Handbook: Dipping Cleric 1

[ChristopherGroves]

Overview
I recently finished a campaign as a melee-driven pseudo-leader.  We ran two years and though I had a smattering of classes mixed in I was really a melee dude.  For the most part, I was a leap-attacking charger with some additional capabilities to amp damage when I needed to on top of a pretty darn resilient base.  This was a no-ToB game yet I managed to maintain respectably NOT being a primary caster. 

Honestly, the most stellar piece of this combo was nothing other than my cleric 1 dip.  Lots of domains provide awesome capabilities that don't require loads of cleric levels to stay competitive.  Sometimes they are simply a good feat ... others they are awesome class features that are nearly impossible to duplicate in other ways.

(for those wondering it was Cloistered Cleric w/ Knowledge Devotion, Travel Devotion and Liberation domain)

Now I'm not saying that every melee type should take a cleric 1 dip ... I am saying to consider it because it could provide some super-awesomeness you can't get easily otherwise.

The bad

• BAB +0
• XP penalties - if you're worried about the, fitting in another 1-level base class can be problematic

The good

• Save bumps - One level dips often provide a save bump, this case to the two you want highest
• Domain Granted Powers - Anything from a good feat to abilities you can't easily get otherwise are available
• Devotion Feats (instead of domains)
• Spells - I'm tracking these differently than the domain granted powers.  You can dip with a WIS of 4 and get the granted powers, but if you want to cast spells some domains have some nice ones (like Truth with detect thoughts as a 1st level spell ...)
  
• Turn Undead - A cleric level can open the door to divine feats, many of which are pretty good and scale well with CHARACTER level
• Magic item use - wands, schema, whatever are now open with no UMD check required

Key
Good items are marked in blue - these are pretty solid for the dip
Moderate items are marked in black - these are situationally good and useful more often than not
Poor items are marked in red - not generally a good choice but could be niche-useful


Domain Granted Powers
Caster level bonuses are rarely good as the dip is costing you a caster level to take.  Key are things that give you all the power up-front with no need to scale.
[spoiler="Domain Granted Powers]
SRD

• Air- Bonus turning attempts
  
• Animal - Speak with animals 1/day ... it doesn't scale with cleric levels, only useful for flavor
  
• Chaos - caster level bonus
  
• Death - death touch scales with level; not a good dip
  
• Destruction - gives you a smite; damage scales with cleric level but if you need a smite ...
  
• Earth - bonus turning attempts
  
• Evil - caster level bonus
  
• Fire - bonus turning attempts
  
• Good - caster level bonus
  
• Healing - caster level bonus
  
• Knowledge - caster level bonus and adds knowledge skills to the cleric level (paired with Able Learner ...) ... it may not suck, but you'll never take it and snag the devotion instead
  
• Law - caster level bonus
  
• Luck - one reroll a day
  
• Magic - use wizard items
  
• Plant - bonus turning attempts
  
• Protection - once a day but scaled based on cleric level
  
• Strength - scaled based on cleric level and low duration
  
• Sun - greater turning is really only useful for builds that are TURNING, and for that you need more levels
  
• Travel - free action 1/round/cleric level ... even 1 round/day can be a lifesaver.  The sad thing is, as good as it is you're likely going to take the devotion instead ...
  
• Trickery - add skills
  
• War - Weapon Focus feat
  
• Water - bonus turning attempts
  

Spell Compendium

• Balance - duration based on cleric level ... pity
  
• Cavern - gain stonecunning
• Celerity - increased speed in light armor
  
• Charm - +4 untyped bonus to CHA for a minute 1/day as a free action
  
• Cold - bonus turning attempts
• Community - calm emotions as SLA and untyped diplomacy bonus (the untyped bonus is the real king here but still only useful for the diplomancer niche)
  
• Competition - +1 on opposed checks
• Courage - morale bonus aura against fear - too easily replicated
  
• Craft - free skill focus (craft) and a caster level bonus
  
• Creation - caster level bonus
  
• Darkness - Blindfight
  
• Deathbound - HD limit is increased to 3x your caster level instead of 2x.  Arcane necromancer dip?
  
