So, I'm in a Shattered Star game and my party needed a healer, as parties do. I've never played a healer before, but I figured it was a good time to learn. So, I rolled up an Aasimar cleric of Milani, with the liberation and restoration domains. We're only just now finishing the first book so I'm still pretty low level, but I'm finding myself terminally bored by this character. I'm having a lot of difficulty injecting personality into her, I feel like I have very little to contribute outside of combat because they get so few skill points, and I feel like much of what I do IN combat is so reactive that my turns are mostly comprised of me doing my best to give people flanks and such. I've talked to some friends and they've given me some good advice on what to do about this, but I'm still completely uninspired by my character.
I might try to re-roll into a different type of cleric, because they very adamantly want someone who channels. None of the variant channels really seem like they'd reliably contribute enough to the party to justify the loss of healing dice. None of the domains really jump out at me as being very fun. I have few enough spell slots that I don't have much to do in combat when people don't need to be fixed up in some capacity or another. So, to the clerics out there, what do you do to make your cleric fun to play? Or is this just what it's like to be a cleric?
I think the biggest reason you're not invested in this character is probably because you're allowing the other players to dictate how you build rather than making the decisions yourself! It's hard to invest in someone else's character.
Clerics can be a ton of fun to play and they are very versatile in build choices. There's a couple of things you want to keep in mind when building a cleric:
A. Playing a healbot sucks. (as you've found out) Just about any cleric can and should heal the other party members but this should mostly be out of combat and a secondary function. Out of combat other party members should also contribute towards wand of cure light wounds to heal hp damage. In combat you are generally better off finishing the fight rather than healing since healing rarely keeps up with an enemy's damage output. The basic rule of thumb should be only heal a party member if they are in serious danger of dying in the next 1-2 turns.
B. Somewhat related to above...unless you are built towards it channeling isn't a that great of an ability. Outside of combat it helps heal up the party between encounters but wands are cheap so all it really does is save you a little gold. In combat the healing is pretty weak (3.5 hp per d6 on average) and without feats it targets friend and foe alike. Unless you want to make a significant investment in charisma and feats you should treat channeling more as a nice perk rather than a major class feature.
C. The most important decision you make about your cleric is the god you worship, followed by the domains you choose. You've chosen a god that focuses on freedom and rising up against oppression. I've not played shattered star but from what I understand it's in varisa. In a frontier land with no central oppressive authority figure to rebel against you're going to have to work harder to justify why your cleric is in the area and adventuring with the party. I generally would think to find a cleric of milani in chelix fighting to free the people from their devil overlords or in fighting the false god's rule etc. I would recommend choosing a different god or working out a detailed back story on why your cleric is there and what she is fighting against.
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Just changing out your spell list will have a huge impact on your character. Some offensive spells clerics have access to. This relies on you having a high wisdom score. This are a few you might want to look at to make your cleric more offensive. There list of good spells is not like a arcane caster but there are some. It is a matter of getting a chance to use them.
1st Level
Command (will): Drop : causes the target to drop what they are holding.
Murderous Command : Target is compelled to kill its ally.
2nd Level
Hold Person : Paralyzes one humanoid for 1 round/level.
Spear of Purity : Harm and possibly blind evil creatures.
Spiritual Weapon : Magic weapon attacks on its own.
3rd Level
Blindness/Deafness : Makes subject blinded or deafened.
Invisibility Purge : Dispels invisibility within 5 ft./level.
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Well, if I were playing an Aasimar cleric of Milani ...
From a RP standpoint, since followers of Milani often find themselves to be martyrs for the cause, you could run headlong into battle with the front line folks, giving some oddly disturbing yet rousing war cry (i.e. - "The fields may soak in my blood, but by Milani's Grace I will see you fall!" or "Death for the Cause!").
Have a custom masterwork mace made in the shape of a rose and as you level, get holy, vicious (to play up the martyr aspect) and whatever else tickles your fancy and give it an appropriate name (i.e. - Milani's Thorn, The Bloodied Rose, Rosebud, whatever).
Spell wise, I would look to those spells that would buff my person and allies for this type of concept: Bless, Divine Favor, Bull's Strength, Death Knell, Magic Vestment, Magic Weapon, Align Weapon, Protection from Evil, Prayer. On the offensive front: Blindness/Deafness, Darkness (if your party is comprised of folks with low light or darkvision ... 20% miss chance in low light is nice), Summon Monster X, Searing Light, Bestow Curse, Sound Burst ... and of course Inflict spells are your friends ... melee touch attack to inflict 1d8+1/level (max 1d8+5) as a 1st level, 2d8+1/level (max 2d8+10) for a 2nd level, etc.
Basically, look at what your character is and ask what kind of person you could see filling that roll and play that up to the hilt.
I'm playing a cleric of Desna in the Jade Regent AP. The party consists of a dagger fighter, an undead bloodline sorcerer, and my cleric.
