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I've been playing my paladin now for two-and-a-half years, and along the way my group and I have felt we had to consider making variants of particular paladin abilities. In the early levels, we honestly felt the paladin needed some help to be more playable. Then I hit Level 11, got Aura of Justice, and added at least +132 damage per round to the party's output! My GM wanted that one reined in (not an uncommon reaction from what I've seen on these boards). Below are the variants we've been using or considering, and I'd be interested in reading reactions and feedback. Thanks!

The standard paladin class as written makes it virtually impossible for them to use shields, which is opposed to the iconic image of the holy knight. This variant below (a new automatic ability, actually) allows the paladin to be a shield-wielding knight and still cast spells and lay on hands.

Paladin’s Shield (Su)
At 1st level, a shield carried by a paladin becomes imbued with Law and Good. The shield functions as the paladin’s holy symbol and divine focus for casting divine spells. Furthermore, the paladin can use lay on hands and cast divine spells that have a somatic (S) component as if the hand carrying the shield were a free hand without losing the shield bonus to AC. This ability can apply only to a single shield at a time, and the effect ends as soon as the paladin is no longer carrying the shield. This ability cannot be applied to an anarchic or evil-aligned shield. Any spell or effect that masks the paladin’s alignment or aura also masks the shield.

The first type of Divine Bond as written is too restrictive as a standard action. This variant below allows the paladin use the first type of Divine Bond more easily and flexibly – but at the cost of shorter maximum duration.

Divine Bond (Su)
Except for the following changes to the first type of bond, this class feature otherwise functions as written in the standard description. The paladin enhances his or her weapon as a swift action (instead of a standard action). Starting at 5th level, a paladin can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to twice his or her class level + Charisma modifier (instead of once per day at 5th level and one additional time per day for every four levels). These rounds do not need to be consecutive, but the same bonuses can be continued on the same weapon in consecutive rounds as a free action. If not continued, the spirit automatically departs from the weapon at the start of the paladin’s next turn. The paladin can choose to dismiss the celestial spirit as a free action.

A paladin who takes the Divine Defender archetype instead enhances his or her armor as a swift action and for a number of rounds per day, as described above for a weapon. This archetype feature otherwise functions as written in the standard description.

The following variants are meant to prevent the exploitive potential of Aura of Justice as written while making it a free, constant effect (like all other auras), with some of the benefit shifted to Aura of Faith (making it more useful than it is otherwise).

Aura of Justice (Su)
At 11th level, a paladin extends some benefits of smite evil to nearby allies. Each ally within 10 feet of the paladin adds the paladin's Cha bonus (if any) to attack rolls against the target of smite evil and gains a deflection bonus equal to the paladin's Charisma modifier (if any) to AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. Evil creatures gain no benefit from the ability. This ability functions only while the paladin is conscious, not unconscious or dead. If more than one paladin with aura of justice smites the same target only the greater Charisma bonus applies, but allies can benefit at the same time from multiple auras of justice against different targets.

Aura of Faith (Su)
At 14th level, a paladin's weapons are treated as good-aligned for the purposes of overcoming Damage Reduction. Any attack made against an enemy within 10 feet of the paladin is treated as good-aligned for the purposes of overcoming Damage Reduction. Additionally, any attack made against an enemy within 10 feet of the paladin automatically bypasses any DR the creature might possess if it is the target of the paladin’s smite evil. Evil creatures gain no benefit from this ability. This ability functions only while the paladin is conscious, not unconscious or dead.

My thanks to everyone for pointing out the clarification to me. Wow, do I feel dumb now. After re-reading, the part about it relating to applying the damage to creatures otherwise immune to critical hits is fairly obvious.

I'm curious if I'm reading the rules for energy burst magic weapons correctly. The general rules for magic weapons state, "On a successful critical roll, apply the special effect, but do not multiply the weapon's regular damage." The "burst" weapon descriptions state they deal "an extra 1d10 points of [type] damage on a successful critical hit" (2d10 for x3, etc.).

