I’ve long enjoyed divine casters of all kinds, and have played many over the years. Clerics were the bulk of that for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was because 2Ed’s Player Options rules and 3.XEd’s rules made design space for a wider realm of options than ever before.
One of the last ones I played in 2Ed used the PO rules. Couldn’t Turn Undead. Fighter HD, att progression, medium armor & some weapons; had access to wizards spells, but almost all of his possible spells were heals, debuffs or buffs. If he’d leveled up enough, he’d eventually have gotten Blade Barrier (an Abjuration spell) as his only damage spell. Everything magical about him was built around building up or protecting his allies.*
In 3.5Ed, I got to play a Geomancer based on DC Comics’ Swamp Thing in RttToEE. He was terrible at Turning Undead, but instead used his TU to power the original (CompDiv p84) version of Sacred Healing**, which granted all living things in a 60’ burst the equivalent of Fast Healing 3 for one TU. Over the effect’s duration, that was good for auto-stabilizing wounds and recovering 45HP. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was impressive in practice. Combined with the Extra Turning feat, he almost never cast a minor healing spell.
Remember, it’s a 60’ burst- a 120’ diameter circle centered on the manifester. That means you didn’t want to use it in the thick of combat. But before, after, and under certain conditions, while closing distance, it tilted the battlefield. He could easily heal the entire party…plus any pets, familiars, and allied/rescued NPCs who tagged along. Over time, our party looted the bodies of fallen foes to equip a small army of revenge-minded NPCs, kept in fighting trim largely by this one trick.
* Almost never played, because another PO cleric player whined about my character being “Superman”. Tore it up in his face and played something else. Rebuilt him for a later campaign with a few players in common with the original, and he got 1-shotted in the 1st combat by a skeleton who critted with a 2hd sword.
“Soooo…that was ‘Superman’, huh?”
** FWIW, I asked WotC: the PHB II feat of the same name was not intended to replace the CompDiv version. It’s a fun feat for any divine caster who can Turn Undead, especially those who can’t do it well. It turbocharges an otherwise “meh” feature.
