Quick Cleric question - martial weapon proficiency

[Slapphappy]

About to TR for my cleric life. Going to be mainly caster, but want some melee ability since I do a lot of soloing. I have a lot of nice weaps in the bank I want to use that aren't all longswords.

My question is what are the options for gaining full martial weapon proficiency other than splash a melee class or use divine power spell?
Are there more? I didn't see anything in any of the enhancement trees for this.

I ask because I am considering going half-elf instead of fighter for the fighter dilletante.
Advice?
Is it worth losing the skill and feat of human to get martial weap proficiency?
Splash a level?
Don't worry about it and swing my mauls and axes anyway?

Thanks!

[EllisDee37]

If you're going to melee, your best bet is to splash anyway. A pure cleric isn't all that great for melee.

[Enoach]

A Pure cleric can do well (Not TOP) with melee DPS, but use of appropriate spells can make a melee cleric force to be reckoned with.

Currently the options open for gaining Martial Weapons Proficiency.

Half-Elf using Fighter Dilettante

Use of Master's Touch (Scroll UMD 20. 19 = No Fail but even with a lower percent chance of success since it is a until rest buff it can still be handy) <- Only useful for Single handed weapons as the weapon will need to be in the Off-Hand since the scroll needs to be in the main hand. Of Course if you group regularly with someone that casts this spell you could bum a cast off of them.

Tensor's Transformation (Scroll UMD 40 short term buff and a later level type spell)

Outside of that its either a specific race to be proficient in specific weapon(s) or a splash of a class, or taking a feat to unlock one weapon type (might need to go human for that)

However, by far the most synergetic way to get all martial weapons for a Cleric is 1 level of Fighter. The reason I say this is because you will get Tower Shield as well as a Fighter Feat. Generally speaking the sacrificed 9th level spell slots and Cleric capstone for those abilities is a more than fair trade-off

For a Caster Cleric going only one level of Fighter, or even one level of Paladin to prevent Spell Point lost to level of melee class.

Of course this is really dependent on what type of caster you car going for, DC or Damage. The Capstone might not be a good sacrifice for a DC type caster, but won't be as much an issue for a Damage focused.

[EllisDee37]

Another option to consider for a caster cleric that wants to be able to occasionally swing a weapon is to aim for wisdom weapons. Scepter of Healing and Forgotten Light both use Wisdom for attack and damage.

[axel15810]

Another option is splashing 2 monk. Ocean stance gives WIS, so you don't lose DCs. Plus you get evasion and 2 feats. You can punch stuff with handwraps, or use staves. You can also use longswords with the whirling strike martial arts feat. Or you can forget STR and focus on stunning everything with stunning fist with a good DC from your high WIS score. Melee DPS will be meh, but it looks like you're looking to be primarily a caster anyway.

If you want a pure cleric, your best option is Helf with fighter dilly. You can use master's touch but it's super annoying to cast all the time. And it will be a while to get your UMD high enough.

It's way better to just splash fighter. Fighter also gives you a free feat and haste boost.

[Theolin]

Helf with fighter dilly
1-3 ftr
1-3 pally
1 wiz/sorc/arti masters touch spell
some weapons grant free feat for usage
1-3 barb

probably others but a start

[SirValentine]

Don't worry about it and swing my mauls and axes anyway?

That's my approach on a low-level caster Cleric.

[Lonnbeimnech]

Without the feats or stats to support it your melee dps will be horrible. You will not have room to slot seeker, exceptional seeker, deadly, deception, alacrity, doublestrike etc as well as all your caster gear. Or were you just planing to swap everything out and rearrange all your ap and feats every couple of quests?

If you mean you just want something to smack a mob that is down to 12hp and you don't want to waste the sp to finish him off, then you can do that with a caster stick. If you actually want to melee, then make a melee. You can't fit 40lb into a 5lb bag.

It's way better to just splash fighter. Fighter also gives you a free feat and haste boost.

I would have said paladin. Clerics get divine might but people often neglect charisma on their clerics, splashing 2 paladin would give him a good reason to not ignore it.