Suggestions for a melee Cleric

[alcoholander]

We are starting a Forgotten Realms campaign in which I am going to play a cleric of Red Knight. The other party heroes are a dwarf fighter and a gnome illusionist. My idea is to play a melee cleric who buffs his allies and is a good front line fighter. I've come up with the idea of a build which I think is pretty good but I'll appreciate other opinions and suggestions.


Race: Human
Class: Cleric
Deity: Red Night (Law, Nobility, Planning, War)
Alignment: Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral
Domains: Planning, War
Domain Powers: Weapon Proficiency Long sword, Weapon Focus Long sword (from War Domain); Extend Spell (from Planning Domain)
Alternative Class Feature: Spontaneous Domain (War)

Abilities:
28 Point buy: Str 14 Dex 10 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 15 Cha 14

Feats:
1 lev: Weapon Proficiency Long sword, Weapon Focus Long sword, Extend Spell, Persistent Spell, Extra Turning
3 lev: Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)
6 lev: Power Attack
9 lev: Holy Warrior
12 lev: Law Devotion


My idea is to cast a persisted Divine Power as soon as I reach level 7 to gain the bonuses on attack, srength an HP. Before that I will cast a persisted Mass Lesser Vigor on the entire party. The ACF Spontaneous Domain (War) and Holy Warrior feat allow me to add the highest spell available to cast above fourth level to my damage. At level 12 I will use Power Attack to transform the +5 sacred bonus on attack form Law Devotion into damage. For 3 Turn Undead attempts I can use the bonus of Law Devotion one more time per day which is pretty good because with a simple cloak of charisma +4 or with a Nightstick I will have 10 or 13 Turn Undead attempts which are enough for one persisted spell and 2 o 3 activations of the Law Devotion feat.

What I like most about this build is that I am not loosing any caster levels and at the same time I am going to be a strong front line fighter with a decent damage output.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

That looks good, and happens to use a bunch of things I ban in my own games (Holy Warrior, Nightstick, and Persistent Spell) for being broken, so you're definitely well optimized.
When you say "For 3 Turn Undead attempts I can use the bonus of Holy Warrior one more time per day," you meant Law Devotion, right? Holy Warrior's a broken reserve feat that gives up to +9 damage on all attacks, it makes no use of turn undead.

The only things I can think to add:
C.Champion has an alt class feature ot lose one of your 4th level spell slots for a pool of healing (level +1) x 5 hp per day, that works like lay on hands and is mechanically a good deal if you were likely to use the slot for healing anyway.
I like dwarf clerics using dwarven waraxes, hammers, or (using the DM discretion option to switch your racial weapon proficiencies if allowed) dwarven warpike. Races of Stone has the VERY good warpike and a note about changing the racial weapons you're proficient with. It also has a dwarf cleric sub level to lose a 2nd level spell lot to basically get Weapon Specialization (+2 damage) with all hammers.
If you're set on human I guess that's not an option, but dwarves make great clerics.

Did you consider a prestige class, since cleric 20 gives few class features? I enjoyed Church Inquisitor, it has full casting, easy pre-reqs, and some nice immunities, though doesn't help much with combat. It does give you a bonus domain, whose +4 on dispel checks on its own is handy, but using C.Champion's Substitute Domain spell (day/level duration), you can also trade it out for another domain your deity offers, which is nice versatility.

I always wanted to try out Ruby Knight Vindicator (Tome of Battle), but it requires worshipping Wee Jas and loses you caster levels, so probably not for you. It is a great "Fighter/Cleric" (more specifically, Crusader/Cleric) hybrid.

 

[alcoholander]

Yes, I meant "Law Devotion" not "Holy Warior". Sorry my mistake.

I really like human because of its bonus feat. Since we are not playing that often I just can't wait to get all those nice feats and I will probably stick with it.

The pool of healing is an interesting option that is much better than a fourth level cure spell so I will take it.

I will definitely consider some prestige class but I haven't decided yet which one is the most suitable.

 

[GilaMonster]

Have a look at the Ordained Champion on Complete Champion. It's a 5 level PrC made for clerics of Hextor, but the adaption section for Faerun specifically mentioned The Red Knight. You lose 2 caster levels and the ability to spont cure spells, but gain decent abilities for a melee cleric.

 

[parinho7]

Contemplative FTW

 

[bigbaddragon]

Another good ACF that you may consider is Divine Restoration (from Dungeonscape IIRC). You lose one of your domains granted power and gain the ability to spontaneously cast Restoration line of spells by expending the spell slot of the same level as Restoration spell you cast. The usefulness of this depends on the kind of opponents your DM will use

I you're interested in this I'd recommend using the war domain for this and ditching the longsword and using longspear instead. Why? Because there is weapon enchantment in MIC called "Impaling" that lets you attack three times per day as you were making a touch attack which means you'd convert all of your BAB to damage with PA. The enchantment counts as +1 bonus and is only applicable to piercing weapons. There is also Heartseaking Amulet that does the same but isn't limited to piercing weapons.

Hope this helps

 

[johnboy069]

Ordained Champion and Ruby Knight Vindicator are really good Prcs for melee clerics. Pious Templar from Complete Divine can be great as well for (paladin spells like Divine Sacrifice).

 

[Shin Okada]

You seems to be making a buff-heavy character for med-to-higher level games.

If so, one of your biggest enemy is dispelling. Many fiends, unded, etc. use Dispel Magic or even Greater Dispel Magic at will. And of course, most of the enemy casters use some kind of Dispels.

Recently there was a thread regarding how to protect your spell from dispelling

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-3r...-ways-can-i-make-my-spells-harder-dispel.html

Also, if I were you, I will consider taking Quicken Spell, Divine Metamagic (Quicken), or maybe Sudden Quicken.

For a melee-buff happy cleric, casting time is very important when you use non-persistent buffs. Spending a round for buff could be a bad choice as most of the 3.5e combats takes only 3-4 rounds.

 

[alcoholander]

I thought about the Quicken Spell Divine Metamagic route too because I like the idea of casting a quickened spell and then take an action. I've also asked myself about the problem with dispells but as it didn't happen to me in our previous parties (which is strange) I just ignored this problem.