Advise on lvl 2 Cloistered Cleric

[Rann]

Greetings sirs and madams, and ofcourse everything non-human.

I'm going to play in a slightly RP dominated adventure, normal 3,5 settings. SRD / Completes / Compendiums etc. allowed. Flaws allowed

The character is build for having, or taking knowledge. Mostly using that knowledge to let others do the dirty jobs, always having a string attached to them.
My religion will be Vecna, witch suits it all perfectly. The DM allows trickery domain to also be a Vecna domain.
In essence he will most likely pretend to be a cleric of a other domain, using various skills to aid him (the bluff, disguise etc.)
So basically I'll be some kind of skillmonkey stealth/casting cleric. As melee is quite out of the order mostly because of the stats and lack of armor. However there is always Divine Power etc..

Level 2 Human Cloistered Cleric

30PB
So far i'm thinking about something like
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 10
Int 14
Wis 16
Cha 14

Special : Lore (Like Bardic Knowledge)
Domains : Knowledge(All knowledge skills are class skills) & Trickery ( Bluff and more as class skills! Getting knowledge from people )
Feats : unknown

I'm mostly worried about these things.

Combat survivability:
The stats. My AC and HP will be quite low, can only wear light armor... Even thinking of shifting points to more intelligence. How to get better AC?

The Flaws:
Thinking of Feeble and Vunerable.. Might suit best with my character?

The feats:
SO MANY!.. Knowledge devotion looks nice... Metamagic / divine feats are nice... Any extra advice? (Did saw the cleric handbook ofcourse)

[Rebel7284]

1. Swap Dex and Con. 
2. Take Extend Spell->Persistent Spell OR Quicken Spell
3. Take Divine Metamagic[Persistent Spell] OR Divine Metamagic[Quicken Spell].  Persist route is more powerful, but both are good.
4. I suggest taking the Spell Domain.  Anyspell/Greater Anyspell are great.

Edit: your post only lists two domains, you know that the knowledge domain is a BONUS domain for cloistered cleric, right?  Unless you chose to swap it for knowledge devotion which is also a flavorful and powerful option.

[Rann]

Just a quick reply :

Been thinking of persistent spell route... Only found about 4 different variants in different books, one book saying its +4, other saying its +6..
About the domains:

Doh! Totally forgot about that one! A extra domain is more powerful then a feat I guess.

Spelldomain indeed looks very nice.. Most excellent..

[thurmin]

The first thing I would like to know is. What are your plans with this character? Are you wanting to be a casting cleric, melee character or an amalgamation of both?
Will you be worshiping a particular diety or a cause?
From just the PHB, I notice that the only dieties that allow trickery are Garl Glittergold, Boccob, Olidammara, Nerull, Erythnul.
You have 8 feats in the lifetime of your character, that doesn't allow a lot of freedom. Do you have any idea of what feats you'd like?

Straight cleric caster is a potent build, and having the Knowledge Domain as a freebie certain doesn't hurt. For flavor, have you thought of making a dip into Contemplative (CD) for a bonus Domain? If you have, I suggest Spontaneous Domains, allowing you to pick and choose the spell you need from your 4 domains.

Personally, I would switch your Dex and Con. While the bonus to AC and ranged to hit is nice, you have a low HP base, so having a CON bonus will help offset that. A Lot.

Putting a single point into your assorted knowledge skills is sufficient if you are going the Knowledge Devotion route. The Cleric Handbook has a ton of fabulous options for you to choose. Could you provide us with a more detailed report of what you are looking for? Otherwise each of us will throw out a flavor that we like and they could be radically different.

I agree with Rebel7284 re: extend/persist/dmm persist/dmm quicken route. I would put off persist spell till 9th or 12th level personally.

[sirpercival]

The domains are good and all, but if you're so focused on knowledge, why not be an Archivist?  You get all those spells anyway, and, y'know, that's their schtick.

[Rann]

Excuses, I seem to be forgetting all kinds of things.

The character is build for having, or taking knowledge. Mostly using that knowledge to let others do the dirty jobs, always having a string attached to them.
My religion will be Vecna, witch suits it all perfectly. The DM allows trickery domain to also be a Vecna domain.
In essence he will most likely pretend to be a cleric of a other domain, using various skills to aid him (the bluff, disguise etc.)
So basically I'll be some kind of skillmonkey stealth/casting cleric. As melee is quite out of the order mostly because of the stats and lack of armor. However there is always Divine Power etc..

I haven't looked far into the future as it will be a PBP game (play by post). I'm assuming character leveling will be slow, but will look deeper into Contemplative and Archivist, Spontaneous Domains and Archivist definitely sounds nice! (@ work at the moment.. sadly, no books )

[Rebel7284]

Just a quick reply :

Been thinking of persistent spell route... Only found about 4 different variants in different books, one book saying its +4, other saying its +6..

It's +6, the latest version of Persistent Spell is in Complete Arcane.

About the domains:

Doh! Totally forgot about that one! A extra domain is more powerful then a feat I guess.

The domain is not necessarily more powerful than the feat. Consider:
- Knowledge Devotion always adds damage to any damage roll.  This includes spell damage AND is added multiple times if a spell has multiple attack rolls.
- Clerics already have access to most of the important knowledge skills AND Knowledge Devotion adds one more (Let's say you take Knowledge Nature.)  You will only be missing Dungeoneering for Oozes and Architecture for golems.
- You can only max out so many knowledge skills, you don't usually need ALL of them.

Spelldomain indeed looks very nice.. Most excellent..

Yup, the only drawback is that you need a spellbook to read from as I recall.

[Rann]

True that, might take the domain knowledge and spend a feat for the knowledge devotion, as it fits the concept quite well. Depends on all the other awesome feats..

Sad part is that a part of the feat turns useless in that way (the extra knowledge skill).

[StreamOfTheSky]

Is being a dwarf instead of human ok?  Ancestral Knowledge is sexy.  It's in Races of Stone, if that's allowed.  Same book also has Trivial Knowledge for gnomes, but...I like dwarves better.

[Maat Mons]

The academic priest feat (Legend of the Twins) lets you use int instead of wis for casting, except for save DCs.  If you're not planning to use many save-based effects, this allows you to go fairly heavy on int. 

[Rann]

Thanks for the tips!

One question, as im pretending to be a cleric of a other deity, I need to carry there holy symbol..

Only what is a holy symbol... its a object, but can it also be a pattern in a glove,or some object that doesnt directly look as a symbol of ...?

[Rann]

No one knows anything about this ?

[muktidata]

Persist Lore of the Gods and take traits to buff your Fort save. Trade Knowledge Domain for Knowledge Devotion. Take Zen Archery. Swap Dex and Con. That gives you viable combat options: shoot or run away. I'm playing a CC right now myself. Gotta love tailoring your character every morning. Read the 3.5 Cleric Handbook.

[Quillwraith]

One question, as im pretending to be a cleric of a other deity, I need to carry there holy symbol..

Only what is a holy symbol... its a object, but can it also be a pattern in a glove,or some object that doesnt directly look as a symbol of ...?

Dungeonscape says for 50 gp you can have a holy symbol built into armor or shield.