Combat Cleric Advice

[Spee]

We just finished part of an adventure path and we're being given the option to rebuild our characters. We had a disfunctional party that lacked most of the normal roles. 2 of us decided to rebuild our characters and we'll end up with a Blaster Wizard, Druid, Fighter or Barbarian, and I agreed to provide healing. I was an Oracle (Heavens) and ended up feeling like a 1-trick pony that either got off an encounter breaking Color Spray, or buffed the party and then tried to stay out of the way to survive.

So, for my new character, I'd like to have some combat options. I like the idea of Shield bashing, you get AC and can do some damage with it. What I've come up with is a Crusader Cleric of Abadar who's main weapon is his Heavy Shield. Figured I could throw up a buff and then wade into combat to help out the fighter, step out when needed to heal.

Problems, he'll be light on spells and looks like I'll be using Channel mostly for healing. Another Problem, I either spend a feat for Martial Weapon Focus shield or dip into another class to get the proficiency.

My current concept is:

Half-elf
Cleric - Crusader 6 levels
Fighter - Unbreakable 1 level

Str 20, (2 from half-elf, 2 from belt)
Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10

Feats:
1st: toughness
Fighter: Endurance and Diehard (Unbreakable switches these out for the fighters bonus feat)
Crusader 1: Improved Shield Bash
3rd: Weapon Focus Shield Bash
5th: Power Attack
Crusader 5: Shield Focus
7th: Furious Focus

Traits:
Adopted to get Shield Bearer for +1 dmg with the shield
Focused Mind to improve combat casting

Equipment:
Mithril Breastplate and then cast Magic Vestment each day
Heavy Darkwood Shield with a +1 enhancement and then the Bashing property.
Light Crossbow (for a fallback ranged weapon and it's dieties favored weapon. I'll have to drop the shield to use it and thus may never actually use this.)
Cloak of Resistance +1
Ring of Protestion +2
Belt of Bull's Strength
Dusty Rose Ioun Stone (+1 insight AC)
Cracked Dusty rose ioun stone (+1 initiative)

Wand of CLW

Looking through the cleric spells, I'll probably prep Magic Vestment, Weapon of Awe, Bear's Endurance, Grace, Bless, Divine Favor and Liberating Command.

Any recommendations or suggestions about this builds combat viability and still being able to provide healing as needed?

[Magda Luckbender]

I encourage you to read some of the various Cleric Guides, on this page. They are full of good ideas for playing effective and fun battle clerics.This one is my favorite.

You are making Clericzilla sounds. This can work very well, but you must be clever about how you time your (pre-)buffs. A fully self-buffed 5th level human Clericzilla with an 18 Strength can Power Attack for 2d6+18 using only non-magical simple weapons, and can probably get multiple attacks with Combat Reflexes. Keep in mind that rarely will you have the chance to perfectly pre-buff, so be prepared to make do.

Abadar has great domain choices. Travel, for starters. Since you don't care about the weapon, you can can pick any other domain and be an Abadar seperatist. You are not spending resources on channeling so it probably doesn't matter, but note that Abadar has access to a pretty decent offensive negative-energy variant channeling: Cities. Also, as a Neutral cleric of a Neutral deity you have access to Versatile Channeler.

You can make a pretty effective Battle Cleric without dipping any other classes. A Fighter dip will slightly increase you martial abilities, but will seriously gimp your spell casting, especially at middle and high levels. A simple weapon and medium armor are quite sufficient for the fiercest battle cleric. Offense usually trumps defense in this game.

Often the best way to protect your party is to keep them from taking damage. Clerics have some great offensive and battlefield control options, and can be especially effective summoners. A specialized evangelist cleric is arguably the best summoner and the best buffer in the game. Don't neglect these options in your ongoing quest to keep HP totals positive.

Your biggest restriction will always be action efficiency. You only get one standard action per round. Get as much from it as you can. For example, Quick Channel let's you channel as a Move action, allowing you to also cast a spell. Casting Shield Other on the right ally spreads out damage, effectively doubling the value of your channels. AoOs might contribute martial damage. Anything you can do as a Swift Action is solid gold. I sometimes see mid-level clerics do all these things in a single combat round: previously summoned creature takes an action, Animal Companion takes an action, quick channel energy, cast a Spell, use a Swift Action ability, take a 5' step, and inflict martial damage with AoOs on foes 30' from starting location. No single action is over-powered, but the combination is quite effective.

[Spee]

Thank you for your advice. I read through most of those guides and that how I ended up where I was.

I've never understood the purpose behind Shield Other, especially if you're a front line party member. I can take half the HP damage instead of the fighter or barbarian, who already have more HP than me. So I die faster or spend more of my time healing myself and not fighting. Sounds like I'd be my own heal-bot instead of the parties heal-bot. :(
As for the deflection AC, most people already have it, same for the resistance bonus.
So for hours/level I have to stay close to a guy, so I share his pain and need to heal myself more often to stay alive? Not sure how that helps much.

I've looked at the variant channeling abilities and have not been impressed at most of them. Most clerics choose to heal their allies and thus get only the Heal portion of the variant. Variant channeling means I'm half as good at healing through channels and then my buddies get an additional affect for about 1 round. If I'm spending the time channeling, it's probably because someone needs the HP, which varient just cut in half. Otherwise I'm variant channeling to provide that benefit and wasting what little healing it usually gives.
For this character, the CHA is too low for Selective Channel, which means any healing and variant good also affects my enemies. I don't see how this helps.

Quick channel looks interesting. It'd have to be either my 5th or 7th feet.

Noticed that half-elves can get Ancestral Arms to get the Shield Slam proficiency and thus I wouldn't have to take the Fighter dip.

Kurgess gets the travel domain and his favored is the Javelin which would work better with the shield, so I think I'll switch to him.

[Magda Luckbender]

You are welcome! Sounds like you have a solid plan. Have fun with it!

P.s. Example of using Shield Other effectively:

You, the cleric, heal about 10 HP per channel. You play conservatively. While you sometimes take damage, you are rarely in any real danger. Your Barbarian ally is always in the thick of melee, and regularly takes a lot of damage. Say your Barbarian routinely takes twice as much damage as anyone else.

You cast Shield Other on the Barbarian for the entire adventuring day. A fight happens. Barbarian gets hit for 20 HP damage. Other front line allies take some damage, but only half as much. Due to Shield Other the Barbarian takes 10 HP and you, safe in the back casting spells, take 10 HP. You decide to channel energy to heal. One channel, for +10 HP, heals everyone back to full. Without Shield Other the Barbarian would still be down 10 HP.

It works even better if the PC casting Shield Other is especially good at self-healing. e.g. Fey Foundling.

[YogoZuno]

Note that Shield Other can also cause unexpected deaths, particularly from Area Effect spells, such as Fireballs and Lightning Bolts, or from Trampling creatures. So, be sure you aren't the only source of healing if you plan on using it.