Water/Aquatic Paladin Build - Plz help

[melon-neko]

This is really cool. I unfortunately don't have the rules handy or memorized so i can't expound on anything much, so i will make some comments =D

Definately keep divine grace, i know you already decided to, but i want to say it anyways

I don't think damage spells would step on the toes of evokers. Iirc, paladins don't get spells until like 5th lvl or around there, so any damage they deal with spells is going to be very subpar to a full caster. it will really just keep them from needing to carry a bow or crossbow in case things go ranged.

On the detect fire and evil. My suggestion would be to split the powers. Make detect fire at will, and make detect evil be limited, since the paladin is not as well versed in positive and negative energies, he can only invoke detecting evil a few times a day, as opposed to fire which he can detect anytime.

Oh..i suppose one other thing, i'm not sure if this is relavent, i am not to well versed in fire subtype creatures, but if many/most of them require magic weapons to hit, you might make them count as having the equivilant of a + lvl/5 weapon for damage reduction against fire subtypes. Or something along those lines. It seems like normal swords would just melt on a fire elemental ^^;

Melon

 

[Thia Halmades]

Melon-neko: Good plan, but don't forget that your standard Paladin doesn't get that either. They have to take Improved Smiting to add the Good descriptor to their Smite for purposes of overcoming DR. One of the questions I asked earlier was in regards to magic items; in this world, it would make sense (as DamionW posted) to find elementally aligned items, such as an Ice Blade that overcomes Fire's DR (Cold/10 for example).

Would you rule that they take TWO kinds of Smiting, one for Evil and one for Cold? Hmm... anyway. The other thing is that its generally PrC territory to grant them straight overcome DR abilities, IIRC.

LCpt. Thia Halmades

 

[Nyaricus]

Snilloc's Snowball Swarm (as it is) is on page 74 of FRCS. Its a level 2 Wiz/Sorc Spell, and i like it!! Kinda (read: close, but not too close) like a crappy Fireball spell, but with the snowball-fight-flavour

Waterspout is another one from there that would work; its a Divine spell from the Ocean Domain, and is level 7, Maelstrom is another at Ocean level 8 (so probably both too powerful). No other Water-oriented spells from FRCS.

Hope that helps

 

[DamionW]

This is really cool. I unfortunately don't have the rules handy or memorized so i can't expound on anything much, so i will make some comments =D

Definately keep divine grace, i know you already decided to, but i want to say it anyways

I don't think damage spells would step on the toes of evokers. Iirc, paladins don't get spells until like 5th lvl or around there, so any damage they deal with spells is going to be very subpar to a full caster. it will really just keep them from needing to carry a bow or crossbow in case things go ranged.

On the detect fire and evil. My suggestion would be to split the powers. Make detect fire at will, and make detect evil be limited, since the paladin is not as well versed in positive and negative energies, he can only invoke detecting evil a few times a day, as opposed to fire which he can detect anytime.

Oh..i suppose one other thing, i'm not sure if this is relavent, i am not to well versed in fire subtype creatures, but if many/most of them require magic weapons to hit, you might make them count as having the equivilant of a + lvl/5 weapon for damage reduction against fire subtypes. Or something along those lines. It seems like normal swords would just melt on a fire elemental ^^;

Melon

Thanks for the comments. As for detecting, his detect evil is unrelated to channeling positive energy, just being sensitive to evil auras. That's why I wanted to keep both sides of it at will. As for DR, I think I'll stay with Thia on that. They'll need a magical weapon, a spell, or a PrC to overcome DR. Nice idea, though.

 

[DamionW]

One thing I'm wondering, does the original paladin's Remove Disease effect function with her paladin level as her caster level, or 1/2 of her paladin level as her caster level? That would determine the strength of her Quench effect as a water paladin.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

One thing I'm wondering, does the original paladin's Remove Disease effect function with her paladin level as her caster level, or 1/2 of her paladin level as her caster level? That would determine the strength of her Quench effect as a water paladin.

Caster level I believe. Paladin's Caster Level = 1/2 Paladin Level.

 

[DamionW]

Caster level I believe. Paladin's Caster Level = 1/2 Paladin Level.

Thanks. You know where that's written anywhere? If not, I'll just go with it. Also, you have any other thoughts, Frukathka?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Thanks. You know where that's written anywhere? If not, I'll just go with it. Also, you have any other thoughts, Frukathka?

PHB, page 44, column 2 paragraph 3.

I really like your idea. I've been toying around with the idea of elemental palaldins, and this certainly helps me gets things started. I really want a fire based paladin, so I'm going to try to work on that over the next couple of days using your class as a base. Good job!

