I've played a boatload of clerics since I'm a rather easygoing gal who will just wait til I find out what everyone else has their heart set on and fill in where needed. A lot of the people I've gamed with were quite keen on the stabby/punchy/shoot it with arrows classes, so a cleric was often in order.
My favorite so far is my current character. She's a halfling cleric of Dallah Thaun with the knowledge and trickery domains and a level of rogue.
Roleplaying her is fantastic since I enjoy halflings (the shoeless ones of course) and she doesn't have to be a goody-goody all the time having a goddess who's not opposed to shady dealings.
The trickery domain is just wonderful, too. It gives you access to bluff, which is my favorite skill. And disguise self, which always leads to creative non-combat solutions.
I can completly relate to this...Oddly enough, I have never gone with Radiant Servant of Pelor, you would think by now I would have for the healing and anti undead. I just went with base cleric and healing domains. NOBODY wants to play the Cleric in any group. Its like a player phobia, and I know why the aversion to clerics exist. Anybody playing a cleric is expected to be the party healer with some buff's. Its the whole preconceived vision the rest of the party expects you to pigeon hole your spells. And the other party members arent wrong, the Cleric is a vital / instramental part to most parties success. Unless we are playing an evil campaign, then apparently, the Cleric, is fun. If I have another PC with ranged healing standing off in a corner with some sort of aura of protection Im going to crack! I think my fondness for my cerebramancer, was in part do to his inability to heal anybody. Sure he could buff the heck out of the party and that was 50% of his spell casting.
Just wanted to let you kn ow that Im the same way. I'll play anything and in general easy going. AAAAnd as a reult of this I get stuck with the Cleric more often than not. So Im less pliable as of late, and the other party members were all joking saying things such as "it took you this long to object?"