Archivist, help me optimize.

[woodenbandman]

You have spells. Nothing will "gimp you too much."

[pfooti]

Yeah, really, for archivists you've got plenty and plenty spells to choose from. If you don't have a spell compendium yet, get one. Read over all the domain listings and stuff, and make a "to-do" list.

There's also a rule loophole in the Archivist: there's an argument to be made that prayerbooks don't cost 100gp a page to fill in the way spellbooks do. The rules in HoH only reference part of the rules (those for the spellcraft check) but don't mention an ink cost. It's debatable, and I bet the spirit is to make it cost 100gp per page, but as RAW goes, it doesn't.

Finally, I prefer just looking toward Sacred Exorcist if you're looking to cheese out persist. A level of cloistered cleric, however, gives you a LOT, and you can't go wrong with CC1/Archivist 19. There's way more things to do than feats to support, so you can really do a lot of different things with archivist. Which is precisely why I like them.

The main break point for archivist is level 11, I think. Whenever you get Dread Secret. That's huge.

Oh, also, get a copy of Complete Champion. The Knowledge Devotion feat is really neat for archervists, and Lore of The Gods is a 2nd level spell, 10 min/CL, +10 on knowledge checks (!).

[Gr1lledcheese]

I have all the books for 3.5 actually. Pdf's are so full of win, it's nearing ridiculous.

I'll have to go through and look around for all the spells I want, and how early I can get them.

Im just curious on what Im going to take as a prestige class. I like the cloistered cleric idea. 3 domains is awesome, tons of oppurtunities for anyspell. After 1 level of Cloistered Cleric, and 11 levels of Archivist, I still have 8 levels to fill. What can I add in here that can throw me into tier 1 or even tier .5?

I want POWAH!!! 

[Negative Zero]

If you want to hit tier .5, head over to the Wizards site and download the web enhancement to Complete Divine. Meet the Dweomerkeeper. Choose a handful of your favorite spells, and you gain the ability to spontaneously cast them. And for the broken part, Supernatural Spell. Supernatural spells can't be dispelled, so you don't have to worry about your persistent spells being dispelled. Also, Supernatural spells cost no XP. They have no components whatsoever. True Res for free? Miracle for free? Sure, why not? Welcome to winville.

[pfooti]

Yep, Dweomerkeeper is really good. The trick is that you can enter just by taking a feat - there's a FR feat (I think it's in PGTF) that gives you the ability to prepare and cast a few level 0 arcane spells per day, which technically meets the requirements to enter dweomerkeeper. Cloistered Cleric covers the domain issue, and then you're good to go. Spontaneously convert spells into useful spells, and cast free miracles and gates all day.

The other thing is to check out Hexer from masters of the wild. Originally an NPC PrC, because at the time the only way to get lightning bolt as a divine spell was to be an Adept (NPC class from the DMG). But since you can just learn it from the Adept, and you can get Survival (the 3.5 equivalent to Wilderness lore) via many different tricks, you can get into Hexer quite easily. It's unreconstructed 3.0 ed, but since it was never reprinted anywhere, that version is still technically legal. Full BAB, a few sor/wiz spells you couldn't get otherwise, AND a gaze attack? Sign me up.

[PhaedrusXY]

You could also go with a Dread Necro 1 dip, instead of Cloistered Cleric, if you want to go into Dweomerkeeper and the DM won't let you qualify with a feat. You'll still get Rebuke for DMM powah, and you also can heal your undead for free outside of combat (and your party, if they're undead or take Tomb Tainted Soul). Overall I'd prefer the Cloistered Cleric dip, but it is another decent option.