• Domination - spell focus feat
• Dragon - add skills
  
• Dream - immune to fear
  
• Drow - Lightning Reflexes feat
  
• Dwarf - Great Fortitude feat
  
• Elf - Point Blank Shot feat
  
• Envy - skills and caster level bonus
  
• Family - protection ability scaled by level
  
• Fate - Uncanny Dodge
• Force - reroll a damage roll 1/day ... it's like a constricted use luck
  
• Glory - I could see this for Silver Pyromancers, otherwise not
  
• Gluttony - size increase ... too bad it is round/cleric level
  
• Gnome - caster level increase
  
• Greed - competence bonus on skills ... if it weren't competence, maybe
  
• Halfling - 1/day for 10 minutes add CHA to athletic skills
  
• Hatred - 1/day get bonus against target for 1 minute, not horrible
  
• Hunger - Bite natural attack
  
• Illusion - caster level bonus
  
• Liberation - effectively slippery mind. Solid
  
• Lust - CHA bonus is scaled by cleric level
  
• Madness - If this is based on cleric level (which I think it is), it sucks.  If it is based on character level ... it is much better.
  
• Mentalism - Meh.  Slight bonus on one save in the next hour (and its resistance, which you've already got in your items)
  
• Metal - Martial proficiency and focus in some kind of hammer, though if you're dipping you probably have proficiency already.
  
• Mind - untyped skill bonus to social skills
  
• Moon- bonus turning attempts
  
• Mysticism - CHA to saves but only lasts round/cleric level
  
• Nobility - Morale bonus, so good if you don't have a bard.  Isn't dependent on cleric level.
  
• Ocean - If the water breathing is character level, this can be good, otherwise not so much.
  
• Orc - Gain smite.  If you need smite to qualify for something, this may be your ticket.
  
• Pact - add skills
  
• Pestilence - Immunity to disease
• Planning - Extend Spell!
  
• Portal - I've not seen this ever really used, but it isn't limited by cleric level.
• Pride - If you roll a 1 on a save, reroll.  Awesome.  I like second chances from otherwise auto-fails.
  
• Purification - caster level bonus
  
• Renewal - Good enough in low level games.  I higher level games I rarely find I'm between 0 and -10 ...
  
• Retribution - One time a day to hit and deal max damage.  Still isn't worth it in my book.
  
• Rune - Scribe Scroll!
  
• Scalykind - bonus turning attempts
  
• Slime - bonus turning attempts
  
• Sloth - no penalties to melee attacks while prone ... at the very least funny
  
• Spell - untyped bonus to concentration and spellcraft
  
• Spider - bonus turning attempts
  
• Storm - resistance to electricity; low value, but good for lower-level games
  
• Suffering - pain touch 1/day no save reduce attributes
  
• Summoner - caster level increase (+2)
  
• Time - Improved Initiative
  
• Trade - detect thoughts 1/day - if only it was reliable enough to use with Mindspy
  
• Tyranny - caster level increase
  
• Undeath - Extra Turning!  The king-daddy of turning feats because it adds extras to ALL kinds of turning.
  
• Wealth - add skill + skill focus appraise
  
• Windstorm - In a weather-dependent game this could be very handy.
  
• Wrath - scales by cleric level
  
• Abyss - Untyped strength bonus for 5 rounds 1/day
  
• Arborea - Bonus to damage and some saves equal to charisma; great for CHA builds
  
• Baator - Perfect vision in darkness including magical
  
• Celestia - Fear-effect aura
  
• Elysium - smite
  
• Hades - smite
  
• Limbo - smite
  
• Mechanus - smite
  

Fiendish Codex I

• Corruption - Only 1 attack/day
  
• Demonic - profane bonus to natural and unarmed attacks
  
• Entropy - cleric level dependent
  
• Fury - 1/day pick a target and get bonus to hit and damage until you pick a new target
  
• Ooze - bonus turning attempts
  
• Tempation - good for seducers / diplomancers or that swashbuckler dead-level thing
  

Fiendish Codex II

• Diabolic - class-level dependent skill bonus
  

Book of Vile Darkness

• Bestial - Scent!
  
• Pain - cleric level dependent
  

Book of Exalted Deeds

• Celestial - smite
  
• Endurance - cleric level dependent
  
• Fey - saving throw bonus (highly situational)
  
• Herald - skill bonus (sacred)
• Joy - skill bonus (sacred) - as Herald provides the same bonus AND MORE, your'e never dipping this one
  
• Pleasure - Immune to affects that damage or drain your Charisma
  
• Wrath - Free attack of opportunity but only 1/day
  

Eberron Campaign Setting

• Artifice - skill bonus & caster level bonus
  
• Commerce - skill bonus & added skill (flavorful for low-level dudes though ...)
  
