Is this character suboptimal/viable?

[FreeTheSlaves]

Hi all,

I'm (finally - hooray!) playing a PC, a human paladin to be exact, and the dm has given warning that my guy may be a little "too balanced" to thrive in 4E.

The basic build:

Loric
Human paladin 1
str 16, con 12, dex 13, int 10, wis 14, cha 14
Skills: religion +5, history +5, diplomacy +7, insight +7, endurance +6

Admitted weaknesses:

• Stats - feat requirements, desirable class features, skill choices & role playing considerations mean that they're spread real thin. Nothing higher than a base 14.
• Race - chosen for role playing considerations, but stat choices will make the 3rd (charisma based) at-will a seldom used feature. More importantly, such a MAD class punishes only 1 stat being boosted by race.
• Skills - 3 of them are necessary for the desired character, but key off low bonus stats.

Anyway, I think this guy will do fine enough.

Thoughts?

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

I wouldn't be too hard on the guy but would seriously give thought to multi classing into Fighter to take more advantage of your strength and also to swap out your Charisma based at will at 11th for a Fighter strength one. Also the bonus to hit once per enounter from multi fighter is also a must have boon for the character.

 

[FireLance]

Anyway, I think this guy will do fine enough.

Probably.

A lower stat puts you at a theoretical disadvantage, but I don't think the different will be noticed during play unless you specifically look out for it (e.g. "I missed by one! If only I had a higher [ability score]." "He has one hit point left? I would have killed him if I had a higher [ability score]!")

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

If you redo the stats so that str starts at 17 and Wis or Cha at 15 4th levels going to be an awfully sweet level for you.

And the 12 in con, 13 dex, and 10 int aren't doing too much for you as is.

Maybe:
Str 17
Con 11
Dex 8
Int 12
Wis 14
Cha 15

It's still a legal character. I picked Int over Dex since Initiative isn't really a priority for you and the Int boosts religion. You could also go 12 with Con for more healing surges and hit points and make the INT 11 and reserve it for a boost at level 8 or later.

You might want a higher Wis over a higher Cha, but the 16 at level 4 will make your third at will a little bit more effective.

Alternately, you could go:
STR 17
CON 10
DEX 8
INT 11
WIS 14
CHA 16

And then enjoy a slight boost in religion and REF saves at 4 and a pretty useful third at will at 1st.

 

[Fede]

I have a paladin in my group with stats similar to yours, and she's doing fine.
So, to answer your questions: suboptimal? yes. Viable? yes.

 

[charlesatan]

You're playing with minimum requirements. Which means it's functional as long as you're rolling slightly higher than average to average.

 

[DeusExMachina]

The bonus to defenses that human paladins get is not inconsiderable (+2 to each), so in combination with a shield and some scale armor you should be pretty well defended.
Add to that a bit of healing and the survivability of the character is pretty much a done deal. Now it probably won't be dealing enormous amounts of damage or hitting each and every attack, but you can compensate some of that with feats and such. I think it's perfectly viable...

 

[Jack99]

It should work fine. Might want to stick to +3 prof weapons, just to make sure you do not fall too far behind on the to-hit curve.

 

[Mallus]

The character will do fine. I assume they'll be using a longsword/bastard sword?

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Thanks for the feedback people. I'll try to cover the main points you've raised.

I thought about multi-classing Kirnon_Bhale to get value out of the 3rd at-will, but Champion of Order PP is just made for this character. I don't think this option is a goer - maybe the upcoming Divine book may help but I'm basically resigning myself to losing that 3rd at-will racial feature.

Heh FireLance, you can be assured that I will pointedly not ever make such a reference at the table. I'd just be inviting the poor dm to give an exasperated sigh.

Thanks for the stat options Dr. Strangemonkey. I run into a brick walls with those arrays however. I need good dex in preparation for blade opportunist (13), heavy blade opportunity (15), shield spec. (15) and heavy blade mastery (17). I don't want to sink too much into dex but I need to be hitting those minimums as soon as those feats become available. The int is as low as it can go for me to feel I'm getting value out of the 2 knowledge skills, also I don't really want this guy to be an intellectual slouch. The con could be lowered I guess... It would be nice to bump str or cha...

Thanks for that Fede. Nice to know similar characters can handle.

Well that's a word of warning then eh charlesatan. I can't control the dice so maybe I'll just have this guy hunt hard for combat advantage.

I am building a survivable type of guy DeusExMachina, with (eventual) feats like toughness, shield spec., & durable. Offensively he's going bastard sword & OA boosting feats. All this with a bit of human feats and mounted combat sprinkled in. Something like:
1st) toughness, b. sword
2nd) weapon focus
4th) blade opportunist
6th) mtd combat
8th) action surge
10th) durable
11th) HBO, swap out durable for shield spec.
12th) devastating crit., etc
It'll be a bit more organic than the above, taking into account actual play & campaign developments. The point is that yes, feats & powers will be sunk into pumping offense, defence, and stickiness (Champion of Order + combat/heavy blade opportunist!). Str will always get the boost with cha getting 2nd dibs (so long as it doesn't meddle with dex requirements).

Will do Jack99/Mallus!