DMM: Quicken or DMM: Persist

[betelgeuce]

Provided I could have 2 extra feats to start with and average progression throughout my character based on an optimized build that I have a clear goal towards, which is better? Quicken or Persist and if I could have both talk about how you would go about doing that and if it would make any sense to do so. Keep in mind you can obtain the extend spell feat from a domain out of "Spell Compendium" so there's one down.

[Elric VIII]

First of all, it largely depends on your imagined role within the group. What exactly do you plan to do with this character?

DMM: Persist is largely thought of as the best option, but DMM: Quicken can be better depending on your build. Also, it is the Planning domain that grants Extend Spell. It is an okay domain, since it has a few great spells and a few situational/bad spells, but the free feat saves it.

They both give you action advantage, which is the key to winning combats.

DMM: Persist allows you to pre-buff and walk into melee with all of your spells ready to go. This is the more melee (or archery) related option. You completely outclass anything of your level with all the buffs you have available (provided you get a large enough turning pool). Without something like Divine Defiance, which also consumes TU/RU uses, you can be quite suceptible to dispels, even with the ways that divine casters have for increasing CLs. This use of DMM is also considered the cheesiest, if that matters at all.

DMM: Quicken allows you to choose how you take advantage of the action economy on the fly (rather than having to choose buffs beforehand). It also more beneficial to a casting-focused Cleric, as opposed to a Clericzilla. Keep in mind that it uses about half the total TU/RU attemps as DMM: Persist, meaning that you can use the feat roughly twice as much. In my experience, this combination is not even that overpowered, especially if you use it to buff/heal/aid teammates, whereas DMM: Persist risks overshadowing your allies.

My personal choice is DMM: Quicken, but as I said, it largely depends on your role. Also, keep in mind that both Persist and Quicken are useful without DMM. As part of your consideration, think about how you would use each feat without DMM since there's only so many TU/RU attempts to go around.