Which Prc for the Paladin?

[Bauglir]

I've actually made a low Wisdom (8 - yup, no spells) falchion weilding paladin for a game that's going to start tonight. Initially I'm planning on going for a Paladin/Fighter build but I'd like to add a PrC into the mix along the way. Anyone have any good suggestions?

 

[green slime]

I have flavourful suggestions, but no good ones.

By mixing with fighter and ignoring your spellcasting, as well as delaying your paladin abilities, there are no PrC I know of that strike me as particularly powerful builds for you to go into (mind you I only own a few non-WotC materials). If you are willing to do things more for flavour and character, then there are a huge number that you could get yourself tangled into, depending on where you wanted your PC to go.

 

[Bauglir]

Well I'm looking for something flavourful that will focus on fighting ability rather than spellcasting and mount. A fighter PrC would be worth considering but I'm sure there must be some 'Holy Fighter' PrCs out there with a bit of oomph to them.

Power of the class is a must, as the DM in question runs a VERY high powered game (suffice to say we were given starting stats of 18,18,16,14,10,8 and told to allocate ) and it's not fun getting left behind.

Fwiw - Human Pal1 str18, dex16, con14, int10, wis8, cha18

 

[Joshua Randall]

By ditching your Wisdom you're missing out on the paladin's spells, which are quite good at high level (*coughHolySwordcough*). You're also unable to make use of some powerful PrC from Defenders of the Faith like the munchkiny Templar, the aforementioned Hospitaler, or the flavorful Hunter of the Dead.

If you just want to fight, be a fighter. Spellcasting is rather integral to the paladin - it's (part of) what he gets instead of oodles of bonus feats, to distinguish him from the fighter.

 

[Arnix]

By ditching your Wisdom you're missing out on the paladin's spells, which are quite good at high level (*coughHolySwordcough*). You're also unable to make use of some powerful PrC from Defenders of the Faith like the munchkiny Templar, the aforementioned Hospitaler, or the flavorful Hunter of the Dead.

If you just want to fight, be a fighter. Spellcasting is rather integral to the paladin - it's (part of) what he gets instead of oodles of bonus feats, to distinguish him from the fighter.

Our book "A Question of Honor: A Guidebook to Knights" has a PrC called the Knight Champion designed for Paladins and Black guards. It provides several abilities as well as 1/2 levels in Spell Casting and Mount/Servant advancement.

 

[Particle_Man]

The DMG has a prestige class with specific rules and benefits for paladins that take it.

Blackguard, baby!

 

[Bauglir]

Even if there isn't a suitable PrC out there I think the paladin's abilities are easily worth the loss of a feat in a Pal1/Ftrx build (as compared to a pure fighter) particularly with these high stats to throw around.

Also it's fun playing a character concept that's a little different. (as I tend towards pure class builds with many of my characters). Weapon Master might be a good option (particularly since he favours a falchion).

Thanks for all the input guys.

 

[Storminator]

Get Call of Duty from Chainmail Bikini Games over on RPGNow. It's a whole book (ok, its pdf...), on paladins, including paladins as prestige classes and ten other PrCs. In particular, I like the Archon, which is a judge, jury, and executioner, the Merseus, which has all sorts of bonus healing abilities (automatically stabilize everyone within 10 ft... yeah!), and the Swordsaint.

It also has some great paladin feats, so pick it up before you make your character.

PS

 

[Thanee]

Following the examples of Wizard/Sorcerer PrC's and Cleric PrC's, an appropriate "specific" Paladin PrC would be one that had low entrance requirements, and granted almost all of the benefits of the original class, and tacked on more abilities on top of those.

Show me just a single Cleric PrC, which does that! Just one!

I've yet to find a PrC that is such a no-brainer choice as you describe above!

With Sorcerer/Wizard PrC, ok, these are pretty special, as the classes don't give anything except for their spellcasting (and the Wizard bonus feats); worst hit points, worst BAB, worst skill points, etc; so any PrC that has continuous spellcasting progression and adds some abilities on top indeed works like what you describe above, however most of them do have some requirements, that I wouldn't rate as low (mostly useless feats or high skill requirements). Some are definitely low, tho, but usually don't add much then as well.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Joshua Randall]

Mr. Thanee, meet Mr. Contemplative. The only real prerequisite is Knowledge (Religion) 13 ranks. It doesn't get much eaiser than that! Oh yeah, you're supposed to have personal contact with an agent of your deity, but who ever bothers with the role-playing prerequisites?

For your investment into a skill which you were going to keep maxed anyway, you get full caster advancement, prestigue domain(s), and various immunities/bonuses. On the down side you have poor BAB and d6 HD, but that's not a bad tradeoff for a spellcasting cleric.