First Time Dwarf Cleric

[DockKing]

Looking for some advice as I've never gone dwarf or cleric before. Doing 3.5 with some questions:

Is Shield Proficiency worth the two feat investment? Or should I just pump my Concentration?

Divine Metamagic seems super worth it for the Persistent Spell Effect.

As for gods I Kinda want to go traditional so Pelor or Moradin I think but honestly I don't know. I want a Traditional Cleric experience but I'm open to trying different stuff out. Domains are pretty easy to figure out from there

Anything else I should know? Thanks!

[Deeds]

The more information you give us the better answers we can give you. You're missing quite a bit of information such as your starting level, sources you are allowed to use, stats, party makeup, and the role you want to fulfill with your cleric. That being said, cleric is my favorite class and I'll throw in my two cents.

This is a FANTASTIC starting point if you're looking to optimize or just get a few ideas about cleric: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=420.0

Clerics are already proficient with shields. If you want a tower shield or an exotic shield my advice is this: don't bother. It's no secret that using a shield for melee combat is terrible and when optimizing it's sub-par at best. If you're dead set on using a shield then a light shield is a good choice since you can put your melee weapon in your shield hand long enough to cast a spell. When using a heavier shield & a weapon you can't cast spells that require somatic and material components. At higher levels, you can get an Animated heavy shield and free up a hand.

Max out concentration. Please. For whatever reason, my group refuses to max it and they wonder why they botch their spells in combat when they invest 2 points in concentration. Avoid putting points in heal. There are a few niche uses but your class is a master of healing thanks to spells.

Divine Metamagic is worth it: if you can afford it. Clerics are starved for feats as it is and picking Dwarf is a step backwards since you're losing CHA and thus a turn attempt for the day. Grabbing the planning domain and/or undeath domain will help you on the road to Divine Metamagic. (Domains found in Spell Compendium)

Moradin and Pelor are pretty thematic deities for a typical dwarven cleric. Optimizers like Fharlanglasdrboop (that travel deity, dunno how to spell it) since he's core and has travel/luck domains.

[atemu1234]

Looking for some advice as I've never gone dwarf or cleric before. Doing 3.5 with some questions:

Is Shield Proficiency worth the two feat investment? Or should I just pump my Concentration?

Divine Metamagic seems super worth it for the Persistent Spell Effect.

As for gods I Kinda want to go traditional so Pelor or Moradin I think but honestly I don't know. I want a Traditional Cleric experience but I'm open to trying different stuff out. Domains are pretty easy to figure out from there

Anything else I should know? Thanks!

No, shield proficiency is NOT worth it.

Divine Metamagic is good with a good number of metamagic feats, not just persist.

As to domains, being a cleric of a cause can allow you a much greater level of optimization - celerity domain, anyone?

[nintendoh]

God... Thor.

[Inevitability]

If you want to worship a traditional god, but still enjoy the more powerful domains, Heretic of the Faith can be a good pick. It lets you swap out a single domain for another, so you can be a cleric of Pelor with the celerity domain.

It also lets your alignment differ from your deity's by a wide margin. CG cleric of Gruumsh? LE cleric of Moradin? CG cleric of Heironeous? LN cleric of Olidamarra? Lots of fun roleplaying opportunities here.

[Aleolus]

I quite like the Smite Giants ACF in Races of Stone for Dwarf Clerics, largely because its keyed off Con instead of Cha, so you become a bit less MAD. But, it does require you worship a god who has a Warhammer as their favored weapon, and I only know of two in the standard Dwarven pantheon that fit that (Moradin and Tharmekûl)

[DockKing]

Thanks for the replies!

Shielded casting is no good then huh?

Starting at 1 all books are okay.dunno about the gold and its gonna be a point buy so WIS>CHA=CON>STR>DEX>INT. Gonna keep con maxed Looking to wear beefy armor. Considering going the Pelor prestige as it seems nifty for healing.

I've never played a caster before so as I understand it I have to choose what spells I'm going to use every day and in addition I get one Domain spell per level as well.

Im not at all concerned with min maxing as its a fun game night for the lot of us.

[Deeds]

I've never played a caster before so as I understand it I have to choose what spells I'm going to use every day and in addition I get one Domain spell per level as well.
Yep. A level 1 cleric can prepare 3 level 0 spells and 1 level 1 spell + 1 spell for WIS bonus + 1 domain spells. Total is 3 level 0s and 2+1 level 1s. Example level 0 spells might be Detect Magic, Create Water, Guidance. Example level 1 spells might be Bless, Command, and Enlarge Person (from strength domain.)

Remember, your standard good aligned cleric doesn't need to prepare Cure spells since you can convert spells to cure something on the fly.

[Eladrinblade]

Looking for some advice as I've never gone dwarf or cleric before. Doing 3.5 with some questions:

Is Shield Proficiency worth the two feat investment? Or should I just pump my Concentration?

Divine Metamagic seems super worth it for the Persistent Spell Effect.

As for gods I Kinda want to go traditional so Pelor or Moradin I think but honestly I don't know. I want a Traditional Cleric experience but I'm open to trying different stuff out. Domains are pretty easy to figure out from there

Anything else I should know? Thanks!

You've already got shield proficiency, except for tower shields, which are useful, but not really for clerics. You'll want a light steel shield, or else use a spiked gauntlet on your main hand instead of a normal weapon. The reason for this is you'll need a free hand to cast, which you cant do if youve got a mace in one hand and a heavy shield in the other.

I would go with pelor; sun and strength are great domains. Sun gets you better turning, strength gets you enlarge person (for yourself or your fighter buddy) and the ability to break stuff better (1/day).

Heal is useful at low levels when you don't have much in the way of curing magic. I wouldn't bother with it much past 5th level and not at all past 10th. That said, as a dwarf cleric, you won't have any spare skill points. I'd put your 5 ranks in knowledge religion for the turning bonus, and max out concentration. Anything left should probably go to diplomacy.

Bless is great before an important battle. Sanctuary/hide from undead are good for when you need to be helping your allies with buff/heal spells instead of fighting. Magic stones is great for the halfling rogue of the group when fighting undead. As said earlier, enlarge person on the fighter is almost a must-have. Those are generally my go-to spells.

Almost always use lesser vigor instead of cure wounds. Especially on wands.

Don't forget that you can provide soft cover for the wizard or rogue when necessary. Carry a longspear for when you're behind the fighter in a narrow tunnel.