Paladin leveling advice?

[Stubs McKenzie]

Have a lvl 7 Human Archer Paladin, Oath of Vengeance, Oath Against Fiends ~

The group has a Life Oracle, A multiclassed psion (-3/4 BAB), and a rogue. Down the line I would like to get the paladin into the thick of things but realized I couldn't take Point Blank Master w/o 4 levels of Fighter or 6 Ranger (ranger doesn't fit the character)... so I guess I am asking if anyone has gone this route, how did it work out, is there a better build?

Lvls
1-8 Paladin (to get the Dimensional Anchor ability from OAF)
9-12 Fighter for weapon spec + other feats (combat reflexes, improved snap shot for 15' AoOs)
13 Fighter? Paladin? (Fighter gives weapon training at 5th, so +1, +1... seems a good trade off instead of Pal?)
14+ Pal

Is the 5th level of fighter a good idea? Is there another way to wade into melee range with a bow other than PBM? Am I missing out on some big draw of the paladin class that I didn't notice?

Would love to say Life Oracle covers all the healing needs, but even with the group hovering around mid 20s for AC we get throttled constantly... Against the BBEG we just fought the psion got thwacked 2x in 1 round @ 26 ac, 42 points of damage only because the BBEG DIDN'T confirm the crit. We probably need about 60-75 points of healing a day (didn't have access to a CLW wand through lvl 6), and that is with funneling mobs into tight spaces, tactical silence use on casters, etc etc... so am a bit concerned about losing some uses of LoH. What do you think? Thanks!

EDIT: lose 3 DC from dimensional anchor to take 5 lvls fighter, 2 DC if 4... saves would go up a bit more with 4 lvls fighter as well, but doesn't seem quite as necessary with CHA to saves

EDIT 2: thought about weapon master, but really like gaining the ability to move full speed in medium armor, Mithril Full plate, or Celestial Plate to give the room for max dex bonus while still mobile.

[Corlindale]

Another way to get PBM is 3 levels of Zen Archer monk. It also gets you the ability to flurry with a bow (but if you plan to take Manyshot that will be redundant) and weapon focus. Also a couple of other goodies, like a nice boost to all saves, a good bit of extra class skills and the Perfect Strike feat.

But pure paladin is probably more optimized. I wouldn't personally do all that multiclassing. I play a paladin archer 9/Zen archer monk 1 - and the monk level probably wasn't an optimized choice all things considered.

Unless you really, really want PBM I wouldn't go into all that multiclassing, much better to get quicker access to more (and more powerful) smiting, paladin spells, and all the cool class features. Weapon spec isn't all that amazing either, you'll be sacrificing smite damage to pick it up anyway, so in the end it will be about the same.

Your Life Oracle ought to be able to cover healing at some point - it is after all one of the best healing classes in the game. If you must do some healing don't use Lay on Hands on others - cast Shield Other, then heal yourself with LoH as a swift action. Then you can still be full-attacking with your bow while doing it (which will almost always be a better idea than spending a standard action to heal someone). The Paladin's Sacrifice spell is also a nice "healing" power.

[Stubs McKenzie]

Thanks much for the suggestions. After looking over the Zen Archer I don't think that build would work out in this particular case, would have had to plan feats and ability scores differently than I did.

As far as the fighter, overall I would gain +3 hit, +5 damage on every shot going fighter over 5 lvls (gloves of dueling included)... If I went weapon master it would be the same bonuses over 4 levels, but would lose bravery and armor training (move in medium armor normally) plus the extra feats would allow for improved snap shot and combat reflexes.

If I stayed paladin strictly to keep upping smite to hit and damage I would gain +0 to hit, +(4 or 5) damage (depending on WM or straight), so damage is actually better multiclassing in this instance. Are there any other ways to gain weapon spec? Any quick dip PRCs? (do those even exist anymore?)

EDIT: weapon spec is a requirement of PBM.

[Rasmus Wagner]

None of the above. Use spellcasting instead. Bowstaff and Litany of sloth are both 1. level swift action spells that will let you mix it up in melee range.