Natural Attack Cleric - How would you build one?

[Dunmuir]

I'm currently working on the idea of a natural attack cleric (two claws, one bite), and was wondering how you guys might go about it.

20 point buy
Only and all paizo
Levels 1 to 10

Primary role: divine caster, front line
Secondary: could be anything. I'm open to ideas.

[Heather 540]

Kitsunes and Half-Orcs get a bite attack and Catfolk get claws.

Several classes can get claw attacks. You could go two levels of Ranger and take Aspect of the Beast. Or take a level in Sorcerer or Bloodrager with the Draconic Bloodline. Feral Champion Warpriest also gets claws and casts spells from the cleric list. Shifter also gets claws and the Adaptive Archetype can get a bite attack so it works for either attack.

If you go with the War Domain for your cleric, it could mesh with Bloodrager. The feat Mad Magic lets you cast spells from the Bloodrager class even when in a bloodrage and the claws from the Draconic Bloodline will always be out while raging or not.

[DwarfMan Esq.]

I'm going to assume you at least want the option to be Good or at least Neutral so I'll avoid anything that pigeon-holes your alignment directly. Annis-Born Changelings gain a +2 to Strength and claws. In addition, their Hag racial trait gives them another +1 to melee damage rolls. Then worship Nethys for his destruction domain which will give you Destructive Smite. A druid would really be better up to the task of natural attacking holy person, but that should be obvious.

Eldritch Claws isn't going to be available until 8th level so you'll need some other way to punch through DR until then. And that's where my willingness to google things runs out. Good Luck to you sir

[Ellioti]

Fist subdomain or Scalykind domain will give you Greater Magic Fang.
Worshipping Apsu and a level of UMonk lets you flurry with a bite. He also has the latter domain.

[Mark Hoover 330]

Many above have given you ways to get 2 claws and a bite attack. If I were going this route I'd use a half-orc Hunter for the start of the build. Your PC starts off only with a Bite but by level 3 you've got a decent natural attacking animal companion to back you up.

Then go Feral Champion warpriest for the other 7 levels. You've got the Animal blessing to give your AC either claws or a bite they might not already have, eventually you'll have Fervor to further enhance your combat abilities and you should invest a feat in Boon Companion to keep your AC relevant as long as possible. Plus any Teamwork feats you happen to choose will also translate to said Companion.

Focus on Str obviously. For the first 3 levels only Medium armor and shields, but after that you can go Heavy from Warpriest. Your damage won't be huge, even with high Str, until you can start using Fervor to gain Divine Favor or other such buff spells as a Swift action, though Animal Focus will help some.

The main thrust of this build is using the Animal Companion from levels 1-3 as a means to supplement your melee damage, with spellcasting focused on buffing/healing said AC. Once you start into the Warpriest levels, and especially when Fervor kicks in, you and your AC are side by side in melee. Once you hit about level 5, after using a Standard and a Swift action in melee, you're meting out 6 natural attacks/round between the 2 of you with an above average chance to hit (BAB +3, Str +4 or more, and an amulet +1, Weapon Focus for +1, Divine Favor +1) and d6 +5 or more on each.

As a Hunter for 3 levels, you also pick up a little tracking and some wilderness skills. As a secondary function in the party you can function as a scout. There are a couple buff spells you can take to augment this role. You can also use your AC to help in this capacity as well, especially if it has Scent.

Finally, consider the possibility of taking the half-orc alternate racial trait of Smog Sight in place of Darkvision. You'll get Light from level 1 so you'll never be blind in natural darkness. With Smog Sight however you can ignore the first 5' of Concealment in fog. Using a Swift action and Fervor, from level 5 on you can drop an Obscuring Mist to gain 20% concealment against your melee enemy while completely ignoring their concealment instead. You can also see 10' away in said mist, for backing up and using a rare Ranged Touch attack on them if need be. This is not the MOST optimal tactic but it gives the PC a bit of a quirk and might add something to their secondary role as a scout.

[Dunmuir]

I'm realizing having both claws and a bite on a pure cleric might not be feasible.

I was thinking of making an evangelist cleric with natural attacks. His oration being howls, snarls, and growls as he tears everyone to shreds.

[The Sideromancer]

Or you could be a tengu. Racial boost to Wis, starts with a bite, and can trade the pile of sword proficiencies for a pair of claws. It is a -con race, so it's not amazing, but the basis is there.

[LordKailas]

I had a DM approve the following though other DMs may find it a bit of a stretch.

Do the following.
Take 1 level in Druid with the draconic archetype.
Level as a cleric until you meet the pre-reqs for the Dawnflower Anchorite (aprox 4 levels in cleric).
Take 5 levels in Dawnflower Anchorite and take the following credences.

Focused Class Feature - Wildshape
Focused Class Feature - Channel Energy

Combine this with the following feats

Shaping Focus
Favored Prestige Class
Prestigious Spellcaster

At this point you are only down by one when it comes to caster level and channel energy, additionally you can now wildshape into a literal dragon for 10 hours.

The only point of objection a DM may have with this build is that you are taking advantage of the wording of the Dawnflower Anchorite credence ability, unlike feats and abilities (eg. shaping focus) it doesn't specify that you have to actually have the class ability in order to pick it. This allows you to use the prestige class to bring wildshape online with only one level in druid (instead of having to take 4 levels in druid).

[Firebug]

I was going to second Tengu, because Tengu have +2 Wisdom (and +2 Dex, -2 Con), and default with a bite attack, and can trade swordtrained for 2 claw attacks and count as having Improved Unarmed Strike for feats. They also have a feat that increases the bite damage to 1d6 (and 1 bleed on critical).

If you are starting at later levels, grab a Helm of the Mammoth Lord to tack on a gore attack for 8.5k. You can also pick up a Ring of Rat Fangs for 5k. If you are allowed to craft custom items, combine your Amulet of Mighty Fists with Amulet of the Blooded(Abyssal) to add 2 claws, though that gets expensive quick.

But after reviewing it some more, I would recommend that you go with Skinwalker. Were-Boar or Were-Raptor(preferably this one, since Talons are primary attacks, hooves are secondary) for the additional attacks (picking the hoof and talons respectively) that are attached to your feet. As a Skinwalker, you meet the prereqs for Aspect of the Beast, so you can get your permanent two claws that way (saving the mess with the Amulet). You can then pick up the Bite and Gore from the magic items above. Now you are siting at Bite, Gore, Claw x2 and Talon x2 for 6 natural attacks as primary (full BAB) attacks.

Were-Raptor also gets +2 Wis/Dex -2 Cha, so at least a bump to your casting stat. Were-Boar would get +2 Str/Con -2 Cha, but that is probably balanced by 2 of the attacks being secondary. Though you can pick up the feat Extra Feature for the Gore attack so you don't need to pick up the Helm of the Mammoth Lord (or Bite with Raptor and the ring respectively).

[Meirril]

Lizardfolk cleric of Yig with Venom and Revelry subdomains. Venom will give you access to Magic Fang (and Greater), and convince your GM to let you have a poison bite attack for the venom domain ability times per day. Revelry is playing the long game. Eventually you'll get double duration on all moral effecting spells.

Also worshiping Yig will give you access to Dreamed Secrets for even more buffs and polymorph style spells. Monstrous Physique sounds like a real winner and becomes an option at 7th level.

Suggested Stats: Str 14(+2) Dex 14 Con 14(+2) Wis 15 Int 10 Cha 8.

When you hit 2nd level put 2 ranks into Linguistics since you don't speak any additional languages.