i am wondering preist strengh points would go beyond holy protection mastery with str 38 since there i no reason hes a preist they dont need to melee attack and cant whole huge swords strengh seems a waste of points preist gain power threw spells and points in other defences theres a video of guy playing preist online with all spells in leather armor with staff which means they dont need good armor to complete game or points in mellee weapons companions do most of the work well i take it with max stats in spells they do more than better thanarmor, if used right at right time it probably takes alot longer to complete game ihave level 15 preist and havent placed any points yet still waiting dont want to place wrong
spot

I'm afraid I don't follow you here because I don't know what paladin's Holy Protection (increasing his magic resistance) has to do with priest's Strength... Anyway, priests really do not rely on their Strength but on their magical abilities. Moreover, priests cannot wear heavier armor because they can achieve only the Disciple level (the second level out of four) in the Armor Use skill.

As far as companions and your spells go, it works more or less like this - in the first Act, or possibly in the first two Acts, your companions are mostly useful and you can use your spells - that are slowly becoming more and more powerful - in conjunction with their melee/range skills (while wisely utilising your party commands, like Attack the target, Cease fire or Hold positions). But in Act III, your companions usually get too weak for your enemies and there is a possibility you will have to send them back home and keep on going alone. But at that time it shouldn't matter any more because your spells will be probably so powerful you won't need anyone else to prevail.

On the other hand, as I probably already mentioned in some other thread, throughout the game you will get so many attribute points that you will "have" to invest them in your Strength because there will be no other stat to invest them into. Priest's regular max for Strength is 50, but for example my priest ended the game with Strength 100 (thanks to magic items and elixirs). So, finally, my advice would be to invest in your Strength from time to time, but keep on focusing on typical priest's stats, like Intelligence, Constitution or Speed (which I found very useful in my adventure).