Ratio

Caldor Eirson wrote: I hope it is ok for me to respond to this, as it is asking advise, not rules.

It is and it's appreciated!

It all depends on how you want to play. My characters are not at all combat-heavy, so I invested very little build into body so that I could spend build on casting points and skills. For me, that's a fine trade-off because even if I did have a lot of body, I wouldn't last too long in combat because of how the rest of their cards are built. For my one character, I cast a whole lot, so I have a whole lot of build in my casting points. My other character does not cast a lot, so I don't have as many casting points with him so that I could afford different skills for the character.

It all comes down to how you want to enjoy your time in game. Think of your ideal game with this character (or think of a different character, if you wanted to rewrite) and build around that. In the end, the numbers don't matter all too much as long as you're having fun.

For me, starting out was a lot different, because "back in my day" (four years ago) we started with 10 build. That said, my real-life shyness led me to barely using either of the Spell Songs I had on my level 1 Bard card, so I didn't have that great a need for additional Spell Song Points. There are some months when I wish I had more, but some months when I barely use any, so it's been difficult deciding whether to invest more into Spell Song Points and Faith Points--I definitely use the latter more often.

I definitely made the mistake later on of learning more bardic tricks without having a good amount of "ammo" to back up my arsenal, to make a weird analogy to what Jason wrote above.

To echo upon what Adam said, it really comes down to how you like to play and how you want to portray the character, and also in what direction the game takes you. For instance I have a caster list, however my character's bread and butter is wading into the thick of it and cutting people in half with a greatsword. As a result I balance the caster skills and casting points I pick up with proportionate amounts of melee skills and body points in order to keep my body and armor multipliers as close to 3 and 4 as possible. I'm certain I have far less casting points than most casters my level, but that's not what the character's focus is.

As I happen to play a Priest (as one of my professions on Duncan)... much of the advice given so far is fairly sound.

If you plan on getting what's called "Stuck In" (aka be a fighting preacher) then get defenses and body early as well putting some in the faith point (FP) pool. Prayers and other skills become an As Needed purchase.

If you plan on being the Pastor and Scholarly sort of priest, then it is more FP Pool then Prayers then other skills as needed. If you are playing a Kormyrian, you can go a bit lighter on the FP as the racial really helps out early on (before you have a large pool built up).

Until you are over the 20 point level in FP, I'd stay away from the rank 4 prayers as much as possible. They just plain EAT your casting pool... Myself, I have 30 and its generally enough for what I do as a fighting/war priest. I say generally because sometimes I have to use my Rank 4's and their 6 fp cost is much more than I would like using on a single prayer when managing my FP in any given period.

Much like Rachael stated for her.... 50 points of available casting resources is a solid number to have and will last a good while, depending on how active you are as a caster.