Dwarf 17Clr/2Pal/1Ftr

[EKKM]

why is it always fighter for the splash? what about paladin? or are the innate abilities worthess later on?

im trying to make a customized battle cleric of my own who has good offense coupled with good casting/damaging.

but as a personal quirk id love it if he had a 2 handed weapon and a bow myself, i just dont want to gimp him and make him useless in endgame.

Fighter provdes two feats and towershield proificiency. On a mellee cleric, feats are very tight so that is a huge benefit.

The paladin provides:
1 - some additional spell points (divine caster)
2- lay on hands (not needed on cleric build)
3 - better saves, but fort and will are strong on a cleric.

Essentially you are giving up 2 feats for a few SP and +4-6 reflex save. On a halfling with a decent dex, the reflex save may be handy but otherwise it is probably below the useful range anyway at high levels.

[unbongwah]

why is it always fighter for the splash? what about paladin? or are the innate abilities worthess later on?

Fighter 2 gets you 2 extra feats, +1 STR enh, Haste Boost I, and tower shields.

Paladin 2 gets you Divine Grace (nice in theory, but a lot of clerics dump-stat CHA), a single use of LoH (which won't scale much as you level since it's based on pally lvl * CHA bonus and is kinda pointless on a cleric anyway), 1 or 2 Smite Evils (which again won't scale), and a +1 CHA enh and deity choice you can't take because they won't stack with the cleric ones.

but as a personal quirk id love it if he had a 2 handed weapon and a bow myself, i just dont want to gimp him and make him useless in endgame.

You might be able to do something with my Radiant Archer, as it gets martial weapons and can take elf falchion enhs. Dunno if I'd recommend it - tough enough to squeeze even half-decent melee or ranged DPS out of a battle cleric without severely gimping it, trying to do both just sounds like a bad idea - but you might be able work up something.

1 - some additional spell points (divine caster)

Paladins don't get spells until lvl 4; so pally 2 doesn't even provide that much.

[Arlathen]

I'm thinking why don't you go Pure Cleric and Half-Elf?

Divine Might 4 would be doable, and you could take Dilletante: Fighter for full Martial Weapon proficiency.

Add your choice of fighting style and meta-magics to suit (tight, but doable depending if you want to go melee/healing specced or offensive/healing specced).

[EKKM]

Paladins don't get spells until lvl 4; so pally 2 doesn't even provide that much.

Even though Pallys don't get spells until level 4, you do get some spell points because they are a divine caster. its anot a lot, but its not zero either.

- or it has been changed and I didnt hear about it.