Paladin Questions/Advice?

[Lord Pendragon]

*A +1 vest of resistance or ring or protection is an alright purchase. However, note that these provide Resistance bonuses to saves. Protection from Evil provides a nice +2 bonus to saves from evil creatures, which doesn't stack with the Resistance items. Thus, I'd be far more inclined to pick up a wand of Protection from Evil or some scrolls than I would be to stock up on Resistance & Deflection bonus items.

This is true. However, Protection from Evil has a finite duration and requires an action to activate. So you need to decide what is best for your particular campaign. If you usually have the extra round to cast Protection from Evil and don't often have more combats than available castings, then I'd agree that you might want to hold off on the Vest of Resistance until you can buy a +3 or higher version.

If on the other hand, you have several combats a day, or often find yourself needed to get into the thick of battle without being able to spend a round buffing, then get the Vest. You'll have +2 whenever you get a chance to cast Protection from Evil, and a +1 any other time you get hit with a detrimental effect.

And of course it goes without saying that if you decide to prep a spell other than Protection from Evil, such as Bless Weapon or Divine Favor, that the Vest is a very good item to have.

*Get a cold iron sword and a scroll of magic weapon. Ta-da! +1 cold iron long sword.

A scroll of magic weapon is a very good idea. You may never need it, but it will help in a pinch if you come across magic/x DR, before picking up a magic weapon, and is pretty cheap to get.

*Bane ammunition is pretty cheap and well worth your money. Opening up a fight with a heavy crossbow bolt doing 1d10+2d6+3 damage is beautiful at low to mid levels. As a paladin, I'm guessing you'll run up against Evil Extraplanar creatures and the Undead at some point; a Bane Goblinoids bolt is also handy, merely, because it covers three common humanoid bases (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears), and even a goblin with some class levels can be annoying as all heck to kill.

This is personal opinion, but I'd put expendable ranged ammunition far down on your list of priorities. Well after you've completed your suite of +1 equipment (weapon, armor, shield, amulet, vest, gauntlets, cloak...)

*Divine feats are your friend. Divine Might is great because it is a free action to activate. I like Divine Vigor a whole lot -- temporary hit points are great.

Definitely good choices.

Divine Shield is alright, but the standard-action-to-activate thing really stinks.

At low levels, this is definitely true. At high-levels, it's insanely good. My level 15 paladin can currently spend a standard action to gain a +10 to AC for 7 rounds. His AC jumps up into the mid 40s and causes problems even for big dragons. So shelf the idea for now, but I'd seriously consider reexamining the benefits at levels 9, 12, and 15.

*Extra Smiting is also good for a charger as the extra damage is multiplied on a charge for lots of damage. And free actions are your friend.

Extra Smiting is good even on a standard attack, though it certainly shines on a charge. Then again, everything shines on a charge, if you've spent the feats to power it up.

*If you don't have it, Power Attack is good for a charger as the damage is multiplied on a charge.

My paladin has Power Attack, and usually never uses it. He doesn't have weapon focus, greater weapon focus, or an insane strength (choosing to focus on charisma instead), so his to-hit, while very good, is still sometimes challenged by the dragons and devils we face in our campaign.

(Edit to add: Looking at the statement below, I suppose it's inaccurate to say I never use it. Rather, let me say that I rarely use it to drop my to-hit bonus below what it would be, un-buffed. I only use it when I get bonuses above-and-beyond my standard to-hit bonus.)

But even if you don't use it specifically, Power Attack can be very useful for a paladin. First off, it's a gateway feat to Divine Might, which I use every combat. Secondly, when you get big bonus to hit, you can convert those into damage. I often convert the +2 to attack from charging into +4 damage when making a mounted charge, as well as the +1 for higher ground, if I'm charging a medium or smaller creature. When I smite, depending on the estimated AC of my opponent, I will sometimes convert some of my +cha to hit into +damage as well.

*If your DM will let you customize your mount, see if you can have it take a useful feat like Improved Toughness at HD 6. Also, the DMG has some optional rules for variants on mounts. For example, -1 effective paladin level in exchange for applying the Celestial Template. DR 5 and a bunch of energy resistances? Yes please!

If variant mounts are allowed, what you really want is a flying mount. The tactical options increase tenfold. In several memorable sessions, I basically played the role of "air support" in our party, making strafing attacks against grounded foes while the rest of the party engaged them on foot.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I will reiterate that Extra Smiting works very well for most Paladins.

