I mean, introduce him to a proper, upstanding young lady he can discuss scripture with.
Anyways, we're starting a new campaign in a couple weeks. 5th level, 20 point buy.
I'm planning on using a warhammer and shield, with a longbow for back-up ranged attacks. I kind of picture Ironman wielding Thor's Mjolnir and Captain America's Shield.
I'm probably going to be a half-elf with the following stats:
Str 15 (5 pts +1 at 4th level)
Dex 14 (5 pts)
Con 14 (5 pts)
Int 10 (0 pts)
Wis 10 (0 pts)
Cha 16 (5 pts +2 for half-elf)
I'm planning on the Bludgeoner feat at 1st level, and probably Selective Channeling at 5th level, so my 3rd level feat is open.
I'm planning on taking the Deft Dodger trait (+1 to Reflex saves) and the Dangerously Curious trait (+1 to Use Magic Device skill checks...which I plan on combining with my half-elf's bonus Skill Focus Use Magic Device for some fun magical options).
I plan on maxing out Diplomacy and Use Magic Device, and using my favored class skill points to dabble in Heal, Knowledge nobility, Knowledge religion, Sense Motive, and Spellcraft.
The rest of party is going to be a human lorewarden fighter, a half-orc witch, and maybe a halfling rogue/shadowdancer or rogue/wizard/arcane trickster, so my paladin is going to be doing the heavy lifting of the healing.
Any advice? Should I take the Hospitaler archetype? What should my level 3 feat be?
You are a frontline combat type. Power Attack should be I'm there somewhere.
I know.
I'm also considering putting my 4th level boost into Dex, so I can take 2 weapon fighting later, and do the hammer and shield bash routine.
Maaaaan, if you wanna be pimpin' you gots ta be an ANTI-paladin :D
Anyway...you have a witch, it's not like the healing burden is all on you. I would not go Hospitaler. Try to draw the enemies to hurt you and use your LoH for yourself as a swift action, it'll be more efficient.
If you're taking Bludgeoner, you presumably would want to take Enforcer. In fact, ditching deft dodger for a trait to make intimidate a class skill would be good.
I would get Step Up as my 1st level feat, though.
Do you plan to get to very high levels? You can use that Half-Elf skill focus to help qualify for Eldritch Heritage. The popular choice is Arcane bloodline for a familiar at level 3. And that certainly is a very good idea. If you expect to get into high levels, though, check out the Marid bloodline. At 11th level, you can take Improved EH and get Water's Fury for an at will standard action area of effect line attack that does ok untyped damage and blinds! Pretty sweet ranged option to smite fools with.
OOH! I like the Bludgeoner + Enforcer combo!!!!
I'm not sure what level we plan on getting to. Probably not too high a level; it's probably just going to last until August at the latest.
But I'll check out that Marid bloodline.
At 5th level, you'll have use of a divine weapon bond if you don't want a holy horse. You can use the bond to put the merciful quality on a weapon, so it does non-lethal damage. Depending on how often you think you'll want to avoid lethal damage, this might allow you to take another feat instead of bludgeoner.
You can also use the divine weapon bond to make a weapon keen, so you might look into a weapon with a good critical range like a scimitar.
The hammer and shield two-weapon fighting combo is a good one for a paladin because your smiting bonuses are applied to every hit. The more attacks per round you can get while smiting, the more effective you'll be.
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You can also check the Orc bloodline from Orcs of Golarion for VERY high STR bonuses (when you reach really high level though).
I would advise focusing on the damage dealing thing rather than being a strong healer. With this focus, the Oathbound (Oath of Vengeance) archetype from UM is very interesting for its additional Smites.
The Oath vs Fiends is nice too, especially because it allows you to share the love of your divine bond with your armor and shield in addition to your weapon. Not sure if it is compatible with Oath of Vengeance though.
And I am a strong believer in the maxed out CHA for any Paladin build. It gives so much good things to the Pally (especially the all-important bonus to saves) that it can never be high enough IMO.
You might be better off taking power attack rather than bludgeoner. It's boring and standard but not much helps more with getting the bonus damage up there. If you do go bludgeoner, make sure to do enforcer and get intimidate as a class skill through a trait, as noted above. A mere +1 to reflex saves is hardly worth blowing a trait on, especially when you'll get CHA bonus to all saves.
I'm thinking of going Bludgeoner, Enforcer, and either Power Attack or Selective Channeling (I don't want to heal my enemies!).
I'm also going to look at 2-weapon fighting and the shield bashing feats.
EDIT:
1. Skill Focus Intimidate (half-elf bonus)
1. Bludgeoner
3. Enforcer
4. Dex +1
5. Two-Weapon Fighting
7. Improved Shield Bash
8. Dex +1
9. Shield Slam
11. Shield Master
12. Dex +1
13. Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
15. Double Slice
16. Dex +1 (and a book +1 Dex)
17. Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
19. Two Weapon Rend
20. Dex +1 (and another book +2 Dex) :-P
It means all my ability boosts will go into Dex, but that's OK.