• Deathless - 1/day greater rebuking, not suitable for a dip
  
• Decay - no save ability damage but only 1/day
  
• Dragon Below - Augment Summoning!  (without spell focus conjuration!)
  
• Exorcism - really needs cleric levels
  
• Feast - immune to ingested poisions
  
• Life - cleric level dependent
  
• Meditation - effectively Sudden Empower ... be better if it was actually the feat though ...
  
• Necromancer - caster level increase
  
• Passion - rage, but sadly cleric level dependent duration
  
• Shadow - Blind Fight!
  
• Weather - In a weather dependent game the skill bonus, vision clarity and others would be handy.
  

Faiths of Eberron

• Revered Ancestor - EWP Valenar Scimitar feat!
  
• Warforged - bonus turning attempts
  

Races of Eberron

• Transformation - caster level increase
  
• Truth - Sense motive bonus & caster level increase
  

[/spoiler]


Devotion Feats
There aren't really many stinker devotion feats as they all scale with character level and not cleric level, plus you can get more uses out of them by burning turn/rebuke undead attempts.  I tend to value offense more than defense and "options" more than either.  They also tend to activate as swift actions which means it doesn't typically detract from your normal operations ... and typically last a minute, plenty of time to be useful.

When I mark something red here, it doesn't mean it sucks.  It means it is has limited use compared to other devotion feats.  Some have constant usefulness.
[spoiler="Devotion Feats]

• Air - AC bonus (sacred/profane) and projectiles have a miss chance. 
  
• Animal - You can decide to get a sacred strength bonus or FLY.  Or increase land speed or gain a poisonous bite attack.  Did I mention a sacred bonus to strength or FLIGHT?
  
• Chaos - Unpredictable, could add to AC or attack.  At 15th this could be a +10 AC or +9 to hit ... and as unpredictable as it is, it doesn't suck.
  
• Death - Hand out negative levels for a minutel  Cap though preventing you from screwing BBEGs.  Only really works on henchmen.
  
• Destruction - Weakens armor making your opponent easier to hit over time.  Best when combined with someone or something that hits A LOT so you can debuff for your team (like a Glaivelock maybe?)
  
• Earth - Ignore difficult terrain or make difficult / spikey terrain.  Battlefield control and/or movement buff.
  
• Evil - Give you and allies DR - I don't value this as much as the DR value is low and relatively easily bypassed.
  
• Fire - Add fire to your attacks ... too bad it's easily resisted.  It does set people on fire, which is highly amusing.
• Good - Give you and allies DR - I don't value this as much as the DR value is low and relatively easily bypassed.
  
• Healing - Fast healing.  Never a bad thing ... even better paired with things like constructs, undead, etc. which can still actually "fast heal" since it isn't a cure spell.
  
• Knowledge - Always on, near guaranteed bonus to hit/damage.  Very good.  Incidentially, many cleric dips after Complete Champion are actually Cloistered Cleric dips ...
  
• Law - More predictable than chaos, but still gives you options. 
  
• Luck - Never do less than half damage on the roll.  I'm not sure on this one.  You'd need to be rolling big dice (like d12s or d20s) before I got really excited about it.
  
• Magic - caps at 10d6 damage and you only get ONE for the feat.  Stinker.
  
• Plant - Scaling fortification and it is an immediate action, meaning you can react and put it up (if you aren't flat-footed).
  
• Protection - AC bonus to yourself and others.  It's alright, but I value numeric offense more than numeric defense like this.
  
• Strength - Bypass hardness for one minute, all attacks are treated as adamantium ... and you get a slam attack.  Dude, there are two devotion feats that give you extra natural attacks.
  
• Sun - Extra damage against undead.  Situational, but if you're in Ravenloft or another undead heavy game, this goes blue fast.
  
• Travel - Can I make this any bluer?  It's like pounce, but not a charge.  Your full movement as a swift action for one minute.  This is awesome for skirmishers or people that can't otherwise get pounce easily (say you're Lawful ...)
  
• Trickery - This one is a bit strange and I think folks are still trying to figure out a way to really exploit it.  It isn't horrible, but not my first choice.  It does strike me as one of those gimmicks you can ride through many non-combat, scouting, etc. situations in addition to its potential combat use.  *** See Sinfire Titan's post below about the usefulness of this devotion.
  
