Odd, I thought the age old question was mages or sorcerers? Oh well, I'll pitch my 2 cents in anyway [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Hands down, mages are better. It does not matter if clerics can use war hammers or wear plate mail armor for melee combat, mages still have the advantage.
- They can cast Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Mordenkainen's Sword, Melf's Minute Meteors, Protection from Normal/Magical Weapons, and Haste to level out the playing field.
- Against spells, Spell Trap, Spell Turning, Protection from the Elements, Globe of Invulnerability, and so on.
Saying that spell casters are disadvantaged in head to head combat is not accurate, take Jon Bon for example, it doesn't stop him any. True Sight may not be able to bypass Magic Resistance and clerics wouldn't be able to cast their spells because they can't see them or because they have no spells that penetrate spell protections.
I think the only real advantage clerics have is the insect spells and miscast magic, other than that, can't really think of anything.
Winner: Mage 