Help me min/max my gangsta rapping Paladin!

[calighis]

I am playing in a party of tanks and semi tanks as a paladin via DM request and we have a swashbuckling dervish, a half ogre war hulk, a human berserker and a battle cleric of tempest.
It's my job to design the party leader and I am playing with guys who love over the top munchkin builds. I have to one up them here and show them a character that is min/maxed to the hilt.
This is who I want to play.
I envision playing a battle rapping Warrior Skald type of paladin who can both tank and provide huge buffs for the party. the battle rapping part is not strictly necessary and it might end up being something I just do in character so that I can actually have fun playing a paladin, because without a ridiculous goody two shoes doing gangsta style raps about the importance of being a good Samaritan, I wouldn't have any fun playing a paladin.

I have 11 levels to play with and starting gold 19,363, +1 full plate, +1 heavy steel shield, ring of protection + 1 and +1 melee weapon of my choice.
must worship a forgotten realms god.
The DM is pretty liberal All 3.5 books are open to me and he is willing to bend the rules to make a good character build happen.
One more thing to keep in mind, this campaign is being built around lots of mass combats and large amounts of enemies to slay at once, so mass effects vs large groups would be helpful, and we will be fighting lots of evil stuff so a smite build would obviously rock socks.

 

[parinho7]

a few suggestions:
-lesser aasimar
-sword of the arcane order
-saint template
-allied defense

 

[calighis]

What class combo would be ideal for buffing and tanking?

 

[xigbar]

For the record, it's spelled "rappin'." With an apostrophe.

 

[Jackinthegreen]

My first thought when I saw the title was a Devoted Performer. It's a feat in Complete Adventurer, page 107, that lets you stack paladin and bard levels for various purposes, and even allows the character to take levels in Bard despite being lawful.

Benefit: If you have levels in paladin and bard, those levels stack for the purpose of determining the bonus damage dealt by your smite evil ability and determining the number of times per day that you can use your bardic music. This feat does not allow additional daily uses of smite evil or bardic music abilities beyond what your class levels would normally allow.
In addition, you can multiclass freely between the paladin and bard classes and may even gain additional bard levels regardless of your lawful alignment. You must still remain lawful good in order to retain your paladin abilities and take paladin levels. You still face the normal XP penalties for having multiple classes more than one level apart.

See if your DM will allow an Improved Devoted Performer feat to have your paladin and bard levels stack for bardic music abilities and additional daily uses of smite evil.

Another thought I had when I saw the mass combat bit was a marshal's auras. A single level will grant your character access to a minor aura, and two will grant access to major ones. Each aura grants a bonus to allies within 60 feet. I realize it's pushing it, but see if you can get a feat that allows your paladin and marshal levels to stack for purposes of auras only, and then take just one level in marshal. Trading a paladin's spell casting for the auras might work too, although doing so would probably mean you can't use Sword of the Arcane Order.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I second the Devoted Performer idea. Do Bard 8 / Paladin 3 so you can have aua of courage and not be afraid of no one.

It's extremely feat heavy (more sane if your DM is cool and just lets you take Draconic Heritage if you play a draconic race like Silverbrow Human and can treat Bard 1 as Sorc 1...cause...they're both spont/ arcane casters and sorc is stronger than bard anyway, so c'mon!) but Dragonfire Inspiration when you have Draconic Heritage to tie you to a sonic dragon, if any exist, could be fun.

You definitely want Song of the Heart feat, Inspirational Boost spell, and since you're forced to be a goody-two-shoes Paladin anyway, may was well look at Words of Creation feat. And I know this is getting feat intense, but if you're going exalted, you're a fool to not get Nymph's Kiss at level 1. Of course, the Extra Smiting feat can make up for lack of uses/day from the paladin levels if you want it more. ...Does the DM allow flaws?

I'd also highly recommend a Harmonizing Crystal Echoblade (MIC).

 

[kitcik]

The bard / paladin thing is cool, but if you are not up for the singing paladin, try crusader.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Crusader's actually better since then you can just grab Song of the White Raven...and because Crusader is just plain better than paladin..., but the OP specified Paladin.

 

[kitcik]

Crusader's actually better since then you can just grab Song of the White Raven...and because Crusader is just plain better than paladin..., but the OP specified Paladin.

Paladin 1 / Crusader 10?

 

[Dandu]

A two level dip in Paladin corrects the Crusader's slightly-off stance progression iirc.