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Pathfinder gimped melee clerics pretty hard, and you don't want to multi in Pathfinder. With a bard and alchemist in the party, healing should be "handeled". Have you considered a Pally? Good melee bruiser, good damage dealer, can heal self on the fly. Wield a Greatsword and hit hard, half Orc, take bite for a little extra damage (especially when smiting).
The Inquisitor was made as the self-buffing divine melee machine; you can Fighter 1 / Inquisitor and be very competent. They have a lot of swift actions to drop, and some nice abilities that are also swift action. Inquisitor (Growth Domain) with Combat Reflexes / Pole arms can Make em hurt. Added bonus is you become the defacto skill machine. Lots of options.
But the straight-melee clerics are NOT terribly good.
Is your DM allowing for archetypes or does he prefer core rules only?
Melee Cleric is fine if you don't need to deal the best damage possible. If you want to play a cleric, then do it, there is nothing wrong with it. For a melee cleric you should put the 18 into strength since you wont be casting that much. Don't multiclass.
Now if you don't mind playing a Human that would be a much better choice in my opinion. Grab a two handed Weapon you like (or a one handed and wield it with 2 hands) and power attack. With the bardsong and a divine favour you shouldn't have much problems in melee.
If you want to play a melee cleric, you will do fine. If you want to compete with your party barbarian for damage, you might find that difficult. But a melee cleric brings more than damage to the table.
My current PF 8th level group had a melee cleric that was quite formidable.
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I'd point again at the Inquisitor 2 / fighter 1, as he gains a bonus to sense motive (half level), can detect alignment at will, and eventually can discern lies as an ability. This is in addition to free feats, great buffs, and "judgements". Also makes you the defacto "knowledge" master, thanks to Wis to knowledges.
Half-Orc Fighter 1 / Inquisitor 2 (has the magical prodigy for Inquisitor to keep spells on level, and Armor Expert so he can sneak around in full plate). Wields Greatsword
S: 18 I: 10 W: 16 D: 10 C: 12 Ch: 8
1) Power Attack, Cleave
3) Cleaving Finish
4) Lookout (Teamwork Feat).
5) Furious Focus
Are you a point buy? I'd recommend Str: 18 I: 12 W: 14 D: 12 C: 14 Ch: 7, the minor loss to Wis makes you far more well-rounded and survivable, and you're not casting against opponents as a melee monster.
As a melee cleric you could take a look at the guided hand feat.
Hi all!
My group is going to be me, a cleric, an alchemist, a bard, a sorcerer, and 1 more (not sure what). As you can see, we're REALLY lacking in melee bruisers. So I'd love your help in building one. I'm starting at level 3, and an contemplating starting at 2 cleric / 1 fighter, if you think that would be a net gain.My stats are PROBABLY 16 str, 10 dex, 12 con, 18 wisdom, 8 int, 10 charisma (I'm a half elf, boosted wisdom +2). But I can change those too.
Thanks for all the advice!
Despite others concerns, multiclassing in Pathfinder isn't horrible. I have a cleric that started out with 2 levels of fighter. So don't count that option out. Especially as it would give you heavy armor prof.
Definitely take the War Domain. I can't tell you how handy it is to switch out any combat feat you qualify for as a swift(I think) action.
Magic Vestment will be a great spell to always have ready.
You will either need to get heavy armor prof. or use a sheild and buff the heck out of it. THis limits you to a one handed weapon which will limit damage though.
Be prepared to have the worst reflex save ever for a front line fighter though. So always prepare energy protection spells because there's no way your going to avoid fireballs, breath weapons, scorching rays(your touch AC will likely be low too), etc.
My advice would be similar to Thalin.
I don't think they gimped multiclass so much as they didn't strengthen it like they did the core classes.
i usually would say for a first time player, don't multiclass until you are more versed in the details of PF.
Having said that, a 1 level dip into fighter is not unreasonable. Gains you heavy armor, martial weapons, and a feat.
Again for first character though, I also wouldn't recomend a bunch of archtypes or really odd builds.
Put the 18 in strength since you are going for a melee build, a 16 wisdom is fine to eventually give you access to all spells. You will be using weapons in combat not targeting people with spells, so you will both not need as many and be unconcerned with the save DC.
Shield and weapon is reasonable if you don't take a fighter level for the heavy armor or the heavy armor feat.
Pick a god and domain set that seems interesting/fun and see how it goes.
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I'd point again at the Inquisitor 2 / fighter 1, as he gains a bonus to sense motive (half level), can detect alignment at will, and eventually can discern lies as an ability. This is in addition to free feats, great buffs, and "judgements". Also makes you the defacto "knowledge" master, thanks to Wis to knowledges.
