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Pillars of Faith (and Facestabs): The Paladin's Handbook (By Litigation)
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<blockquote data-quote="Veep" data-source="post: 6707956" data-attributes="member: 6793297"><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><u>Squire's Prayers: Heroic Tier Powers</u></strong></p><p></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 1 Encounter</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>For Chaladins, the discussion begins and ends with Valorous Smite. Straladins have a little more freedom of choice. <strong>Heedless Fury</strong> will kill a lot of things in the first few levels of play, but you will want to replace it in the later half of Heroic Tier with another power from this level, such as <strong>Divine Pursuit</strong>.</p><p></p><p><strong>Strength OR Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Guardian Light (DP)</strong>: Give yourself a WIS-mod bonus to a NAD if it hits. Not too bad for a Straladin, but <strong><span style="color: Purple">Chaladins</span></strong> should stay away as it's not any better than Enfeebling Strike for them.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Strength, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Divine Pursuit</span> (DP)</strong>: Attacks Fortitude. Push the enemy WIS-mod squares and follow. It does a good job at either setting up flanks or isolating an enemy. Solid.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Heedless Fury</span> (DP)</strong>: If you're using a big weapon (fullblade, mordenkrad, executioner's axe), 3[W] damage as a Lv. 1 encounter power is good for the first few levels of play, as it can possibly kill some Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 enemies outright. That can be worth taking a -5 penalty to all defenses. This one <span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>loses its value</strong></span> in the second half of Heroic Tier, so retrain out of it around that point.</p><p></p><p><strong>Piercing Smite (PHB)</strong>: Not nearly as attractive as it used to be. Attacking Reflex is nice, but the marks are generic. Still, you could do worse.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Radiant Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: Just doesn't fit in at all. 1[W], and nothing else, over Holy Strike is hardly worth ever getting excited over, and if you're actually serious about killing enemies in one blow in the early stages, you should be using Heedless Fury.</p><p></p><p>Stolen Life (D 381): Tailored for Baladins, with the CHA-mod healing for you or an ally when you hit. Decent enough, but mind the Necrotic keyword.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Fearsome Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: Obsoleted completely now, and it wasn't good to begin with.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Shielding Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: If you're the off-defender in a two-defender party, you might care about this one. Otherwise, shift your gaze to a certain other power here and keep it there.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff9900">Valorous Smite</span> (DP)</strong>: The Chaladin's first mass-Sanction power. You'd better have a very good reason not to take this ... wait, there are none.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Implement</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Dazzling Flare</span> (DP)</strong>: Puts a -2 attack debuff at a 5-square range. Still doesn't offer enough against the likes of Valorous Smite.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 1 Daily</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Chaladins and Baladins love Majestic Halo and Radiant Delirium. Straladins can put Blood of the Mighty to grisly use throughout Heroic Tier if they have a big weapon. Those of smaller weapons should probably take <strong>Blazing Brand</strong>, instead.</p><p></p><p><strong>Strength, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Blood of the Mighty</span> (DP)</strong>: At this level, 4[W] is very hard to ignore. With a fullblade, executioner's axe or mordenkrad you're looking at consistently killing many Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 non-Brutes in one hit. If you're traveling with an Orbizard with Sleep, you're looking at coup de grace killing certain elite monsters as high as Lv. 5. This power is Reliable, so you'll always get the full effect when you do hit with it. You take 5 damage whenever you use it, but that's not too bad.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Blazing Brand</span> (DP)</strong>: Attacks Fortitude and is also Reliable. Deals ongoing fire damage and makes the enemy give up combat advantage, save ends. Solid power that's best taken by those Straladins who don't use weapons big enough to use Blood of the Mighty to its fullest.</p><p></p><p>Driving Blades (D 383): When you hit, the save-ends effect deals untyped ongoing damage and lets you push and follow the target as long as that lasts. Solid when you hit, no doubt, but unfortunately the miss effect is quite feeble, so its Reliable competitor, Blazing Brand, probably still holds the edge.</p><p></p><p><strong>Paladin's Judgment (PHB)</strong>: Allows an ally to spend a healing surge, hit or miss, but deals no damage on a miss. Not bad, but you can do better.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Glorious Charge (DP)</strong>: Good healing effect if you have the Wisdom, but the 2-square range of the healing makes this one less appealing, and more situational, than it would've been otherwise.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Majestic Halo</span> (DP)</strong>:Good damage on hit, halved on miss, and regardless of hit or miss you lay down Divine Sanctions like a Warden lays down his marks. Splendid.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Implement</strong></p><p> </p><p>Frost of Letherna (D 381): Used to immobilize marked enemies, but now it just slows your enemies, marked or not. Still decent for the stickiness, but not the winner it used to be.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">On Pain of Death</span> (PHB)</strong>: Attacks Will and makes the target take damage whenever it attacks, until it saves. Complements the divine marks nicely.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Radiant Delirium</span> (PHB)</strong>: Attacks Reflex and dazes whether it hits or misses. That's great. If it hits, it imposes a -2 penalty to AC until the enemy saves. Even better. Still a great power.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 2 Utility</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Remember when this level used to abysmally suck for Paladins? How times have changed. Call of Challenge and Virtue would be quality picks for all Paladins well into Paragon Tier, never mind at Lv. 2. Depending on how often you or your party creates and abuses Radiant vulnerability, <strong>Bless Weapon</strong> can also be a top choice.</p><p></p><p><strong>Class Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Astral Speech</span> (PHB)</strong>: In low-combat campaigns this might actually see some use, since the role of party face often falls on you. But you're probably better off looking elsewhere.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Bless Weapon</span> (DP)</strong>: This daily Radiant-keyword weapon buff is downright godly if you can <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>consistently create radiant vulnerability</strong></span> (such as the Sun domain or the Morninglord paragon path). Otherwise, it's still pretty good, but not as much of a headliner.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Call of Challenge</span> (DP)</strong>: A no-fail, minor action, mass-Sanction encounter power. Beautiful.</p><p></p><p><strong>Divine Counter (DP)</strong>: Half the damage and impose DS as a per-encounter immediate interrupt for an enemy attacking one of your NADs. Not bad, but other options are better.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Kord's Strength</span> (D 383): Per-encounter boost to an Athletics or Endurance check in combat, followed by +2 power bonus to melee damage and Sanctioning enemies on your attacks for a round. Not wholly terrible, but you're not going to roll one of those skills every combat. Situational.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Martyr's Blessing</span> (PHB)</strong>: May have been worth it as an encounter power. As is, no.</p><p></p><p><strong>Restore Vitality (E:HFK)</strong>: A minor-action surgeless heal, using your healing surge value at all times, at melee range, with a saving throw attached. Decent little healing spell.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Sacred Circle</span> (PHB)</strong>: Think of just about everything wrong that a daily utility power can possibly do. That's this abortion in a nutshell.</p><p></p><p><strong>Touch of Grace (DP)</strong>: Not a bad encounter power. With Virtuous Strike you're likely to save against the effect you incur better than the ally would've.