Divine Vigor or Divine Shield?

[Lord Pendragon]

Imagine you are a sword-and-board paladin, with an 18 charisma. You already have Power Attack, Mounted Combat, and Divine Might. Which would you choose as your next feat if it came down to Divine Vigor, or Divine Shield, and why?

 

[Scharlata]

Imagine you are a sword-and-board paladin, with an 18 charisma. You already have Power Attack, Mounted Combat, and Divine Might. Which would you choose as your next feat if it came down to Divine Vigor, or Divine Shield, and why?

Hi!

I'd take Divine Vigor. I love to move 2 squares more per move, just to make sure, my opponents can't scurry away...

Besides, I like hit point increases just the same.

Vigored regards

 

[Geoff Watson]

Neither.

Divine Might will chew through your turn attempts at an alarming rate, so you probably want a feat that doesn't use turning. I suggest Cleave or Ride-By Attack.

Geoff.

 

[Darklone]

I'm with Geoff here. Going towards Spirited Charge (wonderful with Divine Might) or Cleave&Great Cleave, depending on the campaign.

Depending on the campaign and the number of fights/day: Extra Turning?

Improved Shield Bash and TWF might be another nice idea, depending on your Dex. (more attacks= more Divine Might goodness and Divine Favor helps a lot with hitting).

 

[Darmanicus]

Imagine you are a sword-and-board paladin, with an 18 charisma. You already have Power Attack, Mounted Combat, and Divine Might. Which would you choose as your next feat if it came down to Divine Vigor, or Divine Shield, and why?

I have a paladin 10, (was 11th but me DM let me sacrifice a level to save me mate ), and was wondering on me next feat at 12th. I'm definitely going for Divine Shield, (I do however already have Might), and would take it over Might anyway when I think about it now. An extra 4 points to your AC is a serious boost indeed. I'd take Might ASAP anway because it's another great feat.

Regarding these using turn attempts............who cares?

Firstly a paladin is no great undead slayer when it comes to turning. Leave that to your cleric and use a ruddy great melee weapon, it's much more satisfying.

You have around 7 turn attempts a day, yes? Well that will still leave you a few spare uses to fuel those feats even if you do want to turn as well, unless your in a undead heavy campaign.

It also depends on your level as well. If your low lv then I'd definitely say Shield but the higher lv you are, the more tempting Might becomes because of all those HPs extra/lv.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

It depends on how much combat you expect to see in the particular campaign and the composition of your party. If you are the main frontline fighter, you can easily burn through 3 or 4 Divine Might uses per combat. Toss in Divine Vigor and that becomes 4 or 5 turning attempts per combat. It doesn't even matter if it is an undead-free world, you could be running out of turning attempts half-way through your day.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

It depends on how much combat you expect to see in the particular campaign and the composition of your party. If you are the main frontline fighter, you can easily burn through 3 or 4 Divine Might uses per combat. Toss in Divine Vigor and that becomes 4 or 5 turning attempts per combat. It doesn't even matter if it is an undead-free world, you could be running out of turning attempts half-way through your day.

My DM has graciously allowed my paladin to use the 3.0 version of Divine Might, so most combats will probably be finished after 1-2 turning attempts expended for Divine Might. That leaves 5-6 turning attemts for other uses.

Our party consists of:

1 half-orc fighter (keen greataxe, main tank/damage dealer)
1 human paladin (sword-and-board, second main tank/damage dealer)
1 gnome druid (rides a riding dog, secondary tank)
1 human cleric/bard (18 strength, secondary tank)
1 human ranger (archer twink)
1 half-elf wizard
1 halfling rogue/sorcerer

The fighter and paladin are the front line, with the cleric and druid joining in if there is room, or if the fighter or paladin need to retreat for healing. And I'd say this is definitely a combat-heavy campaign. The traditional dungeon-crawl, as it were.

It also depends on your level as well. If your low lv then I'd definitely say Shield but the higher lv you are, the more tempting Might becomes because of all those HPs extra/lv.

Yes, that's my dilemma. I'm at 4th-level now, closing in on 5th, and trying to decide what would make me the most effective. At 6th-level, Divine Vigor would grant me +10ft. movement and 12 temporary hit points. That's a nice ability. Then again, Divine Shield would grant me a +4 to AC for 3 rounds. Also very nice.

I'm with Geoff here. Going towards Spirited Charge (wonderful with Divine Might) or Cleave&Great Cleave, depending on the campaign.

I really love Spirited Charge, and it'd go well with my mount (I'm holding out for a griffon at 8th-level). But because our campaign has a lot of dungeon crawling in it--in which my mount just won't fit--I'm not sure it's a good idea to invest a lot of feats into mounted combat. I've maxed out ride and taken Mounted Combat, and will definitely take Ride-By Attack at some point, but I'm not sure I should go for Ride-By Attack at 6th-level, seeing as I won't even have a mount until 8th, and even then probably won't be able to use my mount nearly as much as I'd like.

I'd take Divine Vigor. I love to move 2 squares more per move, just to make sure, my opponents can't scurry away...

The movement is nice, no doubt about it. But the effect can easily be replicated by Boots of Striding and Springing or Boots of Speed, so I'm leery about spending a feat on it, when I get so very few of them as a paladin.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

In a campaign that allows divine might (still a bit too good a feat in my view) I would go for extra turning. It basically means you are going to be able to crank out the damage for another combat (or two?). Remember to use it for full attacks and otherwise power away with the single attack.

If you are mounted go for divine shield.

If you don't have a shield and/or fight on foot, go for divine vigor.

 

[Geoff Watson]

My DM has graciously allowed my paladin to use the 3.0 version of Divine Might, so most combats will probably be finished after 1-2 turning attempts expended for Divine Might. That leaves 5-6 turning attemts for other uses.

Graciously?!

I'd much prefer the 3.5 version since it's a free action to activate rather than a standard action.

Geoff.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Graciously?!

I'd much prefer the 3.5 version since it's a free action to activate rather than a standard action.

I believe that the 3.0 version was clarified somewhere (FAQ maybe?) as a free action in 3.0. That's certainly how I've always played it. And 4 rounds of bonus is arguably better than 1.