Martain's page

I was calculating out what my Radiant damage would be further out for viability.

Ex: Lvl 1 Cleric (Crusader) / Lvl 9 Paladin (Hospitaler)

Items:
Headband of Alluring Charisma +4
Bracers of the Merciful Knight

Feats:
Radiant Charge
Extra Lay on Hands
Extra Lay on Hands
Extra Lay on Hands
Tower Shield (Crusader Archetype)

Lay On Hands Healing: 6d6 19 times per day
Channel Energy Cleric: 1d6 10 times per day
Channel Energy Paladin (Hospitalier): 3d6 10 times per day.

Radiant Charge: 19d6 +7 Holy (Not subject to damage reduction, energy immunities or energy resistance)
Holy Evil Outsider Great Sword: 6d6

Smite Evil x 2: +7 to hit, +9/+18 to damage, +7 deflection bonus
Divine Bond Weapon x 2 (9 minutes): Add on some nice damage modifiers

Capacity to recharge Radiant Charge: 40 recharge capacity in a day.

+3 Mithral Full Place of Comfort
+4 Tower Shield
________________
32 AC -9 ACP

This would still leave 2 feats open for customization. Possibilities:

Feats:

No Cover Charge!: Shield Focus + Covering Defense + 3 Acrobatics
Full Defense (Standard Action) - No AoO
+6 AC dodge bonus self / +9 AC cover bonus allies adjacent

Over My Dead Body!: Bodyguard + Combat Reflexes + Benevolent + Helpful + Ring of Tactical Precision
3 AoO to grant +8 AC to ally (could go higher).

Quicken Channel + Reactive Healing = The Phoenix!
If you don't take Warrior of the Holy Light, by this point you have 4 Lvl 1 spells that heal for 6d6 that you can spam to come back up should things get really bad instead of this. I'd rather spare the feats and keep the spell casting with pearls of power (1k each) to increase the number of times I can go phoenix (which shouldn't happen often if you're staying on top of things).

Greater Mercy + Ultimate Mercy = Raise the Dead!
If you're going to play a defensive tank Paladin, especially in PFS where raise the dead is exorbitant, why not be able to raise the dead for a temporary -1 level? Oh, plus 1d6 to lay on hands healing too.

Even at level 10 I see the above build being quite powerful. If you add in Warrior of the Holy Light, you loose the spell casting but gain 2 more lay on hands. Especially in PFS where you cap at 11, I see this as a strong option.

For the writer of the OP they would take the Sacred Shield which would change the capacity to restore Lay on Hands to 20 outside of any other characters with channel energy pools to contribute.

You'd also loose your smite evils but in exchange you'd gain the ability to grant adjacent allies a +9 shield bonus (+12 with +5 shield and teamwork feat paired with ring of tactical precision). This bonus would stack with either the cover bonus or the aid bonus from above.

You'd still be able to go full radiant at least once a day for when the party had particular difficulty with a big bad boss dude and still have plenty of lay on hands for self healing and the above shield ability.

Granting everyone around you 18 AC (9 Shield/9 Cover) that can go to 10/10 is quite nice. Since it is a standard action, you can still move around to defend and when a big smite is needed, simply go radiant to finish the fight.

Or go the bodyguard route with the Shield wall Teamwork feat. Pass around some rings of tactical precision (or make them by their own)

Once you get your Armor/Shield Enhancement bonus upto +5...

+11 AC AoO aid another and +12 AC via Holy Shield

Now what would really be fun in my opinion is to pair a Hospitaler and a Sacred Shield Paladin. The first would be offensive the second defensive.

Note, divine defender would stack with the Sacred Shield to grant an extra 2 sacred AC/Saves instead of having mercies as another option

Note Oath against Fiends grants you option of using divine bond on weapon/armor/shield instead of just one.

Note:
Oath Against Fiends, Divine Defender, Sacred Shield, Warrior of Holy Light are compatible with one another as far as I can tell.

The two would play off each other and feed one another. Between the two of them... they could solo many scenarios.

Possible thoughts on how to better make a Tower Shield/Sacred Shield Paladin

Lay on Hands: The Reload Approach

Take a cleric level dip to gain a separate channel pool. Day before adventure store pool into Meditation Crystals (100 gp each, reusable). Next day replenish your lay on hand charges.

EX: +5 CHA = 9 channel energy. Start the day with capacity for 18 lay on hand refills.

Tower Shield Feat: The Feat Tax approach

If you're taking a cleric dip, take the cleric Crusader archetype to gain Tower Shield proficiency for free. The cool dip into the channel pool just got better!

Lay on Hands Self: Be the Phoenix - Lesser

Use the Lvl 1 spell Hero's defiance. Add a few pearls of power and even if you do go down, you're coming right back up. Because it's an immediate spell whose only component is verbal, it doesn't matter whether your hand is free. Add in Bracers of the Merciful Knight w/wo Fey Foundling or Greater Mercy feats and soon you'll be doing better than a breath of life spell!

Lay on Hands Self: Be the Phoenix - Greater

Take the Quick Channel + Reactive Healing feats and call yourself a phoenix! Benefits from the same item/feats above.

How to overcome the loss of Smite Evil ability

Radiant Charge: Bye Bye Baddie Approach

While normally a trap, with a separate channel pool from the above and the ability to reload your lay on hands usage throughout the day, you can now use Radiant Charge to unleash a torrent of damage when things get tough.

Ex: Human Clr 1/Pal 5 with +6 CHA

Radiant Charge: 10d6 +6 Holy Damage

This still leaves 3 feats to use elsewhere. Possible usages would be for extra lay on hands or channel energy feats. One would increase the base damage of the charge, the other would increase your recharge capacity.

Ex: Extra Channel Feat x 2 = 4 Lay on Hand recharge. Adding this to the above and you'd have 26 reloads.

Have a cleric friend with channel energy? The party just got better!

How to overcome inability to use lay on hands on self when holding tower shield.

Gauntlets: The Facepalm Approach

Enchant your gauntlets to be your weapon of choice. Now you got a free hand for lay on hands. (you could get a Ioun stone (deep red sphere 8000 GP) and put it in a wayfinder (250 gp PFS) to gain improved unarmed combat feat but such wouldn't be needed with a gauntlet)

Armor Spikes: The Shoulder Approach

Add magical enchanted armor spikes to your armor and you now have a light melee weapon that can be used while still keeping one hand free.

Weapon Cord: The Handy Approach

Drop your weapon (free action) then heal (swift action). Next turn pick your weapon back up as a swift and away you go.

How to negate evil outsider's teleportation capacities later on.

Oath against Fiends: The None Shall Pass Approach

20 ft aura at level 8 to basically negate outsider teleportation capabilities. Archetype is compatible with Sacred Shield archetype.

I have a rules question regarding the level requirements of the investigator talents gained through the Psychic Searcher Oracle archetype.

My understanding regarding the RAW of this ability is that at level 3 I can take any talent from that list. I expect that RAI would have been to word it similar to:

The previous ability in the Psychic Searcher archetype indicates:

So we have an issue between what RAW indicates and what I expect are the RAI. The only place it indicates to use your oracle level as your investigator is under "Inspiration" and not under "Psychic Talent".

Thus either you can take any of the talents from the list when ever you could take a new revelation (hello feat extra revelation!) or you can never take any of the talents with a level requirement unless you multiclass Investigator class levels in order to meet the talent level requirements.

Am I seeing things wrong here regarding the RAW?