I've never actually played a Paladin before, and I now find myself doing so for the first time in a combat-heavy game. I'm leaning toward taking the Combat Focus feats from PHBII, but does anybody else have any good ideas to make this guy hard-hitting? Oh, and no suggestions for playing a Crusader from Tome of Battle....this guy is a Paladin.
consider multiclassing. 2 levels of fighter can actually add in game flavor, as well as two or three feats.
Human?
Consider alternate "paladin" types. What deity?
unique weapon of choice? i.e. glaive or guisarm. Heck, with the fighter build you can go all exotic ala complete warrior.
Decide if mounted combat is going to be your schtick. If it is, start investing early, maybe take fighter for the first 2 levels so you can get those riding combat feats. If mounted combat is not going to be you're guys things, lots of dungeon crawls, instead of getting a warhorse get a riding dog "mount". Paladin's don't really need a whole lot of help to be combat effective, but feats like power attack are always nice.
Heck, I'd almost suggest skipping the paladin entirely and instead go fighter/cleric/hospitaler. It has much the same feel as the paladin but you get cleric spells.
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I've played a LOT of paladins. Here's what's worked for me:
First, you're in luck. As long as you're up against evil opponents, paladins are usually quite combat effective.
My standard advice is to play a human or Azurin, because paladins are a bit feat-poor.
Oh and one other thing: Int is NOT your dump stat! Dex is! Dumb paladins die or become ex-paladins, and you'll want the skill points. Trust me.
I'm assuming you have access to complete warrior, complete divine, complete champion, dungeonscape, the BoED, the spell compendium, and the Forge of War as I post this. If I'm wrong on any of these counts, let me know, and I'll adjust my advice accordingly, okay?
My tastes run a little gritty, so I don't put my paladins in shining platemail and parade them around on a white horse; I put them in chain shirts and have them walk down dark alleys in the wrong part of town. Therefore, this is a very urban paladin, and one that's used to investigating as well as combat.
Race: Human
Deity: Heironeus (or Pelor) in Greyhawk, Torm (or tyr, or Ilmater, or Lathander) in the Realms, or Dol Arrah in Eberron
Paladin 20 (alternate class feature: divine spirit from Dungeonscape). Feats:
H Power Attack
1 Cleave
3 Divine Might
6 Battle Blessing
9 Awesome Smite
The last 3 depend on your weapon/fighting style of choice.
Warhammer:
12 Brutal Strike
15 Resounding Blow
18 Quell the Profane
Flail:
12 Combat Expertise
15 Improved Trip
18 Improved Disarm
Sword/axe:
12 Improved Sunder
15 Combat Brute
18 [whatever looks good]
High-dex (15+) weapon & shield user
12 Improved Shield Bash
15 Two-Weapon Fighting
18 Divine Shield
Spell Selection (highest-priority first; ones with one or more exclamation points after them are particularly good):
1 Divine Sacrifice (!!!), Bless, Lesser Energized Shield, Deafening Clang
2 Conduit of Life (!!; combine with divine might & divine sacrifice), Checkmate's Light, Smite of Sacred Fire (!!), Crown of Smiting, Knight's Move
3 Holy storm (!!), Weapon of the Deity, Holy Fire
4 Holy Sword, Meteoric Strike, Manifest Life
Skills: Max out Sense Motive. Like cops, people lie to paladins ALL THE TIME. Max out diplomacy. Spend cross-class ranks in intimidate and gather information.
My personal taste, however, runs to a multiclass paladin much more like the following:
Race: Human
Deity: St. Cuthbert (or Pholtus) in Greyhawk, Hoar (or Tyr, or Helm, or Red Knight) in the Realms, or The Silver Flame in Eberron
Rogue 3/Paladin 7/Gray Guard 10
Feats:
H Power Attack
1 Investigate
3 Divine Might
6 Martial Study: Shadow Blade Technique
9 Battle Blessing
12 Urban Tracking
15 Martial Study: Shadow Jaunt
18 Martial Stance Study: Assassin's Stance
This is definitely a much different creature from the paladin above. Much more of a "Dirty Harry" investigator-paladin. It's also TREMENDOUS fun.
One thing I might strongly suggest, use the variant turning rules in Complete Divine if you can. I have a multiclassed monk/cleric (I let paladins and monks multiclass freely, alignment permitting) that uses it and it is great to see her go against groups of undead. With the normal rules she wouldn't turn very often but now she does. We call it "donging" the undead (from the sound in Warcraft 2 of the paladin's similiar ability).
I would wait until 3rd level to pick up Power attack, when it really starts to pay off. I've also enjoyed Extra Smiting on one of my characters: It's nice to hammer some jerk with several smites in a row.
Get rid of cure disease and replace with bonus Divine feats at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level. You can also make Lay On Hands work like the dragon shaman's Touch of Vitality with improving healing powers (still Cha bonus x level points, but at 6th level can spend 5 points to heal 1 point of ability damage or remove the dazed, fatigued, or sickened condition; at 10th level can spend 10 points to remove the exhausted, nauseated, poisoned, or stunned condition; at 14th level can spend 20 points to remove a negative level or the blinded, deafened, or diseased condition). Just these two changes can bring the 3.5 paladin back into parity with the other PHB martial classes, IMO.
For some combat-effective paladins:
Human paladin (bonus Divine feats instead of cure disease)
Paladin 1; Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (Longsword)
Paladin 3; Power Attack
Paladin 5; Charging Smite (alternate ability from Player's Handbook II), Divine Might (Complete Warrior)
Paladin 6; Servant of the Heavens (Book of Exalted Deeds)
Fist of Raziel (Book of Exalted Deeds)
This paladin concentrates on Smite Evil (Fist of Raziel gives a lot of extra effects to Smiting) and Divine Might to cause damage. Take Extra Smiting (Complete Warrior) and Extra Turning at least once each.
Human paladin (Pelor; bonus Divine feats instead of cure disease)
Paladin 1; Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (Heavy Mace)
Paladin 3; Improved Smite (Complete Divine)
Paladin 5; Charging Smite (Player's Handbook II), Sacred Vengeance (Complete Warrior)
Hunter of the Dead (Complete Warrior) 1; Divine Accuracy (Libris Mortis)
Hunter of the Dead 4; Sacred Vitality (Libris Mortis)
Hunter of the Dead 7; ?
Hunter of the Dead 8
Master of Radiance (Libris Mortis) 2; Sacred Radiance (Player's Handbook II)
This paladin is an undead destroyer.
Half-orc paladin (Bahamut; bonus Divine feats instead of cure disease)
Half-orc paladin (substitution level from Races of Destiny) 1; Righteous Fury (replaces Smite Evil), Sacred Vow (Book of Exalted Deeds)
Half-orc paladin (substitution level) 3; Aura of Awe (replaces Aura of Courage), Power Attack
Paladin 5; Divine Might (Complete Warrior)
Paladin 6; Vow of Obedience (Book of Exalted Deeds)
Paladin 9; Improved Sunder
Paladin 10; Divine Vigor (Complete Warrior)
Vassal of Bahamut (Book of Exalted Deeds) 2; Combat Brute (Complete Warrior)
Vassal of Bahamut 3; Improved Bull Rush
Vassal of Bahamut 5; Cleave
Vassal of Bahamut 6; Great Cleave
Vassal of Bahamut 8; Extra Righteous Fury (as Extra Smiting in Complete Warrior)
Vassal of Bahamut 9; Blind-fight
This paladin fights with a greatsword and is an evil dragon slayer.