BLESSINGS
Q: What are blessings?
Blessings are special combat abilities and bonuses granted to sacred units when they are blessed in combat by a priest. They are dependent on the magic paths and levels of the nation's god.
Q: What is the difference between a strong bless and a weak bless?
A strong bless is reserved for occasions when the player suffers from a strong sneeze. (You can all thank Wish for this one... *grin*)
The actual answer is that a weak blessing is a level 4 to level 8 bless and is granted if the god has level 4 or greater in a magic path. Most weak blessings increase the benefit at every other level, meaning additional bonuses at levels 6 and 8. Some weak blessings increase the benefits at every level, but the increase is not as great in effect. A strong blessing is a level 9 or 10 bless, meaning that the pretender god has 9 or 10 levels in that particular kind of magic. A strong blessing has all the benefits of the weak blessing and also adds a more powerful special ability unique to that path of magic.
Q: Can I increase blessings during the game?
No. Blessings are set during pretender god creation and the effects cannot be increased by empowering your god to higher levels in magic paths. Conversely, if your god dies and loses magic levels, blessing effects are not decreased.
Q: What are the bless effects? (Effects by Jazzepi)
- Fire 4: +2 Attack
- Fire 6: +3 Attack
- Fire 8: +4 Attack
- Fire 9: +4 Attack, Flaming Weapons (dmg 6 AP fire)
- Fire 10: +5 Attack, Flaming Weapons (dmg 6 AP fire)
- Air 4: Airshield 20% (+10% per level)
- Air 9: Airshield 70%, Shock Resistance 70%
- Air 10: Airshield 80%, Shock Resistance 75%
- Water 4: +2 Defense
- Water 6: +3 Defense
- Water 8: +4 Defense
- Water 9: +4 Defense, 50% Quickness (extra action every other round in combat)
- Water 10: +5 Defense, 50% Quickness (extra action every other round in combat)
- Earth 4: +2 Reinvigoration
- Earth 6: +3 Reinvigoration
- Earth 8: +4 Reinvigoration
- Earth 9: +4 Reinvigoration, +4 Prot from armor
- Earth 10: +5 Reinvigoration, +4 Prot from armor
- Astral 4: +1 MR
- Astral 6: +2 MR
- Astral 8: +3 MR
- Astral 9: +3 MR, Twist Fate
- Astral 10: +4 MR, Twist Fate
- Death 4: +100% Affliction Chance (+50% per level)
- Death 9: +350% Affliction Chance, Death Weapons (dmg 2 AN, MR negates)
- Death 10: +400% Affliction Chance, Death Weapons (dmg 2 AN, MR negates)
- Nature 4: Regeneration 5%
- Nature 6: Regeneration 10%
- Nature 8: Regeneration 15%
- Nature 9: Regeneration 15%, +2 Berserk
- Nature 10: Regeneration 20%, +2 Berserk
- Blood 4: +2 Strength
- Blood 6: +3 Strength
- Blood 8: +4 Strength
- Blood 9: +4 Strength, Death Curse
- Blood 10: +5 Strength, Death Curse
Q: Which bless is the strongest?
That depends on several things. Mostly it depends on the intrinsic abilities of the available sacred units. For example, sacred units with high defense will benefit proportionally far more from a high Water blessing because it can increase their defense to levels where they become almost impossible to hit. A sacred unit with very low defense to begin with will not become substantially harder to hit, so it might benefit more from a bless that allows it to do more damage and hit easier (Fire). A sacred unit with a lot of hit points will benefit more from a Nature bless (regeneration) than a weakling with few hit points and so on.
Generally, Fire, Water, Earth and Nature are considered the most powerful blessings while Air and Blood are considered the weakest. Death Blessing can be powerful, especially for sacred mages with damage dealing spells. The usefulness of Air and Astral blessings is more dependent on the specifics of your sacred units than the FWEN blessings. A strong Astral bless can be powerful, especially if combined with a strong Water or Fire bless. A weak Astral bless is generally considered to be very weak unless you have low MR sacred units.
A weak Air bless can be sometimes be useful but it is considered very weak. The most effective bless differs from nation to nation and according to your particular play style, but the above categorization is generally the accepted view of the majority of Dom3 veterans active on the Shrapnel Games forums.
It should be noted that sometimes getting access to magic paths that the nation normally does not have is much more important than the secondary benefits of a blessing, whether strong or weak. This is especially true of Astral and Death magic, which are considered by many to be the strongest magical paths of all.