3.5 divine tank

[Bloodymango]

so im starting a campaign soon and i wanted to play a divine class (not druid) and i narrowed it down to cleric and favored soul. i was thinking what would be better for tanking. yes, clerics get heavy armor prof but favored soul has better saves and gets more spells per day.

[Eldariel]

so im starting a campaign soon and i wanted to play a divine class (not druid) and i narrowed it down to cleric and favored soul. i was thinking what would be better for tanking. yes, clerics get heavy armor prof but favored soul has better saves and gets more spells per day.

Clerics are better; they get Turning which can fuel divine feats like Divine Metamagic, Divine Spell Power and Divine Might (all of which are exceedingly useful for either your combat buffs, or combat performance).

They also get Domains which can be converted into certain Devotion-feats (Knowledge- and Law Devotion are both amazing) and grant useful abilities extra spells outside your class list.

Finally, they get new spell levels one level sooner which means better buffs sooner (doubly important since divine buffs really kick into high gear only around spell level 4-5).


Saves from Favored Soul are nice but it just so happens Cleric has the two important saves with good base values and while Reflex-save is bothersome, you rarely are truly boned if you fail it (to a degree that you couldn't negate it with Freedom of Movement from Travel-domain or a spell for example). Or you just take damage which is perfectly blockable with damage reductions, immunities and curative magic.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Go Cleric, get the Winter and Cold domains, the PH2 ACF for Cold, and a Lesser Rod of Extend. Put (Extended) Snowsight on yourself every day, and cast (Extended) Obscuring Snow (Frostburn). Your other party members can each buy you a 1st level Pearl of Power and go in thirds for more Lesser Rods of Extend if they want Snowsight cast on them. You can get DMM: Persist and use it to cast Ice Axe (SpC) among other buffs. Put (Extended) Magic Vestment on your armor and shield every day. Get a standard Strand of Prayer Beads with the Bead of Smiting removed, as per DMG pricing it should only cost you 9,000 gp, and you'll get +4 caster level for your buffs every day. Use Cold domain spells for crowd control, Ice Axe for melee attacks, and Obscuring Snow is a trump card for pretty much every encounter.