So let's say I'm Medium size with 18 Str and I'm wielding a +2 flaming (non-burst) greataxe. My confirmed critical hit damage would be 3d12 +24 (Str, two-handed weapon, +2 enhancement)+1d6 (flaming), yielding 47 mean damage.

Now let's say I upgrade to a +2 flaming burst greataxe. My confirmed critical hit damage would be 1d12 +8 (Str, two-handed weapon, +2 enhancement) +1d6 (flaming) + 2d10 (burst), yielding 29 mean damage.

Is this reading of 'burst' magic weapons really correct? If so, why on earth would anybody ever want a energy 'burst' weapon? And my example isn't even particular robust, as it doesn't include other kinds of bonus damage like Power Attack or Critical feats that also would apply to critical hits. It seems really dubious to carrying around that 'flaming burst' weapon that does so much less damage on average on the off-chance I might get a critical hit on an ice elemental.

And here is the improved level of the feat that I've been playing with...but I am even less certain if it is balanced or useful.

Shield Block, Greater (Combat)

You use your shield to knock aside an attack that otherwise might hit an ally.

Prerequisites: Proficient with shields, Shield Block, Shield Focus, base attack bonus +6.

Benefit: As an immediate action, you may use the benefit of your Shield Block feat against a physical melee or ranged attack targeting a willing person adjacent to you. Doing this also counts as an attack of opportunity by you.

Normal: Shields do not provide cover.

Thanks, Thomas. I thought about these ideas, but I wasn't sure for a couple of reasons. First, is there any other mechanic in PF in which CMB is rolled against something besides CMD? I wanted to ground the shield block in a core mechanic rather than an ad-hoc formulation. Second, tying the block's odds of success to the attack roll will tend to be self-defeatingly circular, since if the attack roll is high enough the cover bonus won't do enough to block the attack anyway.

Your other idea of just using the shield's AC bonus is also something I considered but wasn't sure about for a couple reasons. First, there would be no difference between a buckler and a light shield (but maybe this shouldn't be a real concern?). Second, if the shield had an enhancement bonus would it be added too? My fear is that adding a shield's enhancement bonus (especially once you get a +3 shield or better) would make the block roll exceptionally easy to succeed.

If a case can be made against my reasoning, though, I'm very open to hearing it. Maybe there's an angle I'm missing? Much appreciated!

Yes, your summary is correct. No, the enemy would not reroll the attack (as I thought this would just add another level of complication and variability on top of the original attack roll and combat maneuver check). If the CMB check succeeds, the +2 or +4 would be added retroactively to protect against that one attack that otherwise would have hit.

There seems to be pretty widespread consensus on the boards that shields suck, despite efforts by the PF designers to create a series of feats for shields. I agree that shields in PF (ever since 3.0, really) can't compete with dual-wielding or even two-handed weapons. This is sad for people like me who love the traditional image of the knight with sword-and-shield. So I've worked on a feat meant to give shields a special, useful defensive edge...but hopefully not unbalancing or confounding existing mechanics. Any constructive criticism would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks!

Shield Block (Combat)
You use your shield to knock aside an attack that otherwise might hit you.

Prerequisites: Proficient with shields, Shield Focus, base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: When you are wielding a shield with which you are proficient and would be hit by a physical melee or ranged attack targeting you, you may roll your CMB plus a bonus based on the kind of shield you are wielding (+0 for a buckler, +1 for a light shield, +2 for a heavy shield, +4 for a tower shield) against the attacker’s CMD. If you succeed, immediately apply a +2 (if wielding a buckler or light shield) or +4 (if wielding a heavy or tower shield) cover bonus to your AC against this attack. This benefit does not stack with a cover bonus provided by any other source, nor does it apply against area-effect attacks or damage. Attempting to use shield block (whether or not it succeeds) uses an attack of opportunity for the round.

Normal: Shields do not provide cover.

This is a pretty nice character sheet...except for the Dodge problem. It is a great feat that a lot of people take (already everybody in my party has it). While v2.5.2 does add the Dodge box, it only figures in the value for Touch AC and not for regular AC. Dodge applies to both (the only thing you lose it for would be Flat-Footed AC).

If this one problem could be fixed, this would be the perfect convenient PDF character sheet!