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Vice's Reward</span> (HoS)</strong>: A tier-scaling amount of THPs, a saving throw and a +2 power bonus to all defenses for a minor action every encounter. Pretty solid, all in all. However, it's important to note that this power is strictly Shadow and is NOT Divine, a common trait among utilities originating from the Blackguard. One sample consequence is that this one can't be recovered by Divine Mastery in Epic Tier.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Virtue</span> (DP)</strong>: You can expect to burn through at least one healing surge every encounter. This encounter utility lets you be proactive about it, and your leader/healer will love you for that. If you have abilities that work when bloodied (for example, you're a Dragonborn or Shifter), you have a second application for this power: pop it when you're bloodied and buy a couple of "safe" bloodied rounds to take advantage of your abilities. Note this power is incredibly synergistic with the feat Virtuous Recovery; not only will you have all those THPs, but the enemy can't remove them easily.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 3 Encounter</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Very robust level here. Hold Fast is a great choice for any Paladin, especially if you've got a Leader who grants MBAs. Straladins can make a strong case for Strength from Valor and Winter's Edge. Chaladins, not to be outdone, can get their first class-native punishment stacker in Avenging Smite, or they can improve their healing ability with Invigorating Smite or Righteous Smite.</p><p></p><p><strong>Strength OR Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Fortune Spurned Smite</span> (D 380): Hit the enemy with this when you've got melee allies surrounding the foe. If the foe takes any damage after that point before he gets to take his turn, your party can take OAs as he escapes you and beat him down. Its only weakness is the Necrotic keyword, which is a liability against a few enemies.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Hold Fast </span>(DP)</strong>: Immobilizes on hit and can be used in any situation that a melee basic attack can be used. Opportunity attacks, Leader-grants, Battle Awareness, you name it. Very nice, indeed.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Strength, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Arcing Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: This one just doesn't cut it anymore.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Staggering Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: Strictly worse than Divine Pursuit at Lv. 1, and also outclassed at this level.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Strength from Valor</span> (DP)</strong>: This whirlwind-style close burst against Fortitude is great for some extra survivability in a crowd. You can get a pretty juicy amount of THPs from this.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Winter's Edge</span> (D 381): Another whirlwind attack, this one with the Cold keyword that slows enemies on hit unless they were marked, in which case they're immobilized. Terrific for the stickiness. It even salvages generic marks somewhat.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Avenging Smite</span> (DP)</strong>: Your first class-native punishment stacker, an immediate reaction to an adjacent enemy hitting your ally, and it immobilizes if it hits. Solid choice.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Invigorating Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: Attacks Will, which with a weapon means it hits quite often, and heals you (if bloodied) and any bloodied allies a solid amount. It's more situational than some of the other powers here, but when you need it, you're glad you have it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Night's Mantle</span> (D 386): What the hell? This power requires you to use a bow. And what would you be doing with a bow, pray tell? Especially considering that you don't even start with proficiency in one.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Righteous Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: This is Invigorating Smite's more proactive counterpart. It attacks AC, instead, but it's probably the more widely used of the two because it works in any situation. Grants a solid amount of THPs to you and all allies within 5 squares.</p><p></p><p><strong>Trial of Strength (DP)</strong>: Make a save with WIS-mod bonus, then make an attack. Not bad.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Implement/Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Call to Arms (DP)</strong>: The implement attack vs. Will pulls the enemy to you, then you make a weapon attack with a +2 bonus against AC. This is one you pull out against your Divine Challenge target to keep him close. Not too bad.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Special</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Mocking Smite</span> (D 390)</strong>: Cool flavor, and it's actually a pretty good choice. Essentially any Paladin gets the opportunity to enact an Eyebite trap with one of his at-will attacks once per encounter, with a little extra psychic and radiant damage to boot.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 5 Daily</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Name of Might is a solid power for Chaladins, although they could easily just as well take a second Lv. 1 power. Straladins like Arc of Vengeance, Frenzying Smite or <strong>Chilling Smite</strong>. Baladin Champions of Order will all of a sudden fall in love with <strong>Unyielding Faith</strong> once they hit Paragon Tier.</p><p></p><p><strong>Strength, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Arc of Vengeance</span> (DP)</strong>: A solidly damaging close burst 1 whirlwind that, hit or miss, applies Divine Sanction until the end of your next turn. This also happens to be one of those powers that salvages generic marks, thanks to the save-ends effect that makes such marked enemies take WIS-mod damage when they hurt someone.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Chilling Smite</span> (E:HFK)</strong>: Cold-based attack that reduces the enemy's damage by -5 until they save. Even if you miss, the effect lasts a round. Pretty good.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Dark Majesty</span> (HoS)</strong>: Attacks Will, so at least it hits often. The damage is pretty mediocre on hit, though, and the splash damage isn't exactly going to make its recipient cry, either. Can be a bit <strong>better</strong> if you have ways to take advantage of sliding your enemies.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Fiery Smite</span> (E:HFK)</strong>: A garden-variety, fire-based Brute Strike ability that also pops minions next to the target. Meh, whatever.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Frenzying Smite</span> (HoS)</strong>: Another 4[W] attack in Heroic, this time dealing half-damage on miss and coming packed with a nice push-and-follow effect. You give up CA, but who cares?</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Martyr's Retribution</span> (PHB)</strong>: This 4[W] damage power is strictly worse than Blood of the Mighty at the exact same purpose. It's not Reliable, for one, so it's not nearly as good for the coup-de-grace situations. Plus spending a full healing surge with no healing is a lot more costly than taking only 5 damage. It's also decidedly inferior to Frenzying Smite at this same level. Stay away from this one, whatever you do.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Shadow's Apathy</span> (D 381): Reliable attack that save-ends slows and weakens on hit. A good power that would be even better if it weren't Necrotic.</p><p></p><p><strong>Unrelenting Punishment (DP)</strong>: Hit or miss, causes 5 ongoing damage (save-ends) and heals you WIS-mod HPs every time the enemy takes the damage. The attack itself does no miss damage, though, which hurts it a bit.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Unyielding Faith (DP)</strong>: Imposes Divine Sanction for the whole encounter, but only if it hits. Does do half damage on a miss. Decent enough for most, but Baladins will fall in love with it all of a sudden if they take the <span style="color: #ff9900"><strong>Champion of Order</strong></span> PP in Paragon Tier.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Implement</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Hallowed Circle</span> (PHB)</strong>: Attack vs. Reflex followed by a slightly upgraded Sacred Circle. At least the bonus is to all defenses this time, but an unmovable zone with an effect like this is still rather situational.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Name of Might</span> (DP)</strong>: Close blast attack vs. Fortitude that save-ends slows if it hits and still slows until the end of the enemies' next turns if it misses. Does decent AoE damage, and slow is a good sticky effect. This one's pretty solid.</p><p></p><p><strong>Sign of Vulnerability (PHB)</strong>: Ranged attack vs. Fortitude that imposes Radiant vulnerability if it hits. If you have the Sun domain you don't need this at all. Everyone else might want to give it a look though, especially if you have Bless Weapon.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Strength/Weapon AND Charisma/Implement</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Prayer of Two Paths</span> (DP)</strong>: Meant to be used by Baladins. An interesting power, but unfortunately just not very impressive.