Cleric Build

[Suteinu]

One of my players, a fellow who goes as much for image as build-power, wants help in building a flail-and-board cleric of Obad-hai. He is trying to make a "basic cleric," with a more or less 1st Edition feel. I am stuck on how to efficiently combine sword building w/ a handy covering of cleric duties. Help?

[eggynack]

Clerics just kinda beatstick in their natural state. They have the same BAB and HD as a monk, and likely have a higher HD. It's obviously not the best class to compare to, but clerics have a fantastic chassis given all the other stuff they have. If his goal is meleeing, the best option is DMM persist from Complete Divine. It effectively lets you persist your spells at the cost of turn attempts, which removes the action cost entirely. There're also devotion feats from Complete Champion, which often have a leaning towards melee. If you're restricted to core, you can basically go the standard route of buffing and whacking. It's obviously less efficient than persisting, but you're not going to want for effectiveness. Clerics have a great list, especially when accounting for domains.