Help with a Quarterstaff Cleric of Fharlanghn

[bmc88]

Hey guys, this is my first post so I apologize if I am asking in the wrong place or making a nuisance of myself in any way :)

Could someone check over my build idea? Give me a few pointers? Pat me on the head and tell me atta boy, or rip my ideas apart and tell me I'll never make it in this cruel world? Any feedback is appreciated!

I'm DMing a game of 3.5, and no one in my party wants to play any sort of character that has the responsibility of healing. I figured since it is a small party anyway I could create a character and play with them. So I'm going to be a cleric of Fharlanghn, I want to play as a traveling European monk/missionary of sorts... with the robes and staff (complete with crook) and incense burner and what not... oh and heavy armor hidden under the robes hah.

Alphons the Wanderer, Human Cleric of Fharlanghn

Stre 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 14

Domains:
Weather and Luck... (I know travel is great, but I see myself as more of a "I'll just walk for a few months and I'll get there sometime" slow moving kinda guy. Also I was thinking protection maybe instead of Luck, but I think that Alphons would put a lot of his fate into the hands of luck... I can see him saying something like "Fortune smiles on those who trust the road". Or if you look up "Now is the Hour: a Hopi poem", I kind of expect that to be my characters philosophy, very much "Let go and follow the road")

Weapons:
Quarterstaff: 1d6/19-20X2 - I'm using it as a two handed single attack weapon... bopping people with the crook end of it... since it's not quite just a quarterstaff I left the damage the same but increased the threat range by one.
Sling: Not much, but my ranged option... I really want to go for simple here.

Armor:
Banded Mail: This will do till I can afford full plate. I definitely want to be more of a protector than a healer or a fighter. I don't ever want to steal the show, I just want to be able to help.

Class Ranks:
I'm thinking of ending up with Cleric (18), Fighter (2)... I'll probably take the dips at lvl 5 and 7 for bonus feats. Oh and I almost forgot, we are gaining new feats every odd level instead of every three levels.

Feat Progression:
1: Protection Devotion, __________
3: Power Attack
5: Constant Guardian, Dutiful Guardian
7: Travel Devotion, Chosen Foe
9: Brutal Strike
11: Improved Critical (Quarterstaff)
13: __________
15: __________
17: __________
19: __________

For the remaining Feats here is a list in no particular order of some of the things I had been thinking about:
Staggering blow (but I think Brutal strike is good enough instead?), Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff), Power Critical, Intuitive Attack, Divine Alacrity (possibly instead of/or in addition to Travel Devotion), Some Metamagic (which I've never used), Craft Staffs, Endurance, Domain Spontaneity, Far Horizons, Initiate of Fharlanghn, Divine Might, Divine Armor, Retreive spell, Eilservs school, Robilar's Gambit... those are just a few ideas... anything else???

I was pretty sure I saw a feat that you needed weapon focus to take, and when you took it - it did something pretty nifty for you on its own... AND as a special it let you then take weapon specialization (or some such feat) without being a lvl w/e fighter.

That's about all I can think of for now. I'll try to add some more details later.

[Jeff the Green]

Well, first off a quarter staff can already be wielded as a normal two-handed weapon. It does the same damage with the same crit range, you just add 1.5x your Strength modifier rather than 1x.

Second, you should probably plan on PrCing out. Seeker of the Misty Isle (with the non-elf adaptation) would be appropriate and save you a feat on Travel Devotion.

While Constant and Dutiful Guardian are interesting, they're not that great and they're definitely not worth losing two levels of Cleric casting for Fighter levels.

I doubt Brutal Strike is worth it. Without a means of making touch attacks or Shock Trooper, the DC will probably hover around 16 for a long while. Except on weak enemies whom you have no need to sicken. Likewise, Improved Critical on a quarter staff is kind of a waste unless you have other abilities that key off crits. As a cleric, you probably don't.

For feat ideas, check out the Cleric Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=420.0). One thing I really like on Clerics is Divine Metamagic: Quicken. Combine with a reliquary holy symbol for two uses a day. Maybe add in Extra Turning to fuel Travel Devotion.

Consider going with Cloistered Cleric. Since you'll PrC out at 6th anyway, you lose a single point of BAB which is more than made up for with Knowledge Devotion and 6 skill points per level.

Actually... have you considered Ruby Knight Vindicator? It will need adaptation (which is in the book), but I think it'd work quite well with your concept. Cloistered Cleric 4/Crusader 1/RKV 10/Something 5 is the standard build.

[Gildedragon]

For armor, if good, you could always go the luminous armor route, less cumbersome, and enchant robes or bracers with whatever armor bonii you like.

You could use the censer as a weapon. Get a +1 smoking flamesteel dragonchain (bludgeoning, grappling spiked chain)
With a crook you might want to look at the polearm feats in dragon compendium