Paladins

[Angerland]

Human Paladin 3; medium sized human; HD 3d10; hp 26; AL LG; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will + 5; Str 17, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 9, Wis 14, Cha 15...
these are the stats so far for my new paladin. If I play him as is I would like to advance towards becoming a Kensai from "Complete Warriors Handbook". I have never played a paladin so any tips on getting the most out of him would be great.
ALternately, because of our elven themed campaign I could do an Elven Paladin. How would you assign these same stats for an elf Paladin. Any hints on some good feats would be welcome as well.

Finally, I was thinking of a Greatsword for him but as we get 2,500 gp to start I won't turn down an assist here either.

Other party members are...an elven druid, an elven fighter, a dwarven cleric...all thrid level.

 

[Endur]

If you are going the Kensai route, you will need the Complete Expertise feat which requires a mininum int of 13. Also, I would recommend having charisma as your highest stat. Constitution should be your second highest stat, since it is very important to a Kensai. So here is how I would rearrange your stats. Every four levels, I would use your stat bonus to increase one of your odd statistics to an even number.

Human Paladin 3; medium sized human; HD 3d10; hp 29; AL LG; SV Fort +8, Ref +3, Will + 5; Str 13, Dex 9, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 17
Skill Ranks: Concentration 6, Diplomacy 6, Sense Motive 6, Ride 5, Knowledge Religion 5, Knowledge Nobility and Royalty 2
Feats: Combat Expertise, Weapon Focus: Great Sword, Power Attack
At level 6, I would recommend taking Divine Might (Complete Warrior).
Also at level 6, you enter the Kensai class

With a high charisma, sense motive, diplomacy, and oaths to law and good, your character is the sort of character that NPCs will like to meet and discuss with. Your character will probably become the diplomat for the party.

Ride and the Knowledge skills only require 5 ranks each. You want as many ranks as possible in concentration (vital for Kensai). Diplomacy and Sense Motive are also skills that can use lots of ranks. Sense Motive may save your life.

Dex does not have to be very high ... use heavy armor.

For equipment, I recommend: Masterwork Full Plate Armor, Masterwork Great Sword, whatever else you want to buy.

 

[Angerland]

hmm very interesting. I have nevr had dex as my lowest Ability score before and I must say it frightens me. I like what you have though and it makes perfect sense. Now 4th level comes around, do I put my ability point into Dex or what? I guess I am inclined to add it to strength over Constition at this point.

What are your thoughts on the Kensai prestige class? Should I equalize between Kensai and Paladin or just focus on Kensai?

 

[Endur]

Normally Dex and Int are the Paladin's dump stats.

Chr has to be high because the major Paladin abilities depend on it: Divine Grace, Turning Undead, Smite Evil, Divine Might, etc.

Con has to be high because Kensai need High con for Concentration because most Kensai abilities depend on Concentration. High con also helps you live longer.

Str has to be high because you want to hit and do damage.

Int needs to be at least 13 for Combat Expertise (a pre-requisite for Kensai) and you want it to be 14 so you get the extra skill points at 1st level.

Wisdom is useful for Paladin spellcasting. You won't get much spellcasting, but wis 12 will give you at least 1 cure light wounds spell a day. More importantly, wisdom will let you use scrolls and wands when necessary.

That leaves dex 9 as your dump stat.

I would probably increase the following stats first: charisma and constitution. Then strength and dexterity.

With Full Plate armor, you can only use a max dex of 12 anyways. And you can use magic items to increase your dex from 9 to 12.

If you are going Kensai, I would probably go Paladin 1-5, then Kensai 6-15, then finish with Paladin from 16-20.

If you decided against Kensai, i.e. just Paladin 1-20, then I would switch the stats to Str 13, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 17 and my level bumps would be level 4: chr, level 8: strength, level 12: wisdom

 

[Angerland]

Any thoughts on Shadowbane Inquisitors from the Complete Adventurers book?

 

[Angerland]

ok, more changes, here is the Paladin now:

Theodric Gisaroux Pal3; medium sized human; HD 3d10; hp 29; Init +1;; spd 20 ft; AC 17; Atk +7 melee (2d6+4 19-10/x2;+1 Greatsword) +4 ranged (1d8 longbow); SQ Detect Evil, lay on hands, smite evil, aura of good, divine grace; AL LG; SV Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +5; Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 17.
skills and feats: Concetration 3, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 5, Heal 2, Knowledge Nobility 5, Knowledge Religion 5, Ride 4, Sense Motive 7, Cleave, Weapon Focus-Greatsword, Power Attack.

I am working him to be a Shadowbane Inquisitor from Complete Adventurer, so basically after 4-5 levels of Paladin, I will take one as Rogue and then continue with Inquistor levels.

I wasn't sure about the feats. I have a list of what I like but the order of them is throwing me off, here is what I thought I would do:
1-Weapon focus, Power attack
3-Cleave
6-Divine Might
9-Power Critical
12- Improved Critical
15- Devoted Inquisitor
18- Extra Smiting


for the ability score upgrades I was thinking:
4- Str 16
8- Cha 18
12- Str 17
16-Str 18
20- Cha 19
I know my wisdom is low and I won't be able to use all the levels of spells available, but I really don't think it will be very important for me to use the higher level spells...any opinions on this character?

 

[dungeon]

whats it take to be a paladin

well if u want the most of being a paladin u must always do the right thing. (for some players this is not easy to do.) which means that the paladin must give up almost all of his money and give it to the poor or local church. oh and about elf paladins... if your setting is in an elven campaign them what would happen if an elf paladin (say from the elf forest) met a human paladin? they would proably fight for the right of the name paladin. however this is not lawful at all. so if anyone does this to prove that his/or her religon is better than the player is no longer a paladin. ( in fact: both paladins will fall from grace if both fight each other, however... if only 1 picked the fight and the other just defended himself than the 1 that attack has fallen from grace.
just remember..."cuz if u don't u will never explore the dungeon"
(if u like my slogun or just want to talk email me please.)

 

[Angerland]

ok, so you confused the hell out of me. Why would and elven paladin and a human one fight? Neither is evil so why the conflict? By your reasoning any two paladins who meet have to fight to show who is the more true paladin.I know how to play Lawful Good and I can roleplay the code just fine.

I needed help/ideas for the number crunching and feat tree for the paladin/prestige class I am choosing.

I am also looking for people's thoughts on the Shadowbane Inquisitor prestige claass.

 

[Melarn]

There is no reason whatsoever a human and elven paladin would fight just by meeting each other. A paladin does not have to give all of his money away to "do the right thing".

The paladin is probably the most misunderstood and poorly played class in existence. People seem to believe that every paladin has to fight and kill anything that disagrees with their beliefs... that is intollerence and something a real paladin would not do without just cause.

A paladin strives to do good whenever and wherever possible not becuase it is their duty, but because it is their nature to do so.