• War - Generally not useful, unless you're a Combat Expertise monkey (like that Kalashtar Dancing with Shadows feat/style)
  
• Water - Yeah, it's a water elemental.  Highly niche.
  

[/spoiler]


Divine Feats
Divine feats.  Yar.  Of special note is the Elemental Healing feat that states it is different from other divine feats in that it can ONLY be powered by elemental turn/rebuke and not undead or other turn/rebuke attempts.  This seems to indicate that, unless otherwise very specific you can use other turn/rebuke to power various feats even though that feat may require you to have turn-undead prior to taking it.  This would prevent a Favored Soul who grabs contemplative and snags the Plant domain from taking most divine feat, as it can turn plants but it can't turn undead which is typically the
pre-req.

So, feat may require turn/rebuke undead but if it says "spend a turn/rebuke attempt" you can use any kind of turning.  If it says "spend rebuke elementals", that's the only thing you can use to power it.
[spoiler="Divine Feats]
Complete Divine

• Disciple of the Sun - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn undead, increases turning potency
  
• Divine Metamagic - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke to offset metamagic costs. 
  
• Divine Spell Power - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke to increase caster level based on turn check
  
• Domain Spontaneity - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn to spontaneously cast a domain spell - the PHB2 class feature is far superior and there are better divine feats for the dipper
  
• Elemental Healing - requires rebuke elemental - spend rebuke elemental ... scales based on cleric level but is a burst and affects things by type/subtype ... like a mass cure light wounds.  Very situational.
  
• Elemental Smiting - requires turn elemental - spend rebuke elemental for bonus damage on a hit scales with cleric level.  Boo for dipping!
  
• Glorious Weapons - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn attempt to align weapons good/evil ... not horrible.  Situational.
  
• Profane Boost - requires rebuke undead - spend rebuke to maximize inflict spells for one round ... good in some cases.  Situational.
  
• Sacred Boost - requires turn undead - spend turn to maximize cure spells for one round ... good in some cases
  
• Sacred Healing - requires heal and turn undead - spend turn to give creatures within 60 fast healing ... not shabby
  

Complete Warrior

• Divine Cleansing - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke undead for a (sacred) bonus on fort saves for CHA rounds
  
• Divine Might - requires power attack, turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke undead for CHA to damage for 1 round.  Nice in CHA warrior builds.
  
• Divine Resistance - requires Divine Cleansing, turn/rebuke undead - give folks resistance to elements for CHA rounds; great in lower level games not so much the long-haul.
  
• Divine Shield - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke undead add CHA as bonus to shield for duration based on character level
  
• Divine Vigor - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke undead for speed bonus and HP that scales by character level. Nice.
  
• Sacred Vengeance - requires turn/rebuike undead - spend turn undead to do extra damage to undead for a round.  Undead heavy game makes this very good otherwise too situational.
  

Complete Champion

• Retrieve Spell - requires two divine feats + turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke undead attempts to recover spell.  Not good for the dipper.
  
• Spiritual Counter - requires one divine feat + turn/rebuke undead - spend multiple turn/rebuke undead attempts to counter spell.  Not good for the dipper.
  

Players Handbook II

• Divine Armor - requires divine caster level + turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke undead to get DR/-
  
• Divine Fortune - requires divine caster level + turn/rebuke undead - immediate, spend turn/rebuke undead for a untyped save bonus.  Not bad if it weren't for the caster level requirement.
  
• Divine Justice - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn/rebuke undead and you can hit one foe with his damage instead of yours.  Meh.
  
• Divine Ward - requires turn/rebuke undead - limited reach spell, very nice for other caster dips but no one else.
  
• Profane Aura - requires divine caster level + rebuke undead - spend a rebuke undead and make an undead boosting mist.  Not horrible for necro-focused dips.
  
• Sacred Healing - requires turn undead - swift action, increases your healing potency.  For druid / etc. dips.
  
• Sacred Purification - requires turn undead, Sacred Healing - heal living in radius and simultaneously harm undead.  Be nice if it counted as conjuration(healing) so the Sacred Healing feat would boost that ... but it doesn't.
  
• Sacred Radiance - requires divine caster level, turn undead - spend turn undead and you glow, boosting good things and putting a penalty on evil ones.  Boost isn't that great though.
  

Libris Mortis

• Divine Accuracy - requires turn/rebuke undead - spend turn or rebuke to give allies second chance against conceal for a minute.  Not shabby for the melee dip.
  
