What Thanee said. Persistent Spell for Divine Favor would be awesome.
Don't knock the lion riding 'till you've tried it!
Well, ok, that particular tactic isn't for everyone. But it is fun. Note that it's good for druids too -- they have the same combination of good combat abilities and strong summoning spells.
As for relying on buffs too much:
- Dispel Magic Area Effect removes at most one buff. Annoying, but not a big worry.
- Dispel Magic targetted on you is more painful, but you should still retain over half your buffs (unless it's a Greater Dispel). And if you're targetted, that means that everyone else has their Hastes, Shields, etc. still up. So consider this scenario to be "taking one for the team".
- Anti-magic fields: Whether you're a buffed melee-cleric or a stand-back-and-cast cleric... either way you're temporarily screwed. You have to move out of that anti-magic field pronto if you want to do anything.
I'd say forget about defender weapons. In full plate and a shield, with either Shield of Faith or Protection from Evil going, your AC is going to be just fine. Probably the best in the group. So either:
- Get a +1 Holy Frost battleaxe and enchant it up to +4 with GMW. (The melee option)
- Get a masterwork battleaxe and spend the 31,700gp you'll save on magical protection items: a better cloak of resistance, ring of minor fire resistance, brooch of shielding, etc. (The stand-back-and-cast option)
Good luck!
Don't knock the lion riding 'till you've tried it!

As for relying on buffs too much:
- Dispel Magic Area Effect removes at most one buff. Annoying, but not a big worry.
- Dispel Magic targetted on you is more painful, but you should still retain over half your buffs (unless it's a Greater Dispel). And if you're targetted, that means that everyone else has their Hastes, Shields, etc. still up. So consider this scenario to be "taking one for the team".
- Anti-magic fields: Whether you're a buffed melee-cleric or a stand-back-and-cast cleric... either way you're temporarily screwed. You have to move out of that anti-magic field pronto if you want to do anything.
I'd say forget about defender weapons. In full plate and a shield, with either Shield of Faith or Protection from Evil going, your AC is going to be just fine. Probably the best in the group. So either:
- Get a +1 Holy Frost battleaxe and enchant it up to +4 with GMW. (The melee option)
- Get a masterwork battleaxe and spend the 31,700gp you'll save on magical protection items: a better cloak of resistance, ring of minor fire resistance, brooch of shielding, etc. (The stand-back-and-cast option)
Good luck!