 

[Thia Halmades]

DamionW, when in doubt: SRD. Just go to Google and type "SRD" and it'll pop right up. That's all three base books plus a smattering of splat books, esp. Psionics which I guess are technically OGL, if not officially Core. However, I haven't checked on Paladins recently, so I can't answer the question, just give you the tool to always find the answer easily. That being said.

Snilloc's Snowball: Glad you liked it, Nyaricus. Personal fave of mine from back in the day-day. That, and Agannazar's Scorcher before they nerfed drek out of it. The 2nd Ed. version was FAR more powerful. Effectively an instant Flame-Thrower.

Where was I? Oh yes.

DamionW: Glad you liked the bits I posted, hope they were helpful. Make sure as you guide your players through the world that you do start establishing a central conflict and an ultimate "win" condition. Yes, I know all the mess about how D&D isn't about 'winning' or 'losing' but that's not entirely what I'm referring too. All story arcs come to an end. It's a rule. So as you run those threads, decide how long you want your world to last.

In other words: Are you hurtling the world towards its ultimate reunion with itself on the PMP? Will the Arcanists win? Can the PCs decide who to support? Sorry, I ask a lot of questions, I know, but that's how my friends help me write. They ask things I may not have thought of and suddenly I have tons more plot than I did before.

Decide if you want this world to exist as-is, and for how long. Fiction is inspired by reality, and war constantly reshapes the face of the world as we know it.

LCpt. Thia Halmades

 

[DamionW]

DamionW, when in doubt: SRD. Just go to Google and type "SRD" and it'll pop right up. That's all three base books plus a smattering of splat books, esp. Psionics which I guess are technically OGL, if not officially Core. However, I haven't checked on Paladins recently, so I can't answer the question, just give you the tool to always find the answer easily. That being said.

Here's the relevent snippet from the paladin SRD:

Remove Disease (Sp)

At 6th level, a paladin can produce a remove disease effect, as the spell, once per week. She can use this ability one additional time per week for every three levels after 6th (twice per week at 9th, three times at 12th, and so forth).

It doesn't mention the specific caster level for this effect, so I wasn't sure if it was the same as the caster level for his spells. That's why I asked.

DamionW: Glad you liked the bits I posted, hope they were helpful. Make sure as you guide your players through the world that you do start establishing a central conflict and an ultimate "win" condition. Yes, I know all the mess about how D&D isn't about 'winning' or 'losing' but that's not entirely what I'm referring too. All story arcs come to an end. It's a rule. So as you run those threads, decide how long you want your world to last.

In other words: Are you hurtling the world towards its ultimate reunion with itself on the PMP? Will the Arcanists win? Can the PCs decide who to support? Sorry, I ask a lot of questions, I know, but that's how my friends help me write. They ask things I may not have thought of and suddenly I have tons more plot than I did before.

Decide if you want this world to exist as-is, and for how long. Fiction is inspired by reality, and war constantly reshapes the face of the world as we know it.

LCpt. Thia Halmades

Basically, my campaign intends to start with a conference of elemental ambassadors to a summit to end a food embargo between the Earth and Air Powers. When the PCs go to inspect the crops to ready them for shipment, they find the fields being burned by orcs (which for a long time had been scrounging out a living and keeping to themselves in the Fire Realms). The PCs with the help of paladins will quickly put them down (they're very weak for an orc warband). Insensed by the orcish destruction, the paladins will be riled up into another crusade to seek out retribution. Once they leave their fortresses, this will initiate a series of internal revolts in all of the elemental lands (sahaugin, skum, aboleth and kraken in the water realms, cloud giants and gnolls in the air realms, salamanders and fire giants in the fire realms, and trogolodytes and goblins in the earth realms). The players have to piece together that this was not all by chance, that the orcs as a people really didn't want a war, a small group of low level was just enchanted to attack, and that the real nemesis is a group of grey elven arcanists and priests. Once they find this out, many levels higher, they will face them as armies of elementals and golems clash. At the final hour, the necromancer arcanists will do the Ethereal Plane a fatal blow and cause a rupture to the Negative Energy Plane, sapping the life for leagues around their fortress and allowing tons of undead back into the world. The remaining arcanists and the elementalists have to band together to defeat the undead and close the rift. That is the projected end of the campaign. So, I do have an overall scheme for the plot and a projected endpoint. I just need to work out the individual adventures and NPCs they'll meet along the way. but before I can do that, I'll need 2-3 more players in my area, and a solid set of house rules to govern my homebrew setting. That's why I've been posting threads to hash out the details here.