Building a nocturnal themed divine caster

[DarkMoon250]

Hello, people of the playground. I'm here because I have a character concept in my head, and I would like to figure out a good way to see it presented in the 3.5e system.

I want to make a divine caster, someone who gets their magic from a relationship with a higher power, whether it be an outsider, a spirit of nature, or a deity. I also want this character to be explicitly related to the powers of the night and moonlight. Some ways I thought about doing this were either a Cleric with the Night, Moon, Oracle, or Dream domains, a Moon-Warded Ranger from Dragon Magazine, or a Spirit Shaman with an owl spirit guide. I'm not sure what would offer me the best kits and tools, though.

In terms of party roles, we've got a Fighter and a heavily modified and homebrewed Truenamer, with another player who has yet to decide what they want, but is probably going Rogue. I thought about possibly being the face (almost certainly going that route at this point), a frontline caster, a summoner, a buffer/debuffer, a diviner, or an archer, or some combination of two of these.

This character is meant to be a contemplative and a mystic, someone who devotes themselves to becoming aware of the experience of the sacred in their lives and sharing that experience with others, as well as honing their intuition to become more deeply aware of the mysteries of the divine. In the night, they claim they see things far more clearly than they can in the day, spiritually speaking, and they feel the moon pull at their mind and soul. They seem touched in the head to some, and enlightened to others. They are Chaotic Good, and they push back against any fundamentalist influence they encounter.

If anyone has any ideas about what direction I should head, or about how to make this character come to life, please let me know. (Also, we're using a modified mix of the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk pantheons if anyone knows a deity from those that would match my character in the case of Cleric or Ranger)

[Inevitability]

Shar is the FR night goddess and might work here?

Initiate of Shar gives you Bluff and Hide on your cleric list, which can be reasonably useful skills, as well as Disguise Self (great low-level utility) plus some higher-level spells like the great Darkbolt.

The Nightcloak PrC requires two bad feats and probably the Evil domain (not very good), but grants full casting and some neat abilities of which the most notable is intelligence to saving throws. A cloistered cleric into nightcloak should be a solid character, especially if the party lacks a wizard.

Alternatively you can lean into the Shadow Weave and go Shadow Adept, which is a decent full casting prc with a strong link to Shar, even if it's not Shar-specific.

[DarkMoon250]

Shar is the FR night goddess and might work here?

Initiate of Shar gives you Bluff and Hide on your cleric list, which can be reasonably useful skills, as well as Disguise Self (great low-level utility) plus some higher-level spells like the great Darkbolt.

The Nightcloak PrC requires two bad feats and probably the Evil domain (not very good), but grants full casting and some neat abilities of which the most notable is intelligence to saving throws. A cloistered cleric into nightcloak should be a solid character, especially if the party lacks a wizard.

Alternatively you can lean into the Shadow Weave and go Shadow Adept, which is a decent full casting prc with a strong link to Shar, even if it's not Shar-specific.

Evil characters aren't allowed in this campaign, and I was hoping to be a good guy, anyways.

[Curbludgeon]

As far as moon deities in FR and Greyhawk, Sehanine Moonbow is probably the most mystically oriented (make sure to snag a level of Seeker of the Misty Isle). Selune has a good Initiate feat and couple of prestige classes, which are mainly good for incorporating lycanthropy. Eilistraee has Sword Dancer and Silverhair Knight, which share enough prereqs that snagging a dip in Spelldancer is practically required. I kind of like the dwarven Sharindlar for this, even though they don't have anything specific to them.

[Inevitability]

Evil characters aren't allowed in this campaign, and I was hoping to be a good guy, anyways.

Fair enough. If some of this sounded mechanically interesting, you can also be a CG shar worshipper with the Heretic of the Faith feat. This lets you basically come up with a whole new religion that draws its power from Shar while also rejecting many of her aspects, lets you swap out a domain (useful if you really want one that Shar doesn't naturally grant), and even lets you change her favored weapon for something different. I'm personally a huge fan of the feat just for the story opportunities it creates: I've played CG clerics of Gruumsh or NE Pelor-worshippers using it.

[DarkMoon250]

As far as moon deities in FR and Greyhawk, Sehanine Moonbow is probably the most mystically oriented (make sure to snag a level of Seeker of the Misty Isle). Selune has a good Initiate feat and couple of prestige classes, which are mainly good for incorporating lycanthropy. Eilistraee has Sword Dancer and Silverhair Knight, which share enough prereqs that snagging a dip in Spelldancer is practically required. I kind of like the dwarven Sharindlar for this, even though they don't have anything specific to them.

Looking over things, Sehanine looks amazing in 3.5e. Based on the rules for our setting, I'd have to be an elf or a half-elf, but I like the elven races anyways, so that's no problem. Selune is also very nice, and would probably go well with a human, shifter or aasimar, and I'd snag the initiate feat, though I don't know if there's a 3.5e translation of her prestige class.

[Gruftzwerg]

Maybe..

warlock / cleric / eldritch disciple ?

As warlock you could have made a pact with a supernatural being and could also worship it as cleric.
Further warlock offers some nice shadow/darkness themed sla.
Finally you can combine your Eldritch Blast with your cleric stuff (healing blast; eldritch spellweave..).

[ShurikVch]

If you using Eberron stuff - Races of Eberron has Moonspeaker - Shifter-specific 12-levels-long full-casting PrC

If you using Forgotten Realms - Selûne-related PrC are Knight of the Blue Moon (City of Splendors; 5-levels-long; full caster progression), Moon Drover (Dragon #307; 3-levels-long; full caster progression; allegedly impossible to qualify because of alignment collision), and Silverstar (Faiths and Pantheons; 10-levels-long; full caster progression)

Master Astrologer (Dragon #340) - 9/10 spellcasting progression (minus the 1st level), but required Skill Focus in Profession (astrologer)

In addition, Moon Guardian (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101185649/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/files/More_Divinity.zip) - it's not setting-specific, but casting progression is only 2/5, required to be afflicted with Lycanthropy, and it's 1st-level bonus feat probably should be Lycanthropic Spell (not Natural Spell)

[Anthrowhale]

The only LA+0 race with a Cha bonus and darkvision that I see is Lesser Aasimar (or the savage progression aasimar, but that appears strictly inferior.).

In terms of base class, the party has a significant need for a spellcaster. Of the choice mentioned, Spirit Shaman can exchange Survival for Sense Motive to get SM+Diplomacy. Cleric can also get both by picking up the Pact domain (eh?) or possibly picking up the travel domain and exchanging survival as well. The text for Skilled City Dweller is here (https://web.archive.org/web/20200105204234/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a).