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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1590100" data-attributes="member: 3146">As  RiTz21 said, you don't need to choose between the two. Carry both (masterwork weapons are cheap by midgame--you might even choose to have one be a special material so you can cut through DR more easily). That way, when you're faced by a horde of kobolds who go down in one hit with either weapon, you can use the shield and if you need to power attack to pass DR or to punish a creature with lousy AC and an insane to hit, you can use the greatsword. (Or just two-hand the longsword). At higher levels, you may well find situations where the difference in damage between the longsword and the greatsword isn't so significant but those will mostly be 1.2 hits with the greatsword vs. 2 hits with the longsword (avg damage 15 vs 16-21 hp foes vs avg damage 10.5 vs. 16-21 hp foes) or 2.1 hits with the greatsword vs. 3 hits with the longsword (avg damage 18 vs 37-41 hp foes vs avg damage 13.5 vs. 37-41 hp foes).That said, your character has some things that will skew the advantage. Power Attack works better with a two handed weapon so, when you're power attacking, the greatsword gets more comparitive advantage. On the other hand, Divine Might and Smite Evil are (in terms of percentage) better for the longsword. (Given an 8th level paladin with an 18 strength, a +2 weapon, and a 19 charisma (+2 cloak), the greatsword does an average of 15 points of damage normally, 19 with divine might, 23 with a smite evil, and 27 with smite evil and divine might; the longsword does 10.5 damage normally, 15.5 with divine might, 18.5 with smite evil, and 22.5 with smite evil and divine might. That's about 2/3, 4/5, 4/5, and 5/6 of the greatsword's damage respectively). So, it comes down to this: is power attack more important to your fighting style than Divine Might and Smite Evil? Power Attack favors the greatsword and the other two favor the longsword.That said, you need to consider this choice when prioritizing your equipment. By level 8, the difference between AC 19 (fullplate +1 dex or enhancement) and 21 (fullplate, large shield, and 1 point from dex or enhancement) isn't very big. Nor is the difference between 19 (+1 fullplate, no dex), and 20 (+2 fullplate, no dex). However, the difference between 21 (+2 fullplate, +1 dex) and 25 (+1 dex, +2 fullplate, +2 shield) is very significant. The upshot of this is that the multi-style route is only viable if you invest enough money in defense to make the shield bonus worthwhile when it's available. Otherwise, you'll find that it's almost never advantageous to reduce your damage in return for an insignificant AC boost from a normal shield.The way to really get the best of both worlds would probably be to wield a longsword and a buckler. At mid levels, +3 to +6 AC from a (+2 to +5) buckler is not much worse than +4 to +7 AC from a (+2 to +5) heavy shield. And, using a buckler, you can freely switch to wield your longsword in two hands and get more benefit from power attack or wield the longsword in one hand and get the buckler's AC benefit.</blockquote>

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