Looking for some ideas to fill out a gestalt melee cleric

[Ion]

[AndyJames]

Unless it is a house rule, you can't have RKV on one side of a gestalt. It is considered a combined class.

If you want a Pal type character, try Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 10/something 7 // Crusader 20.

[JaronK]

I'd definitely agree with the idea of Crusader.  Also, try out PrC Paladin.  Just alternate the PrC Paladin into the build so that you maintain full Cleric casting... IIRC they get casting on even levels, so you could do something like this:

Cloistered Cleric 1//Crusader 1
Cloistered Cleric 2//Crusader 2
Cloistered Cleric 3//Crusader 3
Cloistered Cleric 4//Crusader 4
Cloistered Cleric 5//PrC Paladin 1
PrC Paladin 2//Crusader 5
Cloistered Cleric 6//PrC Paladin 3
PrC Paladin 4//Crusader 6
Cloistered Cleric 7//PrC Paladin 5
PrC Paladin 6//Crusader 7

And so on.  Remember that any Paladin only spell ends up on your list if you take PrC Paladin, and I'd bet a few of those would be great for Persisting.

Or you could just forget the paladin thing and go primarily with Cloistered Cleric//Crusader, which works out REALLY well.  A dip into Sacred Exorcist could be fun for thematic reasons.

JaronK

[rubberduck]

if you are allowed to take monster classes check the celestials in savage species
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=2144.0
is something like that

otherwise

if you want to go paladin//XXX
then i really recomand some of the substitution levels like:


x knight of the arcane order (champions of valor)prepare wiz spells
x underdark knight (complete champion)faster undergroun darkvision earth glide
x charging smite (players handbook 2)3/level damage on a smite when charging


and the other side you simply could be a
 
x cleric/knight of the raven for awsome abilites(expedition to castle ravenloft)
x cleric/radiant servant of pelor for healing(complete divine)[/li][/list]


no matter what you do as long as you have cleric casting...
divine metamagic best buff spells available to be persistant
-> go to town

[Ion]

You're right about RKV.  I could probably convince the DM, but if I don't have to, maybe I can get away with him allowing the feat Battle Blessing from CC or something.

I don't really see the need for taking more than three paladin levels; Access to all the cool Paladin toys come in the first 3, and I don't anticipate needing the mount too much.

Cloistered Cleric 1 // Crusader 1
Cloistered Cleric 2 // Crusader 2
Cloistered Cleric 3 // Crusader 3
Cloistered Cleric 4 // Crusader 4
PrC Paladin 1 // Crusader 5
(some casting PrC or just Cloistered Cleric 5) // PrC Paladin 2
PrC Paladin 3 // Crusader 6

Sword of the Arcane order is a feat from Champions of Valor that lets you prep wizard spells... I think it might be a tough sell for a prestige paladin though.

[woodenbandman]

That Cloistered Cleric//Crusader's tasty. What you might consider doing is putting the cleric stuff all on one side, including the Ruby Knight Vindicator, so your build would be Clericx/Ruby Knight Vindicator10//Crusader20, for full tanking benefits as well as the ever great wintacular divine impetus. You need to burn all your feats to enter the prestige class, so push for flaws as hard as you can, and definitely be a human. You can enter the class right around 9.

Also, since you can reflavor stuff, try to push for the ever awesome variant Ur-Vindicator. That'll get you on one side of the build Crusader1/Qualifyx/Ur-Priest1/RKV10/Other cleric prestige class1//Crusader20, or even something wacky like Crusader1/Warblade1/Swordsage1/Crusader+2/Master of Nine 5/Whatever else.

Point is, there are plenty of ways to get 9th level spells and still keep your entire other class progression wide open. I just use the normal version of Crusader1/Cleric4/RKV10/Divine Oracle/Church inquisitor/Whatever, losing 9th level spells, but I can deal with that, since I actually DM that campaign and I don't want to hurt it.

And as a final note, Druid20 never hurt anyone.

[AndyJames]

For the second time, RKV is against gestalt rules unless house ruled away.

[carnivore]

why not just do this:

Cloistered Cleric 20/ / Crusader 12/ Warblade 1/ Swordsage 2/ Master of Nine 5

BAB +20... if you stagger the Classes right
20th lvl Cleric abilities.... full turning and Spells
Great Skills
Full Lore abilities(Bardic Knowledge)
17th lvl Crusader Initiator(9th lvl Manuvers)
13th lvl Swordsage initiator(7th lvl Manuvers)
13th lvl Warblade initiator(7th lvl Manuvers)