• Profane Lifeleech - requires rebuke undead - spend two rebuke attempts to deal damage to living creatures and you heal.  More fun for NPCs.
  
• Profane Vigor - requires cha 11 + rebuke undead - spend rebuke to heal undead ally, but healing is scaled on cleric level :-(
  
• Sacred Vitality - requires turn undead - spend turn attempt to get immunity to ablity drain/damage and energy drain for a minute.  This one is great given the prevalance of shivering-touches, rays-of-suckitude, etc. flying around.
  

Dragon Magic

• Dragonfire Channeling - requires cha 11 + dragonblood + turn/rebuke undead OR elementals - spend a turn/rebuke undead OR elemental to do a blast of flame, but it sadly scales by cleric level.  So sad.
  

[/spoiler]


Cleric Class Features / Substitutions
Even for a dip, there are some class features that have significant payoff.
[spoiler="Alternate Class Features / Subs]

• Spontaneous Divine Casters from UA / SRD.  You don't get a lot of spells ... this gives you less choices, but you don't have to prepare and you can do widgets.
  
• Champion Cleric: Loses turn undead, bummer.
  
• Cloistered Cleric: The gem!
  
• Destroy Undead: Whatever, not important.
  
• Divine Counter Spell: Again bummer.
  
• Divine Magician: Great! Ray of Enfeeblement, Arrow Mind and Master's Touch are great options.
  
• Divine Restoration: Not gonna help.
  
• Positive Healing: If you're gonna dip cleric, you probably gonna do it for the devotion feats/granted powers, not the spells the domain gives. So anyway, this heals 10 hp per turn attempt, not that hot.
  
• Rebuke Dragons:  are you kidding me ?
  
• Spontaneous Domain Casting: Now there's something useful. I am sure that you are better off with a utility 1st level domain spell than you are with cure light wounds.  If you can't do the UA variant, this one isn't bad either.
  
• True Daylight: You are not going to be able to cast daylight.
  

[/spoiler]


Spells
Since you've got that level as long as you've got a Wisdom of 11 or higher you can cast spells.  Some are very useful.
[spoiler="Standard Spells]
[/spoiler]

Depending on the domain you choose, you might have other options too.  One a day isn't bad, but if you've taken one of the spontaneous-domain options (or UA spontaneous caster) you can get plenty of mileage out of 1st level utility spells.
[spoiler="Domain Spells]
[/spoiler]

[Akalsaris]

ChristopherGloves seems to have abandoned this list, so here's some more on spells and then the war domain! (My apologies if making everything bold makes it difficult to read...)

Domain Spells
Here's a list of the 1st level spells for each domain for those with a Wis of 11 or more.  I'll avoid rating any except the most exceptional spells here.  The main question in my mind is generally whether a domain power and 1-3 uses of a 1st level spell is worth as much as a devotion feat. 

SRD
Air- Obscuring Mist
Animal - Calm Animals
Chaos - Protection from Law
Death - Cause Fear
Destruction - Inflict Light Wounds
Earth - Magic Stone. 
Evil -  Protection from Good
Fire - Burning Hands
Good -  Protection from Evil
Healing - Cure Light Wounds
Knowledge - Detect Secret Doors
Law - Protection from Chaos
Luck - Entropic Shield
Magic - Magic Aura
Plant - Entangle.  Great crowd control here
Protection - Sanctuary
Strength - Enlarge Person.  Great for a tanking cleric or a buffer
Sun - Endure Elements
Travel - Longstrider.  Solid long duration buff for the low CL
Trickery - Disguise Self
War - Magic Weapon
Water - Obscuring Mist

