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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 3241252" data-attributes="member: 3146">Something to consider: you could eschew the war domain and take Destruction and Strength instead.As others alluded to, the bane of self-buffing clerics is prep time. My comment on several occasions has been, "gee, you really kick butt now that combat's over. Too bad you didn't manage to do anything during the combat." Strength and Destruction domains both, in their own way or combined, allow your cleric to dish out a no prep smackdown. Smite for +4 to hit and +cleric level damage is nice, and, especially at mid to high levels, being able to turn on your strength domain for one round of mightiness is great. At 7th level, assuming an even strength, that's +7 to hit and +10 damage with a one-handed weapon or +7 to hit and +11 to +12 damage with a two handed weapon. That's the kind of a boost that will often take an enemy who you ordinarily need three hits to kill and let you manage it in two or take an enemy who you need two hits to kill and let you do it in one.But you want to use a greatsword? You could always spend the feat. It's not the best thing you can do with a feat, but you can do a lot worse. (I played a 3.0 cleric who was 7th or 8th level when I converted him to 3.5 and he started by spending a feat on martial weapon proficiency: greatsword). On the other hand, you don't really need to use a greatsword. The good old heavy mace is a very solid weapon and won't let you down.A bit more advice: 28 point buy is not really enough to make a cleric who can take both expertise and power attack. IMO, the default 28 point martial cleric is probably strength 14, dex 10, con 14, int 10, Wis 15, Cha 12. (Charisma is there for turning and the potential of taking Leadership, etc). You could change that around by dumping charisma and buying a 16 strength or even a 16 wisdom and 12 dexterity (good for maxing out your fullplate), but without dumping dexterity as well or reducing your wisdom to 14, you won't be able to qualify for Expertise. So, you need to narrow your goals a little bit.A good setup might be the statblock I laid out earlier, and a feat chain depending upon your domains:War and Destruction: Martial Weapon (bonus), Weapon Focus (bonus), Power Attack, Cleave, Extend Spell, Empower SpellStrength and Destruction: Power Attack, Cleave, Extend Spell, Empower Spell (You could lose Cleave for Martial Weapon Proficiency or Weapon Focus).Multiclassing:The basic rule of multiclassing is this: You're allowed one level of non-spellcasting. After that, you're not really a cleric/wizard/whatever else. You're a fighter/barbarian/whatever else with a extra spellcasting ability. So, you can play a fighter 4/Cleric 3. And while it may lack the raw power of a high level cleric, you would fill a role that the cleric needs at least one round of prep to perform. The proper way to look at such a character isn't, are they better than a cleric--they're not; rather ask if it's better than a fighter 7 because that's the role you would be filling. In that case, you essentially trade 1 point of base attack bonus for minor curative abilities, the ability to cast your own bull's strength (at moderate duration), +2 to will saves and +2 to fort saves, and a once per day smite that adds a noticable attack bonus if not a lot of damage. At 7th level, that looks like a pretty decent trade. The problem is that the marriage of fighter and cleric becomes more uneasy after that. At 8th level, you pick up cleric 4, but then what? If you go up in cleric, you become a cleric who traded two levels of spells for weapon specialization and a few feats. Not a good deal. If you go up in fighter, the benefits your cleric level provide become less significant. (Though with some non-core material, you might be able to make Turn Undead work for you). You could also decide to advance in paladin after that, and that would work for a little while, but sooner or later, you'd get to the point where the cleric spells you got from being a cleric 4 are not as good as the paladin spells you would get for being paladin 4 more. In 3.0, I think you might be able to swing losing a second point of BAB and going up to cleric 8 before going the rest of the way in fighter (with a short dip into paladin because, well, how many worthwhile feats are there really in 3.0 core rules). That would get you empowered bull's strength and empowered endurance along with some spells like air walk and death ward that have an indefinite shelf-life.As for the rest, remember that this is 3.0 you're playing. Bull's strength and Endurance last 1 hour per level. And Greater magic weapon and magic vestment both advance on the +1/3 caster levels path. And necklaces of prayer beads with the bead of karma are dirt cheap. At 7th level, using the necklace of prayer beads, you can have +3 armor and a +3 weapon for the cost of one 3rd level and one 4th level slot. For the cost of a 3rd level slot, you could prayer bead yourself to a 22 hour extended bull's strength. For the cost of a 4th level slot, you could have an empowered bull's strength up for 11 hours--enough to be active when you want it for the most part.Advancement: For a real cleric character, the best part of melee clericdom is yet to come. At 8th level, with a bead of karma, your magic vestement and greater magic weapons would advance to +4. At 9th level, you would want to pick up Quicken Spell so you can use Quickened Divine Favor. 3.0 Righteous Might isn't as good as 3.5, but it's still pretty good. And, of course, you could then flame strike things.</blockquote>

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