Priest

Priests are one of the playable classes in and.

They are devoted followers of one or more deities, though almost all have a primary dedication to a single god above all others. They are capable in combat, but their true power comes from their prayers. These prayers form the common spells priests use in battle, ranging from healing magic and divine attacks to a variety of blessings and curses.

Background
In a world with many gods, there are many different types of priests. Though the majority of priests spend their time tending to worshipers or engaged in relatively peaceful pursuits, there are ranks of dedicated adventuring or mercenary priests who have turned the flame of their faith into a spark to ignite the power of their souls. Such men and women have found a divine link to their chosen deity, but their abilities stem solely from within.

Dedicated to spreading the news of their gods' dominions in the realms of mortals through their own deeds, adventuring priests thrust themselves into lethal conflict to prove their worth. Often trained to fight alongside soldiers of their respective churches, priests are capable in the fray (and near the fray, for those who follow less melee-oriented faiths), but their true power comes from their prayers, faith-inspired miracles that aid their allies and punish their enemies. These miracles range from combat blessings, weapon enchantments, and protective barriers to divine summons, sanctified wards, and crippling curses. In many ways, the prayers of priests have almost as much variety as wizards spells, though priests are restricted to invoking prayers that are aligned with their faith. Additionally, priests often specialize in the weapons, armor, and litanies of prayers most beloved by their church. Thus, the multitude of gods produces a multitude of different priests, each with their own unique array of abilities.

Priests are well-versed in philosophy, myths, and legends, giving them an inherent bonus to the Lore skill. Additionally, the requirements of their faith often involve traveling long distances in difficult circumstances, giving them an inherent bonus to Athletics.

Abilities
Priests have few personal buffs, few single-target strike spells, some crowd control abilities, many AoE buffs and healing spells. They can use combo attacks with other priests and are the first class that is able to provide party wide healing.

List of abilities

 * Priest spells (in )
 * Priest spells and passives (in )

Spells
Priests do not gain power directly from their deity, but from their belief in the deity and the tenets of their religion. Priests gather energy into their own souls and release it through the use of specific prayers. These prayers form the common spells priests use in battle, ranging from healing magic and divine attacks to a variety of blessings and curses. Relying on large area of effect bonuses mixed with small area offensive spells to direct combat from afar.

Priests gain access to all spells of a given level as soon as he/she is able to cast from that level, but their overall access is limited by their faith.

Compared to wizards, priests have access to a smaller number of spells overall but do not need to prepare those spells in a grimoire. And while priests do have offensive spells, they are smaller in area and generally weaker in power than similar effects available to wizards and druids.

Talents

 * Interdiction – Condemns the priest's foes, Dazing any enemies in the area of effect.
 * Empowered Interdiction – The priest's condemnations of an enemy become more apt, increasing the Accuracy of his or her Interdiction ability.
 * Untroubled Faith (Priest) – The priest's ability to inspire becomes more than just a sum of his or her actions, negating Reputations that negatively influence Holy Radiance.
 * Painful Interdiction – Priests are able to channel their fury through Interdiction, adding a painful Weakening affliction to the attack.
 * Brilliant Radiance – Enemies take Burn damage from the priest's Holy Radiance (vessels take increased Burn damage)
 * Inspiring Radiance – Allies gain an Accuracy bonus from the priest's Holy Radiance.
 * Aggrandizing Radiance – Allies gain less healing from the priest's Holy Radiance, but the priest gains a bonus to all Attributes and Movement.
 * Bonus 1st Level Spell – Gain an extra spell cast of level 1 spells.
 * Bonus 2nd Level Spell – Gain an extra spell cast of level 2 spells.
 * Bonus 3rd Level Spell – Gain an extra spell cast of level 3 spells.
 * Bonus 4th Level Spell – Gain an extra spell cast of level 4 spells.

