Rate/Advise on this Cleric of Selvetarm for a Forgotten Realsm Drow campaign

[Willie the Duck]

So here is the campaign--we are creating a Forgotten Realms campaign focusing on drow. We are all going to be drow (and thus their LA is being ignored for our purposes).

The party needs a cleric or other healing/status-removal role. We are playing from level 1, so the focus has to be playable at each level, not optimized from a level 20 perspective.

Magic item purchasing is going to be limited and/or extra expensive, as we are going to be less than beloved by the powers that be. Likewise, cleric cheese builds will not be appreciated, so no divine metamagic.

I'm thinking of making a relatively decent tank build that doesn't rely on quick/continuous divine favor or righteous might. Making my role as healing battery as painless as possible is also a goal.

I did however roll very well (18, 17, 16, 15, 12, 9). Here is my idea:

STR 15
DEX(+2) 11
CON(-2) 16
Int(+2) 18
Wis 17
Cha(+2) 14

Domains
War
domain exchanged for Evil Devotion

Feats
1 (b) Evil Devotion
1 (b) Weapon Focus (Heavy Mace)
1 Healing devotion
3 knowledge devotion
6 Craft Wand , craft misc. magic item, or extra turning
9 holy warrior
12 blade of force
15 - see how campaign develops if we get this high
18 - see how campaign develops if we get this high

Starting Skills
Concentration 4
Diplomacy 4
K: arcana 4
K: religion 4
K: the planes 4
Heal 4
progression: Once Knowledge devotion opens up fourth class skill knowledge (probably dungeoneering), try to keep concentration and 4 knowledge skills maxed out, and pick up skill trick collector of stories.

The high Int is perhaps unnecessary, and I might swap it with charisma.

The concept is to add to-hit and damage through knowledge devotion, holy warrior, and blade of force. Looking at 20th level (not that 20th level is important, but just as an example), and let's assume I put 1 point in strength to get it to 16, let's say my character was for some reason without any magic items, fighting skeletons, and the highest level war domain spell I had memorized was a 6th level blade barrier (also a force spell). Let's also assume he rolls a 10 for knowledge:religion check. He could pick up a normal heavy mace and attack at +24/+19/+14, doing 1d8+20. A little higher if he had a higher war domain and/or force spell memorized, and in all likelihood I'd have magic weapons and strength boosters.

Now it's not maxed out like a CoDzilla build, but what do people think? Good, bad, actually cheesy despite my best intentions? Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

[Willie the Duck]

Plenty of views, no responses. Hmmm.
Another idea I had was to distribute the scores as:
STR 17
DEX(+2) 14
CON(-2) 14
Int(+2) 11
Wis 18
Cha(+2) 17
Then remove the knowledge devotion, pick the drow domain instead, and focus more on magic item production
Feats
1 (b) Weapon Focus (Heavy Mace)
1 Healing devotion
3 scribe scroll
6 Craft Wand or wonderous item
9 holy warrior
12 blade of force
15 - see how campaign develops if we get this high
18 - see how campaign develops if we get this high

Better or Worse? Any suggestions?

[ExLibrisMortis]

I'd go with the second build (switching int and dex - in full plate, you only need 12 dex anyway), but both look good. I'm not sure on Scribe Scroll, however. Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Magic Arms and Armour are the big ones, and I'm not sure scrolls are going to be that useful.

[Willie the Duck]

Yeah, I chose that because it can be taken at 3rd level. Here's what I'm trying to do: despite all the discussion about healing being the weakest part of the cleric repertoire, someone has to heal the party, as well as deal with all the poison, ability damage, disease, and other status effects we'll run into down in the underdark. With reduced ability to buy scrolls and wands of clw, etc., I'm not always going to be able to pop over to the store and pick up a fix. That's what healing devotion is for. If I can find a way to not walk around with cure disease, etc. memorized every day, that would help. Maybe there's an item I can craft (with craft wondrous item) that will make the fix. However, with the option of divine metamagic out of the running, suddenly I have the feat slot open, and I should probably be able to find something to do with the 3rd level one that will be a better use to me then say, power attack (which, without righteous might or divine favor up all the time, isn't so useful). What else can I pick that either 1) lets me tank better, or 2) frees me up from my other duties better, so that my non-feat resources (like spells memorized) can be better utilized?


And thanks!

[ExLibrisMortis]

Yeah, I chose that because it can be taken at 3rd level.
So can Craft Wondrous Item, actually. Wand and Arms require 5, then rod at 9, staff and ring at 12. Note that the healing belt (MIC) is hands-down the best item you can craft for raw hit point healing, and it requires Craft Wondrous Item. 500 gp and 40 xp for 6d8 healing, every day (or 4d8 in a burst heal, doesn't provoke).

On to your more important question: how to heal fancy stuff. The easy way is to be a spontaneous domain caster. This is a PHBII ACF that allows you to swap your spontaneous cures for spontaneous domain spells. It also allows you to prepare cure spells in domain slots. Now, the healing domain is obviously useless for this (although it does get you spontaneous heal and mass heal), but the Renewal domain lets you spontaneously cast lesser restoration and remove disease (decent at lower levels, higher-levelled spells include polymorph any object).

(note: you can still prepare War domain spells, if you don't feel like preparing cures, and use a wand to heal)

[Willie the Duck]

A good idea--for a non-drow campaign.

Nice catch on craft wondrous. I don't know why I thought that had a level 5 requirement.