Strength Paladin Build suboptimal?

[Shadeydm]

I had the pleasure of playing a Paladin recently for a 4E one shot. I am now faced with the task of making a Paladin for what will likely be a long term campaign. This has of course led to look over the entire sweet of Paladin Powers across all 30 levels. I have to say the more I look the more I am beginning to think that the Strength built Pally is much more limited in powers and capabilities than his Charisma based counter part.

To me it almost seems as if the Strengh build was an after thought. There are even several levels where there is only one or even no Strength based power choices.

Has anyone else looked at the Pally suite of powers closely and find it to favor the Charisma build or am I missing some important balancing detail? What would make a great Pally STR build? Multiclassing?

 

[Blue]

A strength build innately synergizes with a melee defender. Just increasing your strength does wonders. They had to work to make charisma equal to strength for a melee defender, so there are more powers focusing on it.

Really, both work and have different feels.

To counter myself, my actual play time with a paladin is quite limited, so this isn't "the voice of experience" talking, just my observations.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[theNater]

From a few moments looking through the book, I get the feeling that the strength powers are better for doing damage than the charisma powers. The level 5 daily powers are one of the more extreme examples of this: the cha powers do 2d6(in a burst) or 3d8, while the str power does 4[W]. With a two-handed military weapon, that's pretty heavy damage.

9th level is the only level I spotted where there is no str power at all. It may be worth putting a level 1 or level 5 daily in that spot, or two-feat multiclassing into another class to replace it. Fighters, rangers, and warlords are all solid choices for this; clerics have some good powers as well, but multiclassing to cleric does not provide skill training to paladins.

And don't forget that opportunity attacks, charges, and other basic attacks will be based off of your strength, regardless of build. Strength paladins improve those along with their primary attacks, while charisma paladins improve them separately.

 

[Terwox]

Got a str-based pally in my group now. Seems to be enjoying it well enough though, and the damage is good... although he's a minotaur, and one-handing the greataxe does help a bit on that front.

 

[MwaO]

Strength is pretty good. Remember, that makes it a lot easier to get the weapon feat options, to do opportunity attacks, etc...

 

[Innuit]

Strength paladins are good combined with a tactical warlord (any really) due to commander's strike. Other than prereqs for feats, strength is a waste of points. The charisma powers are much stronger and have more options. Personally, I would recommend doing only one. We have a split str and cha pally and he doesn't do . Can't hit because he divided his stats. He's a walking meat shield who misses every attack. Consititution is uber important for a tank so keep that in mind as well.

In sum Con+Cha > Str+Con

 

[generalhenry]

opportunity attacks

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

There's a great synergy with the Radiant Servant PP (which gives you a 19-20 crit with radiant attacks) and the Paladin's Radiant damage-dealing at-will attack (Holy Strike?) which is Strength-based. Having a 10% crit chance with a bread-n-butter power is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[Jack99]

I had the pleasure of playing a Paladin recently for a 4E one shot. I am now faced with the task of making a Paladin for what will likely be a long term campaign. This has of course led to look over the entire sweet of Paladin Powers across all 30 levels. I have to say the more I look the more I am beginning to think that the Strength built Pally is much more limited in powers and capabilities than his Charisma based counter part.

To me it almost seems as if the Strengh build was an after thought. There are even several levels where there is only one or even no Strength based power choices.

Has anyone else looked at the Pally suite of powers closely and find it to favor the Charisma build or am I missing some important balancing detail? What would make a great Pally STR build? Multiclassing?

Multiclass fighter or warlord, or even cleric for the levels that only have CHA powers. In general, I wouldn't say it is weaker, just different. A CHA-based build has it's weaknesses (MAD for example) too. You could say that a STR paladin deals more damage, while a CHA paladin is more durable.

Cheers

 

[Razamir]

I'm working on a Str based Paladin for my groups Scales of War campaign. They look very doable to me. They seem to have a few less options than the Cha based, but I don't feel this makes them any less effective.

The only level where I see no Str based choices is the lvl 9 daily power. BUT these attacks are either Cha vs Will or vs Fort. Much easier to hit than AC. And two out of three of these have an Effect, which happens even if you miss.

I am multiclassing with Ranger, mainly for the skill and a touch of striker-ness. I will probably swap out my lvl 9 daily for Attacks on the Run.