Half-Orc Fighter 1 / Inquisitor 2 (has the magical prodigy for Inquisitor to keep spells on level, and Armor Expert so he can sneak around in full plate). Wields Greatsword
S: 18 I: 10 W: 16 D: 10 C: 12 Ch: 81) Power Attack, Cleave
3) Cleaving Finish
4) Lookout (Teamwork Feat).
5) Furious FocusAre you a point buy? I'd recommend Str: 18 I: 12 W: 14 D: 12 C: 14 Ch: 7, the minor loss to Wis makes you far more well-rounded and survivable, and you're not casting against opponents as a melee monster.
I always support the Inquisitor when someone wants to build a melee Cleric. They are like a hunter priest...
Really give the Inq a look over...I myself love the Inq and look forward to playing one the next chance I get.
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You can also skip the fighter level and just pick up Heavy armor proficiency; you're not feat-starved, and it will keep your levels and abilities moving up nicely. Usually you avoid multi in Pathfinder when possible. A headband for Wis 16 much later will let you get all levels of spells; I think 14 is "ideal" for buff-casters wanting well-balanced stats.
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Personally I like playing clerics, and I have no problems in melee. I usually play a dwarven cleric with the crusader archetype. Being a dwarf gives you a bonus to wisdom and constitution plus battle axes, warhammers and heavy picks as usable weapons. Plus all the other wonderful dwarven bonuses. I take the crusader cause although it limits you to one domain and your -1 spell each level, you get bonus fighter feats. But no archetype works just as well too. A high enough wisdom gives back the lost spell. I either take Gorum (destruction) or Torag (earth). So take a good str and cha, to level out the -2 cha dwarves have and you should be good. If you take a two handed weapon, use shield of faith, and if not grab a shield and a warhammer or battle axe.
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I don't think melee cleric is a bad idea at all. There seems to be some overreaction in this thread about the class in melee; it can definitely function, and while it will not be outputting top damage it is good enough that it can be a bruiser with some work put in.
I'm not familiar with the Eberron setting, but choose a god that gives you a good martial weapon, like a greatsword or glaive.
If you go human, I would go
Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 12
You're still getting 2 skills per level this way, and you can use the favoured class bonus for skills if you're feeling too short on them. For feats I would go with Toughness and Heavy Armour Proficiency.
Channel positive energy, but use it as out of combat patching up, not for in combat healing.
You'll also want to look into some good domains:
-Destruction (especially the Rage subdomain)
-Glory (especially the Heroism subdomain)
-Strength (especially the Ferocity subdomain)
-Travel (woo, moving 30 ft. in heavy armour, 40 ft. with longstrider!)
-War
Grab Power Attack at level 3, Furious Focus at level 5, and Weapon Focus after that. A rod of Extend Spell will come in handy for always going into a fight buffed to the gills.
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I am a fan of Clerics, Inquisitors, and Oracles that melee it up. They are all really fun. Currently running a Cleric/Fighter in one game, and an Oracle in another. My Oracle can just pop off a hold person, then smoke somebody with his morningstar. My Cleric/Fighter is working with a +2 fey bane scimitar in Kingmaker. Soooo awesome. His AC is sitting at 27 as well, with +2 mithral breastplate, +2 heavy mithral shield with shield focus, +2 ring of protection, and just a wee bit of dex.
Suggestion if you go with Cleric, definately listen to these guys mentioning the focus on STR.
Also, take into consideration the inquisitor. You can combine intimidate with feats to make foes flat-footed. You can heal. You can even roll knowledge checks against foes, then bane your weapon to really put the hurt on them.
... While I haven't played PF, I'm pretty close to an expert on 3.X and 4E, so weird builds definitely don't scare me ...
It's not that I think it should scare you. It's just that if you've never tried the standard abilities that a class offers, you don't always know what you're really giving up to take different abilities and how useful they could be. Some abilities that seem alright in the book are actually great in play. Some that seem great in the book are actually pretty hohum in play.
I never really liked the way paladins actually played in 3.x but they are enough different that I really like them (even just the base version with no archtype) in PF.Or the barbarians and fighters, they are much less boring now. In 3.x we always would multiclass or PrC out of them as quickly as possible. I see alot of people taking them straight through to the end now.
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I second the various suggestions for Inquisitors. They have most of the cleric's heals and buff spells, plenty of melee capability, judgments to further buff themselves, and some very nice save-or-suck spells with a range of touch. Plus, they cast off of Wisdom, so you could fairly easily dump everything but Wis and your choice of Dex or Con and you'd still be a decent frontliner.
But if "melee cleric" is really what you want, don't let the messageboards scare you out of it. Clerics can make great frontline defenders. I'd say get a shield and take Improved Shield Bash, and keep your other hand empty for spells. That'll work out perfectly with your "keep the others safe" philosophy. Otherwise work it out however you like.