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 6 Utility</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Another robust level for all Paladins. Straladins love Shield of Discipline, and the full-party damage buff <strong>Wrath of the Gods</strong> still catches the eye of many a Chaladin. And then, of course, there's always the option to head back to the Lv. 2 list, where you still left some greatness behind.</p><p></p><p><strong>Class Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Aspect of Domination (HoS)</strong>: This daily Shadow utility lets you push your CHA-mod with all your at-will attacks for the whole fight. Some might be able to take advantage of that.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Aspect of Ferocity</span> (HoS)</strong>: An extra 1[W] on all your attacks when you're next to anyone who is bloodied (ally or enemy) is pretty good. Note that this daily is pure Shadow.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bond of Protection (E:HFK)</strong>: Single-ally protection spell. I'm not the biggest fan of those, but this daily's not bad. +2 power bonus to the ally's defenses and you can choose to reduce any damage that ally takes by 5 at the cost of 5 of your own HP. Basically Divine Bodyguard done right, with a solid measure of control and a defensive bonus.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Divine Bodyguard</span> (PHB)</strong>: If you must take a single-ally protection spell, stick with either Bond of Protection or Shield the Virtuous.</p><p></p><p><strong>Fear Not (DP)</strong>: Per-encounter, grant an adjacent ally a saving throw which gets a bonus if it's a fear effect. You can't really have too many powers that grant saving throws. You can only cast Divine Mettle once per encounter, after all. Plus unlike Divine Mettle, you can use this on yourself.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Flare of Divine Vengeance</span> (PHBH): No way in the hells is this one-round attack buff and surge use worth a daily. Not at all.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Fury of the Battle God</span> (D 383): The only way this power is ever going to be worthwhile is if you miss most of your targets with an AoE encounter or daily power. Translation: Picking this is planning for failure and being a failure. Seriously, go back to the Lv. 2 arsenal and take Call of Challenge if you want mass Sanctioning. If you already had that one, well, pick something else.</p><p></p><p><strong>One Heart, One Mind (PHB)</strong>: Not bad, especially if you're looking for both in-combat and out-of-combat utility.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Pure Devotion</span> (DP)</strong>: A +4 power bonus to Fortitude and Will per encounter as an immediate interrupt if an enemy attacks you. Pretty good.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Shield of Discipline</span> (DP)</strong>: An excellent encounter power geared toward Straladins. Pop this at the start of a turn when you've been under an enemy's focused efforts and cut their DPR against you down for that round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Shield the Virtuous (DP)</strong>: The damage from this single-ally protection spell stacks with your divine marks, essentially doubling their punishment power when they attack that one particular ally. So as far as such spells go, this daily's pretty good.</p><p></p><p><strong>Valiant Rush (DP)</strong>: Double your speed on a move action one round per encounter. Not bad, especially if you wanted to maintain Divine Challenge in a round you normally couldn't.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Winter's Fated Stance</span> (D 381): This stance is certainly good against enemies that deal Cold and Necrotic damage. But unless you're fighting those enemies every day, this isn't the wisest choice.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Wrath of the Gods</span> (PHB/E:HFK)</strong>: The CHA-mod bonus to your and your allies' damage has been retyped as a power bonus, but this is still a (potentially) full-party damage buff that many Leaders would kill for. A weakness is its area of effect is only close burst 1, but in most cases, that's not too much of an issue with good planning.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Heal</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Physician's Care</span> (PHB3): I mentioned it just to ridicule it. Why anyone would take this instead of Swift Recovery is a mystery.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Swift Recovery</span> (PHB3): Grant an ally a no-action second wind every encounter, using just your minor action. This one's pretty good.</p><p></p><p><u>Religion</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Deliverance of Faith</span> (D 385): Hello, Virtue, good to see you again. You can do a whole lot worse than have that power twice.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 7 Encounter</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Chaladins choose between <strong>Astral Thunder</strong> and <strong>Price of Cowardice</strong>. Pick either one of those and you're set for a good long while. Straladins can do fine with <strong>Ravenfrost Strike</strong> or <strong>Thunder Smite</strong>, but better still would be to head back to the Lv. 3 list, where they left some truly great powers behind.</p><p></p><p><strong>Strength OR Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Resurgent Smite (DP)</strong>: Trigger a healing surge in an ally. A Straladin would do well to use this in the round he used Divine Strength and further his chance of getting his 2x WIS-mod bonus to the healing. Decent power.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Strength, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Comeback Smite (DP)</strong>: Pretty situational, as this one is best used when you're under multiple save-ends effects. Handy when it happens, though.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Crescent Moon</span> (D 386): Weapon attack vs. Reflex with a 5-square range (or 10 with a heavy blade) and a DS on hit. Nice.</p><p></p><p><strong>Force of Arms (DP)</strong>: Use this after you opened the round with Divine Strength, and this attack will often hit true. Not bad.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Ravenfrost Strike</span> (D 381): Cold attack that immobilizes and Sanctions the enemy on hit. Pretty good.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Thunder Smite</span> (PHB)</strong>: Knock prone and crit on 19-20 against a marked enemy. Still solid.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Benign Transposition (PHB)</strong>: Rescue an ally who's being mobbed and take his place, along with an attack. Not bad at all if you have the Wisdom for a decent range.</p><p></p><p><strong>Blade of Light (DP)</strong>: 3[W] Radiant encounter attack is not bad at this level, and you can charge with it. The defense bonuses are gravy.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Implement</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Astral Thunder</span> (DP)</strong>: If your WIS is high enough, this close burst 3 vs. Fortitude can just about render an entire enemy party impotent. A crowd-control AoE that scales beautifully, this one is a terrific follow-up to a Call of Challenge or some other minor-action mass-DS in the opening round. Some of you might actually keep this power for the rest of your career.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Beckon Foe</span> (PHB)</strong>: Pulls the enemy you hit. Just doesn't pack the punch of the Chaladin's other options, though.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Divine Reverence</span> (PHB)</strong>: Attack vs. Will dazes every enemy next to you. Actually pretty solid.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Price of Cowardice</span> (DP)</strong>: Punishment stacker, and a fantastic one at that. Immediate interrupt, attacks Will, and it blinds the triggering marked enemy if it hits. Since it's an interrupt, it's very likely to make the triggering attack miss thanks to the blinding, which puts the enemy in a really bad place. Incidentally, this also salvages a generic mark, if such a one should happen somehow.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 9 Daily</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>A solid level for all Paladins. Straladins looking for a damage/control dual option will love <strong>Death Angel</strong>, and others will be satisfied with Knightly Intercession, <strong>Spirit Harrow</strong>, Shadow Blades of Shared Doom, or even <strong>Whirling Radiance</strong> for you Radiant Mafiosi. Chaladins can do well with Crown of Glory or the punishment stacker Ray of Reprisal.</p><p></p><p><strong>Strength OR Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Reaper's Harvest</span> (D 380): If you guess wrong and don't kill the enemy with this, you've got a weak version of an encounter power you may have been using since Lv. 1. No thanks.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Strength, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Death Angel</span> (HoS)</strong>: This attack vs. Will is positively nasty if you have other melee allies surrounding the target of this one. You force any one enemy in the close blast 3, if you hit, to choose between running away from you and eating your allies' OAs for a quick death, or standing there save-ends dazed. You also get to teleport anywhere in the blast regardless of hit or miss.