Best Cleric PrC?

[danzibr]

I should start by saying there probably is no single best Cleric PrC. In particular, I'm interested in prestige classes which would benefit a Cleric focused on buffing himself with DMM (so lack of BAB is totally unimportant) and then doing some melee.

I've seen Radiant Servant of Pelor and Master of Radiance, and they seem cool. But then we have things like Sacred Exorcist, Church Inquisitor, Contemplative, Sacred Fist, et cetera. Actually, nix that last one, but I always thought Cleric/Monk had great flavor and that picture is totally bad-donkey. Stormlord looks particularly cool. In any case, which PrC's are worthwhile for a Cleric wanting to do melee? I basically just don't know which abilities are actually useful as I've never played melee Cleric before.

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

If you count Radiant Servant's Extra Greater Turning as fuel for DMM then I would say that. But if you don't then a Prc that gives you the other form of Turn/Rebuke that you didn't choose for being a cleric would be a good choice too.

[dextercorvia]

Sacred Exorcist is best for at least a dip, since you can take Destroy Undead or one of the others that explicitly fuels divine feats with your cleric levels, and then double your turn attempts when you get Turn Undead from Sacred Exorcist.

[Snowbluff]

RKV gives you maves and things to do with Turns out side of DMM, and Maves. You lose some caster levels, but its the capabilities to casts 9ths, not the CL that counts. Also, you can actually heal in combat effectively this way.

[NNescio]

Dweomerkeeper? Supernatural Transformation pretty much puts it on the same level as the Incantatrix. That said, the latter can be rather friendly to the party and the DM, especially when played by a restrained player focusing on buffs, but the Dweomerkeeper is pretty much a "broken or nothing" approach.

Granted, it doesn't provide any direct benefits to the usual Clericzilla build...

[DoctorGlock]

I'm gonna toss knight of the raven out there. Another turning pool keeps DMM going the extra distance

[Psyren]

Radiant Servant also gets all martial weapons, so there's that.

Sacred Fist is great for Monk-style melee. Persist Righteous Might and some other buffs, then grapple away.

For general purpose melee though, I think Ruby Knight Windicator, Ordained Champion (aka the real Warpriest), and probably Sapphire Hierarch ultimately take the cake.

[GoatBoy]

Classes like Radiant Servant and Contemplative are good because you can enter as straight cleric and not lose anything. Since you get almost nothing for staying in cleric, there's no non-fluff reason NOT to take Radiant Servant.

Sacred Exorcist is, ironically, better for non-clerics, since it gets you turn undead. Still, it's better than no prestige class at all.

It's almost always better to either stick with full casting than to take a class that loses even on caster level, but if you aren't a die-hard min-maxer, there's some fun to be had in classes like Bone Knight (eventually grants immunity to crits) and Ordained Champion or Sacred Fist (makes melee combat more interesting), among others.

Ruby Knight Vindicator and Sapphire Hierarch aren't bad, but you start to resemble a cleric less, so it may be up to your preference for power versus actually feeling like a cleric.

The Big List of Prestige Classes by Tiers (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5198.0) might help you find something both flavourful and fun.

FYI, Bone Knight (Eberron Five Nations) is my personal favourite melee cleric.

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

Speaking of gaining Turn Undead, does the Radiant Servant give Turn Undead if you don't have it? Because if it did, you could take Destroy Undead from Cleric, Turn and Greater Turn Undead from Radiant Servant and if you could manage, Rebuke Undead from the Necromancy Domain or another source for a total of 4 different pools of turn attempts to fuel DMM.

[Psyren]

Speaking of gaining Turn Undead, does the Radiant Servant give Turn Undead if you don't have it? Because if it did, you could take Destroy Undead from Cleric, Turn and Greater Turn Undead from Radiant Servant and if you could manage, Rebuke Undead from the Necromancy Domain or another source for a total of 4 different pools of turn attempts to fuel DMM.

Unfortunately no - Radiant Servant gives you more uses/day of the Sun Domain's Greater Turning, but that ability is explicitly used in place of regular turn attempts rather than having its own pool.

[2xMachina]

Bone Knight (5 Nations) is pretty cool IMO. A bit necromancy tho.

