My Paladin Needs Your Help!

[Charwoman Gene]

On pulling out the sheet,... he's not that bad, I think I lost my girdle of giant strength, and am a crappy roller... I think I've gotten a lot of good ideas from here.

He is human.
I forgot my mounted combat feat, which I never use... I hardly ever pull out the mount inn combat, but it is tied in with a lot of our plots.

 

[Wolfwood2]

He is human.
I forgot my mounted combat feat, which I never use... I hardly ever pull out the mount inn combat, but it is tied in with a lot of our plots.

You really need to start pulling out your mount all the time and get that Ride skill up. I didn't realize until playing a paladin just how powerful a class ability the mount is.

The mount gives you incredible mobility on the battlefield, and when you charge with a lance while mounted all of your damage is doubled! If you have the Spirited Charge feat, your damage is tripled. Say that you charge with a lance while power attacking for a modest 5 and smiting, while using Spirited Charge.

That's 1d8 + 15 (strength bonus) +45 (smite) + 15 (power attack) = 1d8 + 75. On one attack. And that's just for a plain old ordinary lance. Using a modest magical lance (say +2) and that's another +6 damage. Have Divine Favor active, and you're talking another +3. Any source of additional damage is hideously magnified.

A good charging paladin build can open a battle with a truly impressive bang.

I'd suggest:

Power Attack (keep)
Cleave (keep)
Mounted COmbat (keep)
Great Cleave (Change for Ride-by attack)
Divine Might (keep)
Weapon Focus (Longsword) (keep)
15th level feat (take spirited charge)

And that's just the damage side. Remember battlefield mobility? A warhorse has a base speed of 50. Being your mount gets it +10 for 60. Get the (only 6000 gp) Horseshoes of a Zephyr, and you can charge across even unstable or broken ground. Don't want to stay in close to an enemy? Use Ride-By attack to smack him with your lance without pausing to take a full attack.

Also, little known fact, but warhorses have Scent and can allow you to locate invisible enemies.

Mounted Combat is the way.

 

[MadWand]

I agree, mounted combat is a great way of dealing out fantastic damage. It won't work well in a closed-in dungeon environment, but if you have any room to maneuver at all, you are one of the deadliest fighters possible at your level. My preferred build for this is Fighter 2/Paladin 5/Hospitaler 1/Cavalier 7. Feats: Power attack, cleave, mounted combat, ride-by attack, Spirited Charge, Weapon focus: Lance, Improved Bull Rush, Shock Trooper, Divine Might, Extra Smiting. You should easily be capable of 150+ points of damage on a hit, or more, depending on spells you cast, buffs, and magic items. Due to Shock Trooper + Smiting, you probably won't miss often, either. I have a character just like this and he is extremely effective. Remember that you can use the lance two-handed when you aren't on a mount! For a shield, use either an animated shield or a buckler. Charge + power attack + shock trooper + 2-handed lance means enemies die, quickly.

Good luck!

 

[pawsplay]

Even in a dungeon, mounts are handy. Warhorses have pretty good attacks, and they can be great for restricting an enemy's mobility.

 

[mvincent]

Even in a dungeon, mounts are handy. Warhorses have pretty good attacks, and they can be great for restricting an enemy's mobility.

A winged mount can avoid most of the hindrances from charging. Combine this with spirited charge, lance, smite, power-attack and a ring of spell-storing (loaded with true-strike), and your Paladin can do hundreds of points of damage on a single hit, with almost no chance of missing.