Is this balanced? Two Weapon Cleric (Ranger?) archetype

[The Mighty Thrar]

A player in my game wants to play a cleric who has the two weapon fighting skills of a ranger. The two weapon fighting and the relationship with his deity are integral to his back story.

He is thinking to take alternating levels in cleric and ranger. My concern is he may end up not being happy with the result. He is not the best optimizer.

I am thinking to offer him a custom cleric archetype very similar to the Crusader. He would get the two weapon combat feats of the ranger, but he would have 'diminished spellcasting' (like the crusader) and thus have to give up one domain and one spell slot per spell level.

Do you think this is a good balanced alternate archetype for him?
Would half levels in cleric and ranger gimp his character?

[Seranov]

Well, the Crusader gets way fewer feats than a Ranger does, but if you just mean getting access to TWF at level 1 and such, then it doesn't sound unreasonable at all.

But in the end, you're the DM, and you can do whatever you want. Paizo ain't gonna kick down your door and beat up you and your loved ones for houseruling it. ;)

[Bearlock]

Is any part of being a ranger aside from TWF important to him? If he isn't the best optimizer it may be better for him to just pick up fighter levels for TWF feats, as he meets the pre-reqs he picks them up. For two TWF feats (TWF and ITWF) he would have to take 6 levels of ranger, and while yes he could ignore pre-reqs, that is 6 less levels of cleric casting he lost out on, and as a TWF cleric, you're going to need those spells to really make TWF worthwhile. Also, hard to TWF and cast at the same time.

An option could be to take the Quarterstaff Master feat I guess. Just make sure that he understands that mechanically he may be gimping himself with that choice of build, but if your the DM and you can work with him on it, more power to you

[Charender]

Unless you need something specific from the ranger, there is not reason you can't just make a TWF cleric.

Basically make a melee cleric with a 15 dex. shoot for a 19 dex by level 10 or so. Put the rest of your stats in str/wis > con > chr > int.

Pick or create a diety that gives you a weapon you can DW.

You will do meh damage, but cast a few cleric buffs and the damage will actually be very good.

A similar option might be to make a TWF inquisitor.

[The Mighty Thrar]

@Bearlock: I think his ranger idea is to have the two-weapon feats essentially without the pre-reqs. If he doesn't have to worry about pumping up Dex for TWF, he can focus on STR.

@Charender: I have thought of inquisitor and suggested it to him. He's not very familiar with it. I thought my 'variant' cleric would be good for him. I hope it is balanced.

Thanks for the advice.

[Pendagast]

2 levels of Ranger isn't going to choke him.

I dont see why he would keep going in ranger tho.

Grab TWF, he doesn't need improved or greater.

Level 2 ranger gives him what he wants.

[Seranov]

Yeah, honestly ITWF and GTWF are only something you really want if you've got Full BAB.

A 2-level Ranger dip wouldn't ruin his Cleric progression, and he'd get exactly what he wants.

[JrK]

Trade TWF for the domain powers of one (or both) of his domains, that is a fair tradeoff. TWF isn't that good anyway, I disagree with giving him a severe tradeoff with reduction in spells. I can even see TWF as possible domain powers, perhaps for a war/battle subdomain.