Prayer bead
General information
Introduced to Elanthia on March 18th of 2001, prayer beads are a method by which a Cleric can gain Devotion while learning Engineering and Scholarship. Non-Clerics may also carve beads, but the difficulty is roughly triple to quadruple what it would be for a Cleric. In order to create a prayer bead, a few items are needed:
- A wood shaper
- A carving knife
- Some Holy water
- The Bless spell
- A prayer bead chain (optional)
- A prayer bead primer (optional, but must be used to learn Scholarship.)
Supplies
Supplies can be purchased from wandering sellers in Dirge, Riverhaven, Therenborough, Shard, Aesry, Mer'Kresh, Ratha, and the Vela'tohr Valley. The Theren Cleric Shop also sells unique material blocks. The cost doesn't change across provinces, but the currency changes depending on the province of the seller. Below is the list of items the bead sellers have for sale.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| A carving knife | 200 K/L/D |
| A wood shaper | 300 K/L/D |
| A Pale silver prayer bead chain | 500 K/L/D |
| An onyx block | 150 K/L/D |
| An ebony block | 100 K/L/D |
| A crystal block | 250 K/L/D |
Primers
Primers can be purchased for the neutral, light and dark aspects -- the difficulty of creating any given bead depends on the aspect and type of wood you're carving. Neutral is the easiest, light is medium difficulty and dark is hardest to carve. Neutral aspect primers have 5 pages, light aspect primers have 7 pages, and dark aspect primers have 10 pages. Primers can be purchased from the same vendors who sell bead carving supplies. The cost doesn't change across provinces, but the currency changes depending on the province of the seller. Below is a list of available primers.
Neutral Primer: 250 Kronars/Lirums/Dokoras
Light Primer: 500 Kronars/Lirums/Dokoras
Dark Primer: 750 Kronars/Lirums/Dokoras
| Neutral | Light | Dark |
|---|---|---|
| Raven | Welkin | Raccoon |
| Unicorn | Cow | Adder |
| Wolf | Owl | Shrew |
| Panther | Nightingale | Shrike |
| Boar | Wolverine | Centaur |
| Ox | Magpie | Weasel |
| Cobra | Kingsnake | Viper |
| Dolphin | Albatross | Shark |
| Ram | Donkey | Coyote |
| Cat | Dove | Spider |
| Wren | Phoenix | Heron |
| Lion | Mongoose | Goshawk |
| Scorpion | Jackal | Vulture |
It is possible to carve prayer beads dedicated to the Prydaen, Rakash and Gnome deities without primers[1]. The recognized symbols are:
- badger
- beaver
- butterfly
- crow
- gremlin
- rabbit
- triquetra
Materials
Materials that can be carved, from easiest to hardest:
- Wood
- Pine
- Maple
- Spruce
- Birch
- Fir
- Mahogany
- Willow
- Ash
- Crystal
- Apple
- Alder
- Elm
- Hickory
- Redwood
- Walnut
- Oak
- Cherry
- Teak
- Rosewood
- Onyx
- Cedar
- Ebony
- Yew
- Mistwood
- Osage
- Bloodwood
- Copperwood
- Silverwood
Materials of unknown difficulty:
- Deobar
- Amber
- Acanth
- Jade
- Saffron Topaz
Making the block
To save money and train a little Engineering, you can carve your own blocks. Blocks are carved from just about any limb or stick you find. You will need a carving knife, a container with holy water, and to know the Bless spell. Once you have the required things you can forage for limbs or sticks in most outdoor places. The Crossing Cleric Guild Courtyard is a great place to start if you aren't sure.
- FORAGE <LIMB or STICK>
- SPRINKLE VIAL ON MY <LIMB or STICK> (assuming the vial contains holy water)
- PREPARE BLESS
- CAST MY <LIMB or STICK>
- With your carving knife and blessed limb/stick in hand, CARVE MY <LIMB or STICK> WITH MY KNIFE repeatedly until you have a block
The type of wood block you end up with depends on the type of limb/stick you foraged.
- If the limb/stick matches one of the wood types above, you will end up with that type of block (e.g. an oak stick becomes an oak block).
- If the limb/stick does not match one of the wood types above, you will end up with a plain wood block (e.g. a bamboo stick becomes a wood block). These are the easiest to shape into beads.
Making the bead
If you study your primer before carving the bead, you have the potential to learn scholarship from completing the bead, though it is optional and makes the bead harder to complete if you don't read the primer. For a Cleric to carve a bead without a primer it takes approximately 60 ranks of Engineering for the neutral gods, 100 Engineering for the light gods, and 140 ranks of Engineering for dark gods.
After some testing about studying the primer, it appeared that I was able to successfully study a neutral primer with 47 in Scholarship and an intelligence of 13, though you may have to try some times studying the fifth page of the primer. Scholarship seems to be the main skill to study a primer, but some people say that intelligence may improve the rate of success. If you have any other information, feel free to add them here.
Don't forget to train Engineering as you'll need this to carve the bead. I managed to successfully carve a neutral god bead with 43 in Engineering, after studying the primer. Edit: 3/2021 successfully carved "exemplary quality for its material type, and decent quality overall" dark god bead with 32 Engineering and with a bought crystal block.
To make a bead, follow the below process:
- OPEN MY PRIMER
- STUDY MY PRIMER (On successful page study, continue to #3).
- TURN MY PRIMER
- Continue steps 2 and 3 until you've completed the primer.
- Get your block and wood shaper and SHAPE <block> TO <animal>
- Repeat until the block breaks or you complete your prayer bead.
Appraising the bead
Appraising a bead will let you determine the quality of your carved bead:
You are completely positive that a wood adder bead is of exemplary quality for its material type, and poor quality overall.
The quality of the material type reflects the skill of the carver. From the least successful carving to the best:
- poor
- average
- good
- fine
- exemplary
The overall quality of the bead reflects the skill of the carver as well as the quality of the material itself. Certain materials cap out at certain levels. For example, a wood bead will never have more than poor overall quality, no matter how skilled the carver. Only copperwood, silverwood and bloodwood can obtain flawless overall quality. From lowest to highest quality:
- poor
- decent
- average
- good
- superb
- flawless
Storing and using beads
Once the bead is complete you can PUT BEAD ON MY CHAIN with each chain holding 10 beads. Chains can be worn on the wrist.
When you've completed your bead, travel to consecrated ground -- the Crossing Chapel for instance -- and kneel. Remove the chain and type: MEDITATE MY CHAIN
The devotion gained from a bead when used is dependent upon the quality for its material type and its overall quality.
To remove a bead from your prayer chain, GET BEAD FROM MY CHAIN.
Note that only beads that you yourself have carved can be used to gain devotion though beads carved by anyone can be used to obtain favors.