Carl's Sims Medieval Strategy Guide and Walkthrough

The Sims Medieval Jacoban Priest Hero Class Guide

Fear, Leveling, and Earning Money with the Profession

Monarch | Bard | Blacksmith | Jacoban | Knight | Merchant | Peteran | Physician | Spy | Wizard
A Jacoban Priest gives a Sermon in the Sims Medieval

Hero Overview
Jacoban Priests preach fire and brimstone to disbelievers and control their church through fear. In this Guide to the Jacoban Priest, I'll teach you how to get just the right amount of fear and earn money with the Profession. This class has few money-making opportunities, but they are powerful. They can aid other Heroes on Quests by giving them a pair of helpful blessings.

Jacoban Cathedral in The Sims MedievalLeveling the Jacoban Priest
Your options for gaining XP are limited, but there are some great options. First and foremost are the Sermons. It's the single best way for a Jacoban to make money, and will increase XP throughout the session. They can also write on the watcher at the Archive, which gives comparatively small XP gains. Any time the church is packed, and you aren't giving a sermon, use the Absolve option at the pulpit to have Sims come up seeking Absolution. Each success here nets 100 XP. Having high focus when doing this is important, as it can fail. Gaining levels will increase the success rate of conversions, sermons, and granting absolution whilst increasing the Priest's daily income up to a maximum of about $540 Simoles per day.

Earning Money as a Jacoban Priest
In order to make money, you'll have to deliver Sermons. The amount gained here is usually in the 200s. Jacobans don't have to worry about which sermon type like the Peteran. Give sermons any time your Sim has high focus. Doing at least two per day is ideal, such as the 8AM then 1PM. You can work on your daily responsibilities during the down time. Other than that, there's no real way for them to make cash short of fishing and random events while taking a stroll in the woods. Complete quests at platinum to get a massive reward, which will be helpful to upgrade the Priest's living quarters.

The Jacoban Cathedral
The Jacoban Cathedral is my favorite building aesthetically in The Sims Medieval. It's absolutely beautiful, and makes a great statement of the church's power. Placing this building in your Kingdom will grant a +1 security and +3 culture capacity increase. The building comes with the basic ameneties your Priest will need to live their life. There's a poor quality bed, cooking pot, chamber pot, and dining area. You'll want to upgrade the bed as soon as possible to improve your Priest's Focus and energy regeneration while sleeping. The cooking pot is great, but I upgraded mine to a spit. The Cathedral is not too far from some decent fishing spots by the river and the mill. Of course, this building also houses the required objects you'll need for the Priest. There's an Archive for writing on the watcher, pulpit for giving sermons and absolving the sins of Sims. Outside is a board for posting proclamations which will make an impact on the Jacoban Fear rating, as well.

Keep your Jacoban Fear in the sweet spot to earn more from sermonsJacoban Fear
Instead of Popularity, Jacobans use fear to direct the faith of their followers. When looking at the fear meter, you'll see the sweet spot in light purple. It's important not to have too much fear, or fewer people will attend sermons and your Priest's income will drop. You can post proclamations on the board outside the cathedral to increase or decrease fear. The proclamation will let you know what effect it will have just under the description when your Priest hits level 5. Fear is heavily influenced by sermons.

Good Traits for a Jacoban Priest
As far as Trait choice goes, I like Dedicated for the Jacoban. His daily responsibilities are easy to clear, and he'll be able to quickly score a massive focus buff when he does three of them. Scholarly is good, as are the Greedy, Good, and Vain traits. For picking a Fatal Flaw, I go with those that are least annoying for someone like the priest: Insecure, Puny, or Weak Constitution. Licentious isn't hard to deal with because of the attendant always being around.

Sermons
Jacoban Sermons are much simpler than those of their Peteran counterparts. They are given at 8AM, 1PM, 6PM, and 11PM and you choose which time. You are given the choice between calm and intense while the Sim is giving a sermon. Calm will lower the fear meter, while intense will increase it. You don't need to watch the crowd to see how they are reacting. They'll like it either way as long as your Priest's focus is high. At first, you'll want to preach with intensity and post proclamations outside until fear is in the sweet spot. At that point, swtiching between calm and intense will keep it in the purple zone you're looking for. Converting lots of Jacobans and keeping fear in the right place will increase the amount of money your Sim receives for a sermon. Too high, and it will drop dramatically due to church attendance being down. The Sims of the Kingdom will fear the watcher's wrath a little too much.

A Jacoban Priest cast's Watcher's Touch on another Sim in MedievalJacoban Priest Activities
Let's have a look at the special actions Jacoban Priests receive:

  • Sermon is detailed above
  • Reflect on the Watcher Click your Priest to see this ability. Doing so will give them a positive 'Watcher's Gaze' buff which increases in duration the longer they do this. It is required for casting Watcher's Blessing, but has little use other than that.
  • Watcher's Blessing consumes the Watcher's Gaze buff and heals a Sim of all injury.
  • Watcher's Touch will remove disease from the targeted Sim. Also gives a 24 hour +5 focus buff
  • Convert to Jacoban Faith this will bring a Sim over to your side. It's very focus and level-dependent but works most of the time.
  • Bless Well Water click the Well in town to consecrate the water and give Sims drinking it a small positive buff.
  • Write on the Watcher click the Archives to get this option. It's an XP generating activity, but Jacobans can't sell their writings like a Peteran can.
  • Post Proclamation is done on the board outside. It's hard to gauge how helpful this will be until you reach level 5 and can see the effect.

Casting Blessing of the WatcherJacoban Priest Daily Responsibilities

None of these are particularly hard, but I'll give some hints to people who happen to get stuck.

  • Pay Taxes based on level to determine how much you'll pay. From $100 to $250 to a whopping $500.
  • Post a Proclamation is done on the board outside the Jacoban Cathedral
  • Give a Sermon Select the sermon time that will come up next, then click again when the time is right.
  • Heal a Sim with Watcher's Touch This is the easiest of all. The interaction is found under the Jacoban Priest menu when clicking a Sim
  • Absolve for 2 Hours Click the pulpit then stand about waiting for Sims to come for absolution. Works best when plenty of Sims are around, like before a sermon
  • Convert 2 New Jacobans Find Sims that haven't been converted yet. Under the Jacoban Priest menu
  • Discuss the Watcher with 2 Jacobans This interaction is on the base menu if the Sim is already a Jacoban
  • Cast Watcher's Blessing on a Sim You'll need to get the watcher's gaze buff by clicking your priest and reflecting on the watcher for an hour or two. The buff is used to cast the blessing