I've been looking for the opportunity to play this particular concept for a while, and it appears that both Hell's Vengeance and/or Strange Aeons might offer me that chance... the concept revolves around a dwarf whom was captured by Aboleths deep, deep below the Earth and was kept as a slave, his sanity being driven to the brink. When he escaped he fled as fast and as far as he could in the one direction he knew would get him away - up, towards the surface... and when he finally emerged on a beautiful winter's night and got his first look at the surface world, the sight that greeted him was the same infinite blackness, the same... nothing, forever... that had haunted his dreams deep below. It was enough to break his mind. Thereafter he's become convinced of his (and everyone's) eventual doom and has become an occasionally muttering, occasionally ravening lunatic, but one from whom the genuine insight of fools and children will occasionally slip free. There are a lot of different directions to go from there, but that's the general concept.
This is what I want him to be able to do:
To take the Domain of Madness and get the maximum benefit from the highly versatile Visions of Madness domain power.
To specialize in summoning creatures as his primary offensive and defensive options (what he considers to be his maddened dreams given form).
Focus on eventually using Planeshift as a weapon, effectively banishing foes into the nothingness of the Void that haunts.
To be able to role-play his rantings as something mechanically effective.
My first thought would be to make him a Cleric of Azathoth, prophesying his eventual arrival as a sort of nihilistic herald of doom. Make him an Evangelist (the archetype that grants Bardic Performance), take the Madness Domain, Magical Lineage for Planeshift and a feat breakdown that looks something like this:
1st - Spell Focus: Conjuration
3rd - Augment Summoning
5th - Summon Neutral Monster
7th - Versatile Summoning
9th - Reach Spell
11th - Piercing Spell
13th - Quicken Spell
15th - Spell Perfection: Planeshift
17th - Greater Spell Focus: Conjuration
Obviously, feats are at a premium, but keep in mind, I'm not trying to make this guy a game-breaker, just trying to make him as effective as possible within the core concept.
Now, looking at some other options, I'm starting to wonder about whether I could make for a better fit as an Inquisitor, using the Monster Tactician archetype or possibly even as a Herald Caller, though I'd lose the Domain that ties all of this together. Two of the bigger concerns have been trying to figure out a way to get Standard action summoning and/or spontaneous casting of divine Summoning spells.
Any thoughts would be welcome, any advice much appreciated.
Two of the bigger concerns have been trying to figure out a way to get Standard action summoning and/or spontaneous casting of divine Summoning spells.
The Sacred Summons feat lets you summon creatures that match your aura's alignment as a standard action. Since you're a cleric you have an aura.
Summon Evil Monster lets you summon creatures as a standard action, but they can't act until the next round. They aren't considered flat-footed and can make AoO's though.
Tattooed Mystic can get the Pouncing Beasts mystic tattoo which lets them summon creatures as a standard. They have to spawn adjacent to the caster though. You also have to keep putting levels into the class so the ability can apply to higher level summon spells.
Two of the bigger concerns have been trying to figure out a way to get Standard action summoning and/or spontaneous casting of divine Summoning spells.The Sacred Summons feat lets you summon creatures that match your aura's alignment as a standard action. Since you're a cleric you have an aura.
I've always found Sacred Summons to be a bit confusing, but as I understand it, the creature's type or subtype has to match your aura, not just their alignment... meaning that if I'm Lawful Good, I can use the feat to summon Archons (who possess both the Lawful and Good subtypes) but not Angels or Devas (who possess only the Good subtype)... to summon Angels and Devas as a standard action with the feat, I'd have to be Neutral Good (I think), but then I wouldn't be able to get Archons.
As a character I'm probably going to run as Chaotic Neutral, I don't know how many options that leaves for me.
Yeah, that's how it works. Well, you're stuck with a chaotic aura only because Azathoth is CN. A cleric's aura is based on their deity's alignment (I always forget that).
Looking through the Summon Neutral Monster list there are only a few with the chaotic subtype. They're all pretty high level summons too so it doesn't look very helpful until you get Summon Monster VI and higher. Before that you'd only get the Voidworm at Summon Monster III.
Another feat I've found is Superior Summoning. It lets you summon an extra monster (sometimes).
EDIT: I don't know of any more ways to get standard action summoning, sorry.