Pathfinder 1E House Rule help: Paladin -> spellcaster advancement

[psiphre]

I'm running a "rule of cool" game in which one player, running a cleric, wants to start taking levels of paladin as her character becomes more and more zealous in her crusade against evil. However, she's worried about obviating her first 5 character levels as a cleric, falling behind in casting ability compared to the rest of the party and the campaign/world in general.

question: what to take away from the paladin in order to add "+1 to existing divine spellcaster level" at each level? or is this simply too big a change to run easily?

 

[Herobizkit]

Prestige Paladin?

 

[Crothian]

What I would do is sit down with the player and create a special prestige class that gives her what she wants but with you so it is balanced.

 

[S'mon]

Even with a 1/2 level spellcasting advancement from Paladin-PrC, she must realise that going this route she will be *much* weaker than if she stuck with single-class Cleric. She would need a PrC that gives full casting advancement, but none I'm aware of give increased combat power in addition - Cleric is already a good combatant. I would strongly recommend against her using multiclassing mechanics to reflect her increased fanaticism, unless she is trying to nerf her PC. Maybe a single level of Paladin if she insists. But it would be better to reflect this via Feats, spell selection, and roleplay.

 

[udalrich]

What I would do is sit down with the player and create a special prestige class that gives her what she wants but with you so it is balanced.

This is what I would do. The main thing that the cleric gets as she levels is full spell casting and better channeling. Channeling fits well with the paladin concept, but spell casting is only a decent fit. I don't think that I would give more than 3/4 casting advancement. She will fall behind a bit on casting, but will have more melee power to compensate.

I sort of want to also add a delayed/slower smite progression. However, if the character starts with about five levels of cleric, she already has a significantly delayed smite progression.

Another thing to consider is allowing her to take two levels of paladin while losing a cleric level when she levels. As she focuses on defeating evil, she neglects her more general powers, which wither with disuse.

 

[Cadence]

There's the holy vindicator prestige class as either an option or inspiration:
Holy Vindicator - Pathfinder_OGC

Another place for possible inspiration is the cleric-paladin archetype:
Holy Vindicator - Pathfinder_OGC