Help with my paladin

[babomb]

First, your post is labelled Forgotten Realms. Are you playing in the Forgotten Realms setting? If so, Heironius and Moradin are not options for gods (unless your DM changed things quite a bit); check the Forgotten Realms book for the gods available. If you are playing the Forgotten Realms, check the multiclassing rules for paladins for the gods. For example, Torm allows free multiclassing with any one other class, I believe. Consider this if you think you'll want to multiclass later on.

28 point buy sucks for paladins. Other classes can usually get away with it. I suggest a very high Charisma and a moderate Strength. Make your Dex 12. The reason for this is that if you wear plate mail, any Dex above 12 is wasted for the purpose of AC. Wear the heaviest armor and shield you can. Avoid a Con penalty.
I suggest:

Str 14
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 16

This means you can't cast spells, unfortunately.

Are you playing a dwarf? If you are, change the Dex to 14 and the Con to 10, and the dwarven racial modifiers will change it back to the above. If you are starting at a level higher than 1st, look at the Aasimar: you get a +2 to Wis and Cha.

Feats: Divine Might is great. Apart from that, I recommend either focusing on mounted feats (Remember, in 3.5 you can call your mount once per day, so the mount is somewhat more useful.) or general combat feats (like Weapon Focus or Power Attack).

As for skills, you'll only have 2/level (or 3 if you're human). I'd max out diplomacy and put at least some points in Knowledge(Religion) and Ride.

Edit: I just noticed your initial post said "base 9 28 points to go". Does this mean 28 point-buy except that all stats start at 9 (instead of the normal 8)?

If so, you've got considerably more ground to work with. Try
Str 16
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 16

Alternatively, change the Con to 14 and drop the Wis to 10.

 

[Raging Barbarian]

I have to say, you have definately picked a good class to play in FR. You can play a Dwarven Paladin of Moradin (as allowed in the FRCS), but Heironous is a Greyhawk god, so unless your DM has some house, rules you won't be able to play a follower of that god. My tips to playing a paladin is to find, or create a trait that is unique to your character.

An example of this would be my Paladin in the FR game I play in. He has an intelligence of 6, so he is by far not a smart person, but the rest of his stats good (18 cha). He often runs in to battle or into unkown situations head first, and with little regard to the possible ramifications if he is wrong. He is also loves to sing a ditty that he wrote that contains only one word, the name of his god. To show this, I gave the character the improved bull rush feat, and he has 1 point of perform. While it may not be the most efficient way to play a character, it certainly is fun.

For your character, you may want him to use an unusal weapon for a paladin, such as a rapier, or maybe a trident. I do not recommend using Dex. as a dump stat. You can compensate for a lack of a sheild with feats such as two weapon defense or twin sword style, if you were using two weapons. Dodge is a good option, if you have the Dex for it. As for races, any are good, even the Half-Orc. Just try to play to the strengths and weaknesses that your character has, and it will be fun.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Hmm noticed the base 9 28 point buy thingie, didn't put much thought into it.

Also, what will be the other members of the party?

AR

 

[Nightfall]

Dwarven Paladin of Claggidn(sp) Silverbeard. Axes baby. Your god loves 'em.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

First, let's clear up a few misconceptions.

1. You can build a perfectly viable paladin on 28 points. You won't be as powerful as a 36 or 48 point paladin. However, the other characters won't be as powerful as 36 or 48 point characters either. The higher your stats the more powerful your character will be but paladins are still viable in a low-powered campaign.

2. Two-hander paladins are perfectly viable characters. They do tend to do poorly on defense. So do two-hander fighters and (especially) two-hander barbarians. That's part of being a two handed weapon wielder rather than anything particular about being a paladin.

3. Moradin and all of the dwarven pantheon are the same in the Forgotten Realms as in Greyhawk/Default Setting.

So, that said, this is my recommendations:

Dwarven two handed bruiser paladin:
Race: Gold Dwarf (as normal dwarf but +1 to hit abberations rather than orcs, etc and +2 con/-2 dex instead of +2 con/-2 cha).

