Min/Max Boards

I made a war cleric for Mines of Phandelvar, using Magic Initiate for Shillelagh. He is now level 3, I intend to keep playing him into Elemental Evil, but I'm not sure if continuing on in War Cleric past lvl 5 for Spirit Guardians is the best path. Lvl 6 gives a second Channel Divinity, lvl 8 gives Divine Strike and another feat/stat.  He currently runs around with half-plate and shield, occasionally using a longbow instead, using shillelagh on the bow instead of his club if he has to switch from ranged to melee in a hurry.

I'm considering cross-classing to Paladin Oath of the Ancients, it goes along with the Magic Initiate that I have played up a bit, but that would require a significant stat investment as I currently have wis 17, str 10, cha 12 dex 14, con 14, int 12, so to get to the requisite 13 Str/Cha would cost 4th and 8th lvl feats. Is it worth it? I built the character as a front-line fighter, but he ends up being more of a switch-hitter as it turns out, as we also have a fighter and a barbarian in the party.

I could also drop into either Warlock or Fighter without many problems, though neither is as good for spell progression. I know Rogue would be a good choice mechanically, but he is a worshiper of the Red Knight (tactical warfare) and I just don't see him going Rogue without justifications so twisty that my GM would thwap me for trying.

Any thoughts on what would make best use of the mess I've started with?

That's the thing, it's early and I'm not convinced of certain ideas....
Otherwise I haven't really investigated Warlocks much beyond 2 for a dip.

Yeah, the more I look at them, the more I worry that they're going to turn out to be better as a dip than as a class. I'm almost certain that they are going to fizzle out around lvl 10 when their spell slots stop raising in level (seriously, WHY do they not keep going up for casting purposes????), but I think they might make a really fascinating 10/10 with a full caster.

Stats: We rolled, I have one 17, three 14s and two 12s to play with. Pretty solid.
Intent: I plan to play a human gish blade-wielder and abuse the Hex spell. I'm having trouble with the mid-level planning though. I'm looking at minimums of Cleric 1 (probably Tempest for campaign reasons, though War would be more optimized) and Warlock 3, with at least one Warlock level taken at 5th to get Thirsting Blade.

The questions:
1) Should I go Cleric 1/Warlock X, or Warlock 3/Cleric X? I'd planned on the former, but the more I look at the book, the less certain I am that leveling up in Warlock works well. Anyone want to throw out an argument (maybe particular spell access) one way or the other?
2) Dual-wield, sword & board, or just plan to take Polearm Master?
3) High stat: Str for blade attacks, Cha for spell attacks, or Wis for spells prepared and uses of the 1st-lvl domain ability?
4) lvl 1 Feat choice is probably: War Caster (for concentration and spell AoO), Polearm Master (for the extra attacks), or Heavy Armor Master (for the Str bump and DR).

Any advice appreciated - other than "don't play a warlock," of course. I'm committed to trying it out, which probably answers #1 anyway unless a strong argument is presented for advancing as a primary cleric.

Start with Advanced Player's Guide, after that grab Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic.

Is it possible to make a mid-to-high level wizard in 3.5 whose spell list isn't just a list of better ways to beat people down? There seems to be a depressing lack of any outside-of-combat spells that do anything other than improve your ability to travel so you can get to the next combat. No wonder NPCs don't trust wizards...

I would treat the extradimensional spell interface just as described, a window/door into another universe. If you cast transdimensionally, you can calculate burst and area calculations as being able to flow through that window/door, in all other ways treating it as an adjacent room with a door that you are casting a spell near.  I find this to be far more supportable than trying to claim that 100 people in the mansion occupy the same 5' space for spell targeting.

Extradimensional spaces aren't coterminous with the material plane like the ethereal plane, so the entire space is in a given square

Please provide a rules citation to support this interpretation, as it does not seem to be at all supported by the reading of either Rope Trick or the Mansion spell. Technically, even the entrance to the Mansion takes up two squares (though, technically, so does any adventurer taller than 5'0").

Elemental Body, transmutation from Spell Compendium (p78), transforms your body into a particular type of elemental substance, and grants benefits by doing so. The four Heart Of spells, Complete Mage (pp106-107) convert "part of your body into" the appropriate element, but expressly can all be used together. 

Is there any reason other than GM interpretation of fluff, why these spells would not work together?

I'm Fringe.

An old time lurker from the bg forums, now hoping to also share some of my homebrew (mostly monsters) for D&D.

Besides D&D i also play Call of Ctulhu RPG.

Wait... Fringe from www.chicago-sf.org?  If so, small world it is. 
-Riley/Redeemer