Quote Originally Posted by HGM-Chi View Post
I have a couple of questions that come out of this build as I've been considering a melee focused divine for some time now. My gut instinct in building this is that I would be totally str based, keeping just enough wis to cast my 9th level spells. With level ups into wis and a healthy amount of build points spent on wis will you not end up finding your melee pretty lackluster starting around gianthold and beyond? Won't you find yourself hardly swinging at all in favour of Divine Punishment, Implosion, Comet Fall and Blade Barrier anyhow?

My experience so far has been a pure cleric, which is my main, totally caster focused, a melee FvS (elf with monk splash, twf scimis) that got LR'd into a pure evoker at about level 17 because even str based the melee was meh and a WF FvS that is str based and melee focused. My thoughts would be to make a cleric somewhat like my WF FvS... either human or dwarf probably, THF and str focused. Would this suck?

Thanks in advance!
It wouldn't suck. However, level ups into strength gives ~+2-3 attack, +3-5 damage. This matters but it is insignificant compared to the AC, SP, Stunning Fist DC and more that Wisdom level ups give. A pure strength based cleric can work but it simply isn't as fun to play or as effective as a hybrid build. The exception might be on a fully epic geared character that only plays epic content, then the strength boost can matter.

To the OP, you missed the most important feat: Stunning Fist. My idea suggestion is to swap to half-elf, drop IC:B and pick up SF. This will give you +3d6 sneak attack against most foes as your stunning fist DC will be quite high. Against sneak immune foes you will usually have radiant servant blast or - in the case of golems or oozes - you can be happy that handwraps are the best weapon available for the job.

The fighter haste boost + versatility damage for +15% attack speed, +25% damage is a brutal burst damage combo which will be an important weapon in your arsenal (as clerics don't generally have a form of burst damage).

I'd drop strength to 14 and put charisma up to 14. This gives DMII for +4 damage with a +2 tome and if you should luck out and pull a +4 tome you can get DMIII for +6 damage. This ability will be situational as it takes away from your bursts but it is important for DPS.

The biggest hurdle with this sort of build is dealing with the massive MADness. On mine I ended up going with drow and dumping strength which let me go 8, 16, 12, 10, 16, 16 as starting stats. This meant more reflex save, more AC, higher stunning fist DC, more skill points (concentration and UMD maxed with some points in tumble and balance) and better AB (weapon finesse instead of power attack for a net AB bonus of 6 points). The lower DPS was made up for in large part by the fact that most foes were stunned when I was hitting them and helped along by the +6 damage from DMIII (which largely makes up for the lack of power attack).