New Pathfinder Player Level 3 Paladin Buy


Advice


Hey guys, relatively new to the game and am now partaking in a new campaign were we start off with level 3 characters. Seeing as my group has only done level 1 campaigns so far, I feel a little lost as to what I should buy with the 3000gp my character would start off with.

I was planning on playing a Human Paladin geared toward a tankish/damage role, probably with a 2hander greatsword. Fey Foundling and Power Attack were going to be my feats as I am the only frontline character in the party as well as the only one with an innate healing spell besides our Druid.

As far as items go though, with 3000gp I was thinking Full Plate (1500gp) along with a Greatsword (50gp?), a Wand of Cure Light Wounds (750gp) and after that I'm at a loss.

Actually, if someone could spell out for me (and more or less my group, our DM doesn't have too much experience) all the "basic" items characters should have, I would really appreciate it! Thanks again.


Are you set on human for your race? Orcs can take the feat ferocious resolve to get full ferocity allowing him to fight at negative HP. This combined with fey foundling makes it extremely hard to take out your character. You basically have to be killed to be stopped. Since you would be giving up your bonus feat you would not be able to pick up power attack until 5th level. That is not really all that bad because at 3rd level the damage is only 3 points. This would also give you darkvision so you can see in the dark which is also very useful.

Use a falchion instead of a great sword. The damage from the weapon is less, but the crit range is greater. Bless weapon allows you to auto confirm critical hits. It does not stack with keen, but it does work with improved critical. A high level paladin using smite evil and power attack with a crit range of 15-20 and bless weapon is devastating. Even without bless weapon and at low levels the increased chance of getting a critical is going to be more useful than the extra damage from the weapon. On the average the greatsword will do 2 points more damage than the falchion.

Don’t forget to also get a ranged weapon. Paladins get proficiency with bows so pick up a composite bow with a STR bonus. You may be focusing on melee damage but there will come times when being able to attack at range is needed. Without a ranged weapon your character will be helpless vs a flying creature with a ranged attack, or one that you cannot reach.

Grand Lodge

Be mindful of paladins since morality issues can be taxing on a roleplay aspect. Unless you are experince and/or your group is lax on the whole lawfull good thing. Pali can be great tank and damage doer. As mentine a high crit weapon can be good considere a nodashi. as per race half-orc is good can also considere Nagaji for the bonus to charisma and str, outside of that the mentined gear sounds good. concider a pathfinders kit or paladin's kit


Thanks for the responses guys.

The Paladin being human is already set in stone, I have the backstory and everything already written out. As far as the weapon goes, everything I read says that the Falchion is superior, but I like the Greatsword more thematically and since the monsters our DM throws at us tend to be on the weaker side I think I'll be fine.

Was really looking for suggestions on what to do with that 3000 starting gold, still waiting on tips for that.


For 3000 starting gold

1) best armor you can wear (probably full plate)

2) masterwork weapons (greatsword, composite longbow, cold iron morningstar -- it's both blunt and piercing), maybe a silver dagger just in case

3) some alchemist's fire for dealing with swarms

4) miscellaneous gear as needed


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Well, you have 700gp after the purchases listed above (Full Plate, Greatsword, and Wand of CLW - all good choices). Normally I'd suggest slightly less expensive armor to get a Cloak of Resistance +1, but you're a Paladin so that's not a priority purchase. I'd make your Greatsword Masterwork for 300 and buy a Composite Longbow with some Cold Iron arrows (+2 STR rating is 300gp, and the arrows cost 2gp/20 arrows). These choices give you either better numbers or versatility on the battlefield - the Longbow allows you to deal with flying enemies while the Masterwork Greatsword makes you more accurate. With the remaining gold (assuming 40 arrows bought, 96gp) buy yourself some gear. A backpack, small tent, rope, torches and tindertwigs, rations, etc - basic needs. Consider trading the human Skilled racial trait for Dimdweller to get Darkvision.

If you don't want the longbow, some potions wouldn't hurt. Potions of Enlarge Person are 50gp each and give you more reach and better damage/CMB, and Potions of CLW are a good backup in the event your Paladin and Druid both go down.


If buying masterwork I would buy as a special material. There's no reason a Cold Iron Weapon can't be your primary until you get the funds for Adamantine. I would also look at a back-up Alchemical Silver Weapon.
As has been suggested, Masterwork Full Plate is a solid choice, but again, you may want to hold-off for a special material of full-plate and get by with master work banded mail. But that choice will depend on your Dex bonus, likely future Dex bonus etc.


Now these last three suggestions have been on-point. I followed LuniasM's advice together with tonyz, especially the alchemists fire for the swarms, that's a great idea!

In fact, the advice worked so well, I was wondering if you guys could help out the Druid and the Witch in my group as well, they ended up each having 2000+ gp left over, as well as no armor! They simply didn't know what to buy and were worried about the spell cast failure rates.

Since I'm sure spellcasters have much different itemization needs than Paladins, could you guys give me a rundown on what a familiar focused Druid and hex-base Witch would buy as well?


If you can afford to put skill ranks in UMD (use magic device). I'd change that wand of cure light to a wand of longstrider.

Longstrider will increase your move +10' which will help a lot since you'll only be moving 20' in heavy armor.
Has a duration of 1 hour, you should have about a 25% chance to cast it with the wand and only a 5% 'lock up the wand for 24 hours'.


If I'm reading everything correctly, at level 3 at least the Paladin doesn't have access to UMD, it is not in my class skill list.


My Early buys:

3 Acid Flasks (20gp each) - Deal with swarms
3 Alchemist Fires (25gp each) - Deal with swarms
2 Tanglefoot bags (50gp each) - Tanglefoot bags debuff even when the person makes the save, and can be very useful if your party has trouble reaching a foe

Healing related:
A scroll of lesser restoration (125gp each) - stat damage sucks
2 Antitoxins (50gp each) - deal with poisons before it gets bad
2 Antiplagues (50gp each) - deal with disease before it gets bad
A Healers Kit (50gp): +2 on heal checks. Heal checks can be quite important

A blunt, a piercing, a slashing, and light weapon (So you can use it against swallow whole) and a ranged weapon + ammo

Make 1 backup cold iron, another silver


Meister_Kai wrote:
If I'm reading everything correctly, at level 3 at least the Paladin doesn't have access to UMD, it is not in my class skill list.

You can put ranks into things that aren't on your class spell list, you just don't get the +3 class skill bonus.

Paladins can gain UMD as a class skill through Traits like Dangerously Curious, or as a Human through the Fey Magic alternate racial trait. I'd go with the first one if possible, as the second one replaces Skilled and Paladins have too few skill points as it is.


Athaleon wrote:
Meister_Kai wrote:
If I'm reading everything correctly, at level 3 at least the Paladin doesn't have access to UMD, it is not in my class skill list.

You can put ranks into things that aren't on your class spell list, you just don't get the +3 class skill bonus.

Paladins can gain UMD as a class skill through Traits like Dangerously Curious, or as a Human through the Fey Magic alternate racial trait. I'd go with the first one if possible, as the second one replaces Skilled and Paladins have too few skill points as it is.

I must admit, I didn't even know you could do that! Thanks, that actually changes a lot of how I perceive the use of skillpoints!

Sander's suggestions are really good as well, I will keep that in mind the next time my character isn't flat broke.

Since the suggestions were so plentiful and helpful, my friends became jealous during our session. I would consider this thread probably close-able, but I would also appreciate your help on this thread as well: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2udhu?New-Player-Buy-Part-Deux-The-Witch-Ranger -and#3

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