A cleric should not be using channelling to heal in combat past level 4. You should almost never be using channeling...period. It costs 2 LoH uses. LoH is so much nicer and can be used on yourself as a swift.
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A cleric should not be using channelling to heal in combat past level 4. You should almost never be using channeling...period. It costs 2 LoH uses. LoH is so much nicer and can be used on yourself as a swift.
This. Even as a Hospitaler, Channeling is for out of combat healing on a Paladin, not in-combat.
I'm planning on using a warhammer and shield, with a longbow for back-up ranged attacks. I kind of picture Ironman wielding Thor's Mjolnir and Captain America's Shield.
So basically you're a one man Avengers team?
A quickdraw shield would be a good investment, and would allow the character to quickly switch from two-handing the hammer for maximum damage, to hammer plus shield (with a spike on it) for two-weapon fighting. However, two-weapon fighting is very feat-intensive. You might need to take a couple levels of fighter among your levels of paladin in order to make it work. You might be better off just getting a bigger, two-handed hammer instead.
I'm gonna be a half-elf, so multi-classing isn't that repulsive. That said, I plan on sticking to pure paladin. If I multiclassed, I'd probably go rogue for the good Reflex saves and evasion and sneak attack and trapfinding and rogue talent(s). While 3 or 4 levels of rogue would cost only 1 BAB and some hit points, it would also delay a level's worth of spells and some healing potential.
If mithral armor counts as 1 category lighter than normal, would my base speed with a mithril breastplate be 30 feet? Or reduced to 20 feet as normal medium armor?
I'm planning on using a warhammer and shield, with a longbow for back-up ranged attacks. I kind of picture Ironman wielding Thor's Mjolnir and Captain America's Shield.So basically you're a one man Avengers team?
And the witch can cast enlarge person on me so I can HULK out!
I'm also playing the half-orc witch. It's one of those campaigns with 1 GM and 2 players, so both players get to play 2 PCs each. If I don't switch out UMD for Intimidate, I'll have a decent chance of using his scrolls (+15 at 5th level (5 ranks + 3 class + 1 trait + 3 Charisma + 3 Skill Focus).
Ahh very nice. This is a very interesting build.
I think it will be fun and versatile. I can fight with warhammer and throwing hammer, then throw the hammer, ready my quickdraw shield for some added defense, then unready it to get some two handed smack down going, or draw another throwing hammer or spare shortsword or something.
You should really get rid of that infight-healing-idea...
Considering optimization your build really isnt close to the maximum but it doesnt seem like you're interessted in optimization and the concept is kinda cool, so go ahead:D
I'm going more for fun than optimization.
Maybe I'm just a brutal GM, but if it wasn't for infight-healing, almost every encounter would be a TPK. And the guy taking over GM duties is a super min-maxer, so I expect his NPCs to be pretty brutal.
Ideally, my guy is going to have quite the AC, so I can draw fire, and then let the lorewarden fighter and rogue deal the damage.
First thing you do is get the Remove Disease mercy as soon as possible... and then start a successful business! :D
Some feats of note from UM:
Your aura of courage becomes more potent, as your steadfast resolve is also manifested by your allies.
Prerequisites: Aura of courage class feature, caster level 8th.
Benefit: Your aura of courage expands to a 20-foot-radius emanation. Allies within the aura are immune to fear effects.
Normal: The aura of courage affects each ally within 10 feet, and grants a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects
Greater Mercy
Your mercy has incredible recuperative properties.
Prerequisites: Cha 13, lay on hands class feature, mercy class feature.
Benefit: When you use your lay on hands ability and the target of that ability does not have any conditions your mercies can remove, it instead heals an additional +1d6 points of damage.
Reward of Grace
When you lay on hands, divine energy ripples through you, granting you grace.
Prerequisite: Lay on hands class feature.
Benefit: Each time you use your lay on hands ability, you gain a +1 sacred bonus on all attack rolls for 1 round.
Ultimate Mercy
By using lay on hands, you can bring the dead back to life.
Prerequisites: Cha 19, Greater Mercy, lay on hands, mercy class feature.
Benefit: You can expend 10 uses of lay on hands to bring a single dead creature you touch back to life as a raise dead spell with a caster level equal to your paladin level. You must provide the material component for raise dead or choose to accept 1 temporary negative level; this level automatically goes away after 24 hours, never becomes a permanent negative level, and cannot be overcome in any way except by waiting for the duration to expire.
Ultimate Resolve
Your aura of resolve does not fall with you.
Prerequisite: Aura of resolve class feature.
Benefit: Your aura of resolve is a 20-foot emanation, and does not end if you fall unconscious.
Normal: The aura of resolve affects each ally within 10 feet, and ends when you fall unconscious.
