This is a character i am thinking about a game that will not take place in Golarion but a world my DM made. (but with the pathfinder rules)
The game will start at 1st level and will go up to 20th
Here is the progression i have mapped out for the paladin:
Traits: Birthmark and a campaign related one (i don't know what those will be).
Mercies:
3rd Sickened
6th Staggered
9th Nauseated
12th Stunned
15th Paralyzed
18th Cursed
Feats:
1st Two weapon fighting
1st Improved shield bash
3rd Power Attack
5th Double Slice
7th Shield Slam
9th Improved Critical (Scimitar)
11th Shield Master
13th Exotic weapon proficiency (murian)
15th Bashing Finish
17th Critical Focus
19th staggering or blinding critical
Ok, you must be wondering what Exotic weapon proficiency (murian) is, well in the world the game will take place there is this special material called murian which if used for one handed weapons it gives you 1+1/2 times your strength mod to attack and damage and if the weapon is 2handed then it gives you 2 times your strength mod to attack and damage. If it's used on shields and armors it gives you a percentage chance (it depends on the type of the shield or armor) to ignore critical damage or sneak attack damage. But if you want to use to use a murian weapon correctly you need to be special trained (burn a feat). Although i don't know exactly how much this material will cost, i know that it would be more expensive than adamantine.
So what do you think of this paladin?
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Only a few things.
Mercies:
Fatigued is the best out of the starting ones. More things cause you to become fatigued then Sickened.
Poisoned is better. Thes lets the divine caster take another 4th level spell. So you might want to replace Nauseated with Poisoned.
Paralyzed this is used more offten then Stunned. So you might want to change when you take them. Hold spells can wipe a party with just a few failed saves.
Feets:
If your going weapon and shield. Falcata is your friend it's the highest damage one handed weapon you can get. Scimitar is second so it's not a bad choice. If you don't want to use the feet.
Double slice is not somthing I wold take. You only ever get one off hand attack with the sheild so the damage it adds is very low.
Side note.
Depending on how your doing stats. Takeing the tower shield proficency. And not fighting with the shield. Just using it for AC. Is not a bad way to go if your doing a point buy. It will let you get a Higher Str and still have the AC.
@calagnar
About the tower shield:
I thought about the "turtle" build but i don't really like it.
About the falcata:
Other than the fact that i don't like how this weapon looks, i really can't spare the feat and iirc the critical threat isn't as good as the scimitar's.
About the double slice:
Yes i thought about it, but at lower levels it is good and with the bashing finish i get one more shield attack, also there are two more reasons to take it.
The first is that at lower levels this feat is quite good, and the second is this special material that the campaign world will have the murian, with that and the double slice i will be doing 1.5 times my strenght mod with both the sword and the shield.
About the mercies:
To tell you the truth the only reason i take sickened is to be able to take the Nauseated.
Does Nauseated really doesn't come up so often?
Side note: From what the DM told us the campaign will be heavy in demons, devils, daemons, dragons and drow.
Nicely done.But the real test will be to see how he fares in-game; theory-craft is worthless compared to game-runs.
Let us know how it works out
Thank you.
Sadly the game will not take place for quite some time.I didn't know about the theory-craft vs game runs, i always thought that theory-craft is quite accurate, in fact i am now playing a switch hitter ranger in a kingmaker game and the Treatnmonk's guide was dead on on nearly everything.
If you take the fatigued mercy, you can use lay on hands to remove the penalty for sleeping in heavy armor.
I would argue against the tower shield. Fighting with two weapons (one of them being a shield) works really well for a paladin because you get to add your smite modifiers to every attack. With a decent charisma, you can nullify the negatives for two-weapon fighting and power attack at the same time, and you are adding the damage multiple times in a round.
Criticize my sword and shield human paladinHe's smelly and his momma dresses him funny
And he fights like a girl
:DSeriously,
Nicely done. But the real test will be to see how he fares in-game; theory-craft is worthless compared to game-runs.
Let us know how it works out
Beat me to it. Also he can't tell a horses arse from his own.
Hmmm looks fine honestly.
One recommended change, if your ability scores allow it: Take Improved Two-Weapon Fighting instead of Shield Master. By 11th level, the second iterative attack with the shield is much more effective than eliminating the -2 penalty, especially if you can get a bashing light shield (1d6/x2 damage). Your Cha bonus should be more than compensating when using Smite Evil (most tough foes that you need to worry about hitting will be evil) and the +level damage per attack is much more significant. Even without Smite Evil, Power Attack makes it worthwhile.
