Trying to make a "warpriest" without the warpriest prc (3.5)

[Reprimand]

I wanted to make a warpriest but realized that war priest only gets 5/10 casting levels and that kind of threw a wrench in my plans so I wanted to enlist the playground to help me brainstorm some prcs items and things that would work for a "Warpriest,"

I'm basically just trying to make a cleric who maintains most if not all of they're caster levels can fight on the front lines with best of them (most clerics do), mass buffs though I want to stay away from warweaver because that is just cheesy, I don't mind DMM extend/persist/empower though, also being able to dish out a lot of healing.

I was going to pick up healing domain and something else and get spontaneous domain casting so I can still cast most of the cure spells but also get another domain (thinking glory let me know what you think)

I was thinking either lesser aasimar (wisdom and cha are nice and fits the themeing Im going for), dwarf (stupid powerful core race, -1 turning attempt oh no! /saracasm) or human (bonus feat and skill) for a race

I'd probably be using stuff like Bless (later extended or persisted), Divine Favor (Extended/persisted), Bane, Prayer (later extended or persisted), mass Aid Later dropped for better spells

Empowered heals as nessicary

Stuff like that.

What sort of prcs should I pick up since Im just using dmm anyway and not turning undead

What sort of key buffs should I invest in for mass buffing?'

Items worth picking up?

What are those candles that give 4 extra turning attempts?

Armor/Weapons worth investmenting in?

[SangoProduction]

Just take cleric with the war domain. Not optimal, but you've still got your entire spell list and another domain (at least) you can prepare if you don't use it.

1) Anything with full caster levels, since, as you said, that's what you're looking for. For more specific advice... well, what sort of war priest? I'm not getting a good sense of the archetype you want. A commander that sits in the back and buffs? A front-line tank? A living missile who happens to have spells?

2) What level are you looking at? The obvious answer would be the spells tagged "mass" but that feels like I'm not answering the question. (Mostly because I don't know where you want me to start listing.)

3) http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items

4) Possibly "Nightsticks" I think. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?215352-Getting-more-turn-undead-attempts

5) Heaviest Plate you can find. In the PHB, that would be the Full Plate. You aren't impacted by the spell failure chance. However, supplementary books have stone plate for dwarves, Turtle Plate (which would let you act as a 10 ft wall, literally), and even steam-punk-esque power armor.

Weapons...Doesn't really matter. But I guess the tried and true greatsword is the most optimal.

Thinking about it...you are probably asking about enchantments. I can't be much help there.

[MisterKaws]

That's just a plain Cleric 20. You'd probably want to get some PrCs, though.

I think an RKV or a Sapphire Hierarch should do the trick.

[Reprimand]

2) What level are you looking at? The obvious answer would be the spells tagged "mass" but that feels like I'm not answering the question. (Mostly because I don't know where you want me to start listing.)

Night sticks were exactly what I was thinking of thank you! What book are they in?

Just trying to form a general build idea first so 1-20

more like an Platoon commander buffing his super weak soldiers to stand fighting chance.

and then doing that to the party

Slapping as many attack bonus/damage bonus/ac bonus/save bonuses along with battlefield control spells that will stack together on allies as possible and letting them steamroll the enemy because they have too many bonuses to fail.

I was also planning on uses weapons and armor crystals but I don't know which ones would be best for a cleric

Edit: What about divine servant of pelor? its okay and gets full casting and I get empowered/maximized healing spells letting me focus more on more buffing because my heals are more efficent.

@above I'm sorry I forgot to mention were pretty much limited to core + phb2 + complete arcane/adv/scoundel/mage/divine/champion + spell compendium and magic item compendium + unearthed arcane to some extent. We can ask about other stuff for example Im allowed to use lesser aasimar but Tome of battle, psionics and incarnate stuff are out same with tome of magic the DM doesn't like binders especially for personal reasons.

[digiman619]

Well, if you don't mind back-porting it from Pathfinder, there's always the Warpriest (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist)...

[Reprimand]

Well, if you don't mind back-porting it from Pathfinder, there's always the Warpriest (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist)...

Honestly I'm trying to just go cleric and retain full casting but just buff/heal the crap out of people while being able to fight. I just wanted to get some more interesting options besides just cleric levels since all you really get is increased turning power

I suppose Im just looking for some classes that offer auras aoes and such while retaining casting levels or increasing my healing like servant of pelor

Im not too worried about HD lowering earlier since I can just self buff and heal myself. I just don't want my bab to drop too much so I can get 4 attacks after I buff with divine power

I'm thinking about like cleric 7/servant of pelor 10/ ??? 3

not sure what to do with these last 3 levels.

[Eladrinblade]

Just be a dwarf str/war cleric. I don't think there's any +9 armor in the books you listed, but just ask your DM for some heavy "dwarvenplate". You really don't need anything extra; spells will do everything you want.

EDIT: Church Inquisitor, DotF
Gets lots of extra stuff in return for not progressing turn undead

[Troacctid]

Ordained Champion, from Complete Champion.

[Fizban]

There is no prestige class that will make a Cleric better at fighting without losing any casting, because the Cleric is already good at fighting without losing any casting. If you can accept losing 1-2 casting levels then Ordained Champion is the best you'll find, second only to Abjurant Cheeslord in compact caster+melee power. You can take 1-3 and lose only one level of casting (at 1st), gaining up to two fighter feats, Diehard, spontaneous War Domain casting, a Channel Spell ability that makes Spellswords cry, a Smite ability that makes Paladins cry, and you can burn spells for a few rounds of DR/chaotic. Continuing into 4-5 loses you a second level of casting, and lets you quicken all your spontaneous War Domain spells for free, boost your War Domain cl, and some other stuff that hardly matters.

It kinda ticks me off actually. I want that Channel Spell on an arcanist, but instead all I've got is Abjurant Cheeselord, which you can probably tell by my naming convention bothers me even more.

[Troacctid]

You can also check out the list in my signature of every spellcasting prestige class. It can be filtered to just Core + Completes.

[Eldariel]

The best thing to do with such a Cleric is to improve your metamagic use. Outside of Warweaver, that leaves Cleric with the option of either getting a bunch of Divine Metamagics and stacking Turning Pools, or just stack Metamagic Improvements. Or you could just take a bunch of good classes that grant Domains to expand your spell list. If you use e.g. Reach Spell [Complete Arcane] and Ocular Spell [Lords of Madness], you can give any spell a fixed range and thus make them eligible for Persist Spell. Add Chain Spell and you can use them as mass buffs; then just pump your caster level to maximize the number of people affected.

[Vertharrad]

I skimmed through most of it but if it hasn't been mentioned Heroes of Battle has the Combat Medic(pgs.99-103). It might be a little helpful.

[gorfnab]

Fist of Raziel (BoED)

[PraxisVetli]

Turtle Plate (which would let you act as a 10 ft wall, literally)

Am I the only one who doean't know what Turtle Plate is?

[SangoProduction]

Am I the only one who doean't know what Turtle Plate is?

I think it's in the Races of Stone book. Not certain though.

[Buddy76]

If you want a cleric that fights in the frontlines, Bone Knight (from Five Nations, an Eberron book) will cost you a single caster level but grants a bunch of immunities, making you incredibly tanky and, as a bonus, will also give you proeficiency with martial weapons and tower shields.

[Psyren]

Sacred Fist has full BAB and RAW has 10/10 casting. If you don't mind your melee being unarmed that's the route I'd take. It also fits into your allowed sources.