William Sollows's page

1. In Pathfinder, Wisdom no longer has any bearing on paladin spells; Charisma is the only relevant stat.

2. As Thurgon pointed out, take bastard sword only if you like the image; it's basically a "fluff" feat. A mean increase of 1 point of damage isn't going to make any discernable difference in game play, whereas something like Power Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, or Shield Bash might actually affect combat.

My bad on the Wisdom thing. Suffering from 3.5 flashbacks here.

I understand your point regarding the bastard sword, but:

* the mean damage increase is actually somewhere between 1 and 1.1, due to critical hits.
* the upper-end damage potential is 2 higher. This is not insignificant.

The question is whether a different feat is more useful than this. For a paladin sword & board fighter with an average Dex, the only other alternative to me would be power attack + cleave.

EDIT: Since the OP is making a Sarenrae paladin, for concept you can go with a scimitar and WF: scimitar and power attack.

I have played fighters, Barbarians, and clerics before, but have never played a paladin before. I am currently playing a rogue with beta rules (currently converting to core rulebook). My DM is starting up a 1 - 15 core rulebook campaign using High Fantasy point buy. I am looking for advice on what others have found to be beneficial to paladins as opposed to what isn't in terms of feats, skill ranks, stats, etc.

I agree with the other posters who stated that the DM's campaign will greatly influence your paladin choices.

* Lots of interaction? Good charisma and charisma-based skill choices
* Lots of wilderness stuff? Worth considering the bonded mount and mounted combat feats.
* Dungeon-focused? You will want to emphasize your combat abilities and feats that improve your channeling and lay on hands

Let's assume a dungeon-focused Paladin, human, 20 point buy.

Strength 16, +3 mod, 10 points.
Dexterity 10, +0 mod, 0 points.
Constitution 12, +1 mod, 2 points.
Intelligence 10, +0 mod, 0 points.
Wisdom 13, +1 mod, 3 points.
Charisma 16, +3 mod, 5 points (used ability boost)

This character will be able to fight well in melee and has a good enough Charisma to power all the class abilities. His Wisdom is adequate to cast all Paladin spells as he levels with just one stat boost later. I would have liked a higher Constitution but with all of his healing, 12 is probably adequate.

Feat-wise, I would take weapon focus and exotic weapon: bastard sword. Hitting more often for more damage is a good thing. This will make your paladin a very capable warrior early on, which is frankly his main job until the higher level abilities come online.

Skills, I would take Heal, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive.

I'm tempted, but I have two reservations. One is that I'm in the middle of a Second Darkness campaign right now that meets about every other week. The other -- and more incontrovertible -- is that my husband and I both play and have 2 small children so we'd have to find babysitters. (Our group meets at our house and are inured to the kids interrupting.)

Glad to hear that you and your husband both play. I wish my wife did!

I have two possible solutions to this, if you want to give it a go:

1. We play at my house, and my wife watches your children along with my one-year-old.

2. We play at your house, and I leave my one-year-old at home. :)

As far as your other campaign goes, I have no problem working around schedules and I understand not wanting to over-commit. Maybe we could get together for a one-timer to see if it makes sense? I am also not totally locked in on a schedule ... once or twice a month seems about right.

Anyway, please email me at sollows@sbcglobal.net and let's see if it works.

stardust wrote:

I sent you an e-mail, but I'd like to know more about what you've already got set up for your campaign. Geography, races, deities, etc

Stardust/Zalania --

You're kidding! You're in Fort Worth, too? Half our Beyond the Vault of Souls party is here! Any Council of Thieves plans?

Joana -- care to join a tabletop game? We have 2 interested players at the moment.

Hello all. I'm starting a homebrew game, and I need 4-6 players! What I'm looking for:

* maturity
* ability to roll- and role-play
* availability for a game every two weeks or so
* a mix of male and female players (couples welcome!)

I'm an experienced DM and player. The plan is to develop the campaign organically; I have no set Evil DM Plan (tm). So send me some character ideas via email (sollows@sbcglobal.net) for discussion and let's get going!