Guide for the New Cleric
By Derek 

Introduction
As with any class, when first entering Elanthia the new player will know almost nothing about the game, and even less about the specifics of their class. I am not a Lord (yet!), but I do know a good sized amount about Elanthia, and enough to give a newco mer a good grasp of the game. I've broken this Guide up into 3 sections: Making a character, everyday actions, and Rezzing.

Section 1 - Making a character
One of the hardest parts of GemStone is rolling up a viable character. Creating a character can be basically broken up into 3 sections: Obtaining good rolls, assigning your rolls, and training.

Obtaining good rolls
The most difficult part of creating a character is getting a good set of rolls. The best way to get a good set of rolls is to set certain criteria as standards, and then keep rolling until you get stats that fit your standards. You will get ten rolls to place in your stats. They are weighted rolls which mean that each roll is within a range of numbers, such as between 50 and 90 or something like that. A perfect score is 700, and basically impossible to get. The first three rolls can be up to 90, the next three can be up to 70, the next three up to 50, and the last roll is any number. If you plan on playing GemStone for a long time, its worth you while to spend a long time in the Character Manager getting a good character. Some high standards to set would be a combined score of 640 or above, and no roll below 45. You would also want a few in the 80 or above range.

Assigning rolls
After you've got an acceptable set of rolls, you need to figure out where to put them in your stats. The ten stats are: Constitution (CO), Dexterity (DE), Discipline (DI), Logic (LO), Intelligence (IN), Strength (ST), Reflex (RE), Charisma (CH), Wisdom (WI), and Aura (AU). The two prime stats for a Cleric are Logic, and Wisdom. Aura is very important for a cleric, because every cleric must have at least 8 spirit points to be able to resurrect all the adventurer's in the lands. Most people place their highest roll in Wisdom, then in Aura. After those two, it varies. To help you decide which stats to place where I'll give you an introduction to what each stat does. 

Constitution contributes to the amount of Physical training points you receive in training, as well as a large part of determining your starting health points. Dexterity contributes to your physical training points, and effects your encumbrance, aimed attacks, and adds to your AS for some types of attacks. Discipline increases mental training points, as well as a few other things. Logic increases mental training points, and determines how much experience you can hold. Intelligence contributes to the amount of mental training points you receive, and also determines how fast you can absorb experience (this becomes important when you start getting 700 EXP for a rezz). Strength adds to your Physical training points, and effects encumbrance, and AS. Reflex helps increase physical training points, and helps you avoid critters attacks. Charisma gets you better prices in merchant shops in town, and this is often where people place their low stat. Wisdom is important because it determines how much mana you receive per level. A high wisdom will give you about 3 mana per level, and this is very important for spell casters because they need all the mana they can get! Wisdom also adds to your mental training points and helps your AS for any warding attacks. Aura determines how many spirit points you receive, and how well you can use wands and scrolls(check the wand stuff!). A rezzer must have 8 spirit points, but the majority have 9 or 10. Most of your rolls could be placed almost anywhere, and it is totally up to you to decide.

Training your character
This is one of the easier parts of making a character, but also the most important... A character is nothing if they aren't trained properly. To start, every player should train in shields, armor, and a weapon type. Most people in Elanthia use edged blades, but others are popular too. Ranged weapons (bows) are not implemented in the game and cannot be used. A cleric must also train in mana sharing. By level 12 (when you learn the raise dead spell) you must have a bonus of 102 in mana sharing. If you have less than this, some of your rezzes will fail. If a rezz fails, you not only lose the mana and spirit, but the dead person loses another deed as well. A Cleric should also train in first aid. many of your patients will be bleeding and empaths usually don't come unless absolutely necessary. You should train in the Cleric spell circle every level until you get spell 318. At the same time, you should be picking up a major spiritual spell as often as possible, so you can learn the transference spell at level 25. After that, we generally concentrate on learning the Word of Return spell. Other things I suggest training in, but are not essential, are trading, perception, physical training, climbing, swimming, and another type of magic (wands or scrolls). Trading will get you better prices both at town shops, and at automated merchant events. Perception helps you see people hiding, and stealing from you as well as some other things. Physical training gives you more health points, and I recommend maxing out you health as soon as possible. Climbing and Swimming are good things to have a few ranks in to help you with field rezzes, and is generally a good skill to have. Its always helpful to have wand or scroll skill. If you choose wands, you must also train in spell aiming, which is the reason I prefer scrolls. The last skill I train in every level is Combat Maneuvers. This will help you with aimed attacks, as well as attacks in general.

Section 2: Everyday actions
This is a very broad topic, and most of it will be picked up as you go along. Parts of this section include: Hunting, and Etiquette.

Hunting
Hunting is the best way to advance in your early years. The best and most efficient way to hunt is in a group. The benefits of a group include having people to talk to, people to make sure you don't die, or help you if you do, a group will cast defense on its members, and kill things faster. The downside to a group is sharing the experience from a monster, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Etiquette The easiest way to die is to have poor etiquette. Cleric's and empaths have to put up with the rudest and most obnoxious people. If you have a short fuse you probably don't have a good future as a Cleric. Here are the rules to live by for etiquette: 
1.	Do *not* yell in caps, or use more that 2 "!" 
2.	Treat lords and lady's with respect. 
3.	Tip pickers, healers, and rezzers whenever possible. 
4.	Don't kill anyone 
5.	Never attack a creature someone else is attacking 
6.	Don't do anything that would be unacceptable in modern society, GS is much the same. 

Section 3: Resurrecting
This is the clerics most important skill, and the one that makes them so darn popular! Resurrecting, or rezzing, is a dangerous and complicated task. The following is what to do if you come across a body: 
1.	cast spell 305, Preservation (unless another cleric is already there and taking control of the situation). 
2.	get the body to a safe place if you're not already at one. 
3.	Do a "DIAGNOSE {person} FULL" to see what injuries the person has. 
4.	If necessary, have them healed, or tend any bleeding wounds. 
5.	Do an "APPRAISE {person}". Use the formula "{targets max spirit}*.75" then round down to see how many spirit points the person takes to ressurrect. 
6.	Check to make sure you have at least one more spirit point than the number needed. 
7.	Cast raise dead at the person, and remind them to get healed if they are tended. 

Remember, it is necessary to have a bonus of 102 in mana sharing for your rezzes to work correctly. Also, be sure to have lots of deeds, If you rezz someone without the necessary spirit you will die, and depart immediately. Too many clerics get careless with their deeds and have to start over.

Conclusion Well, I hope this guide has given you a good introduction to how a rezzer operates. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me or any other cleric in the game.