You want you cleric to become a Pathfinder-converted Radiant Servant of Pelor at 7th level (the link did work). The only part of the prerequisites to watch for are the Sun domain and taking the Extra Channeling feat at 1st, 3rd, or 5th level. The Will save and skill requirements are trivial.
Your party has three characters, rogue, bard, and barbarian, who will take melee damage while lightly armored, so that Extra Channeling feat will come in handy. Your cleric won't need to do mid-combat healing, but gathering together for a healing channel after a battle will become routine. And, of course, he could also use the channel against hordes of undead. Don't expect to be the shield for them, for they will rush headlong into battle. To move at the same rate, perhaps your cleric could chose light armor, too, supplemented by a heavy shield and the Shield of Faith spell. Ignore this if your party contains slow dwarves, halflings, or gnomes.
For winning battles, your cleric and the bard will want to buff the party on the first round. Bless would have been good, but it is a morale bonus and does not stack with the bard's Inspire Courage song. Bane is second place after Bless, but it must be cast closer to one's enemies, so Combat Casting would be a useful feat at first level. Extra Channeling could wait until third level. For fifth level, Weapon Focus(Ray) would benefit Searing Light, which I presume will be your cleric's favorite spell. On the other hand, if your party finds itself taking more damage than your channels can heal, a crafting feat such as Scribe Scroll or Craft Wand would give you affordable extra sources of healing.
A cleric can fight in melee at low levels, all he needs is decent Strength. If your cleric wears medium armor, swap the 16 from Con to Str and your cleric will have decent Strength. The bard's Inspire Courage will help. The importance of being the primary spellcaster in the party is battlefield control, but a cleric has no decent battlefield control spells at first level.
See if your GM will allow your cleric to prepare Blinding Ray, a second-level spell for Dhampirs only. It would be thematic.
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2 hammers and 2 arms is an unbalanced group as bards make poor anvils.
There is no feat called Extra Turning...is this going to be replaced with something?
Just for the record channeling in PF is best done with an Oracle and is a sub-par ability. Damage always outweighs healing. Usually you are wasting your potential taking any channel feats on a cleric (unless your Hangover cleric build). But if your ok with being average and playing a band aid then go for it if you think that is a fun playstyle.
Throw away the shield Idea and pick up a long spear and Combat reflexes. You will not need to cast defensively as often, will get in more damage, and can use your standard action for buffing. Reach is actually the best combat choice for a cleric.
Your Heavy armor want stems from 3.5. I play lots of clerics and light armor is enough...medium is more than enough.
Trait wise I like fate's favored, Transmuter, and Birthmark (always have a holy symbol that does not need to be held...put it on the back of your hand.)
As for being Casty...You can focus on summoning and buffing. You group lacks control magics so dropping extra bodies to take hits will help you heal less often and end fights quicker. Letting the bard buff the summon creature they will be amazing flank buddies. Summons also bring SLA with them adding to your spells per day. I also like buying a lesser rod of toppling spell to pair with spiritual weapon (an under rated spell).
My favorite spells: Command, Bless, Shield of Faith, spiritual weapon, Animal Buffs (Bull's str), Prayer, Blessing of Fervor, Life Bubble (underrated), Death ward, Blade Barrier, Suggestion, Summon Monster, Breath of Life, Divine Power/Favor and Heal.
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Bards make better controllers then you give them credit for, Fruian. Some of the best wizard spells are on their spell list, I.e sleep, glitterdust, fear.
Extra channeling, selective channeling. How about worshipping Ra (he's a sun god), for variant channeling Rulership(half your channel dmg, crearures have to will save or get dazed for 1 round)? Take the negative energy channel version.
Lv 1:Selective channel
Lv 3: Versatile channel
Lv 5: Extra channels
Summons, unless you get outsiders, may not be that useful in some parts of emerald spire. But that's spoiler territory.
You may as well keep porting over options from 3.5 and grab yourself a Shield Gauntlet because a Heavy Shield requires one hand to actually hold onto the shield; it's a Light Shield that leaves said hand free. Shield Gauntlet is meant for 3.5 Divine Casters to be able to cast Somatic spells from their Shield hand.
There are so many extra features Bro you don't need any more boons unless the other characters are getting them too. Your rolled stats equal a 40-point seed. If the others are equivalent or better you are more powerful than the dungeon already. If the DM runs it as is, you guys are not going to be fighting every encounter with your backs against the wall, and congratulations on party composition for having the GOLDEN Arcane(Bard), Martial(Barbarian), Divine(Cleric), and Trap(Rogue) rectangle of adventurers.
If you want +4 skill points you may as well go Oracle. You can be super-healer all day with the right build. Or Super-Focus in a certain style. Oracles are also not bound to a Deity per se, but the Mystery they choose to pursue. Angel-Blooded Aasimar Oracle (Purifier) with their favored-class bonus to Revelations... yum! It's so fluffy and it boosts Heal AND Knowledge: Planes.
Don't throw away feats trying to do what other classes do. Focus on what you want to be good at, and if it sounds like Not-Cleric, then go with the Class that best suits your goals.
Is there any reason you don't want to rock any archetypes at all?
It's looking like Rogue and Barbarian are gonna dominate the field.
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Bards make better controllers then you give them credit for, Fruian. Some of the best wizard spells are on their spell list, I.e sleep, glitterdust, fear.
Summons, unless you get outsiders, may not be that useful in some parts of emerald spire. But that's spoiler territory.
I know the spell list...I also know that they get less spells a day compared to wizard, sorcerer, arcanist...and every other full caster. Plus the spell progression gets behind other classes.
Bards can pull some control duty but they perform better in the other 2 roles than as anvil. I in no way have miss judged the class and have played bards...even recommend them from time to time when they would fit. In this case most the players are inexperienced. Mastering a caster bard takes some know how to pull off. So I just suggested he help anvil slightly to help offset the resource drain that will come by putting the burden on a completely inexperienced bard player.
Entirely different advice for a first-time caster:
KNOW YOUR SPELLS
Buy spell cards, buy 3 X 5 index cards and make you own, make your own spreadsheet that automatically calculates all the variables; whatever, just know your spells backwards and forwards.
As a DM or Player, few things are as teeth-grindingly annoying as watching someone fumble around trying to figure out which spell to cast or how the spell they've finally chosen actually works.
In tandem with that advice: Choose a default spell list.
You should have a list of spells that you always have memorized on any given day. That way, if the DM surprises you with something, your spell list is done.
Entirely different advice for a first-time caster:
KNOW YOUR SPELLS
Buy spell cards, buy 3 X 5 index cards and make you own, make your own spreadsheet that automatically calculates all the variables; whatever, just know your spells backwards and forwards.
As a DM or Player, few things are as teeth-grindingly annoying as watching someone fumble around trying to figure out which spell to cast or how the spell they've finally chosen actually works.
In tandem with that advice: Choose a default spell list.
You should have a list of spells that you always have memorized on any given day. That way, if the DM surprises you with something, your spell list is done.
Very well said. Running a spell caster without bogging down the game takes some pregame planning. I always make a spread sheet of my available spells.
I would add that when you have time make memorized spell lists for several settings - dungeon crawl, city adventure, maritime, forest, jungle, desert, mountains, fighting undead, etc. You will do a much better job of picking spells ahead of time then doing so on the fly.