Str 14 (6 points)
Dex 10 (4 points)
Con 16 (6 points)
Int 10 (2 points)
Wis 12 (2 points)
Cha 15 (8 points)

Feats: 1 Power attack, 3: Cleave or WF: Greataxe, 6: Divine Might

Wield a greataxe, wear fullplate, and dish out the damage.

Another possibility would be to go for a 15 str and 14 cha or 14 cha and 12 dex.

If you decide to go human, I'd follow the same stat layout except that you'll have a 14 con since you lack the dwarven con modifier and you can either have a 12 dex with the 15 cha or a 16 cha or a 14 cha and 16 strength.

The human bonus skill points will also mean that you will still have skill points if you decide you'd like to play a Forrest Gump paladin with an 8 int and boost some of your other stats.

Feats Power attack, Cleave, 3: Weapon Focus: Greatsword, 6: Divine Might

 

[Nightfall]

Think you did well Staffan. I still say a dwarven paladin of Claggendin Silverbeard would be awesome. (Even dual wielding and/or great-axing)

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I like Elder-Basilisk's suggestions.

To a large degree, your HPs (and saving throws) are your armor. Non-mooks are going to hit you most of the time.

Consider using a reach weapon. That keeps the advantages of a two handed weapon while effectively giving you a little more room to maneuver, and reach has nice synergy with Cleave.

Usually you will want to favor offense. When you reach middling levels look to casting Bull's Strength on yourself and adding extra boost with Divine Might.

At higher levels the Paladin saves bonuses stacked on top of the Dwarven save bonuses will be extremely valuable.

If there is another heavily armored grunt in the party, you can consider using light armor and the reach weapon. The added mobility will let you get into position to assist your fellow grunt effectively, or heal if need be.

When you hit 4th level, look over your second level spells and the rules for reading scrolls very carefully.

 

[Taelorn76]

Str 16
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 16

Alternatively, change the Con to 14 and drop the Wis to 10.

you still have 4 points to give. Therefore you can up Str, Con, Wis,and Cha by 1 each.
But since Mario wants a more melee Paladin, up Str and Con by 2 each, for the damage bonus and Hitpoint bonus, especially since he is want a 2-handed weapon any extra hitpoints will help. IMO.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

If attributes start at 9 instead of 8 as per the DMG, I'd suggest the following attributes instead:

Str 16 (9 points)
Dex 10 (1 point)
Con 16 (5 points)
Int 10 (1 point)
Wis 12 (3 points)
Cha 16 (9 points)

or

Str 16 (9 points)
Dex 12 (3 points)
Con 16 (5 points)
Int 10 (1 point)
Wis 12 (3 points)
Cha 15 (7 points)

Dwarven two handed bruiser paladin:
Race: Gold Dwarf (as normal dwarf but +1 to hit abberations rather than orcs, etc and +2 con/-2 dex instead of +2 con/-2 cha).

Str 14 (6 points)
Dex 10 (4 points)
Con 16 (6 points)
Int 10 (2 points)
Wis 12 (2 points)
Cha 15 (8 points)

Feats: 1 Power attack, 3: Cleave or WF: Greataxe, 6: Divine Might

Wield a greataxe, wear fullplate, and dish out the damage.

Another possibility would be to go for a 15 str and 14 cha or 14 cha and 12 dex.

If you decide to go human, I'd follow the same stat layout except that you'll have a 14 con since you lack the dwarven con modifier and you can either have a 12 dex with the 15 cha or a 16 cha or a 14 cha and 16 strength.

The human bonus skill points will also mean that you will still have skill points if you decide you'd like to play a Forrest Gump paladin with an 8 int and boost some of your other stats.

Feats Power attack, Cleave, 3: Weapon Focus: Greatsword, 6: Divine Might

 

[Raging Barbarian]

Just wanted to clear this up, Heironious is a Human god in GH, and is not in FR ( I know this is a moot point, just wanted to clear up any ambiguity that may exist...unless none existed before).

For a Dwarven Paladin, a halbred. Trip attacks are great, and the damage is good. It may not be as damaging as a greataxe, but a greataxe is not that great against charges either. Get Combat Expertise and Improved Trip, and nothing will be able to stand up against you (ha...that's humor)