Newbie Character Advice: Paladin

[Nightfall]

Red,

I believe there's something in complete Divine about getting a mount beyond warhorse. I don't believe it requires a feat, merely more paladin levels.

 

[RedFox]

WWA doesn't usually synergize well for the paladin. You can only smite once per round, for instance, it's feat intensive, doesn't work in heavy armor, etc. You've already got Combat Expertise, though, and Dodge and Mobility are certainly useful enough in their own right. Spring Attack has some hidden benefits, such as fighting against creatures with greater reach.

You can have WWA by level 12; that's pretty good. just forget about PA for now; you're using your weapon one-handed, anyway. With the flaming property on your weapon, WWA can work out pretty well if you can bring it into play.

Is this a big mistake, or just not super efficient? Because I don't mind not doing WW smites. I just thought WWA would be fun.

I guess I'm wondering whether this is a mistake I should consider asking the DM to let me respec for or whether slogging through to WWA is still viable.

At some point, you are going to want magical mithril full plate, as taking Spring Attack as a dump is not a great idea. Keep in mind that WWA is at your highest BAB, so if you get a chance to enhance Sangur, don't mess with boring plusses; save your pennies for the holy property.

Mithril full or would a mithril breast plate be okay?

Oh, and I'm a tad confused about upgrading items. How would one calculate the cost for upgrading Sangur? It's already got the equivelant of a +2 bonus (flaming and a +1), and holy is a +2 equivelant bonus.

Red,

I believe there's something in complete Divine about getting a mount beyond warhorse. I don't believe it requires a feat, merely more paladin levels.

I'll try to check it out.

Thanks to everyone for their help!

 

[Zaruthustran]

Can bashing be put on a shield with spikes?

"A bashing shield deals damage as if it were a weapon of two size categories larger (a Medium light shield thus deals 1d6 points of damage and a Medium heavy shield deals 1d8 points of damage)"

I'm also doing up a Paladin, and smashing people with my shield sounds like a larf

Certainly!

Q: The description of the magical bashing property for shields
says it can be added only to light or heavy shields. Does this
exclude shields with shield spikes? That is, can you have a
+2 spiked light shield of bashing?
A: You can add the bashing property to a spiked shield. If you
do, the damage dealt by the shield bash increases from normal
by 3 steps (2 for the bashing property and 1 for the shield
spikes), and the weapon becomes a martial piercing weapon.
The example +1 spiked light shield of bashing, if made for a
Medium character, would deal 1d8 points of piercing damage
from the bash. (Normally a light shield bash deals 1d3 points of
damage, but the spikes improve that to 1d4 and the bashing
enhancement increases that to 1d8.)

Why anyone would bash with a light shield is beyond me. Apply Bashing on a heavy shield instead. A heavy spiked shield does 1d8, and Bashing increases that by two steps to 2d6. It's the greatsword that you can wear! And that protects you!

-z

 

[Legildur]

My emphasis:

WWA doesn't usually synergize well for the paladin. You can only smite once per round, for instance, it's feat intensive, doesn't work in heavy armor, etc.

WWA works fine in heavy armor, but you can't use the Spring Attack feat (one of its prerequisites). Inability to use a prerequisite does not prevent use of a subsequent feat, eg raging barbarian can still use Imrpoved Trip, but not Combat Expertise.

The only way I could justify building a paladin with WWA is to multiclass with Fighter.

I would certainly use the new shield based feats from PHBII, probably Divine Shield feat (CW) and seriously look at Power Attack and Cleave. Brendan also has a point about taking Extra Smiting.... it really starts to add up quickly in key battles.

 

[Nightfall]

Red Fox,

Glad I could help. As I said, I'm not sure but I'm reasonable sure you don't need a feat to blow in order to get a "special" supermount. Or whatever.

 

[amethal]

So many conflicting opinions.

What's your niche?

What's your role in the party?

(For example, my current party consists of a barbarian with a very magical sword, a rogue with an impressive sneak attack, a powerful druid, an almost useless mystic theurge, and myself.

My role is to try and provoke as many attacks as possible, to spare rest of the party. I have the best AC, the best saves and the second best hit points. However, I have the worst damage dealing.)

Emphasise the areas you are good at.

 

[Nightfall]

I think he wants to be a mounted paladin laying the smite down heavily. At least, that's what I'm getting.

I could be wrong.

 

[RedFox]

Lots of attacks and hitting things and smiting evil. Being mounted's cool too, but I'm not interested in maxing it out or using a lance or anything.

As far as the party role is concerned, I'm one of the main tanks and one of the party healers (doubling up on both roles with the Druid).

I'm not interested in the healing role, really. That's why we bought a Cleric In A Box.

 

[pallandrome]

Yeah, Pallys CAN be quite nice combat healers if they really pump up their lay on hands. An 8th level pally could quite reasonably get 24 charisma if they treat it as a primary stat, and that's 56 points of healing availible in one shot, to ruin an undead's day, or bring a dying ally to full health. However, sometimes it's just more fun to hit people in the faxe with a bastard sword.

But yeah, pally's are a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy the character.

 

[Nightfall]

Red,

If combat's your thing, I honestly suggest not using a mount OR the charging smite power. It's nice I'll grant you, but having a weapon that advances with you = way better in my mind.

As I said, you can find that replacement/alternate class feature in Dragon 349.

I'd say if you don't want to deal with healing, find some alternate class feature that exchanges Lay on Hands for something more combat oriented. If that's not an option or you just don't feel like it, that's fine too. As I said, Dragon 349 has a lot options to consider.

I'd definitely suggest using Divine Feats if a) you're not going to encounter a lot of low level undead and b) can in fact help you in fights some times, depending on your choices.