</p><p></p><p><strong>Final Rebuke (DP)</strong>: Attack Fortitude, push the enemy far and add some extra damage if you push the enemy into something solid. Not too bad. It's Reliable, too.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Holy Outrage</span> (D 383): No miss damage, and the effect that happens regardless of hit or miss requires a combination of some serendipitous positioning and a source of plenty of extra attacks in a round to be worthwhile. Not particularly appealing, and the effect isn't really worth spending the minor action to sustain, either.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Knightly Intercession</span> (DP)</strong>: An immediate interrupt, and you know how synergistic that is with the divine marks. You take the hit for an ally under attack, then pull the offender to you and attack him. If it hits, the enemy is Sanctioned for the rest of the encounter. The only weakness is that the attack does nothing on a miss, but you can't complain too much about this one.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Shadow Blades of Shared Doom</span> (D 381): You've got a pretty strong possibility to DS an entire cluster of enemies if you hit with the initial attack, since the secondary attack triggered on hit is still weapon-based versus Will. Baladins will do the most damage on the secondary attack, but any Straladin will still find this useful. You Sanction the initial target for a round hit or miss. Good one; would be even better if it wasn't Necrotic.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Spirit Harrow</span> (HoS)</strong>: Close burst 1 Psychic attack vs. everyone around you, and if you hit the enemies can't shift or make OAs until they save. A very fine Defender power, especially considering it originated from your morally bankrupt Striker counterpart. It even stuns enemies if they are near death.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thundering Smite (E:HFK)</strong>: Thunder-based attack that knocks all enemies within 2 squares of the target (but not the target itself) prone. Eh, fair enough.</p><p></p><p><strong>Whirling Radiance (E:HFK)</strong>: Close-burst attack vs. Reflex, so this radiant attack will hit often and invoke the save-ends ongoing 5 radiant damage. If you can <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>create radiant vulnerability</strong></span> the damage from this can add up quickly.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Strength, Implement</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Shout of Condemnation</span> (DP)</strong>: One of the rare STR-based implement powers. It's actually a fairly solid power. Attacks Will, save-ends DS on hit, half damage and a one-round DS on a miss, Thunder keyword, and nice blast area. A good option mainly for those Straladins who wield weapons that can double as implements. Baladins, who care more about implement usage, are also likely to look at this one.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Weapon</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Shackles of Justice</span> (DP)</strong>: The save-ends condition, moderate radiant damage for damaging an ally, happens hit or miss, but unfortunately a miss does no damage. At this level, it doesn't really add up.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Charisma, Implement</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Crown of Glory</span> (PHB)</strong>: Close burst 1 attack vs. Will, followed, hit or miss, by you slowing enemies who start their turns next to you. This can be sustained with minor actions. A very good sticky power.</p><p></p><p><strong>One Stands Alone (PHB)</strong>: Close burst 1 vs. Will, save-ends weakens regardless of hit or miss. With proper coordination you can get in position to be able to use this one when you need it. Solid enough effect.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Radiant Pulse</span> (PHB)</strong>: This one is just plain bad. You have to hit to do anything of worth with this power, and even then, the other powers at this level are better. A simple push just isn't as good as slowing or weakening.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Ray of Reprisal</span> (DP)</strong>: An immediate interrupt, and thus a punishment stacker. This Radiant attack vs. Fortitude deals half damage on a miss, and regardless of hit or miss, the damage the ally takes from the triggering attack is cut in half. Quite nice.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 10 Utility</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>After the fantastic powers at Lv. 2 and Lv. 6, this level seems like a letdown. But there are some solid options here, including Benediction, Guiding Verse, <strong>Spirit of the Virtuous Charger</strong>, Vengeful Vigilance and Winter's Arrival. If none of those tickle your fancy, there's nothing wrong with dipping back into the Lv. 2 or Lv. 6 pool.</p><p></p><p><strong>Class Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Beacon of Nobility (E:HFK)</strong>: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to hand out 5 THPs to an ally, as well as a skill check bonus. Decent little booster power.</p><p></p><p><strong>Beacon of Penance (E:HFK)</strong>: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to effectively transfer 10 hit points from you to an ally, in the form of healing. The reactive counterpart to Beacon of Nobility that essentially serves as retroactive defending. Fair pick.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Benediction</span> (DP)</strong>: Per-encounter utility that rewards an ally who hits with either a use of a healing surge or potentially some extra damage. The former application is a solid backup healer ability, and the latter is great when the ally used an attack that involves several large dice to roll for the damage.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Cleansing Spirit</span> (PHB)</strong>: Again, you can't really have too many powers per encounter that grant a save. Divine Mettle is only once per encounter. This one comes with a +2 bonus, and unlike Divine Mettle you can use it on yourself. This one is also good if you took a particularly strong Divinity feat, in which case you'd rather use your Channel Divinity for that power instead of Divine Mettle.</p><p></p><p>Deathguide's Stance (D 381): This stance is similar to getting the Bard's Virtue of Valor once per day (except doling out actual healing, rather than temp HPs). Which makes it decent in 5-standard fights, but not so good against Elites and Solos. It's also useless against minions.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Deathly Aura</span> (HoS)</strong>: This pure Shadow daily can pile some nice damage on enemies in the aura 1 pretty nicely (assuming they don't resist necrotic, of course), but you have to be bloodied for this to happen. I'm not sure how long you want to stay bloodied for this.</p><p></p><p><strong>Font of Healing (DP)</strong>: This daily power is basically two Lay on Hands for the price of one, for you and an ally. Not too bad. If you actually took Lay on Hands, though, you'd want to retrain this one out at Epic Tier, when your actual Lay on Hands becomes just as effective.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Guiding Verse</span> (DP)</strong>: A per-encounter saving throw for you, with a huge bonus if you have the Wisdom. Has great synergy with <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Hero's Poise</strong></span> in Paragon Tier, if you take that feat.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Noble Shield</span> (PHB)</strong>: This daily is extremely situational. It's only useful at all for AoE attacks from an enemy.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Righteous Indignation</span> (DP)</strong>: This one fails. If it affected more than one attack, or were an encounter power, it might have been worth it.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Spirit of the Virtuous Charger</span> (Lv. 8) (E:HFK)</strong>: If you like to charge a lot (particularly true if you're mounted), this minor-action daily is a very nice pick. At later levels this power gets <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>even better</strong></span>, gaining a lot more general usefulness aside from merely charging. At Lv. 18 you get flight. And at Lv. 28, this power also grants its benefits to all allies within 2 squares of you.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Turn of the Dark Tide</span> (HoS)</strong>: This pure Shadow daily is similar to the existing Turn the Tide, but even worse, since it forces your party members to take damage in the process. Still uses up your standard action, too. Avoid it.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Turn the Tide</span> (PHB)</strong>: Unless your party somehow finds itself loaded with multiple save-ends status effects all at once, this one is not going to see much use. Worse, it's a standard action, so you give up attacking.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Vengeful Vigilance</span> (D 375)</strong>: Daily stance, and this one's pretty good. Lay down a DC as a free action every time any enemy within 5 squares doesn't include you in an attack.