Help me optimize my character.

[Coyote81]

After seeing the direction my party was headed I decided to be the healer, but I wanted to do it in a unique way, so I decided to go with Human Variant, Cleric, Death Domain with ritual caster Wizard and I took Find Familiar and Identify. Thematically, my character primarily use his familiar to deliver touch healing and touch attack spells while hiding in the back. A scholar obsessed with gaining control over his own death (And thus never dying) he has a vast knowledge in religious and arcane rituals dealing with life and death. As a scholar he also avidly avoids physical confrontation, rather defeating enemies with his smarts rather then his fists (Or perhaps using other people's fists instead of his own fists).

I just made level 2, I'm almost level 3. I'm just trying to think of how to optimize this character. i want to be able to participate in the battle (Other then just healing) but still be able to perform my healing duties) I need advice on where to go, other then just casting the twinned Chill Touch over and over in combat, or if this is the way to go, how can I maximize the damage it deals?

[Strill]

The main reason that combat seems to be monotonous is because you're still in the game's tutorial. Levels 1 through 3 are designed to get you familiar with the basic mechanics before they give you anything particularly complex. Chill touch will be your go-to spell for when you have nothing better to do, but you'll get a wider array of cool spells soon enough.

The primary offensive Cleric combat spells are Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians. If you want to blast stuff, these are your spells.

Personally, I'd recommend casting Bless whenever you're up against anything resembling a difficult encounter. Bless is a 1st-level spell with power approaching a 3rd-level spell. It's seriously amazing.

You mentioned wanting to outwit your opponents. Some spells at 3rd level which do that are Hold Person and Blindness. They both incapacitate a target, but Hold Person is a bit stronger, and requires concentration.

At 5th level, your best bet for avoiding personal physical confrontation is Animate Dead. Having a horde of zombie minions to do your bidding is one of the best ways to augment your party's strength.

Don't forget you can see through your familiar's senses. Use them to spy on people or to scout out ahead without drawing attention to yourself.

Oh and finally, don't forget Divination spells. Augury, Divination, and Commune are some very powerful information-gathering spells. Those will definitely help you get the edge over your opponents in a clever way.