Vote for your favorite Paragon Path - Part 3: Paladin

[mkill]

@babinro:
It's a bit too early for a definite analysis of what makes a popular PP.

From what I've seen, the top picks have the following in common:

- A concept that can be explained in one sentence. "Mark like a fighter", "get lots of damage resistance", "heal when your mark triggers", or, predictable for upcoming polls, "crit on 18-20 with a dagger" and "damage every time you teleport".

This is related to...

- A single powerful, straightforward, always useful feature. An ability like +1 to all attack rolls, or +Wis damage to all attacks, or +1 AC is hard to argue with -- it's good in every combat, every round. Compare that to something like +5 to attacks against zombies: Sure, that's awesome if today's session is a reenactment of Dawn of the Dead, but you can go entire campaigns without ever using the feature if your DM thinks zombies are stupid.

- Easy entry, which works with a many different character concepts. It's no wonder a PP with "Swordmage, Shaman spirit and region Arkanul" as prerequisites is not popular. Who's ever going to play that except for the writer himself, during the initial playtest?
Compare that to a PP like Dreadnought, which can be slapped on pretty much any Str-based weapon user. Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, Ranger, Warden, Barbarian, even Assault Swordmage and Brutal Scoundrel works.

PHB1 just happens to have many PPs like that. Next to the big three, contributing factors are:

- Useful daily, encounter and utility power, although I've seen people take a PP with powers that are useless to their character if they really wanted that 11th level feature.

- Combo potential: How well the different features of the path mesh together.

- Action point feature: I consider this one icing on the cake. There are good ones (Justiciar), there are lame ones (Truthseeker), there are a few broken ones, but so far I've seen only one that makes a PP worth taking (that Winter Eladrin PP from current dragon)

- Cool fluff: However, it's pretty easy to completely reskin a rules skeleton and fit it into the character that you want to play, but it's difficult to rewrite rules to fit the image you want. I consider it a blessing that the devs removed the tie between prestige classes and in-world organizations from the previous edition.
Cool fluff can get you interested in a PP, but whether you really take it or not depends on the crunch.

 

[babinro]

Great points there mkill, it does make sense that the initial 4 paragon path options tend to be broader in order to suit more build options.

In making a broader paragon path you typically add something universally good like the +1AC or improved critical. A lot of the power books tend to have more niche builds and stricter requirements making them great for a specific build.

I don't know about you guys, but when I see the power books print out race specific paths, I'm always a little disappointed that it is eating up one of the few options.

On the other hand, I love the racial paragon path concept shown in PHB 2. I hope they continue to get expanded on.

 

[Eric888]

Morninglord.

Why it isn't in your list is baffling.

One of the best level 11 encounter power out there, a level 16 feature that is better than pit fighter in damage and it gives it to allies too, and most of the other power and features are great too (okay the level 20 daily is meh.)

Really needs to be on the list.

 

[mkill]

Morninglord.

Why it isn't in your list is baffling.

One of the best level 11 encounter power out there, a level 16 feature that is better than pit fighter in damage and it gives it to allies too, and most of the other power and features are great too (okay the level 20 daily is meh.)

Really needs to be on the list.

Simple reason: Morning Lord requires any divine class, not just Paladin. I limited the list to all PPs that require Paladin, not to all possible choices that make sense (same reason Pit Fighter is not listed here). But no worries, it will show up in another poll.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I voted Purple Dragon Knight, because it's one of the few Paragon Paths that actually has any flavor.

Mechanically, it's pretty solid, too.

(Although with my paladin in actual play, I took Questing Knight. Heh.)

 

[BobTheNob]

Grey Guard. Not mechanically (and the poster did ask "Whats your favorite?" not "which do you think is the most powerful?"), just for the whole questionable ethics and the fact they represent the ends justifying the means. I like them for the roleplaying aspect.

 

[Turtlejay]

None of the PP's specifically for Paladin exite me much. Hospitaler is great if you are Cha/Wis. My Str/Wis Dragonborn was looking at Paragon Multiclassing Barbarian, or later Scion of Arkhosia. Both for flavor reasons.

Jay