Help! I'm about to start gaming again for the first time in *cough* years. My last character was a 1st edition ranger who was the leader of the group. This time I'll be playing in a new campaign, but with players who have gamed together before. I don't know any of them except the DM. Because of this, I don't want anything too 'center-of-attention'. I finally decided on a 'cloistered cleric'.

1. Which of the above are you asking for?
Hints and tips for building a first level character, with maybe some general advice for the next 3 or 4 levels.

2. In your request specify whether you have requirements, preferences, or no limits on the following:
a. Books that can be used to build your character
I'm not sure what books the DM has, so assume the most common ones. The game is set in Forgotten Realms.

b. Race (including any Level Adjustment Limits)
human female
c. Class
Cloistered Cleric of Savras
d. Ability Scores (fixed or generation method)
Unsure
e. Alignment
LN
f. House Rules: are there any other requirements or unusual rules imposed on you/your character (e.g. no single level dips, no item creation feats, Track is being given to you as free feat, etc.)
Unknown
g. Concept: what requirements or preferences do you have regarding concept?
The first idea I had was an archivist, but the DM doesn't have the sourcebook for that. However, I'm working with that as a concept. Lessa is completely devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. I haven't come up with an early history, but at some point she joined the church and became devoted to learning and the pursuit of knowledge. I picture her as the stereotypical nerd: low charisma, high intelligence, full of obscure knowledge that is all gained from books. She would have been quite content to spend her entire life as a librarian translating and scribing copies of the church's most ancient texts, but recently experienced a vision from Savras commanding her to set forth and gather knowledge. While obedient to her deity (she is VERY lawful), she is not at all fond of 'roughing it' as an adventurer. However, she would easily forget her distaste for wild places and dungeons if she were to discover some ancient book or scroll that she could decipher. She would be as delighted on discovering a hidden library as a rogue would be on discovering a hidden treasure room.

h. Other: Is there any other information that might help someone make your character all she can be (e.g., what are others playing, the setting is largely wilderness, the DM is threatening to use a lot of undead, or the campaign will be heavy on combat and light on intrigue)?

The campaign will be set in and around Waterdeep, but the DM is going to base a lot of his adventures on what type of party we come up with. The first session, which is taking place in a few weeks, is going to be taken up with character building.

A few questions:

* Savras's favored weapon is the dagger. Even though she's a cloistered cleric, I have the idea that the clerics might practice throwing daggers at targets as a leisure activity, and that I could make her particularly skilled at that. Would there be any particular skill or feat to make this work?

* Cloistered clerics are proficient in light armor. Does this include shields?

* I'd like to give her an early history that could give her some more flavor as a character than 'reads books all the time' but I can't for the life of me think of anything. I'd like her to have some type of skill that is atypical for her class, but makes sense with her background (think Elan being the only member of the party who could Ride) but I don't know what. I'd like to avoid a tragic background and just stick with her having grown up in a normal family, shown aptitude for learning, and being sent to the church. I just want her to have some type of skill she learned in the 'normal family' part of her upbringing. This doesn't have to even be a particularly useful skill for adventuring... I just want some additional flavor.

* So far, the feats that have seemed most interesting to me have been Diligence, Obscure Lore, and Scribe Scroll. Skills that seem to fit are Decipher Script, Profession (Scribe), Forgery (she would make copies of rare and valuable texts so that students could study them while the original was safely stored), and of course all the Knowledge skills that seem appropriate for having been learned mainly from books. Any others I should consider, or advice on the above?

* General advice on making her a good support character for the party, as well as fun to play for myself is very welcome!