Cleric needs direction

[argletahm]

Hello everyone and thanks in advance for your help.

I recently started playing in a new d&d 3.5 campaign... it's currently in mid levels but it will probably go up to lvl 20 or so. We have been allowed to all d&d 3.5 material but no dragon magazine and such. We can access all campaign settings as long as they are 3.5 (so botheberron faerun and whatever are ok) Some other books like liber mortis are also heavily restricted (not sure on how much since it's pretty much DM discretion).

This said, I started the campaign at lvl 9 with a cleric of Helm (planning/protection) and went with a simple human cleric DMM+persist (2 total persist considering extra turn, no rebuke/destroy cheese) and I met the party for the first time.... The first member is a standard 2WF melee, some book of nine swords things but nothing too scary, he is also at lvl9. The other party member (the only one that was still part of the original group that started playing and has thus inherited/looted a bunch of items and xp) is a lvl 11 wizard/incantatrix... and he can currently persist 8 spells on himself and 8 on other casters (he has enough spellcraft to do it even on 1 and level 6 spells).

This said I don't believe that "competing" in persist buffing is wise and I'll just "retrain" the character since it was only one session. Also I have been cut out from sun domain/sun disciple ecc (it's a campaign with a lich as last boss and the DM fears destroy undead... yeah I know... GROAN)

My current stats have been rolled and are 10-12-14-13-18-16 (lvl 4 and 8 bonus included) I can probably still "move them around" if needed.

This said I can probably still keep buffs in my spell list (to have the incantatrix persist 'em) but I'd like to be more useful than a walking buff/healbot. Suggestions are accepted - my first idea was to go towards summons (to add bodies on the field that get buffed from me, that can soak damage and generally be versatile) but I can consider different options.


My basic idea for feats was:

1(U) - spell focus conjuration
1 - augment summon
3 - beckon the frozen
6 - rashemi elemental summoning
9 - summon elemental
12 - quicken spell
15 - divine metamagic (quicken)
18 - extra turning

of course being able to get only up to level 9 now, but I like to plan in advance.

Haven't found a prestige class that I found satisfying though... I have seen the malconvoker but I fear that the caster level loss considering the already present 2 lvl gap is gonna be too heavy. I have seen a couple of other good ones like church inquisitor or divine disciple... but I can't decide on one and/or on how to be actually effective in what I do.



Just for completion- here is the spell list I had memorized last session

LVL 0
detect magic
no light
read magic
light
cure minor wounds
purify food and drinks

LVL 1
hide from undead
bless
shield of faith
shield of faith
ebon eyes
snowshoes

LVL 2
spiritual weapon
ghost touch armor
elation
tyche's touch
cloud of knives

LVL 3
lesser visage of the deity
dispel magic
ice axe
mass lesser vigor

LVL 4
recitation
sheltered vitality
divine power

LVL 5
righteous wrath of the faithful
revivify

DOMAIN
1 deathwatch
2 augury
3 protection from energy
4 status
5 spell resistance


And I'm thinking of having
1   divine favor      +3 attack e dmg   1 min   personal   8
1   shield of faith      +2(+1/6lvl) deflection AC   1m/lvl   touch   7
3   Lesser Visage of the Deity      +4 cha +10 res acid/lightning/cold   1r/lvl   personal   6
3   ice axe      2d12+1/2CL cold on hit (melee touch)   1r/lvl   0ft   5
3   mass lesser vigor      +1hp per round   10+1r/lvl   20ft rad   4
4   recitation      +2 luck Ac attack TS (+3 same deity)   1r/lvl   60ft rad   3
4   divine power      +6 str BAB war +1hp/CL   1r/lvl   personal   2
5   righteous wrath of the faithful      haste +3 morale attack dmg (stack con haste)   1r/lvl   30ft rad   1

persisted by the incantatrix.


I wrote a huge amount of things so a TL;DR is:
Cleric needs to be useful/effective - maybe summoning? But I accept suggestions (could be anything good really) - need help on prestige classes/feats and defining the character role.

Once again thanks a lot for your time and sorry to be bother.

p.s. I'd prefer to limit myself to one or 2 PrC at max
p.p.s. I can consider suggestions on DMM+persist too if you feel that either party split or dispel or similar events can make it worth my while to keep that line of feats (or hybrid builds of some kind to do different things)

[Skyrock]

Clerics can potentially fill any role, but they are not the best summoners - Druids fill that role generally better among divine fullcasters.

Necromancers with armies of the dead are a well-supported Cleric niche that is very similar to summoning, but that doesn't seem like a route that would be suitable for a cleric of Helm at all.

For a Helm cleric, you could see if your DM is fine with the Fire Domain as thematically very similar replacement for the banned Sun Domain, which allows you to rebuke creatures with the fire subtype. Not as versatile and well-supported as rebuking undead, but it is something that supplements your summoning through spellcasting.

[argletahm]

what do you suggest as an alternative? Going full magic damage? Going melee damage? Or do you have something different in mind? Also... which feats would you take in those cases?

[Skyrock]

Melee damage + DMM-persisted self-buffs is a tried&true cleric path that works very well, but you are purposefully going away from that.

If you want to stick with summoning, BFC is something you can also look into at least as a side hobby - wizards do it generally better, but there also some interesting spells on the cleric list like Insect Plague or Blade Barrier. And there is quite some synergy if you can position meatshields and obstacles to get the most bang per buck.

Pure damage output is generally a waste on a prepared full-caster, and clerics are not even very good at it compared to evocation wizards and the like. That's not a route I would pursue.

[argletahm]

Well considering I should still be able to get the spells persisted by the incantatrix the melee damage dealer is not out of the window. I could stick with this build and use the 2 persist I get or simply get feats for melee combat.. aside the obvious power attack.. any worthwhile suggestion on a cleric?

[Arz]

If big changes are allowed Favored Soul of Helm with a dwarf subrace can grab floating feats with the wintervein affiliation. Enter a prc with a domain and the substitute domain spell for another floating feat. And finally planar touchstone.

[argletahm]

Update - I thought about it deeply and decided to go toward a melee damage oriented build (without losing spell levels though). I will let the incantatrix persist my spells.
Which means I will probably have the spell above constantly running.

I was thinking to switch int and str (so I get 13 str for feats).

So as far as feats go will probably be:
1 (U)   extra turning
1   quicken spell
3   divine metamgic quicken
6   power attack
9   divine might

I was thinking of limiting a bunch of things considering my damage is mostly gonna come from Ice Axe spell... Some doubts I still have. Is divine might worth it? Is it worth in your opinion to get mounted combat instead for a level of prestige paladin? How would you optimize this? What feats (I suppose both lvl 6/9 feats are on the plate... also I have no idea on which feats to go for after that).

once again thanks in advance

[Arz]

I'd go with the holy warrior feat unless your charisma is awesome. Even knowledge devotion can sometimes be better.