Bishop question

[justindavis]

If you have a bishop in Wiz 8, do you only get to pick a spell from the priest realm alternating to the mage realm when you advance levels? I believe this was the case in Bane and Wiz 6.

Question is, do bishops get a broader range of spells from BOTH spellbooks to choose from upon advancement, or do you just get stuck choosing from the unimpressive lower level priest spells forever? I like my lord's magic menu when she is level 25 and maxed out on magic spells, but when she casts anything cool, the monsters we are fighting are too powerful to kill outright with deathwish or other high range priest spells. I don't want to risk having a bishop that will sacrifice a character getting useful mage spells. I think I am rambling at this point.

[Nightowl2]

Bishops can choose from any book/realm on level gain, provided they meet the minimum requirements for the spell level. Unfortunately, they still get only one spell pick per level after the first. This is why developing bishops requires a fair amount of thought and planning. Of course, they can learn extra spells from books like any other magic class.

Nightowl2

[dplax]

That is why it is always good to know which seller stocks which spells, or gets them at which level because with a bishop you won't have enoudh spell picks to learn all spells.

[Holywhippet]

When you level up I recommend putting 3 points into each of three different spellbok types eg. divinity, wizardry and psionics. Don't spend points on anything else and when in combat make sure you cast a spell every round. Once you maximise one of the spellbooks, start on the fourth one. You can, of course, build up the fourth spellbook type by casting a spell exclusive to it. I generally leave alchemy to last as the other spellbooks cover pretty much everything.

The bishop gets a huge advantage with the ability to gain so many spells, their spellpoints for each spell domain become very high due as a result. That's why you need to keep casting spells, including ones you don't use as much just to get practice.

[justindavis]

Fantastic. I am glad they solved this problem. I spend most of my gold on spell books for characters anyway, and I am always casting enchanted blade, missle shield, chameleon, et al when not in combat to bring up my spell points.

Looks like I am bishop bound. I was just concerned that I would be stuck only being able to choose crappy lower level priest spells.

Thanks for the insight.

for spellcasting power, the pures have one advantage: they level up faster, so they are at higher levels than a bishop in the same/similar party. since comparative level between caster and monster is a factor in calculating spell effectiveness, the pures will often do a better job than the hybrids/bishop in the same situation.

of course, in either case you want to maximise powercast as well. so run up intelligence to the max asap and then pump 3 per level into it at levelups, and 2 per level into your spellbooks of choice.

so, using your deathwish example, a level 25 priest with high-level power cast will get a number of instant kills against a group of level 25 opponents. a level 24 lord in the same party (hybrids are generally 1 level back from pures) with the same powercast will get fewer, and the level 23 bishop (bishops are generally 2 levels back from pures) with the same powercast will get fewer still.

of course, hybrids rarely push powercast, which reduces their spellcasting effectiveness even further, but only late in the game when resistances get astronomical. and because pures have fewer requirements, they can often open powercast sooner than bishops (hybrid mage-bishops excepted, of course)

personally, i quite enjoy bishops, just saying that pures are nice too, just different [img]smile.gif[/img]

edit: bits and bobs

[ 01-09-2004, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: sultan ]

[Wolfie]

Let's not forget, with a little fore-planning, the Bishop can learn all 101 Wiz8 spells!

** Spoiler Warning **

Mage_77's list of where spellbooks can be bought / found is located here.

[ 01-15-2004, 06:55 PM: Message edited by: Wolfie ]