[HunterOfJello]

Eberron has some very awesome PrCs for clerics.

Bone Knight is very awesome and my personal favorite appears in one of the eberron books. The Sovereign Speaker is definitely badass. It gives you a bunch of bonus domains as well as extra domain slots per day. It has 2 levels that lose spellcasting. If you don't mind losing spellcasting and worship a portfolio that's worth getting a ton of bonus domains from, then you can get up to 2 bonus domain slots per day. That's really badass imo.

If you're willing to play a Shifter, then the Moonspeaker class is one of the best Cleric PrCs to get in to. The PrC gives several great summoning feats ,shifter improvements, and Wild Shape (!!!) to the character at almost no cost. The only thing that is required would be to gain the Knowledge (Nature) skill as a class skill.

[Psyren]

The Sovereign Speaker is definitely badass. It gives you a bunch of bonus domains as well as extra domain slots per day. It has 2 levels that lose spellcasting. If you don't mind losing spellcasting and worship a portfolio that's worth getting a ton of bonus domains from, then you can get up to 2 bonus domain slots per day. That's really badass imo.

You can always drop out at 5th-level - that way you only lose one level of spellcasting, but you still get 5 extra domains and an extra domain slot.

[Jack_Simth]

Dweomerkeeper? Supernatural Transformation pretty much puts it on the same level as the Incantatrix. That said, the latter can be rather friendly to the party and the DM, especially when played by a restrained player focusing on buffs, but the Dweomerkeeper is pretty much a "broken or nothing" approach.

Granted, it doesn't provide any direct benefits to the usual Clericzilla build...
Well, if you have the Envy domain, then that Supernatural Wish gets you all the equipment you need for free... although you can get it faster by duplicating Simulacrum, without any components at all, of advanced versions of critters that have a spell-like or supernatural ability to cast Wishes....

[Jheska]

I believe the classic combo is to take destroy undead via cleric then gain turn undead from Sacred exorcist and rebuke undead from death delver.

Then you're gaining three pools that all advance from boosts.

[Jack_Simth]

I believe the classic combo is to take destroy undead via cleric then gain turn undead from Sacred exorcist and rebuke undead from death delver.

Then you're gaining three pools that all advance from boosts.
Note that Death Delver doesn't advance casting, though (it has it's own progression), and it's Rebuke explicitly stacks with existing rebuking (rather than being a separate pool). Likewise, Sacred Exorcist explicitly stacks with pre-existing Turning. Were you planning on getting Destroy Undead from the Sun domain or some such?

[Psyren]

Note that Death Delver doesn't advance casting, though (it has it's own progression), and it's Rebuke explicitly stacks with existing rebuking (rather than being a separate pool). Likewise, Sacred Exorcist explicitly stacks with pre-existing Turning. Were you planning on getting Destroy Undead from the Sun domain or some such?

Sacred Exorcist's turning only stacks with existing turning if you still have it, though; if you traded turning away before entering SE, you'll have both the turning from SE + whatever you traded your original turning away for.

Azurin Cleric's Channel Incarnum sub can also be used in place of turning for DMM, but counts as a separate pool.

[dextercorvia]

Well, if you have the Envy domain, then that Supernatural Wish gets you all the equipment you need for free... although you can get it faster by duplicating Simulacrum, without any components at all, of advanced versions of critters that have a spell-like or supernatural ability to cast Wishes....

Supernatural Simulacrum doesn't work unfortunately. Supernatural Spell only affects spells with casting time of 1 standard action or less.

[danzibr]

The Big List of Prestige Classes by Tiers (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5198.0) might help you find something both flavourful and fun.
Wow, I'd never seen this before. Awesome, thanks.

[TroubleBrewing]

I had my list all prepped to go, but upon reading this thread, found that all my options had been stated.

This made me sad at first, until I realized how much good advice the Playground has.

Anyways, here's one contribution that hasn't been mentioned: If you take Sovereign Speaker (FoE), then a few Contemplative levels, you can rack up a sick amount of domains. Then, take 1 level of Ordained Champion and sacrifice all the crappy ones for bonus feats! It's sort of the poor man's DCFS.

A SSCOCFS, if you will.