Worthwhile 2nd level Paladin spells

[Elder-Basilisk]

Paladins have a lot of great spells at level 1--lesser restoration, bless weapon, divine sacrifice, golden barding, etc. They have decent spells at level 4--dispel evil, holy sword, restoration, etc. With some of the various expansion books, they even have some good spells at level 3--Undead bane Weapon from Libris Mortis for instance.

But all of the second level paladin spells everywhere seem to suck. If I go to the WotC Complete books, all I come away with is Zeal. A decent spell in the right situation, but it is very rarely the right situation for it. In the PHB, the best I can come up with it Bull's Strength. (And Bull's Strength is a pathetic excuse for a second level spell). The Players' Guide to Arcanis has some decent second level spells for its Holy Champions but nothing for paladins.

Are there any other sources with decent second level spells for a paladin?

 

[FireLance]

There are a few (in my opinion) from the Book of Exalted Deeds. Off the top of my head, I can think of the sanctified spells Ayailla's Radiant Burst and Luminous Armor.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Call Mount is pretty good (I believe from Complete Divine). Since it acts exactly as if your mount had been called per the class ability (but has a shorter duration), it can act as Heal Mount, completely healing a badly wounded mount, as well as allowing a second calling of the mount.

Bull's Strength isn't great as a Personal spell, but as a Shared spell, it's fairly good. Especially if you have an alternate mount with a decent set of attacks.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I dunno, I think that bulls str and eagles splendour are worthwhile ones; how many 8th level paladins will have a +4 Str item and a +4 Cha item?

Delay Poison is actually quite a good spell now since you can pre-cast it and not have to worry about being poisoned for the next 8 hours (e.g. you are going into a nest of giant spiders/nest of drow etc etc).

Resist Energy isn't great because of your puny caster level, but even energy resistance 10 against one energy type for 40 minutes isn't bad, and it goes to resistance 20 for 70 mins when you are 14th level.

Shield Other is an excellent spell if you want to righteously protect a weakling in your charge, and Zone of Truth is great for non-combat righteous investigation.

I don't find any complaints with the paladin spell list, only the PHB caster level (so I give caster level = level-3 to paladins and rangers... matching their turning level).

Cheers

 

[Plane Sailing]

IIRC Relics and Rituals gives the paladins some love too - some are grossly overpowered, but there are nice ones - the one that sends up a beacon above the paladin in distress or dying, and the higher level version which allows you to respond to a beacon, teleporting you to the location (and potential trap, heh heh heh)

Cheers

 

[kjenks]

Remember, you can prepare lower level spells in higher level slots, so if you can't think of a good 2nd level spell, prepare another Divine Sacrifice or Divine Favor.

Tip of the Day: Rod, Metamagic, Maximize, lesser, 14,000 gp -- does amazing things to your Divine Sacrifice spell, especially if you share the spell with your mount.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Bull's Strength is a very good spell when shared. My mount fights better than I do when it gets a full attack.

I agree that the majority of the 2nd level spells are pretty darn unappealing to prepare. "Luckily" we have so few slots it is not that difficult to fill them. On the optimistic side, those boring 2nd level spells are very useful to have on the list because they are excellent scrolls to keep around for an emergency.

 

[Lamoni]

Two spells that I can think of are Blessed Aim (gives your allies a +2 on ranged attacks), and my favorite, Tiny Mount. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I found the Tiny Mount spell, but it changes your mount into a diminutive creature for up to an hour/level and can be dismissed. It is great for dungeon crawls and getting through other tight spaces. Being able to call your mount made it possible for your mount to join you in the castle or the dungeon. Tiny mount allows the mount to help you out in more than one room.

 

[FireLance]

Tiny Mount was probably from the Dragon Magazine #299, the one with Campaign Components: Knights. It had an article on paladin spells.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I dunno, I think that bulls str and eagles splendour are worthwhile ones; how many 8th level paladins will have a +4 Str item and a +4 Cha item?

You don't need a +4 item in either slot for it to be of dubious value. The short duration means that they will often take a standard action to cast. And if you have even a +2 item, the bonus is not too significant. Sharing them with the mount makes Bull's strength better, but I still don't think it's a keeper.

Delay Poison is actually quite a good spell now since you can pre-cast it and not have to worry about being poisoned for the next 8 hours (e.g. you are going into a nest of giant spiders/nest of drow etc etc).

That one I'll give you. Worth casting in the right situation. But it's a contingency spell, not one you use all the time.

Resist Energy isn't great because of your puny caster level, but even energy resistance 10 against one energy type for 40 minutes isn't bad, and it goes to resistance 20 for 70 mins when you are 14th level.

Yeah, caster level is the problem on this one--and that Resist Energy is a contingency spell. It's very useful when it's useful, but 3 times out of 5, it never comes up and one of the last two times, it's too late to cast it by the time you realize you need it.

Shield Other is an excellent spell if you want to righteously protect a weakling in your charge,

Or if you want a +1 resistance bonus and +1 deflection bonus yourself I suppose. But that seems like defeating the purpose of the spell. In general, however, a paladin is going to be up front taking damage. Taking damage for someone else as well sounds like a recipe for disaster.

and Zone of Truth is great for non-combat righteous investigation.

How many paladins have enough wisdom to make the DC worthwhile? I'd rather just stick with my maxed sense motive.

I don't find any complaints with the paladin spell list, only the PHB caster level (so I give caster level = level-3 to paladins and rangers... matching their turning level).

Cheers[/QUOTE]

Me, I think the Paladin list is sorely lacking at 2nd level and somewhat lacking at 3rd (though the caster level fix would change some of that).