Carve at level on alone is a multi-hit attack with 3 charges and only a 17 second cool down. It's great, and it can hit more than one enemy once you get used to the positioning on it. Even with one str it's worth that one skill point :)

Laima statue's attribute lets it work as a taunt for all enemies in the space that it's aura lands which makes it very nice for lining up mobs to kill even before you get your owls.

In general, it's a really fun class and it's flexible enough to work with any classes you choose--it just has extra synergy with druid because of carve (though you do not by any means have to chose druid if something else appeals to you! I don't use it). You don't have to make a full int build either as someone else in the thread mentioned for their own build. Diev. has skills that work with magic attack and with str (carve) so you can go hybrid if you like too. It's super flexible and a lot of fun.

I like cleric 2 because of fade, divine might and heal 10 (11 with divine might).

Pardoner buffs are you friend and cafrisun is handy but not needed until you're a bit higher. The Pardoner buffs will be expensive the first few times you get them--but you will go through the game so much quicker with them that you should be making more silver than you are spending. :)

Oh and one other thing abt attributes I actually do no recommend dumping everything into one stat at a time but gradually (20 int then 15 con for example) to help leveling go a bit more nicely. You won't be facing anything early on that hits hard enough to kill you but that extra int (or str if you were going for a melee/hybrid build) will make a difference.