What are the best units to turn into Prophets?

[FrontalAssault]

Playing MA Jotun and have a dormant Pretender. Should I turn a Skraggi or Gygia(sp?) into a prophet? is it worth it? Can they still research?

Thanks alot!

[quantum_mechani]

You would be better off propheting your starting scout or herse, since being a mage doesn't realy help a lot with prophet duties anyway.

[Meglobob]

FrontalAssault said:
Playing MA Jotun and have a dormant Pretender. Should I turn a Skraggi or Gygia(sp?) into a prophet? is it worth it? Can they still research?

Thanks alot!

You may as well just turn your starting commander into a prophet really...however given a choice between the two you mentioned I would turn the Skraggi (thats the werewolf shapechanger, right) because he can be a stealthy SC, especially if you have a strong bless.

[Dedas]

If you intend to fight AND cast holy spells like "holy avenger" do not turn a unit like MA Ulm Commander into a prophet. His encumbrance is massive for spellcasting and he just end up getting a lot of critical hits once in battle.
Just turning him into a prophet and then using him like a normal "thug commander" works quite well though.

[thejeff]

There are a few basic options for early prophets.

Use your starting commander, for divine bless and smiting.

If you have a recruitable H3+ priest, prophetize one to get access to H4+ spells.

If you have a non-sacred thug and a good bless, prophetize one for a more serious thug/SC. The Skratti would fall in this category, if you've got a good bless.

Use a stealthy commander to preach behind enemy lines.


I wouldn't research with a prophet. They can, but there are usually better things for them to do. (Though I did have mage prophet in an SC game who picked up the Heroic Researcher ability after his first fight. That was too nice. I pulled him off the front lines and got him a cushy lab job. I missed the prophet, but an extra ~15 rp early on was too tempting.)

[Xietor]

I choose a prophet that has decent hps, is not a mage or old,
and does not have too much spell casting encumbrance.

I like my prophet to cast courage in battles and smite. I do not like giving my melee thugs the prophet bonus, because when you push deep into enemy lands, his hp reduction will get him killed.

And if i am playing a race with crappy priests, the prophet may be needed to cast courage. If you are playing a race with decent priests, the stealth unit prophet may be the way to go.

[Manuk]

is there any point in h4? if im not mistaken there's only a spell that paralyzes one unit each casting.

[Dedas]

All priest spells with a "+" in range, damage etc (as banishment) gets boosted by level. Also, you can preach to higher levels (depending on whether there is a temple in the province or not, of course).

[Velusion]

Manuk said:
is there any point in h4? if im not mistaken there's only a spell that paralyzes one unit each casting.

For nations that use a lot of undead (Ermor, C'tis, etc...) they have national priest 4 spells that are "entire battlefield" spells which increase the attack of all undead units. That is one very, very good reason. There might be other nations that have level 4 priest spells...

Also put a level 4 priest with a temple and turn on the preaching and you'll see the domain shoot up (it won't fail it's domain spread check).

I'll always try to prophetize a level 3 priest if it can be done without screwing up my first few turns too badly.

[Managarm]

Another usage for a first turn Prophet is for Sermon Of Courage casting.
This is specially useful in Nations which have very low morale troops, like EA C'Tis.