The following talents are available only to priests of specific deities:
 * (Berath): The Pallid Hand – Accuracy bonus with Mace and Great Sword. Can cast special version of Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon.
 * (Magran): Inspired Flame – +10 Accuracy with Sword and Arquebus. Can cast a limited version of Burst of Summer Flame.
 * (Eothas): Hope Eternal – Accuracy bonus with Flail and Morning Star. Can cast healing spell that shortens Frightened and Terrified.
 * (Skaen): Prey on the Weak – Accuracy bonus with Stiletto and Club. Adds Baby Sneak Attack.
 * (Wael): Incomprehensible Revelation – Accuracy bonus with Quarterstaff and Rod. Can cast a weaker version of Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights.

In

 * At character creation, priests must select one deity, and automatically learn the ability Holy Radiance (the effects of which scale with their deity's favoured disposition - or with their level in the case of NPCs).
 * A priest's selected deity grants them one unique talent that can be learned at any time (see below).
 * As spellcasters, priests learn all spells at each new tier, but are limited to the amount of casts that can be made per rest at each tier (see the table below).
 * At every odd level (1, 3, 5, etc.), the next tier of spells are unlocked.
 * Spell Mastery allows the spellcaster to pick a single spell to switch to "per encounter" restoration. This occurs at level 9, 11, 13, and 15, for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th level (or lower) and spells respectively.
 * As with other classes, priests learn one talent at every even level (2, 4, 6, etc.).

In

 * At character creation, priests must pick a deity, select one 1st level spell (active only), and automatically learn the ability Holy Radiance. This does not change for multiclass characters. A priest's subclass automatically grants them one spell at every power level.
 * As with other classes, priests pick 2 spells/abilities at every level where a new power level is unlocked excluding the first (3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19), and one spell/ability at all other levels (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20). Ability points may be spent on active or passive abilities, and on any currently-unlocked power levels.
 * Multiclass characters pick 1 spell/ability from either the priest ability tree or the other class tree at all levels where a new power level isn't unlocked, and 1 spell/ability for both classes at all levels where a new power level is unlocked (1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19).
 * As spellcasters, priests are limited to the amount of spell casts that can be made per encounter at each tier, though this scales with their level (see the table below).
 * As with other classes, new ability power levels are learned every second level from level 1 (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13), then every third level from level 13 (16, 19).
 * Multiclass characters may only learn up to (and including) power level 7 spells, and unlock a new power level every third level from level 1 (1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19).

Deity
When players create a priest character, they select a deity. Each choice highlights two types of behavior that are celebrated and two types of behavior that are condemned. For priests played as the main character, their Holy Radiance power will shift based on their behavior. Reinforcing their deity's preferred behavior will gradually increase their power, while playing against type will cause a small diminishment in their power. These changes are not dramatic, but reflect a measure of dissonance between the character's stated faith and how they choose to conduct themselves.

Subclasses
Priests in must select one of six subclasses as their deity: Berath, Eothas, Magran, Skaen, Wael, and Woedica. Two more subclasses, Harvester of Gaun and Rymrgand are exclusive to the companions Xoti and Vatnir respectively, and cannot be selected by the player.

Suggestions
Priest presents the best choice for sole healing. Depending on how well your group's front line holds things together, you may find your character either healing some or a lot. Priest very much defines what a back line healer consists of, but their spells easily reach any where. If someone goes below half health, a priest can quickly cast a Withdraw spell to temporarily take them out of battle for some seriously huge healing. The default AI tends to be somewhat intelligent about this, especially with Xoti. As a side note, Xoti performs best as a Contemplative (Priest + Monk multiclass). Otherwise, you may find the character passing out a lot as she tries to "reap" those souls from your enemies at the front line. This will tend to draw much aggression her direction that leads to her spells never going off, and no healing means you may quickly lose the battle.

Priest offers some of the best aggressively defensive spells available. This may involve laying down spell traps in the form of seals that damage your enemies as they walk through them. However, the class' direct damage spells lack much of the oomph seen in several other classes. A properly built Cipher or Wizard will out-perform well in that area given a long battle. If you want to engage often in melee with your opponents as a single class Priest, then you should learn to focus on Blessing and Dire Blessing. You can use the Withdraw spell for emergencies.

As mentioned earlier with Xoti, Monk makes a fantastic Multi Class option if you prefer mixing it in with melee on the front line in battle.

Notable characters
Category:Pillars of Eternity s, 3 Category:The White March - Part I s, 3 Category:Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire s, 3