How does the Paladin stack up?

[Alhandra]

Just to make a clarification, detect evil is not a radar system.

*Shrugs*

Eh - after awhile, you get a good sense for these things (never mind that we don't have Sense Motive as a class skill ), I tend not to always wait the 'full 3 rounds' before unleashing hell.

Why do you think they invented a Phylactery of Faithfullness?

 

[Roland Delacroix]

Paladins stack up well after a while in the cold. The problem is they burn with a greasy yellow smoke. A cord of good pine gives a much hotter fire, though rarely as satisfying.

 

[Wormwood]

FWIW, I grant an additional Smite every 5th level.

 

[zealot73]

Actually a Paladin gets REALLY powerful when you get up to higher levels. You might think about taking the Extra Smiting Feat from Defenders of the Faith. Think about this for power later on... Smite gives you a to hit bonus equal to your Charisma bonus (Charisma should be your highest stat as a Paladin anyway) however the extra damage you do is equal to your level. At low levels it isn't that big a deal but lets say you get up to 10th level and you have a +1 Holy Long Sword and you Smite something. We'll also assume you have a decent strength of 14. Your MINIMUM damage will be 14 points of damage while your Maximum will be 33 (2 from Strength, 8 from the weapon, 1 from the Plus, 12 from the Holy, and 10 from the Smite). I also use the Detect Evil almost constantly. It is a great way to see if there are any baddies in a room prior to entering. After three rounds of concentration you know postion and the number. AND never forget that Lay on Hand ability. It is your Charisma modifier times your level. Going again with a 14 Charisma and a 10th level Paladin that will be 20 points of healing you have at any time though I often use it as a touch attack against Undead, especially if they are intelligent undead who might be wearing armor.
As far as your mount goes a Heavy Warhorse has a Strength of 18 and 3 attacks (two kicks and a bite). If you invest in some +1 Horseshoes your Warhorse can pack a wallop against creatures immune to nonmagical attacks. Since it has the same width "face" as any PC I see no problems taking it with me on dungeon crawls. Even if my character goes down since it actually is more intelligent than a normal horse it can drag me away from the action and out of harms way. Don't forget that the Mount will share your saving throws (Charisma Bonus enhanced of course)AND it will eventually get Improved Evasion. It isn't too much a leap of logic to say that if your mount avoids a fireball while you are riding it that you shouldn't take any damage either.

 

[Stalker0]

Actually, what is most of yours take on letting a warhorse into a dungeon?

Its only usually a little taller than a human standing, and a smart horse (which a palys mount is) can usually make it through human sized doors.

In terms of avg damage, Fighters and Barbs beat palys, that's what they do, that's what they are supposed to do. Palys get to shine in certain situations, and they do it quite well. You won't be the man all the time, but you'll be the man enough to feel your time was worth it.

Also, don't underestimate the power of DR/-. 2 damage of every hit doesn't seem like much, but over the course of an adventure it can mean some seirous hp savings. At high levels, a lot of those creatures got 3 or so attacks, and since a barbs AC tends to blow, 4 to 6 less damage a round is preety nice,

 

[Archer]

An awakened dire horse is a decent mount than a non-paladin can get. Windrider is the king of mounted classes though. 10 levels to get a 20th level paladin mount and 20th paladin spell equivalent.

DR 2/- is really good. Count up how many times you take damage in a typical adventure. Get blasted by 5 magic missiles? That's 10 damage saved. 20' fall? 1d6-2 subdual and 1d6-2 regular. Practically nothing left. That's why a prestige paladin is the way to go. Templar gets that universal DR like a barbarian.

 

[Victim]

Hello? DR doen't work versus spells.

 

[Archer]

DR x/- works against damage from ANY source. Maybe you should trying looking it up in the glossary.

 

[Tyrrell]

As for the mount not working in the dungeon. You can play a 1/2ling paladin and ride your paladin's war dog inside almost any dungeon around. That 1 smite per day becomes very dangerous when you've got spirited charge availible anyplace you go.

 

[Lit]

From page 74 of the DMG:

If a dash follows the slash (as with the damage reduction that is a class feature of the barbarian), then the damage reduction is effective against any attack that does not ignore damage reduction.

And later on the same page:

Magical attacks and energy attacks (even mundane fire) ignore damage reduction.