Something I miss about D&D 3.5 is class variations. Complete Champions, there’s a chapter for character options. One of these options are variations of the base game class’s features that focuses on divine magic, like the Bard can replace it’s bardic music Fascinate with Healing Hymn during creation. No idea which is better, but it is an option, something that matters in a game like D&D where it’s the roleplaying that matters more than the min-maxing.