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Winter's Arrival</span> (D 381): A per-encounter teleport that makes DC engagement a lot easier for Chaladins and Baladins. The difficult terrain you create can rob the enemy of a few movement options. Pretty nice.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Diplomacy</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Cry for Mercy</span> (PHB3): Grant a bloodied ally (or yourself) a huge bonus to all defenses and movement unthreatened by OAs every encounter. Only costs a minor action, too, and works at a solid range. A good deal.</p><p></p><p>Noble Sacrifice (PHB3): A per-encounter martyr-type power, very fitting for your role. The range and application are a bit limited, though.</p><p></p><p><u>Heal</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Time Out</span> (PHB3): An extra second wind for one ally per encounter, granted with your minor action. Nice to have for helping any allies who have good reasons to use their second winds.</p><p></p><p><u>History</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Lessons of History</span> (D 385): Well, well, a reason to actually consider training History. Letting all your allies recover an encounter utility in one fight per day is quite handy.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Non-class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Streetwise</u></p><p></p><p>Navigate Crowds (PHB3): Shift your speed through enemy squares once per encounter. That can be handy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Veep, post: 6707956, member: 6793297"] [SIZE=6][CENTER][b][u]Squire's Prayers: Heroic Tier Powers[/u][/b][/CENTER] [/SIZE] [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 1 Encounter[/u][/b][/size] For Chaladins, the discussion begins and ends with Valorous Smite. Straladins have a little more freedom of choice. [b]Heedless Fury[/b] will kill a lot of things in the first few levels of play, but you will want to replace it in the later half of Heroic Tier with another power from this level, such as [b]Divine Pursuit[/b]. [b]Strength OR Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b]Guardian Light (DP)[/b]: Give yourself a WIS-mod bonus to a NAD if it hits. Not too bad for a Straladin, but [b][COLOR=Purple]Chaladins[/COLOR][/b] should stay away as it's not any better than Enfeebling Strike for them. [b]Strength, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=Blue]Divine Pursuit[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Attacks Fortitude. Push the enemy WIS-mod squares and follow. It does a good job at either setting up flanks or isolating an enemy. Solid. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Heedless Fury[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: If you're using a big weapon (fullblade, mordenkrad, executioner's axe), 3[W] damage as a Lv. 1 encounter power is good for the first few levels of play, as it can possibly kill some Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 enemies outright. That can be worth taking a -5 penalty to all defenses. This one [COLOR=#ff0000][b]loses its value[/b][/COLOR] in the second half of Heroic Tier, so retrain out of it around that point. [b]Piercing Smite (PHB)[/b]: Not nearly as attractive as it used to be. Attacking Reflex is nice, but the marks are generic. Still, you could do worse. [b][COLOR=Red]Radiant Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Just doesn't fit in at all. 1[W], and nothing else, over Holy Strike is hardly worth ever getting excited over, and if you're actually serious about killing enemies in one blow in the early stages, you should be using Heedless Fury. Stolen Life (D 381): Tailored for Baladins, with the CHA-mod healing for you or an ally when you hit. Decent enough, but mind the Necrotic keyword. [b]Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=Red]Fearsome Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Obsoleted completely now, and it wasn't good to begin with. [b][COLOR=Purple]Shielding Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: If you're the off-defender in a two-defender party, you might care about this one. Otherwise, shift your gaze to a certain other power here and keep it there. [b][COLOR=#ff9900]Valorous Smite[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: The Chaladin's first mass-Sanction power. You'd better have a very good reason not to take this ... wait, there are none. [b]Charisma, Implement[/b] [b][COLOR=Purple]Dazzling Flare[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Puts a -2 attack debuff at a 5-square range. Still doesn't offer enough against the likes of Valorous Smite. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 1 Daily[/u][/b][/size] Chaladins and Baladins love Majestic Halo and Radiant Delirium. Straladins can put Blood of the Mighty to grisly use throughout Heroic Tier if they have a big weapon. Those of smaller weapons should probably take [b]Blazing Brand[/b], instead. [b]Strength, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=Blue]Blood of the Mighty[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: At this level, 4[W] is very hard to ignore. With a fullblade, executioner's axe or mordenkrad you're looking at consistently killing many Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 non-Brutes in one hit. If you're traveling with an Orbizard with Sleep, you're looking at coup de grace killing certain elite monsters as high as Lv. 5. This power is Reliable, so you'll always get the full effect when you do hit with it. You take 5 damage whenever you use it, but that's not too bad. [b][COLOR=Blue]Blazing Brand[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Attacks Fortitude and is also Reliable. Deals ongoing fire damage and makes the enemy give up combat advantage, save ends. Solid power that's best taken by those Straladins who don't use weapons big enough to use Blood of the Mighty to its fullest. Driving Blades (D 383): When you hit, the save-ends effect deals untyped ongoing damage and lets you push and follow the target as long as that lasts. Solid when you hit, no doubt, but unfortunately the miss effect is quite feeble, so its Reliable competitor, Blazing Brand, probably still holds the edge. [b]Paladin's Judgment (PHB)[/b]: Allows an ally to spend a healing surge, hit or miss, but deals no damage on a miss. Not bad, but you can do better. [b]Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b]Glorious Charge (DP)[/b]: Good healing effect if you have the Wisdom, but the 2-square range of the healing makes this one less appealing, and more situational, than it would've been otherwise. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Majestic Halo[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]:Good damage on hit, halved on miss, and regardless of hit or miss you lay down Divine Sanctions like a Warden lays down his marks. Splendid. [b]Charisma, Implement[/b] Frost of Letherna (D 381): Used to immobilize marked enemies, but now it just slows your enemies, marked or not. Still decent for the stickiness, but not the winner it used to be. [b][COLOR=Blue]On Pain of Death[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Attacks Will and makes the target take damage whenever it attacks, until it saves. Complements the divine marks nicely. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Radiant Delirium[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Attacks Reflex and dazes whether it hits or misses. That's great. If it hits, it imposes a -2 penalty to AC until the enemy saves. Even better. Still a great power. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 2 Utility[/u][/b][/size] Remember when this level used to abysmally suck for Paladins? How times have changed. Call of Challenge and Virtue would be quality picks for all Paladins well into Paragon Tier, never mind at Lv. 2. Depending on how often you or your party creates and abuses Radiant vulnerability, [b]Bless Weapon[/b] can also be a top choice. [b]Class Powers[/b] [b][COLOR=Purple]Astral Speech[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: In low-combat campaigns this might actually see some use, since the role of party face often falls on you. But you're probably better off looking elsewhere. [b][COLOR=Blue]Bless Weapon[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: This daily Radiant-keyword weapon buff is downright godly if you can [COLOR=#00ccff][b]consistently create radiant vulnerability[/b][/COLOR] (such as the Sun domain or the Morninglord paragon path). Otherwise, it's still pretty good, but not as much of a headliner. