New to Pathfinder and Paladins in general.
I was looking to create an upfront combat character to join a new group and decided to go with a sword & board paladin.
It will be level 10 and I was looking for advice and opinions on my feat selection.
EWP (Bastard Sword)
Imp Shield Bash
TWF
Shield Slam
Imp Critical (Bastard Sword)
My idea here was to minimize penalties and also take advantage of the fact 93%(quoted from DM) of the campaign takes place underground. Knocking targets prone by lining them up with the wall and using the free Bull rush from Shield slam. The Imp critical on a bastard sword I think speaks for itself.
What size shield are you going to use? If you are going with a heavy shield I would use a kukri instead and look for bashing finish later on. Since you'll be using a light and one handed weapon you'll take fewer penalties on your attacks.
You might (depending on how you feel about spells) like the holy warrior of light option in the APG since it gives you more lay on hands and a light aura.
I assume the only reason you don't have shield mastery is because you must be level 11 for it.
I'm honestly not fond of the bastard sword, and am especially not fond of it for situations where you won't be switch hitting with it (going from sword and board to two handed sword, and back again possibly with a buckler) and for that reason if you are going to stick with an exotic weapon I would recommend either a sawtooth saber (counts as a light weapon) or the falcata (for the juicy criticals)
I'm not for sure but I *think* you need weapon focus to get improved critical and for the feat strapped palaind I would suggest just getting a keen weapon to save the more expensive feat.
Absolutely use a light shield! You need a hand free to LoH. Also to cast and channel, but mostly LoH.
I'm not a fan of EWP. +1 avg damage is too little gain for spending a feat. I'd use a Scimitar because I like crits, but a Longsword or Battleaxe are good too.
Your feats look good, consider Double Slice instead of EWP if you have 18+ Str and plan on getting more, otherwise forget it. ITWF is good if you have the Dex and can reasonably hit at -10. Step Up and Lunge are good feats. Power Attack isn't bad either. Extra LoH can be useful, too.
Imp Crit is better than keen because it stacks with Bless Weapon to auto-confirm. Keen does not. Get a Holy Weapon instead, or just a +1 or +2 weapon and rely on your Bond.
What I really am wanting to achieve is more of a using shield primarily to defend and control my opponents not really focused on being a big damage dealer. I have the rest of the party for that. I truly am trying to set myself up to be an MMO style tank for my group. keeping them focused on me and protecting them. The shield from a character standpoint is more important then then the sword. Want to be effective at defense and still provide offense with my shield no matter what weapon I am wielding.
I'd second comments on the bastard sword. You will get more milleage out of a longsword with Power Attack than out of a bastard sword - it's just eating up a feat ...
... unless you take the trait Heirloom Weapon. If you are not using any other weapon-specific feats it can work nicely on it's own, if you are, you will still need EWP, but at least you are getting +1 to hit and damage out of the deal.
All the games I have played the idea of just being a deffensive tank never really works unless you have the damage to make them want to attack you. Usually the people who are the most effective are targeted first rather thent he ones that are suppose to be hit. You should power attack to help draw in the attacks.
As much as I hate to, I say scrap the EWP (Bastard Sword), if you want to get improved critical anyway, I would just stick with a Scimitar and get Weapon Focus and Improved Critical Scimitar.
PS. Defending doesn't work in D&D. There is no way to make your opponent attack you. If you want to be a defensive character, drop the whole sword'n'board schtick, get a spiked chain, and focus on tripping.
What about going Captain America route, ditching the TWF and just taking the Shield feats? Combine that with the new APG feats that support protecting your allies (like Bodyguard and such), and the feats / atk bonus / min dex you save by avoiding TWF, seems like it would be fun.
What about going Captain America route, ditching the TWF and just taking the Shield feats? Combine that with the new APG feats that support protecting your allies (like Bodyguard and such), and the feats / atk bonus / min dex you save by avoiding TWF, seems like it would be fun.
You need two weapon fighting to get the shield slam and shield mastery feats.
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If you're just wanting to lock up the front; forget weapon feats. Get standstill, combat reflexes, etc. Let the back row or the guy with the glaive behind you do damage. Halfling with a decent dex and CR / standstill can hold the front line by his lonesome; his dex and size AC bonus will make him hard to hit, his standstill will make him impossible to pass, and his Cha bonus will make it impossible to lock him down.
20 point build:
Str: 11
Int: 7
Wis: 7
Dex: 16 (max for mithril fp)
Con: 16
Chr: 18
Feats: 1-Weapon Finesse 3-Combat Reflexes 5-stand still