Spell Compendium
Balance - Make Whole
Cavern - Detect Secret Doors
Celerity - Expeditious Retreat
Charm - Charm Person.  I'm a big fan of this spell, so you'll see it come up a few times
Cold - Chill Touch
Community - Bless
Competition - Remove Fear
Courage - Remove Fear
Craft - Animate Rope
Creation - Create Water.  WTF?
Darkness - Obscuring Mist
Deathbound - Chill of the Grave
Domination - Command
Dragon - Magic Fang
Dream - Sleep.  Very nice if your first level is in Cloistered Cleric!
Drow - Cloak of Dark Power.  Good if you're actually playing a drow.
Dwarf - Magic Weapon
Elf - True Strike.  +20 to an attack is good at all levels whenever you have a round to buff.
Envy - Disguise Self
Family - Bless
Fate - True Strike
Force - Mage Armor
Glory - Disrupt Undead.  WTF?
Gluttony - Goodberry
Gnome - Silent Image.  Very versatile spell if you're creative, duration of concentration.
Greed - Cheat
Halfling - Magic Stone
Hatred - Doom
Hunger - Ghoul Light
Illusion - Silent Image
Inquisition - Detect Chaos. 
Liberation - Omen of Peril.  Great low level divination
Lust - Charm Person
Madness - Confusion, Lesser
Mentalism - Confusion, Lesser
Metal - Magic Weapon
Mind - Comprehend Languages
Moon- Faerie Fire
Mysticism - Divine Favor
Nobility - Divine Favor
Ocean - Endure Elements
Oracle - Identify.  It's a divine spell, so no 100 gold pearl components.
Orc - Cause Fear
Pact - Command
Pestilence - Doom
Planning - Deathwatch
Portal - Summon Monster I
Pride - Hypnotism
Purification - Nimbus of Light
Renewal - Charm Person
Retribution - Shield of Faith
Rune - Erase
Scalykind - Magic Fang
Slime - Grease
Sloth - Touch of Fatigue.  WTF?
Spell - Mage Armor
Spider - Spider Climb.  Good mobility!
Storm - Entropic Shield
Suffering - Bane
Summoner - Summon Monster I.  Considering you'd only take this domain if you were summoning, it's pretty good.
Time - True Strike.  The second blue power with a blue spell so far (the other domain was Travel) - and the rest of the spell list kicks ass too.  Who the hell made this domain?
Trade - Message
Tyranny - Command
Undeath - Detect Undead
Wealth - Alarm
Windstorm - Obscuring Mist
Wrath - Rhino's Rush.  Could be good on a melee build
Abyss - Align Weapon, Cause Fear
Arborea - Endure Elements, Longstrider
Baator - Bane, Disguise Self
Celestia - Light of Lunia, Shield of Faith
Elysium - Charm Person, Protection from Evil.  Good combo.
Hades - Doom, Protection from Good
Limbo - Protection from Law, Confusion, Lesser
Mechanus - Command, Protection from Chaos

Fiendish Codex I
Corruption - Doom
Demonic - Demonflesh
Entropy - Cause Fea
Fury - True Strike.  Meshes well with the domain power
Ooze - Grease.
Tempation - Charm Person

Fiendish Codex II
Diabolic - Protection from Good

Book of Vile Darkness
Bestial - Magic Fang
Pain - Angry Ache

Book of Exalted Deeds
Celestial - Vision of Heaven (variant of Daze)
Endurance - Endure Elements
Fey - Faerie Fire
Herald - Comprehend Languages
Joy - Vision of Heaven (variant of Daze)
Pleasure - Remove Fear
Wrath - Doom

Eberron Campaign Setting
Artifice - Animate Rope
Commerce - Comprehend Languages
Deathless - Detect Undead
Decay - Doom
Dragon Below - Cause Fear
Exorcism - Prot Evil
Feast - Goodberry
Life - Hide from Undead
Meditation - Comprehend Languages
Necromancer - Ray of Enfeeblement
Passion - Cause Fear
Shadow - Obscuring Mist
Weather - Obscuring Mist

Faiths of Eberron
Revered Ancestor - ??  I'll put money on it being True Strike or Magic Weapon!
Warforged - ??  I'll bet it's Repair Light Wounds!

Races of Eberron
Transformation - Enlarge Person.  I took this domain once - it rocked!  Alter Self, the Polymorph line...
Truth - Detect Thoughts.  The only domain with a 2nd level spell at 1st level!

Races of Destiny
Destiny - Omen of Peril.  Great low level divination
City - Rooftop Strider (Buffs Jump and Balance, gives auto-success on short jumps)

Races of the Wild
Sky - Raptor's Sight (Buffs spot checks)

Sandstorm
Repose - Deathwatch
Sand - Waste Strider (easier movement in sands)
Summer - Ignore Sun's Brilliance
Thirst - Parching Tongue (Touch attack like chill touch)

Stormwrack
Ocean - Endure Elements
Seafolk - Quickswim (Longstrider for the seas)
Storm - Entropic Warding

Frostburn
Cold - Chill Touch
Winter - Snowsight (normal vision in winter conditions)


The War Domain

The war domain is a decent way to get a martial weapon and weapon focus in it for some PCs.  Here's the weapons you can get from it:

