creeping Doom is okay (though for some reason SHORTER in duration than Insect Plague), Nature's Beauty I haven't used much, but it sounds good.

Hope this helps,
-- Nifft

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by StarVid:
but in a party with Jah, a Ranger/Cleric probably isn't worth it, no?<hr></blockquote>

Yea, if you've already got a fighter/druid then don't bother.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by StarVid:
Though wouldn't they be even melee wise. Advanced weapon specialization was nerfed so bad that I never go past 2 *'s in any weapon. With the Ranger 2 free in 2 weapon, that leaves me 6 free slots to start to put in what I want, and if I wait until 9 to dual, then I get one more.<hr></blockquote>

You're also right about that. I've been playing the game with the unofficial patch that unnerfs grandmastery for so long, I forgot about that.

Personally, I wouldn't use a Fighter/Cleric OR a Ranger/Cleric. Berserker->Clerics are MUCH better (IMHO), because of the increased specialization, better control over where your EXP goes, etc. If you want Druid spells, get yourself an Archer. Sure Ranger/Clerics get access to ALL the Priest spells, but it's kinda pointless when you only have the same number of memorization slots to put them in.

Of course, the Multiplayer party I've got now has a Cleric/Mage, a Berserker->Cleric, an Archer and an Undead Hunter, so I've got more Priest spells than I know what to do with.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>
Originally posted by Nifft the Nimble:

Conjure Fire Elemental!!! I am a HUGE fan of Fire Elementals. Everyone talks about how wonderful Skeletal Warriors are (and they are pretty wonderful) but these elementals will eat most undead for breakfast. Shadows, Mummies, Ghasts, Ghouls, Shadow Fiends, Greater Mummies. They have trouble with Wraiths and Vampires, but anything else is toast.
<hr></blockquote>


I love the Druid spells and almost always keep Jahiera in my party for this reason. However, there is one major weakness to fire elementals that you didn't mention. (Perhaps you haven't seen it yet, but I have.) Fire elementals are really stupid, INT wise. One hit from a mindflayer and they're TOAST! They're not worth even using against MF's. Against MF's you'll want skelatal warriors and/or Morden's Sword as allies. They are immune to mental attacks.

Kaz, you're absolutely correct about Druid-summoned elementals. No chance of them turning on you. That's another reason to like druids.

Also, as previously stated, Insect Plague is THE BEST ANTI-SPELLCASTER spell in the game, bar none. It completely shuts down all spellcasting and for twice as long as Creeping Doom. One minor caveat. Don't use the Holy Avenger against an enemy that is being Insect Plague'd. The HA's dispel magic ability will dispel the insect plague on that target.