Best tactic for a paladin: cower behind allies?

[Fedifensor]

I'm surprised reach weapons haven't been mentioned...

 

[KarinsDad]

I'm surprised reach weapons haven't been mentioned...

Reach Weapons are nullified via the Paladin's large number of Healing Surges not being used in a day if his allies are attacked instead of him more often. Sure, the Paladin can do this. But, after 2 or 3 encounters, his allies will be out of healing surges and he will still have 80% of his.

 

[Kordeth]

Reach Weapons are nullified via the Paladin's large number of Healing Surges not being used in a day if his allies are attacked instead of him more often. Sure, the Paladin can do this. But, after 2 or 3 encounters, his allies will be out of healing surges and he will still have 80% of his.

Good thing the paladin can spend his own healing surges to heal his allies, then.

 

[Runestar]

It is certainly possible, though not likely at the moment because of the way in which paladins ought to be built to be effective. Though this might pave the way for some sort of ranged striker paladin hybrid in the near future, when we get more material to complement this concept.

 

[FireLance]

Good thing the paladin can spend his own healing surges to heal his allies, then.

There's a limit. Assuming a Wis 16, Con 14 paladin, he has 12 healing surges and 3 uses of lay on hands per day. Unless he gets injured, he won't find much use for 75% of his healing surges.

 

[Fedifensor]

Reach Weapons are nullified via the Paladin's large number of Healing Surges not being used in a day if his allies are attacked instead of him more often. Sure, the Paladin can do this. But, after 2 or 3 encounters, his allies will be out of healing surges and he will still have 80% of his.

There is no rule preventing the Paladin from moving up to the front line if his friends start to take a beating. But the target he marks will be taking a -2 to hit and taking damage, which should reduce the damage taken by the paladin's allies (as the target will whiff more often and die faster).

In addition, any paladin who goes this route should take the Hospitaler paragon path. Hospitaler's Blessing is absolutely amazing - it's like combining the paladin and swordmage marking abilities.