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Call of Challenge[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: A no-fail, minor action, mass-Sanction encounter power. Beautiful. [b]Divine Counter (DP)[/b]: Half the damage and impose DS as a per-encounter immediate interrupt for an enemy attacking one of your NADs. Not bad, but other options are better. [COLOR=#800080]Kord's Strength[/COLOR] (D 383): Per-encounter boost to an Athletics or Endurance check in combat, followed by +2 power bonus to melee damage and Sanctioning enemies on your attacks for a round. Not wholly terrible, but you're not going to roll one of those skills every combat. Situational. [b][COLOR=Red]Martyr's Blessing[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: May have been worth it as an encounter power. As is, no. [b]Restore Vitality (E:HFK)[/b]: A minor-action surgeless heal, using your healing surge value at all times, at melee range, with a saving throw attached. Decent little healing spell. [b][COLOR=Red]Sacred Circle[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Think of just about everything wrong that a daily utility power can possibly do. That's this abortion in a nutshell. [b]Touch of Grace (DP)[/b]: Not a bad encounter power. With Virtuous Strike you're likely to save against the effect you incur better than the ally would've. [b][COLOR=Blue]Vice's Reward[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: A tier-scaling amount of THPs, a saving throw and a +2 power bonus to all defenses for a minor action every encounter. Pretty solid, all in all. However, it's important to note that this power is strictly Shadow and is NOT Divine, a common trait among utilities originating from the Blackguard. One sample consequence is that this one can't be recovered by Divine Mastery in Epic Tier. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Virtue[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: You can expect to burn through at least one healing surge every encounter. This encounter utility lets you be proactive about it, and your leader/healer will love you for that. If you have abilities that work when bloodied (for example, you're a Dragonborn or Shifter), you have a second application for this power: pop it when you're bloodied and buy a couple of "safe" bloodied rounds to take advantage of your abilities. Note this power is incredibly synergistic with the feat Virtuous Recovery; not only will you have all those THPs, but the enemy can't remove them easily. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 3 Encounter[/u][/b][/size] Very robust level here. Hold Fast is a great choice for any Paladin, especially if you've got a Leader who grants MBAs. Straladins can make a strong case for Strength from Valor and Winter's Edge. Chaladins, not to be outdone, can get their first class-native punishment stacker in Avenging Smite, or they can improve their healing ability with Invigorating Smite or Righteous Smite. [b]Strength OR Charisma, Weapon[/b] [COLOR=#0000ff]Fortune Spurned Smite[/COLOR] (D 380): Hit the enemy with this when you've got melee allies surrounding the foe. If the foe takes any damage after that point before he gets to take his turn, your party can take OAs as he escapes you and beat him down. Its only weakness is the Necrotic keyword, which is a liability against a few enemies. [b][COLOR=#00ccff]Hold Fast [/COLOR](DP)[/b]: Immobilizes on hit and can be used in any situation that a melee basic attack can be used. Opportunity attacks, Leader-grants, Battle Awareness, you name it. Very nice, indeed. [b]Strength, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=Red]Arcing Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: This one just doesn't cut it anymore. [b][COLOR=Red]Staggering Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Strictly worse than Divine Pursuit at Lv. 1, and also outclassed at this level. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Strength from Valor[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: This whirlwind-style close burst against Fortitude is great for some extra survivability in a crowd. You can get a pretty juicy amount of THPs from this. [COLOR=#00ccff]Winter's Edge[/COLOR] (D 381): Another whirlwind attack, this one with the Cold keyword that slows enemies on hit unless they were marked, in which case they're immobilized. Terrific for the stickiness. It even salvages generic marks somewhat. [b]Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=Blue]Avenging Smite[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Your first class-native punishment stacker, an immediate reaction to an adjacent enemy hitting your ally, and it immobilizes if it hits. Solid choice. [b][COLOR=Blue]Invigorating Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Attacks Will, which with a weapon means it hits quite often, and heals you (if bloodied) and any bloodied allies a solid amount. It's more situational than some of the other powers here, but when you need it, you're glad you have it. [COLOR=#ff0000]Night's Mantle[/COLOR] (D 386): What the hell? This power requires you to use a bow. And what would you be doing with a bow, pray tell? Especially considering that you don't even start with proficiency in one. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Righteous Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: This is Invigorating Smite's more proactive counterpart. It attacks AC, instead, but it's probably the more widely used of the two because it works in any situation. Grants a solid amount of THPs to you and all allies within 5 squares. [b]Trial of Strength (DP)[/b]: Make a save with WIS-mod bonus, then make an attack. Not bad. [b]Charisma, Implement/Weapon[/b] [b]Call to Arms (DP)[/b]: The implement attack vs. Will pulls the enemy to you, then you make a weapon attack with a +2 bonus against AC. This is one you pull out against your Divine Challenge target to keep him close. Not too bad. [b]Charisma, Special[/b] [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Mocking Smite[/COLOR] (D 390)[/b]: Cool flavor, and it's actually a pretty good choice. Essentially any Paladin gets the opportunity to enact an Eyebite trap with one of his at-will attacks once per encounter, with a little extra psychic and radiant damage to boot. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 5 Daily[/u][/b][/size] Name of Might is a solid power for Chaladins, although they could easily just as well take a second Lv. 1 power. Straladins like Arc of Vengeance, Frenzying Smite or [b]Chilling Smite[/b]. Baladin Champions of Order will all of a sudden fall in love with [b]Unyielding Faith[/b] once they hit Paragon Tier. [b]Strength, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=Blue]Arc of Vengeance[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: A solidly damaging close burst 1 whirlwind that, hit or miss, applies Divine Sanction until the end of your next turn. This also happens to be one of those powers that salvages generic marks, thanks to the save-ends effect that makes such marked enemies take WIS-mod damage when they hurt someone. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Chilling Smite[/COLOR] (E:HFK)[/b]: Cold-based attack that reduces the enemy's damage by -5 until they save. Even if you miss, the effect lasts a round. Pretty good. [b][COLOR=Purple]Dark Majesty[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: Attacks Will, so at least it hits often. The damage is pretty mediocre on hit, though, and the splash damage isn't exactly going to make its recipient cry, either. Can be a bit [b]better[/b] if you have ways to take advantage of sliding your enemies. [b][COLOR=#ff0000]Fiery Smite[/COLOR] (E:HFK)[/b]: A garden-variety, fire-based Brute Strike ability that also pops minions next to the target. Meh, whatever. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Frenzying Smite[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: Another 4[W] attack in Heroic, this time dealing half-damage on miss and coming packed with a nice push-and-follow effect. You give up CA, but who cares? [b][COLOR=Red]Martyr's Retribution[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: This 4[W] damage power is strictly worse than Blood of the Mighty at the exact same purpose. It's not Reliable, for one, so it's not nearly as good for the coup-de-grace situations. Plus spending a full healing surge with no healing is a lot more costly than taking only 5 damage. It's also decidedly inferior to Frenzying Smite at this same level. Stay away from this one, whatever you do. [COLOR=#0000ff]Shadow's Apathy[/COLOR] (D 381): Reliable attack that save-ends slows and weakens on hit. A good power that would be even better if it weren't Necrotic. [b]Unrelenting Punishment (DP)[/b]: Hit or miss, causes 5 ongoing damage (save-ends) and heals you WIS-mod HPs every time the enemy takes the damage. The attack itself does no miss damage, though, which hurts it a bit. [b]Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b]Unyielding Faith (DP)[/b]: Imposes Divine Sanction for the whole encounter, but only if it hits. Does do half damage on a miss. Decent enough for most, but Baladins will fall in love with it all of a sudden if they take the [COLOR=#ff9900][b]Champion of Order[/b][/COLOR] PP in Paragon Tier. [b]Charisma, Implement[/b] [b][COLOR=Purple]Hallowed Circle[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Attack vs. Reflex followed by a slightly upgraded Sacred Circle. At least the bonus is to all defenses this time, but an unmovable zone with an effect like this is still rather situational. [b][COLOR=Blue]Name of Might[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Close blast attack vs. Fortitude that save-ends slows if it hits and still slows until the end of the enemies' next turns if it misses. Does decent AoE damage, and slow is a good sticky effect. This one's pretty solid. [b]Sign of Vulnerability (PHB)[/b]: Ranged attack vs. Fortitude that imposes Radiant vulnerability if it hits. If you have the Sun domain you don't need this at all. Everyone else might want to give it a look though, especially if you have Bless Weapon. [b]Strength/Weapon AND Charisma/Implement[/b] [b][COLOR=Purple]Prayer of Two Paths[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Meant to be used by Baladins. An interesting power, but unfortunately just not very impressive. