Alternative Paladin

[Evil DM]

Hi folks,

I am thinkin about a dwarven Paladin.

For that reason I try to get rid of

>> the paladin mount

>> and maybe the spellprogression.

Are there any good suggestions for alternative class features? With the upcoming Complete series and books like unearthed arcane and Player's Handbook 2 there seem to be a lot of alternative class features.

Has anybody some experience with these things belonging to a paladin?

Cheers, Evil DM

 

[Kor]

There are several other options, PHII allows you to ditch the mount to gain a charging smite ability. I know there are also some other "alternative build" options in some other sourcebook - which I can never find -- its either somewhere else in the PHII or UA (note: I'm not refering to the Variants as presented in the UA).

However, one of the best options (I think) is out of the Complete Champion. You loose your spells and gain better feat progression.

 

[Klaus]

PHBII Charging Smite variant: lose Special Mount. Gain Charging Smite: if you perform a Smite Evil at the end of a charge, you deal extra damage equal to twice your paladin level.

Complete Warrior Paladin without Spellcasting: lose Spellcasting.
At 6th level, every weapon you wield is considered good-aligned for bypassing damage reduction.
At 11th level: once per day you may boost your Strength, Wisdom or Charisma by +4, for 1 minute per class level.
At 13th level: Spend lay on hands to heal your mount (1 point of lay on hands heals 5 hp of damage to the mount). May also remove adverse conditions at the cost of 5hp per condition and remove ability damage at the cost of 1hp per ability point resotred.
At 16th level: Use Holy Sword (as the spell) once per day, at a caster level equal to half your class level.

 

[Quartz]

Perhaps simpler would be to multiclass with Knight? (And perhaps Fighter) Pal 4 / Ftr 4 / Kt 12 is pretty nasty.

For Cha-monkey madness, try Pal 4 / Kt 4 / Divine Crusader 10 / Ftr 2.

 

[epwait55]

hmmmm Interesting.

 

[FireLance]

However, one of the best options (I think) is out of the Complete Champion. You loose your spells and gain better feat progression.

Complete Champion also has the Underdark Knight alternate class ability, which seems tailor-made for a dwarven paladin. You give up your special mount in exchange for a number of abilities that are useful underground.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Complete Champion also has a nice feat that makes those spells less of a hassle: Its only prerequisite is paladin spellcasting, and it changes the casting time from standard to swift (and full to standard if I recall correctly). Very useful if you ask me, since you don't have to waste any of your actions on the spells.

 

[Erywin]

Complete Champion also has a nice feat that makes those spells less of a hassle: Its only prerequisite is paladin spellcasting, and it changes the casting time from standard to swift (and full to standard if I recall correctly). Very useful if you ask me, since you don't have to waste any of your actions on the spells.

For this and the possibility of getting a better feat progression, I REALLY need to pick up this book, now if only I was able to play my Paladin/Sorc/Spellsword again

 

[Gestalt]

Complete Champion also has a nice feat that makes those spells less of a hassle: Its only prerequisite is paladin spellcasting, and it changes the casting time from standard to swift (and full to standard if I recall correctly). Very useful if you ask me, since you don't have to waste any of your actions on the spells.

A slight derail: Do you think it would it be reasonable to have a similar feat that applies to blackguard spells?

 

[Erywin]

A slight derail: Do you think it would it be reasonable to have a similar feat that applies to blackguard spells?

I haven't seen the variant that they use in Complete Champion so I don't know the specifics, but I would definately like to see something like it Should be able to just cut and paste with minor changes.

Cheers,
E