When I asked for advice, a couple of veterans on this board suggested the feat. I admit I was more than a little skeptical. I already have a couple Smites, I want to get something else cool to expand my repitoire

In play, I find as a Paladin I would alway like to squirrel one (or two) Smite(s) for that big fight I might have at the end of the day. With an extra couple Smites I can just burn them earlier in the day for fun.

It gives the Paladin a strong focus. The Paladin becomes Mr. Evil-Ass Kicker.

I have a 9th level Paladin with a +1 Evil Outsider Bane sword, Extra Smiting, Power Attack, Divine Might. For 4 rounds per day, I fight evil better than any superoptimized Fighter.

 

[JRROGERS]

Great Suggestions!

Thanks for all your suggestions, guys. They help immensely. After reading the thread so far, here are my purchases (remember, this is a Living Greyhawk character, so some of these, which may not seem wise in a homebrew, are wise choices here because you're not always guaranteed a healer in the party in a given adventure):

1. Wand of Cure Light Wounds (makes me a better backup healer, huge asset to the entire party)
2. +1 Armor
3. Masterwork Cold Iron Lance
4. +1 Heavy Steel Shield
5. Masterwork Silver Flail (allows nice trip and disarm attempts, bludgeons, cheap, not much weight)

With each adventure I complete, I am also going to be buying various scrolls (especially Protection From Evil & Divine Sacrifice). Bless Weapon is staying in my castable slot until I can buy a Holy weapon; the scrolls are too expensive to buy a lot of.

As for levels/feats:

1. Take Paladin 5 to get my special mount (and for the guy that said to have a backup mount, I do; it's an Excellent Steed from a regional Greyhawk mod, +3 to Ride checks).

2. Take Hospitaler at Level 6 to maintain Lay On Hands and get 2 feats. These will be spent on Power Attack and Divine Might.

3. After that, continue on the Paladin track, taking Extra Smiting and then Divine Vigor.

Any comments on this track? Again, some things to think about? Things I'm missing?

 

[Quartz]

Your Wis isn't so hot, so are you concentrating on Cha? If so, take a look at the Divine Crusader, with the intention of taking a domain like Healing or Instinct.

 

[Endur]

As for levels/feats:

1. Take Paladin 5 to get my special mount (and for the guy that said to have a backup mount, I do; it's an Excellent Steed from a regional Greyhawk mod, +3 to Ride checks).

2. Take Hospitaler at Level 6 to maintain Lay On Hands and get 2 feats. These will be spent on Power Attack and Divine Might.

3. After that, continue on the Paladin track, taking Extra Smiting and then Divine Vigor.

I'd skip Divine Vigor. You can take Extra Smiting multiple times, and its well worth taking multiple times. I'd also skip Hospitaler, stay pure paladin ... the extra level of Paladin will help more than the Hospitaler 1 benefits.

Extra Smiting is so good, its almost worth skipping Power Attack and Divine Might and just taking all feats as Extra Smiting.

Power Attack comes in handy for smashing doors, objects, and other things, so its a useful feat. And if you do get Power Attack, you definitely want Divine Might to convert your turn undeads into extra damage.

The special mount is nice, but the sad part of LG modules is that the mount isn't all that useful in most modules.

Oh eventually you will want to invest in a +2 wisdom item for the higher level paladin spells (Holy Sword, etc.).

If your LG region has a particular evil enemy (Geoff has the Giants), bane items are great.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In my gaming experience, despite the art and "real-world history" of the archetypal Paladin, I don't really care for swords or lances for mine. One reason is that one of the most common enemies Paladins deal within game are various forms of undead, and there are several out there that don't take full damage from edged or piercing weapons...and there are several other critters out there that don't get bothered by piercing or slashing weapons either.

Don't get me wrong- most of them will carry some kind of other melee weapon and a decent ranged weapon (dependent upon PC concept), but bludgeoning weapons get my top vote.

Thus, my paladins tend to use bludgeoning weapons, which kind depends on my PC concept. My default is the flail- 2 handed if I don't want to use a shield- its so flexible: decent damage + trips & disarms (and a nice crit range on the 2 hander). If the PC is more of an ascetic/witchunter/zealot of some kind, I tend towards the scourge & hydraflail- weapons common among those who practiced mortification of the flesh in the real world. OTOH, a true combat brute will be swinging a Maul (either 2 handed as a martial weapon, or 1 handed if I burn the feat). Hospitalers/Pacifists/VoPov PCs use the quarterstaff or take up unarmed combat.