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 6 Utility[/u][/b][/size] Another robust level for all Paladins. Straladins love Shield of Discipline, and the full-party damage buff [b]Wrath of the Gods[/b] still catches the eye of many a Chaladin. And then, of course, there's always the option to head back to the Lv. 2 list, where you still left some greatness behind. [b]Class Powers[/b] [b]Aspect of Domination (HoS)[/b]: This daily Shadow utility lets you push your CHA-mod with all your at-will attacks for the whole fight. Some might be able to take advantage of that. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Aspect of Ferocity[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: An extra 1[W] on all your attacks when you're next to anyone who is bloodied (ally or enemy) is pretty good. Note that this daily is pure Shadow. [b]Bond of Protection (E:HFK)[/b]: Single-ally protection spell. I'm not the biggest fan of those, but this daily's not bad. +2 power bonus to the ally's defenses and you can choose to reduce any damage that ally takes by 5 at the cost of 5 of your own HP. Basically Divine Bodyguard done right, with a solid measure of control and a defensive bonus. [b][COLOR=Red]Divine Bodyguard[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: If you must take a single-ally protection spell, stick with either Bond of Protection or Shield the Virtuous. [b]Fear Not (DP)[/b]: Per-encounter, grant an adjacent ally a saving throw which gets a bonus if it's a fear effect. You can't really have too many powers that grant saving throws. You can only cast Divine Mettle once per encounter, after all. Plus unlike Divine Mettle, you can use this on yourself. [COLOR=#ff0000]Flare of Divine Vengeance[/COLOR] (PHBH): No way in the hells is this one-round attack buff and surge use worth a daily. Not at all. [COLOR=#ff0000]Fury of the Battle God[/COLOR] (D 383): The only way this power is ever going to be worthwhile is if you miss most of your targets with an AoE encounter or daily power. Translation: Picking this is planning for failure and being a failure. Seriously, go back to the Lv. 2 arsenal and take Call of Challenge if you want mass Sanctioning. If you already had that one, well, pick something else. [b]One Heart, One Mind (PHB)[/b]: Not bad, especially if you're looking for both in-combat and out-of-combat utility. [b][COLOR=Blue]Pure Devotion[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: A +4 power bonus to Fortitude and Will per encounter as an immediate interrupt if an enemy attacks you. Pretty good. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Shield of Discipline[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: An excellent encounter power geared toward Straladins. Pop this at the start of a turn when you've been under an enemy's focused efforts and cut their DPR against you down for that round. [b]Shield the Virtuous (DP)[/b]: The damage from this single-ally protection spell stacks with your divine marks, essentially doubling their punishment power when they attack that one particular ally. So as far as such spells go, this daily's pretty good. [b]Valiant Rush (DP)[/b]: Double your speed on a move action one round per encounter. Not bad, especially if you wanted to maintain Divine Challenge in a round you normally couldn't. [COLOR=#800080]Winter's Fated Stance[/COLOR] (D 381): This stance is certainly good against enemies that deal Cold and Necrotic damage. But unless you're fighting those enemies every day, this isn't the wisest choice. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Wrath of the Gods[/COLOR] (PHB/E:HFK)[/b]: The CHA-mod bonus to your and your allies' damage has been retyped as a power bonus, but this is still a (potentially) full-party damage buff that many Leaders would kill for. A weakness is its area of effect is only close burst 1, but in most cases, that's not too much of an issue with good planning. [b]Class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Heal[/u] [COLOR=#ff0000]Physician's Care[/COLOR] (PHB3): I mentioned it just to ridicule it. Why anyone would take this instead of Swift Recovery is a mystery. [COLOR=#0000ff]Swift Recovery[/COLOR] (PHB3): Grant an ally a no-action second wind every encounter, using just your minor action. This one's pretty good. [u]Religion[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Deliverance of Faith[/COLOR] (D 385): Hello, Virtue, good to see you again. You can do a whole lot worse than have that power twice. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 7 Encounter[/u][/b][/size] Chaladins choose between [b]Astral Thunder[/b] and [b]Price of Cowardice[/b]. Pick either one of those and you're set for a good long while. Straladins can do fine with [b]Ravenfrost Strike[/b] or [b]Thunder Smite[/b], but better still would be to head back to the Lv. 3 list, where they left some truly great powers behind. [b]Strength OR Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b]Resurgent Smite (DP)[/b]: Trigger a healing surge in an ally. A Straladin would do well to use this in the round he used Divine Strength and further his chance of getting his 2x WIS-mod bonus to the healing. Decent power. [b]Strength, Weapon[/b] [b]Comeback Smite (DP)[/b]: Pretty situational, as this one is best used when you're under multiple save-ends effects. Handy when it happens, though. [COLOR=#0000ff]Crescent Moon[/COLOR] (D 386): Weapon attack vs. Reflex with a 5-square range (or 10 with a heavy blade) and a DS on hit. Nice. [b]Force of Arms (DP)[/b]: Use this after you opened the round with Divine Strength, and this attack will often hit true. Not bad. [COLOR=#0000ff]Ravenfrost Strike[/COLOR] (D 381): Cold attack that immobilizes and Sanctions the enemy on hit. Pretty good. [b][COLOR=Blue]Thunder Smite[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Knock prone and crit on 19-20 against a marked enemy. Still solid. [b]Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b]Benign Transposition (PHB)[/b]: Rescue an ally who's being mobbed and take his place, along with an attack. Not bad at all if you have the Wisdom for a decent range. [b]Blade of Light (DP)[/b]: 3[W] Radiant encounter attack is not bad at this level, and you can charge with it. The defense bonuses are gravy. [b]Charisma, Implement[/b] [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Astral Thunder[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: If your WIS is high enough, this close burst 3 vs. Fortitude can just about render an entire enemy party impotent. A crowd-control AoE that scales beautifully, this one is a terrific follow-up to a Call of Challenge or some other minor-action mass-DS in the opening round. Some of you might actually keep this power for the rest of your career. [b][COLOR=Purple]Beckon Foe[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Pulls the enemy you hit. Just doesn't pack the punch of the Chaladin's other options, though. [b][COLOR=Blue]Divine Reverence[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Attack vs. Will dazes every enemy next to you. Actually pretty solid. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Price of Cowardice[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Punishment stacker, and a fantastic one at that. Immediate interrupt, attacks Will, and it blinds the triggering marked enemy if it hits. Since it's an interrupt, it's very likely to make the triggering attack miss thanks to the blinding, which puts the enemy in a really bad place. Incidentally, this also salvages a generic mark, if such a one should happen somehow. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 9 Daily[/u][/b][/size] A solid level for all Paladins. Straladins looking for a damage/control dual option will love [b]Death Angel[/b], and others will be satisfied with Knightly Intercession, [b]Spirit Harrow[/b], Shadow Blades of Shared Doom, or even [b]Whirling Radiance[/b] for you Radiant Mafiosi. Chaladins can do well with Crown of Glory or the punishment stacker Ray of Reprisal. [b]Strength OR Charisma, Weapon[/b] [COLOR=#ff0000]Reaper's Harvest[/COLOR] (D 380): If you guess wrong and don't kill the enemy with this, you've got a weak version of an encounter power you may have been using since Lv. 1. No thanks. [b]Strength, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=#00ccff]Death Angel[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: This attack vs. Will is positively nasty if you have other melee allies surrounding the target of this one. You force any one enemy in the close blast 3, if you hit, to choose between running away from you and eating your allies' OAs for a quick death, or standing there save-ends dazed. You also get to teleport anywhere in the blast regardless of hit or miss. [b]Final Rebuke (DP)[/b]: Attack Fortitude, push the enemy far and add some extra damage if you push the enemy into something solid. Not too bad. It's Reliable, too. [COLOR=#800080]Holy Outrage[/COLOR] (D 383): No miss damage, and the effect that happens regardless of hit or miss requires a combination of some serendipitous positioning and a source of plenty of extra attacks in a round to be worthwhile. Not particularly appealing, and the effect isn't really worth spending the minor action to sustain, either. [b][COLOR=Blue]Knightly Intercession[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: An