I selected Travel, and Luck as my domains, and my ability scores are fairly spread out. My first thought when I made the character was that I wanted to be able to heal without using up my spells, so I selected Extra Channel as my first level feat. Channel is an awesome ability! Obviously not for every situation, but my character can channel 6 times per day, so it isn't a very limited ability. This allows my party members to play a little more aggressively, and gives us many tactical options.
As I knew I was going to spend a lot of my actions buffing, healing, channeling, or using my touch of luck ability, I wanted something to make the character a little more fun so I looked into summoning. I got augment summons, and summoning has been great! In one of the last combats, I summoned an augmented celestial wolverine who raged, smited, and got hasted by another party member - total killing machine! I can then swing my sword for a round or two, fall back, and channel to keep everyone alive. Summoning and channeling has perfect synergy, as they both get better the more you do either.
As a side note, I have been brainstorming an archery cleric, and have gotten some great suggestions on the advice board for archetypes that allow clerics to do almost anything (such as bardic performances!). If you can pin down what you are looking to do, we can probably find a way to make it happen...
One final thought: What are the other characters in the party and what house rules to you play with? Sometimes seemingly minor rules changes such as giving everyone max hp or monsters max hp can have a huge effect if you are trying to play a healer.
From a RP standpoint, since followers of Milani often find themselves to be martyrs....Spell Shield Other.... Casting this spell on any of the party members is great. It save the number of time you have to burst and double the amount of HP you heal with them.
Spiritual Weapon
School evocation [force]; Level cleric 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, DF
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect magic weapon of force
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes
A weapon made of force appears and attacks foes at a distance, as you direct it, dealing 1d8 force damage per hit, + 1 point per three caster levels (maximum +5 at 15th level). The weapon takes the shape of a weapon favored by your deity or a weapon with some spiritual significance or symbolism to you (see below) and has the same threat range and critical multipliers as a real weapon of its form. It strikes the opponent you designate, starting with one attack in the round the spell is cast and continuing each round thereafter on your turn. It uses your base attack bonus (possibly allowing it multiple attacks per round in subsequent rounds) plus your Wisdom modifier as its attack bonus. It strikes as a spell, not as a weapon, so for example, it can damage creatures that have damage reduction. As a force effect, it can strike incorporeal creatures without the reduction in damage associated with incorporeality. The weapon always strikes from your direction. It does not get a flanking bonus or help a combatant get one. Your feats or combat actions do not affect the weapon. If the weapon goes beyond the spell range, if it goes out of your sight, or if you are not directing it, the weapon returns to you and hovers.
Copied form SRD
Death Knell
School necromancy [death, evil ]; Level cleric 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range touch
Target living creature touched
Duration instantaneous/10 minutes per HD of subject; see text
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
You draw forth the ebbing life force of a creature and use it to fuel your own power. Upon casting this spell, you touch a living creature that has –1 or fewer hit points. If the subject fails its saving throw, it dies, and you gain 1d8 temporary hit points and a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength. Additionally, your effective caster level goes up by +1, improving spell effects dependent on caster level. This increase in effective caster level does not grant you access to more spells. These effects last for 10 minutes per HD of the subject creature.
It a Evil Spell I do not think Good Cleric will cast it...or get it form his god... Role play wise...
Though were an Oracle, you could cast as many evil spells as you want.
If you are leaning towards a cleric of Irori I would suggest taking the inevitable domain and picking up domain strike. This would allow you to make an unarmed attack and add a command as well. Drop, Fall, Flee and Halt all are good add ons for an attack. Taking channel smite and guided hand will allow you to use your wisdom to attack rolls and if you decide to channel negative energy you can add extra damage. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a level of monk, I like maneuver master. 1 level gets you a bonus improved manuever feat with no prereqs, better unarmed damage, stunning fist, better saves, a free manuever on a full attack and wisdom to AC. not bad for a one level dip and it fits thematically.
What about an archer cleric of Erastil? Definitely something to do without giving tying you up in melee, so you can still drop spells or channels when called for.
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I really love clerics, I am currently playing two (one in a home game and one in a PFS game). Guidance (level 0 spell) keeps me exceptionally viable out of combat, and allows many roleplay moments (May the power of GODNAMEHERE be with you... yada yada yada). You can still make all the plans and make every other player better in almost every roll.
With that said, I think the problem is mostly that you're concerned about healing: Clerics can heal no matter what you build them into. Design your cleric to do something besides heal primarily. There are some good recommendations in this thread to look into. I don't recommend aiming for being a ranged caster though, other classes are much much better at this. I recommend building as some kind of combat based classed, and a dip into one level of Fighter is amazing for a Cleric (heavy armor + extra bonus feat).
Also, head over to the Guide to the Classes sticky post and read through the cleric guide that has a lot of great advice. Also, I haven't been able to do this yet because of campaign reasons, but see if you can be an Undead Lord (which I think is in Ultimate Combat).... it looks amazing.