Picking a Class

I am having a hard time figuring out the adventure classes. I looked at the Istaria Wiki, Istaria Reference, and another site (can’t remember the name), but all three had only very general information about the class. They were all just so vague. None of them really tell about the play style of each class or what the class does that makes it different and unique from the others.

What is the difference between Cleric and Healer?
What is a Spiritist or Druid compared to Mage?
What is the difference between Scout and Ranger?
What would make a good class to combine with Mage?
What class has the best master-able abilities and spells that will make other classes more fun?

How does one go about picking an adventure class (or a couple of them) when we don’t really know what they all do? Is there a website out there that has more description about the play style and abilities??? Or is the only way to get more details is to post one question at a time here in the forums?

Play style is all up to ones' own preference, but to get an idea of how the classes could be best played solo, the skills and stats they get per lvl will give you some hints. For example, cleric and healer get similar skills and stats, but healer skills and stats are higher in the life and focus area, so will be better at healing, while cleric gets slightly more melee orientated skills/stats. Looking at their abilities will give you some ideas on the 'intended' play style too.


Difference between spiritist and Druid are enormous. Spiritist gets spirit and blight magic skills, Druid gets nature, so they have vastly different spells. Although, if you were to level both at the same time, they can each use all those spells as long as you have the required skill and level. Druid has an awesome damage shield called Cloak of Thorns among other support type abilities, I.e. heal over time, damage and evasion buffs. Spiritist has life stealing abilities and spells.

The sites you've visited and bookmarked will contain the skills and stats that all schools receive. The wikia and reference site also have most of the abilities. The main reason there is no descriptive list of schools, is simply that it's a personal opinion on play style, also as soon as you multiclass it can change drastically. Check out the crafting calculator to help find out who can use what, and what the armors, weapons and spells do.

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Originally Posted by hallucin8

Looking at their abilities will give you some ideas on the 'intended' play style too.

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Wow, that certainly gives me a much better idea on the play style…Thank you for that great suggestion!! Is there a site that has them all in one list? Or should I start making my own spreadsheet, lol?

From looking at these sites, I do understand the basics… Spiritist gets spirit spells, Druid gets nature spells, Mage gets fire/ice/energy spells. So are all three of them just different versions of mage? Where does that leave the prestige schools of Sorcerer, Wizard, Blood mage, Conjurer, etc.?

Spells are one thing, abilities are another. Cegaiel maintains a good database of schools and their skills, etc. With understanding the difference of mastered abilities versus inherited, pick and choose.

So let me see if I am doing this right. The only three classes that have "Life" are Cleric, Healer, and Paladin...
Attachment 2016
-The healer would have better augmentations and heals.
-Cleric and Paldin have a little better armor use, plus they can use a shield that healer can not.
-Healer and Cleric use Crush damage (Cleric being the better), where as Paladin uses Slash damage plus has the option of going one-handed or two-handed.

Am I reading this right???

Those are skill gains. You also have to take into account the unique abilities gained from the school. Example, Cleric gets Dispirit Foe/Foes.

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Originally Posted by Dracillion

the difference of mastered abilities versus inherited

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I am not sure I undestand what that means...
Mastered means you can use the ability in a differenct school, right? What is an inherited ability?

If you master an ability, you will always have it permanently.

You inherit abilities from the schools you're derived from. Say you're level 100 Warrior and you switch to level 1 Monk, you inherit Melee Flurry, Multistrike levels from Warrior, despite being a lower level Monk. They are not mastered but 'inherited' instead.

Oh ok, so an inherited ability has to be an ability that BOTH schools have in common? But it gets upgraded because you had already worked it in another school?

Pretty much.