Alignment based weapons for clerics without a deity:
Chaos: Battleaxe
Evil: Flail
Good: Warhammer
Law: Longsword


Deities that grant the war domain and their books:
[spoiler]Correllon - Longsword
Erynthul - Morningstar
Gruumsh - Spear
Heironeous - Longsword
Hextor - Flail
Beltar - Spiked Gauntlet (C Div)
Joramy - Quarterstaff (C Div)
Wastri - Glaive (C Div)
Xan Yae - Falchion (C Div)
Zuoken - Nunchaku (C Div)
Kaelthiere (C Div)
Laduguer (C Div)
Panzuriel (C Div)
Sekolah (C Div)
Stronmaus (C Div)
Surtr (C Div)
Thrym (C Div)
Kiri-Jolith - DLCS
Sargonnas - DLCS
Dol Dorn - EBCS
Sovereign Host - EBCS
Dol Arrah - EBCS
The Mockery - EBCS
Anhur - Forgotten Realms
Arvoreen - Forgotten Realms
Bane - Forgotten Realms
Baphomet - Forgotten Realms
Clangeddin Silverbeard - Forgotten Realms
Deep Duerra - Forgotten Realms
Gaerdal Ironhand - Forgotten Realms
Garagos - Forgotten Realms
Gorm Gulthyn - Forgotten Realms
Haela Brightaxe - Forgotten Realms
Ilneval - Forgotten Realms
Red Knight - Forgotten Realms
Selvetarm - Forgotten Realms
Shevarash - Forgotten Realms
Solonor Thelandira - Forgotten Realms
Tempus - Forgotten Realms
Tyr - Forgotten Realms
Uthgar - Forgotten Realms
Aengrist - Frostburn (This guy's pretty wacky - like the human god of racism)
Iborighu - Frostburn
Gilgeam - Lost Empires of Faerun
Rammam - Lost Empires of Faerun
Zarus - Races of Destiny
Hanseath - Races of Stone
Tharmekhul - Races of Stone
Gelf Darkhearth (the freaking Gnome god of war...) - Races of Stone
Kavaki - Races of Stone
Valmira Gilmadrith - Races of the Wild
Al-Ishtus - Sandstorm
Tem-Et-Nu (the dreaded Hippo goddess!) - Sandstorm[/spoiler]

Simple Weapons

1-handed
Morningstar - Erynthul
Spiked Gauntlet - Beltar
Gauntlet - Bane
Club - Baphomet

2-handed
Spear - Gruumsh, Kaelthiere
Quarterstaff - Joramy, Panzuriel
 
Martial Weapons

1-handed
Longsword - Corellon, Law alignment, Heironeous, Kiri-Jolith, Dol Dorn, Sovereign Host, Garagos, Ilneval, Red Knight, Tyr
Warhammer - Good alignment, Laduguer, Stronmaus, Gaerdal Ironhand, Tharmekhul, Gelf
Flail - Evil alignment, Hextor
Battleaxe - Chaos alignment, Clangeddin Silverbeard, Deep Duerra, Gorm Gulthyn, Uthgar
Trident - Sekolah
Short Sword - Arvoreen
Heavy Mace - Selvetarm, Gilgeam

2-handed
Glaive - Wastri
Falchion - Xan Yae, Anhur
Greatsword - Surtr, Haela Brightaxe, Zarus
Greataxe - Thrym, Sargonnas, Hanseath
Greatclub - Kavaki
Halberd - Dol Arrah
Scythe - Iborighu

Ranged
Longbow - Shevarash, Solonor, Valmira (all Elven deities)

Exotic Weapons

1-handed
Nunchaku - Zuoken (C Div)
Kama - The Mockery, Tem-Et-Nu
Bastard Sword - Aengrist
Khopesh - Rammam

2-handed
Whip - Al-Ishtus


Original post:
It's been a week since this was posted, so I'll assume it's safe to post by now ^^;;

This is a good guide, no 2 ways about it.  

To add some stuff, Ordained Champion is a solid PrC that you can take at 5th level as a 1-level dip to synergize with the cleric dip before heading into your PrC of choice.  If you only took a domain for the spells (or have a bonus domain like Knowledge from Cloistered Cleric), you can trade up to 2 domain powers for fighter bonus feats, thus making a single level of cleric worth 4 levels of fighter class features on top of spell-casting and turn undead.  For example, a Cloistered Cleric 1/Crusader 3/Ordained Champion 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 10/Crusader +5 (CL 8, IL 19) makes very effective use of a 1-level cleric dip (though it requires house-ruling the different deities for PrCs involved).

