Bishop Development
Developing a Bishop is most assuredly a challenge. Focusing on which attributes to develop may not be as important as focusing on what magical spells a Bishop learns at creation and during level ups. An important thing to remember with a Bishop is that since they cast spells from all the schools some of these spells overlap from one to another. For example the Heal Wounds spell. It is cast by 3 of the 4 schools of magic, Alchemy, Divinity, and Psionics. Although it is a good spell to have available  only the magic school which is the highest at the time you cast the spell will benefit toward a skill increase. 

It is best to select the first few Bishop spells in such a way that they will only benefit one magic school. For example: Acid Splash or Itching skin for Alchemy development, Bless or Make Wounds for Divinity, Mind Stab for Psionics, and Frost or Energy Blast for Wizardry. Each time any of these spells are cast they will benefit the magic school they are from so you can develop the Bishop's magic early and often.

It is not really necessary for your Bishop to learn every spell in the game. Focusing on the spells most useful to the party needs and your style of play is always a good strategy and takes some of the difficulty out of developing a Bishop. If your Bishop is focused on all four schools of magic early spell choices will ultimately impact their ability to learn the level 6 and 7 spells of each school. Planning in advance which of these spells is desired will help you focus on how many spell picks to reserve. All but one of these spells must be chosen by a spell pick. (See the bottom of this page for a more in depth look at spell choices.)

No matter how many schools of magic your Bishop will concentrate on, or how many spells you want your Bishop to learn, Intelligence should be a main concern in development. Intelligence is a controlling attribute of all realm skills and 3 of the schools of magic. In addition the Bishop receives no skill bonus for any of their magical schools like specialist casters making the expert skill of Powercast associated with the Intelligence attribute highly desirable. Depending on what you plan for the Bishop to do magically Speed and its associated expert skill of Snakespeed may also be another important factor so they can move swiftly when combat commences. This is particularly true if the Bishop will be a primary caster of magical protections for the party.

If the Bishop will be a primary user of the Alchemy skill and you plan for them to learn all or the majority of the spells available it is best to move that skill to 15 as quickly as possible. They will need to start mixing potions early, and often, in order to purchase the numerous spell books available in the game.

A Bishop can also use heavier armors and a shield where some other magic users cannot. Spending a bit of time training and allotting skill points to the Shield skill can help your Bishop "hold their own" in combat situations.
 
Bishop Attribute Requirements
Race
STR
INT
PIE
VIT
DEX
SPD
SEN
Bonus
Pt/Att
- - 55 55 - 55 - 55 - -
 
Race
STR
INT
PIE
VIT
DEX
SPD
SEN
Bonus
Pt/Att
Dracon 55 35 30 60 50 40 30 -15 0
Dwarf 55 30 50 60 35 35 35 -10 0
Elf 35 50 50 35 50 45 40 30 10
Faerie 25 55 35 30 50 60 45 25 9
Felpurr 40 40 30 35 50 60 50 10 4
Gnome 35 50 40 50 50 35 45 25 9
Hobbit 40 40 30 45 55 50 50 15 5
Human 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 20 7
Lizardman 60 25 25 70 40 50 30 -40 0
Mook 50 50 25 50 35 35 55 5 3
Rawulf 40 30 55 50 40 40 50 15 5
 
Race Resistance Bonus%
Race
Air
Divine
Earth
Fire
Mental
Water
Dracon +5 -5 0 0 -5 +15
Dwarf 0 0 0 VIT 0 0
Elf +10 0 0 0 0 +20
Faerie +15 +15 +15 0 +15 0
Felpurr +10 0 +10 0 +10 -15
Gnome 0 0 0 0 VIT 0
Hobbit 0 0 VIT 0 0 0
Human 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lizardman 0 -10 +10 +15 -10 +10
Mook 0 +10 0 0 +15 +15
Rawulf 0 +5 +5 0 0 +10
 
Skills Available to the Bishop
Controlling Attributes
Skill
Primary
Secondary
Academic
 Artifacts Intelligence Senses
Close Combat Senses Intelligence
Communication Intelligence Senses
Mythology Senses Intelligence
Ranged Combat Senses Intelligence
 
Magical
 Alchemy Dexterity Intelligence
Divinity Piety None
Psionics Senses Intelligence
Wizardry Intelligence None
Air Magic Intelligence Piety
Divine Magic Intelligence Piety
Earth Magic Intelligence Piety
Fire Magic Intelligence Piety
Mental Magic Intelligence Piety
Water Magic Intelligence Piety
Weapon
 Mace & Flail Strength Dexterity
Shield Strength Dexterity
Staff & Wand Strength Dexterity
Throwing & Sling Dexterity Strength
 
Spell Choices for the Bishop
 
When planning a four school Bishop keep in mind that you do not need, or may not necessarily want, to learn every single spell in the game. Careful planning around what best suits the party's needs will ease the pressure on Bishop development. For those of you who want it all look at the following information: 
 
1) At level 18 all spells are available to the Bishop.
2) The Bishop has earned 19 spell picks by level 18. 
3) There are 76 level 1-5 spells, of these 75 have spell books to learn from.
4) The level 1 Mind Stab spell has no spell book to learn it from.
5) Each of the four schools have 4 level 6 spells (16 total) and 3 level 7 (12 total) spells for a sum total of 28 high level spells.
 
A few things worth knowing:
 
1) At least 3 level 6 spells are shared by each of the schools in some way. Banish is shared by Divinity and Wizardry, Turncoat by Wizardry and Psionics, and Resurrection by Alchemy and Divinity. Thus we have now reduced the number of level 6 spells needed by 3.
 
2) The Banish spell can be found in two locations and is sold by some vendors. Now we have reduced the number of level 6 spells by 1 reducing the overall need of spell picks for these high level spells to 24.
 
3) The Holy Water spell only has two options for you to obtain it. Each option is a random monster drop and you may be unwilling or unable (IronMan) to reload battles. You may also have no desire to fight one of the two opponents who can drop it. Depending on what you are willing and able to do to obtain this spell book we may need to add 1 back to our spell pick needs for a total back up to 25.
 
Regardless of how you desire to play out your options your Bishop will not acquire every spell in the game until they reach level 24 or 25. Cute how that works out eh? <shrugs>
 
For anyone sitting there and mourning the loss of spell casting time by selecting only Mind Stab or nothing at all in creation to reserve the maximum number of spell picks for the higher level spells, bear in mind four spell books are available to you in the Monastery where the game begins. 

Import parties ultimately have more options when beginning in Marten's Bluff or the Umpani Base Camp. Of course gold for spell book purchase will be a slight problem but your Bishop will begin at level 5 and if the Alchemy Skill is at least 15 you can immediately start mixing some potions to generate cash flow.
 
Make use of the Spell Book Found, Purchased, and Random information when planning a Bishop. Each of these pages link to a printable version so you can keep them on hand and use them like a checklist.