Unsanctioned Knowledge
You have searched though forbidden texts and are privy to powerful but proscribed magic.
Prerequisites: Int 13, ability to cast 1st-level paladin spells.
Benefit: Pick one 1st-level spell, one 2nd-level spell, one 3rd-level spell, and one 4th-level spell from the bard, cleric, inquisitor, or oracle spell lists. Add these spells to your paladin spell list as paladin spells of the appropriate level. Once chosen, these spells cannot be changed.
Word of Healing
Using the same divine energy as your lay on hands ability, you can heal others at a distance.
Prerequisite: Lay on hands class feature.
Benefit: You may use your lay on hands to heal another creature at a range of 30 feet as a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You must be able to speak and have a free hand to use this ability. The target heals half the amount they would have healed if you had touched them, but gains the benefits of your mercies as normal.
There are a few others in the book related to Paladins but they suck (expend all remaining lay on hands uses for the day to do awful bonus damage on one hit; heal hp equal to your cha mod when healing others; other crap). Of the ones I listed, I think the best are Fearless Aura (if DM uses fear effects a lot), Greater Mercy (basically just a free +1d6 healed if target has no conditions your mercies can help), and Unsanctioned Knowledge (you would need to give yourself higher int, but it's good if you can afford it).
Reward of Life is nice assuming you're using LoH to heal yourself as a swift, but it's basically inferior to Weapon Focus if you haven't gotten that beforehand. Ultimate Mercy will take a while for you to have the 10 uses for, but raise dead is nice to have (always opt for the negative level; cast it on a downtime day). Ultimate Resolve seems pretty poor but if it comes up a lot, might be worth extending the range... Word of Healing is very helpful if you do plan to heal others in combat, in case you can't reach them or it's the condition you mostly care about removing. I seriously don't recommend using LoH for in-combat healing other than on yourself, though.
On the subject of Int, though... If not doing 13+ for Unsanctioned Knowledge, consider dropping it to 7. You only lose 1 skill point. You can use favored class bonus to make up for it, and Human's bonus skill point could also count if you went human, for a total of 3 skill points/level despite the Int.
I'm going more for fun than optimization.
Maybe I'm just a brutal GM, but if it wasn't for infight-healing, almost every encounter would be a TPK. And the guy taking over GM duties is a super min-maxer, so I expect his NPCs to be pretty brutal.
Ideally, my guy is going to have quite the AC, so I can draw fire, and then let the lorewarden fighter and rogue deal the damage.
The tougher the encounter the less is incombat healing worth it. Heal or swift-heals can be good sometimes. thats it.
I guess it just depends on the situation.
Stream Of The Sky: Those look like some fun feats, but I think I'm going to stick with my 2-weapon fighting, shield slamming build. It may not be optimized, but I think it will be fun. If surrounded, I can make a bunch of opponents shaken. If dueling one BBEG, I can smite and get lots of attacks on it each round, with my smite bonus to hit compensating for my two-weapon fighting penalties, also getting multiple opportunities to make it shaken, which also helps compensate for two-weapon fighting.
Healing in combat gets a bad rap -- yes it sucks but every healer has got to do it at some point. But look at it this way: when you heal in combat, you're generally only going to be healing the front line combatants. You can heal yourself and the fighter with a swift and a standard action with LOH without having to worry about selective channel. Even with selective you'll be able to exclude 2 or 3 enemies but eventually that's not going to cut it. Paladin is feat-starved (especially if you're thinking about TWF chain) so it's just not worth it. If you're really hurting for healing help yes do greater mercy or extra loh.
The party is going to be my paladin, a witch, a lorewarden fighter, and probably a wannabe arcane trickster. The witch will have the healing hex and max ranks in USM, so eventually we can get a staff of heal, hopefully.
But my paladin's AC is going to be pretty high (especially since all my ability boosts are going into Dex for the TWF feats!), so he'll probably not need too much healing. The lorewarden fighter plans on using a reach weapon, so hopefully he can keep his opponents at bay with that and not need too much healing. The witch is going to try to avoid melee altogether and has a wand of CLW just in case. Don't know much about the wannabe arcane trickster yet. I suggested an archery build, but I don't know what the player has decided yet.
I just realized the Bludgeoner + Enforcer combo might work even better for a half-orc inquisitor taking the half-orc inquisitor favored class option (+1/2 to Intimidate and Knowledge checks to identify monsters).
Stern gaze give the inquisitor a +1/2 bonus to Intimidate and Sense Motive checks, so combined with the Half-orc Intimidating racial ability, the half-orc inquisitor is getting the equivalent to 4 ranks in intimidate every 2 levels, plus +2 from Intimidating + whatever they get for their Charisma +3 for it being a racial ability.
A half-orc can also trade in its normal racial weapon familiarity for Chain Fighter, which gives them flails and heavy flails.
Not too shabby.