immediate interrupt, and you know how synergistic that is with the divine marks. You take the hit for an ally under attack, then pull the offender to you and attack him. If it hits, the enemy is Sanctioned for the rest of the encounter. The only weakness is that the attack does nothing on a miss, but you can't complain too much about this one. [COLOR=#0000ff]Shadow Blades of Shared Doom[/COLOR] (D 381): You've got a pretty strong possibility to DS an entire cluster of enemies if you hit with the initial attack, since the secondary attack triggered on hit is still weapon-based versus Will. Baladins will do the most damage on the secondary attack, but any Straladin will still find this useful. You Sanction the initial target for a round hit or miss. Good one; would be even better if it wasn't Necrotic. [b][COLOR=#00ccff]Spirit Harrow[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: Close burst 1 Psychic attack vs. everyone around you, and if you hit the enemies can't shift or make OAs until they save. A very fine Defender power, especially considering it originated from your morally bankrupt Striker counterpart. It even stuns enemies if they are near death. [b]Thundering Smite (E:HFK)[/b]: Thunder-based attack that knocks all enemies within 2 squares of the target (but not the target itself) prone. Eh, fair enough. [b]Whirling Radiance (E:HFK)[/b]: Close-burst attack vs. Reflex, so this radiant attack will hit often and invoke the save-ends ongoing 5 radiant damage. If you can [COLOR=#0000ff][b]create radiant vulnerability[/b][/COLOR] the damage from this can add up quickly. [b]Strength, Implement[/b] [b][COLOR=Blue]Shout of Condemnation[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: One of the rare STR-based implement powers. It's actually a fairly solid power. Attacks Will, save-ends DS on hit, half damage and a one-round DS on a miss, Thunder keyword, and nice blast area. A good option mainly for those Straladins who wield weapons that can double as implements. Baladins, who care more about implement usage, are also likely to look at this one. [b]Charisma, Weapon[/b] [b][COLOR=Purple]Shackles of Justice[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: The save-ends condition, moderate radiant damage for damaging an ally, happens hit or miss, but unfortunately a miss does no damage. At this level, it doesn't really add up. [b]Charisma, Implement[/b] [b][COLOR=Blue]Crown of Glory[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Close burst 1 attack vs. Will, followed, hit or miss, by you slowing enemies who start their turns next to you. This can be sustained with minor actions. A very good sticky power. [b]One Stands Alone (PHB)[/b]: Close burst 1 vs. Will, save-ends weakens regardless of hit or miss. With proper coordination you can get in position to be able to use this one when you need it. Solid enough effect. [b][COLOR=Red]Radiant Pulse[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: This one is just plain bad. You have to hit to do anything of worth with this power, and even then, the other powers at this level are better. A simple push just isn't as good as slowing or weakening. [b][COLOR=Blue]Ray of Reprisal[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: An immediate interrupt, and thus a punishment stacker. This Radiant attack vs. Fortitude deals half damage on a miss, and regardless of hit or miss, the damage the ally takes from the triggering attack is cut in half. Quite nice. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 10 Utility[/u][/b][/size] After the fantastic powers at Lv. 2 and Lv. 6, this level seems like a letdown. But there are some solid options here, including Benediction, Guiding Verse, [b]Spirit of the Virtuous Charger[/b], Vengeful Vigilance and Winter's Arrival. If none of those tickle your fancy, there's nothing wrong with dipping back into the Lv. 2 or Lv. 6 pool. [b]Class Powers[/b] [b]Beacon of Nobility (E:HFK)[/b]: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to hand out 5 THPs to an ally, as well as a skill check bonus. Decent little booster power. [b]Beacon of Penance (E:HFK)[/b]: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to effectively transfer 10 hit points from you to an ally, in the form of healing. The reactive counterpart to Beacon of Nobility that essentially serves as retroactive defending. Fair pick. [b][COLOR=Blue]Benediction[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Per-encounter utility that rewards an ally who hits with either a use of a healing surge or potentially some extra damage. The former application is a solid backup healer ability, and the latter is great when the ally used an attack that involves several large dice to roll for the damage. [b][COLOR=Blue]Cleansing Spirit[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Again, you can't really have too many powers per encounter that grant a save. Divine Mettle is only once per encounter. This one comes with a +2 bonus, and unlike Divine Mettle you can use it on yourself. This one is also good if you took a particularly strong Divinity feat, in which case you'd rather use your Channel Divinity for that power instead of Divine Mettle. Deathguide's Stance (D 381): This stance is similar to getting the Bard's Virtue of Valor once per day (except doling out actual healing, rather than temp HPs). Which makes it decent in 5-standard fights, but not so good against Elites and Solos. It's also useless against minions. [b][COLOR=#800080]Deathly Aura[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: This pure Shadow daily can pile some nice damage on enemies in the aura 1 pretty nicely (assuming they don't resist necrotic, of course), but you have to be bloodied for this to happen. I'm not sure how long you want to stay bloodied for this. [b]Font of Healing (DP)[/b]: This daily power is basically two Lay on Hands for the price of one, for you and an ally. Not too bad. If you actually took Lay on Hands, though, you'd want to retrain this one out at Epic Tier, when your actual Lay on Hands becomes just as effective. [b][COLOR=Blue]Guiding Verse[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: A per-encounter saving throw for you, with a huge bonus if you have the Wisdom. Has great synergy with [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Hero's Poise[/b][/COLOR] in Paragon Tier, if you take that feat. [b][COLOR=Purple]Noble Shield[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: This daily is extremely situational. It's only useful at all for AoE attacks from an enemy. [b][COLOR=Red]Righteous Indignation[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: This one fails. If it affected more than one attack, or were an encounter power, it might have been worth it. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Spirit of the Virtuous Charger[/COLOR] (Lv. 8) (E:HFK)[/b]: If you like to charge a lot (particularly true if you're mounted), this minor-action daily is a very nice pick. At later levels this power gets [COLOR=#00ccff][b]even better[/b][/COLOR], gaining a lot more general usefulness aside from merely charging. At Lv. 18 you get flight. And at Lv. 28, this power also grants its benefits to all allies within 2 squares of you. [b][COLOR=#ff0000]Turn of the Dark Tide[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: This pure Shadow daily is similar to the existing Turn the Tide, but even worse, since it forces your party members to take damage in the process. Still uses up your standard action, too. Avoid it. [b][COLOR=Purple]Turn the Tide[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Unless your party somehow finds itself loaded with multiple save-ends status effects all at once, this one is not going to see much use. Worse, it's a standard action, so you give up attacking. [b][COLOR=Blue]Vengeful Vigilance[/COLOR] (D 375)[/b]: Daily stance, and this one's pretty good. Lay down a DC as a free action every time any enemy within 5 squares doesn't include you in an attack. [COLOR=#0000ff]Winter's Arrival[/COLOR] (D 381): A per-encounter teleport that makes DC engagement a lot easier for Chaladins and Baladins. The difficult terrain you create can rob the enemy of a few movement options. Pretty nice. [b]Class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Diplomacy[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Cry for Mercy[/COLOR] (PHB3): Grant a bloodied ally (or yourself) a huge bonus to all defenses and movement unthreatened by OAs every encounter. Only costs a minor action, too, and works at a solid range. A good deal. Noble Sacrifice (PHB3): A per-encounter martyr-type power, very fitting for your role. The range and application are a bit limited, though. [u]Heal[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Time Out[/COLOR] (PHB3): An extra second wind for one ally per encounter, granted with your minor action. Nice to have for helping any allies who have good reasons to use their second winds. [u]History[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Lessons of History[/COLOR] (D 385): Well, well, a reason to actually consider training History. Letting all your allies recover an encounter utility in one fight per day is quite handy. [b]Non-class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Streetwise[/u] Navigate Crowds (PHB3): Shift your speed through enemy squares once per encounter. That can be handy. [/QUOTE]
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