Pass on Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, though. It's probably not worth trying to get the 19+ Dex to qualify.
Nauseated crops up more often than you might think - as early as 5th level or thereabouts when you start seeking Stinking Cloud spells and the like. Quite a few critters make use of some form of nauseating attack - such as swarms - and if you run into an anti-paladin, you can easily see those buggers gracing you with it as well.
I recommend strongly against tower shield - the encumbrance, unavoidable check penalty and built-in attack penalty are not worth the 2 extra AC.
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It's about effects. If your Nauseated you can still act. If your Paralyzed you can't. If some one attacks you and your nauseated not that big of a deal. If some one attacks you and your paralized. There is a good chance your rolling up a new character, or geting rase dead cast on you after the fight.
Nauseated: Creatures with the nauseated condition experience stomach distress. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention.
Paralyzed: A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effectve Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions.
@calagnar
How exactly am i going to lay on hands myself when paralyzed in order to cure myself? I can't act when paralyzed but when nauseated i can.
@Dragonchess Player
The shield master feat isn't about eliminating the -2 penalty (although i won't say no to it), it's about turning the defensive enchncement bonus of the shield into attacking bonus. Although if my stats are THAT good i will consider it.
Fight like this girl, and you'll be okay.
It's about effects. If your Nauseated you can still act. If your Paralyzed you can't. If some one attacks you and your nauseated not that big of a deal. If some one attacks you and your paralized. There is a good chance your rolling up a new character, or geting rase dead cast on you after the fight.
Nauseated: Creatures with the nauseated condition experience stomach distress. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention.
Paralyzed: A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effectve Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions.
Nauseated also cannot be removed as easily as paralysis and has far fewer methods of acquiring outright immunity (freedom of movement, mind blank and spell immunities, for example against paralysis - only the latter will stand a chance of thwarting nauseated usually).
Nauseated still takes you out of the equation - you can't even use immediate/swift actions to do anything that I'm aware of. And it's gross - you're "violently exhaling" chow ... hope there aren't any critters with scent nearby ...
You can stumble around hwarfing in different spots I suppose. The only difference functionally speaking is that you can't be coup-de-graced.
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Your making thes character for a solo adventure? Your chances of failing a save on a paladin are low. You can use your LoH to free others from being paralized.
All methods of removing paralize require two things. One the divine or arcane caster haven the spell. Two the divine or arcane caster casting the spell. None of them have a very long duration. Freedom of movement only last 10 min per level and takes up a level 4 spell slot for each party member.
Haven played alot of high level games over the years. I can tell you there hase never been a party wipe from being Nauseated. Mass Hold Person on the other hand hase wiped out more then one high level party.
Avrage DC for a Mass Hold Person for a 14 Wizard. Int 28 mod 9 Spell level 7 Greater Spell focus 2 Total DC 28 Will save. One tough encounter at level 10+ can wipe the party using one spell. Paladin hase one of the best chances of making the save. Then with the merice freeing others.
High level encounters vs. enemy spell casters.
Round one Dispel Magic or Greater Dispel Magic
Round two mass hold person arcane Destruction(on the partys arcane caster) divine caster
Your making thes character for a solo adventure? Your chances of failing a save on a paladin are low. You can use your LoH to free others from being paralized.
All methods of removing paralize require two things. One the divine or arcane caster haven the spell. Two the divine or arcane caster casting the spell. None of them have a very long duration. Freedom of movement only last 10 min per level and takes up a level 4 spell slot for each party member.Haven played alot of high level games over the years. I can tell you there hase never been a party wipe from being Nauseated. Mass Hold Person on the other hand hase wiped out more then one high level party.
Avrage DC for a Mass Hold Person for a 14 Wizard. Int 28 mod 9 Spell level 7 Greater Spell focus 2 Total DC 28 Will save. One tough encounter at level 10+ can wipe the party using one spell. Paladin hase one of the best chances of making the save. Then with the merice freeing others.High level encounters vs. enemy spell casters.