Another trick I've used is to get the Baator domain coupled with a warlock or dragonfire adept and the darkness feats from Drow of the Underdark.  

Cloistered Cleric as a 1-level dip also grants Identify as a divine spell, removing the 100g material component.  Not too shabby for games that keep track of that kind of thing!  Cloistered Cleric is also great as a 1st level pick because of the high skill points it grants.

[Endarire]

With 1 cleric level, can I take the Travel devotion and domain since both are so yummy?

[Hallack]

Yep, I was very impressed with this one as a nice quick reference for cleric dipping.  In fact it has caused me to want to cleric dip with a future character for some fun.

[Prime32]

With 1 cleric level, can I take the Travel devotion and domain since both are so yummy?

Any character can take Travel Devotion as a feat. You could always take a second domain which is similar to Travel (such as Celerity), and trade its power in for Travel Devotion.

[Frost Wolf]

One of the most useful guides I've read. Thanks for making it.

[Akalsaris]

Note: re-posted this content earlier in the thread.

[PhaedrusXY]

Silent Image.  Very versatile spell if you're creative, short duration though.

Huh? It lasts as long as you want it to.

Duration:     Concentration

[Negative Zero]

Silent Image.  Very versatile spell if you're creative, short duration though.

Huh? It lasts as long as you want it to.

Duration:     Concentration

Maybe he has a short attention span.

[Garryl]

The Destiny domain from Races of Destiny is also good to look at. The domain power is a 1/day reroll for someone explicitly other than yourself as an immediate action, and the 1st level spell is Omen of Peril, I think.

[Akalsaris]

Silent Image.  Very versatile spell if you're creative, short duration though.

Huh? It lasts as long as you want it to.

Duration:     Concentration

Maybe he has a short attention span.

Hey, I always thought it was concentration up to 1r/level, my mistake   I'll fix the post (and add the Destiny domain, nice call Garryl)

[Solo]

An arcanist who multiclasses into a cleric with the Magic domain qualifies for Dweomerkeeper.

[PhaedrusXY]

Nice handbook. I'm giving this a try for the first time with a character for Bowen's upcoming (Eberron) Red Hand of Doom game. It is hard to resist going for a full-blown divine gish instead of only dipping cleric, though.

At first I was going to exchange all of my domains for devotion feats (Animal, Earth, and Knowledge), but then I decided to head towards Master of Nine as a PrC later, and the prereqs are so brutal that I took Darkness and Time for the bonus feats, instead, and then wound up dumping charisma and not having the skill points for Knowledge Devotion. 

I thought the Earth Devotion feat sounded particularly fun for a battlefield control tank, as being able to throw up rough terrain as an immediate action to stop enemies from charging my allies could come in very handy. And of course being able to cast Fly as a swift action (Animal Domain) is awesome, as are free bonuses to attack and damage (Knowledge Devotion).

[The_Mad_Linguist]

For Iaijutsu master, dipping war and time is great.

[awaken DM golem]

minor tangent:

How much of DH_'s Miracle at level 6, can be done with just Cleric 1 ??
I'm thinking the Heighten + DMM(heighten) are easy enough, but the other two might be shaky / take a lot of feat structure.

[Akalsaris]

One dip that I used in an actual game was for a swift hunter build: a level of cloistered cleric for travel devotion (THE feat for swift hunters), the turn attempts to burn on travel devotion, the time domain, and knowledge devotion (ups the dmg of arrows a bit).  Celerity domain would also have been good.

[ZeroSpace]

Forgive the noob question (it's on topic) but how are you getting Devotion feats right off of a Cleric 1 dip? Are you actually allowed to trade out a domain in favour of a devotion feat?

[vilenatas]

Forgive the noob question (it's on topic) but how are you getting Devotion feats right off of a Cleric 1 dip? Are you actually allowed to trade out a domain in favour of a devotion feat?

Yes.

[ZeroSpace]

Wow, that is a really tasty option. You can get an absolutely disgusting amount of stuff out of a Clr1 dip.

[Prime32]

Forgive the noob question (it's on topic) but how are you getting Devotion feats right off of a Cleric 1 dip? Are you actually allowed to trade out a domain in favour of a devotion feat?

Yes.

Note that you only trade the domain power. You still get the spells.