Long Time Reader, First Time Cleric (3.5)

[Noble Savant]

So... This is my first time asking for build advice from you brainy folks. You see, I've never really made a cleric of any description, so this is all very new to me. I know about a few of the better spells, but actually making one is strange and arcane to me.

After giving it some though, I decided to make a Cleric of Wee-Jas. Rather then being a heavy duty necromancer, he only raises dead after being granted permission, (through speak with dead), and harps very strongly on the honor and respect afforded to the dead. Non-consenting undead must be liberated, in the name of the Goddess!

This character is going to be part of a fairly long-running campaign, so I can certainly expect to reach high levels with him. The only big ideas I've had so far mechanics wise are the Hierophant PRC. Touch Spells at a range sounds like it could be very useful. Healing, buffing, eventually Harm, at a range of thirty feet.

Any suggestions for me?

[Greenish]

After giving it some though, I decided to make a Cleric of Wee-Jas. Rather then being a heavy duty necromancer, he only raises dead after being granted permission, (through speak with dead)

Speak with Dead doesn't actually contact the spirit/soul/whatever of the deceased:

This spell does not let you actually speak to the person (whose soul has departed). It instead draws on the imprinted knowledge stored in the corpse. The partially animated body retains the imprint of the soul that once inhabited it, and thus it can speak with all the knowledge that the creature had while alive.

Any suggestions for me?

Do tell what you want from the character (aside from light necromancy), what sources you have available and how strong you want to be.

[Glimbur]

Hierophant isn't as good as it looks because it doesn't advance spellcasting. A Cleric 15/Hierophant 5 casts like a 15th level cleric with a caster level of 20. This means no 9th level spells, which really hurts.

Straight cleric is workable, but I like Divine Oracle and Contemplative from Complete Divine. Generally, you want full casting and reasonable pre-requisites for a PrC to be worth taking.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Generic Advice is Generic

Having said that, I second greenish questions, it is difficult to help you without knowledge on what sources you can work with.

[Noble Savant]

All right, sources.

All the completes are allowed, ToB has been housruled so that it doesn't help me much, (Full-Casters don't affect initiator level), Incarnum is allowed but it's weird, and I'm not sure I should slog through and learn it.

I was hoping to focus mainly and debuffing and some battle-field control shenanigans. I've always liked dropping walls and such on the battlefield, giving my team tactical benefits and such. Also, the benefit of the cleric is that I can wade into combat myself if I need to, so some self-buffs would also be nice to have.

Would taking one level of Hierophant, just for the ranged touch spells, be a good choice? Or is it not worth the loss of one caster level?

[Eldariel]

Would taking one level of Hierophant, just for the ranged touch spells, be a good choice? Or is it not worth the loss of one caster level?

It's a decent choice once you already have 9th level spells. Not a moment before it though. So...don't look at it before level 18. Note that Hiero only loses casting level; caster level is gained from the Hierophant level. That said, yeah, losing a casting level is really painful especially if casting is gonna be your primary shtick.

[Morbis Meh]

If you really want a powerful buffer cleric that can handle it's own make a divine metamagic cleric with the undeath domain and possibly planning or spell domain (personally I like spell since it also allows you to cast arcane spells to a limited degree). For feats (assuming you're a human and you've taken a couple of flaws): Extend spell, Persist Spell, Divine Metamagic (persist), Extra turning, reach spell, power attack etc etc. Try to have a high wisdom and charisma and you will be mopping up enemies left right and center. Also if your DM will allow it snag a couple of night sticks!