Need ideas for a halflin paladin

[Ahrimon]

I need to make a replacement character for the party. Our only warrior (me) was a barbarian who could dish out the damage. The rest of the party consists of a cleric and two warmages. I'm putting together a 10th level halfling paladin to fill the party warrior shoes. I'm thinking about making him more of a tank. I don't necissarily need to dish out a lot of damage, but it would be nice. So far I'm taking a celstial magebread leopard as my mount. I like the idea of riding a cat. And the celstial and magebred templates will make him a bit tougher to survive combat. And having a 20 hour daily duration should ensure that he's there most of the time.

I have a bit more than regular starting gold. Rough guestimate, 65k. I haven't rolled ability scores yet, but it's 4d6-L. So I've got some room to play.

So what feats, combat style, weapons, armor, etc would anyone recomend?

 

[lordcloaker]

I have a halfing paladin character in mind, and it was focusing on his mount and maybe ranged attacks (Ranged Smite ? hehe). I think at 10th lvl you can have the Half-celestial Riding Dog or Celestial Riding Dog (the one with wings). Its small (so no dungeon problems), it can fly, has a good movement. I think I put the Warbeast template on him also, not sure, not at home to check my notes. But the idea was of a charging halfling paladin (lance & bow in general) mounted on a half-celestial warbeast riding dog (maybe I just have him more extra HD - cant remember now).
Well its a good idea and Ive read about other successful halfing paladins on the board.
The riding dog more or less covers all the problems you might have because of a mount.

Good feats could be: Spirited Charge, Ranged Smite - check stuff that gives you and your mount bonuses.
Good luck, hope this helps

 

[Thanee]

The rest of the party consists of a cleric and two warmages.

I'm putting together a 10th level halfling paladin to fill the party warrior shoes.

A halfling is well-suited for mounted combat, since the mount is only medium-size, and the paladin is really well-suited for that combat style, anyways.

So feats could look like:

Mounted Combat
Ride-by-Attack
Spirited Charge
Power Attack
Divine Might (12th)

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

Divine Shield (putting more 'tank' into the paladin) could also be considered.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

You'll only get 4 feats, so careful selection is vital IMO...

Despite the halfling dex boost, I'd steer well clear of finessing - assign a good stat to strength and boost it plenty.

Mounted combat, Ride by and Spirited Charge could be good - but it's a very heavy investment. If you intend to ride a lot, then mounted combat is too good to say no to - will really help keep your mount alive.

If you're going totally riding, then it might be worth checking out the Cavalier prestige class - it's very nasty and the mount will continue to advance. Unfortunately it will take all your feats and turn you into a 'one trick cat'.


The turning feats can be nasty - power attack/divine might can be very effective? Not sure about the Preqs, but the other divine feats have to be worth a look.

If you were a human, then I'd consider a level or two in fighter. Trading off some paladin powers for extra feats. However, this will run you into multiclass XP problems.


Personally, I'd go for Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Divine Might + one other. Get a lance, animated shield and a two handed weapon. Would make you useful in most situations...

 

[RangerWickett]

I always wanted to try a halfling paladin who used mounted combat with lots of thrown weapons. Halflings get a +1 bonus to attacks with thrown weapons, and they already get a size bonus to attack rolls, so I figure it'd be a fun way to min-max. In The Ironics by E.N. Publishing we have a sample halfling paladin who basically uses all the weird weapons in the book. She's a mounted knight with Quickdraw and a saddle full of whips, nets, bolas, spears, shuriken, javelins, alchemist's fire, tanglefoot bags, and thunderstones.

It doesn't quite play to the strengths of the paladin, which I feel is more a drawback of the class than of the character. I, as a GM, would certainly be willing to let such a character use smite evil on thrown weapons.

 

[sinmissing]

My favorite halfling paladin was one that fought side by side with his riding dog (instead of riding it). He had a level of rogue first (yes, even halfling paladins need a level a rogue), and he had some success fighting alongside the dog, using it to flank or leaping into the saddle for quick escapes or fast tactical movement on the battle field.

 

[Legildur]

Tough choices. Good luck.

At 10th level, and assuming that you are mounted more times than not, I'd certainly take the Mounted Combat, Ride by Attack, Spirited Charge and Power Attack feats. Combine those with Smite Evil and it is all gravy (except on a natural 1).

Divine Might, Divine Shield, and Extra Smiting have to be on the list at some point.

Your only real chance to accumulate all those feats is to get a houseruling on the multiclass penalties and take 2 levels of Fighter.

I've seen a few people also mention the Halfling Outrider and Wild Plains Rider Prestige Classes as quite useful to mounted paladins. Although I'm not familiar enough with those to comment.