Round one Dispel Magic or Greater Dispel Magic
Round two mass hold person arcane Destruction(on the partys arcane caster) divine caster
At high levels of play each freedom of movement spell lasts 2 or 3 hours, much more when extended. By the time you're looking at a mass hold person, the odds favor most of the group actually succeeding on the initial saving throw. Not to mention the per-additional-round the victims get to shrug it off. Unless the group is ambushed, there are a healthy number of minute/level and 10 minute/level buffs that could be (and often are) in play.
Since it is relatively common for 11th level+ groups to make a daily meal of heroe's feast, that is the most likely spell to be popped by the area greater dispel magic. The other, higher spell level stuff that is likely to be up will also absorb any remaining targeted dispellables - and the BBEG can only snag three at a clip with a targeted greater dispel, one with area effect (going on memory).
Our Heroes remain in play and only mildly inconvenienced on round one. NPC gear budgets are such that a regular quicken metamagic rod is out of his price range, let alone a greater. A lesser is possible though.
Opening full round the BBEG has to somehow beat them all on initiative again to expend a second greater dispel magic in his attempt to strip freedom of movement from the entire group. His odds of success for one or maybe even two of the characters are quite good, depending on how buff-happy the group is - but then he has to survive a full round of attention from player characters before getting to fire off his mass hold person. And this presumes not a single ring of freedom of movement has been acquired - unlikely at 11th level, but certainly possible.
Since the group is facing a 7th level spell from a CR 14 foe (based on the quoted 28 Int), the bare bones presumption is that the PCs are 11th level (APL +3). Worst save characters have a base of +3. Wisdom is likely to be a +2 at a minimum by this point (by whatever means), subtotal +5. Iron Will adds another +2, subtotal +7. +3 resistance item adds another +3, subtotal +10. Stiff odds for a "non buffed" character for sure. The stronger-willed character types - cleric/druid and the various arcane casting classes - have a base save of +7 but probably did not take Iron Will, so they have a subtotal of +12. Not counting any "buffs". That's a seriously nasty save DC - but then, we are talking about an Enchantment specialist, so it's to be expected from a CR 14 foe.
Hrm ... say a WIS 26 11th level Cleric (18 +2 level advancement +6 enhancement or 18 +2 racial +2 advancement +4 enhancement) ... book says that's 5 4th level spells per day plus domain spell (3 base +2 bonus 4th). If a group knows that they're going into a fight, odds are pretty good that everyone will be enjoying freedom of movement for 110 minutes - that's an hour & 50 minutes. Plenty of time. Cleric even has a left over 4th level spell slot. Say, a silent still remove paralysis, just in case. Our WIS 26 Cleric also has a (7 base +3 resistance +8 WIS) minimum Will saving throw bonus of +18, giving him a 55% chance to thumb his nose at the BBEG Enchanter even if that dastardly villain catches the heroes unprepared. The cleric's chances of success are much higher if there are ANY buffs providing save bonuses and/or racial bonuses and/or trait bonuses and/or an Iron Will bonus in play.
I think that given how our 26 WIS cleric still has a 4th level domain slot, a "regular" 4th level spell slot, all of his 3rd level and lower spell slots and a respectable number of 5th and 6th level spell slots, from an "encounter design point of view" it is very reasonable - barring an ambush situation - to expect the entire group to have had freedom of movement up and running before the initiative rolls were called for.
Now, for Mistah Paladin, he can easily select mercies to remove both nauseated and paralyzed by 12th level and certainly one of the two by 9th, permitting him to free both himself and his allies from those dreadful conditions simultaneously. Best part is that the paladin can do so for himself even when paralyzed! (Lay on Hands is supernatural, so there is no concerns about even provoking an AoO, let alone being paralyzed.) If that paladin was nauseated - admittedly, rather unlikely given an estimated general save bonuses of +20 for Fort and Will / +16 for Reflex [base 7/3/7 +2 generic ability score bonus Con/Dex/Wis +3 resistance +8 Cha] - he could not use lay on hands, however. On the upside, the paladin has the best chance in the group to ignore the DC 28 mass hold person at 65% without any feats/buffs/traits/racial qualities coming into play. And that's as a "mere" 11th level paladin...
Best part is that the paladin can do so for himself even when paralyzed! (Lay on Hands is supernatural, so there is no concerns about even provoking an AoO, let alone being paralyzed.)
What?
I must get something wrong.Doesn't paralyze prevents you from taking any actions? How is he going to use a swift action to heal himself?
