Help me OP a caster cleric

[sjeshin]

I'm playing in a campaign for 3.5 at lvl 8. We are allowed to use any sourcebooks officially printed for 3.5 by wizards, except tome of battle. I've built a cleric for it already but it was a divine meta persist melee goon. It was fun, i had bettter str than anyone, power attack, and a fly speed of 60 all day... but if i stopped to cast things instead of beat stick, I felt like I wasted my feats / effort I put into being a power melee. I also still don't do the damage the druid and his pet do (shocker right).

What I want to do is build a caster cleric. Divine meta is allowed, cheesy to a degree is ok, but, I have a sort of agreement with the GM to only use one night stick. I have only recently started truly optimize (the day I found these forums i realized I didn't have a CLUE how to build a beast character.) and I have only EVER played a cleric as a melee with some spells on the side to enhance melee or emergency healing only. I am looking for something different, some extra action economy, some cool spells / summon monster alterations or buffs. I want to be able to sit back and just summon a monster or two, or out of nowhere rip apart an encounter if things get bad.

[AMFV]

Cloistered is a must, gaining extra domains will really help. Contemplative should be in your build at a later point. The Inquisitor one (I can't remember it's name but it's from Complete Divine) gives another domain and some nice immunities for a caster. DMM Quicken is better for a caster cleric than DMM Persist, at least in my opinion and is much less expensive if you only have the one nightstick.

After that general advice I'd need to know what kind of caster you want. A utility caster? Direct damage? Debuffing? Buffing? Minionmancy? There are many different directions you can take a caster cleric.

[sjeshin]

Cloistered is a must, gaining extra domains will really help. Contemplative should be in your build at a later point. The Inquisitor one (I can't remember it's name but it's from Complete Divine) gives another domain and some nice immunities for a caster. DMM Quicken is better for a caster cleric than DMM Persist, at least in my opinion and is much less expensive if you only have the one nightstick.

After that general advice I'd need to know what kind of caster you want. A utility caster? Direct damage? Debuffing? Buffing? Minionmancy? There are many different directions you can take a caster cleric.

Well, i'm greedy. I love minionmancy, I actually was wrong I have done that once before. I would like to be able to deal lots of damage or straight up kill things. I like to feel like i'm "doing things" if that makes sense. I want to see a direct impact from the spell I cast, even if that's just a summoned creature who can attack. Preferably by dealing lots of damage, or the equivilant in con damage and so forth. Also, having some skeletons follow me around in this particular campaign setting is probably a terrible idea.

-also, how is cloistered cleric good for me? I give up armor, weapons, and BAB, (which I shouldn't need the last two much i'll admit) For some skill points and a domain? The domain itself is also pretty lack luster. What's the draw to it?

[Craft (Cheese)]

You can trade the bonus knowledge domain, whether for Knowledge Devotion, Divine Magician, or for any domain you want with Substitute Domain.

[AMFV]

Well, i'm greedy. I love minionmancy, I actually was wrong I have done that once before. I would like to be able to deal lots of damage or straight up kill things. I like to feel like i'm "doing things" if that makes sense. I want to see a direct impact from the spell I cast, even if that's just a summoned creature who can attack. Preferably by dealing lots of damage, or the equivilant in con damage and so forth. Also, having some skeletons follow me around in this particular campaign setting is probably a terrible idea.

-also, how is cloistered cleric good for me? I give up armor, weapons, and BAB, (which I shouldn't need the last two much i'll admit) For some skill points and a domain? The domain itself is also pretty lack luster. What's the draw to it?

Cloistered Cleric is very good for you, it gives you more skills (which is good, since caster types rely more on knowledges), you can still wear armor even heavy armor (since as a caster you don't care about your to-hit.) Summons are a good bet, although clerics aren't as good at this as Archivists are, you could use a Malconvoker build with that and be pretty effective, if summoning is your goal.

The knowledge domain is pretty amazing actually, it gives you many spells that are not on your list, and divinations are important for straight casters. It gives you legend lore, and a few other fun options. Also Foresight which is absolutely amazing. Furthermore your divinations are now better, and you have all the knowledges which is really convenient.