Paladin Build Advice


Advice


Hey, i'm thinking of playing a paladin and am looking for your advice on building him. we have a few house rules in our game. First, you gain a free feat at level 1, Second Dexterity adds to attack and damage with ranged weapons and attack and damage with finessed weapons. Im looking to use a bastard sword and be able to switch to Sword and Board if needed. I'm also looking to have good saves as i will be the tankiest front liner. The stats i rolled are 16, 16, 16, 12, 8, 8.


Stats look great.

16 to STR, 16 to CON, 16 to CHA, 12 to DEX, 8 to INT, 8 to WIS.

Here's the skinny though - regular Paladins get no benefit from using a shield. They want the 1.5x STR bonus for 2-handers. Monsters won't fight them, they want to eat the squishes. So what you want to do, if you are set on S+B, is take the Sacred Shield archetype.

If you, get heavy ass armor. Use that extra feat for Exotic Weapon Proficiency for a Bastard Sword. Get Power Attack and those feats that make you go nova by expending uses of lay on hands. Now you deal a ton of damage and become a threat to enemies, so they want to focus you because you are mowing through them. But they can't because you so damn stronk.


start with stats. Assuming str melee based. since those make good front line. Switching str and dex and going two-weapon fighting might be good with the damage already there from dex.
str 16+2
dex 12
con 16
int 8
wis 8
cha 16

with your charisma to saves and will being a good save the -1 on wis still puts you at a good save+2.
I'm curious as to why you're wanting bastard sword and S&B fighting. with heavy armor your AC should be fine, and with Smite evil your AC goes up against them.

Pick up fey foundling as a first feat, it'll greatly up your ability to stay on the front line taking hits. and power attack. to up your damage. I'd suggest greater mercy at lv3 for extra healing. If you're human, with your rules, you'd start with a third feat too. But I'd kinda suggest going half-elf and picking up the Elf favored class bonus. Being able to heal an extra 1 per 2 levels is better than 2 hp. you use 2 LoH on yourself and you've made up the difference, and ever LoH afterwards would be bonus HP for you. and pick up

example, lv4. LoH 5 per day 3d6+2 if no mercy needed. on yourself, 3d6+8 as a swift. You'll be able to heal up most the damage you take. potentially take lots of extra lay on hands lv5 and onwards to just heal what does get through your AC and good saves. Power attack with a two-handed weapon gives you all the damage you need for enemies, with smite to really help with bosses.

If you can, get a skald to give you the lesser celestial rage power then you'd heal an additional amount equal to your level every time you used it.


I want to have the option of S&B and a Paladin to me should have the option, and i dont want to have to spend all my feats on 2 different weapons to be able to use my shield effectively.


I made a character like this.

human pally, high str, high cha, bully to everything else - probably should have dumped some stats to get higher con, but I can't stand negative stats on a 'low skill ranks' - class.

got toughness, exotic:bastard, and power attack. found a large bastard sword for 2-handed shenaningans and carries a normal sized one for S&B.

later got Wfocus: bastard to reduce penalties, and dazzling display for the awesomeness of it. later plans involved cleave, shatter defenses, and intimidating prowess.

Modus operandi: tank with shield and whittle away or 2hand and imperonate the hulk, apply LoH when needed. owns a bow - fired it twice.

His teeth make a small *Ding!* sound with accompaning lens flare when he smiles.

Lantern Lodge

Some feats and items that work well with Paladins:

1) Fey Foundling, get +2 hp for each healing dice you receive from any healing source, including your lay on hands(LOH).

2) Bracers of the Merciful Knight, you thread your LOH as 4 levels higher for uses per day and amount healed. Works wonderfully with Fey foundling.

3) Battlecry, as a swift action you give everyone around you, including yourself, +1 morale to attack roll and +4 to fear saves for 1 min. AND if they fail any saving throw during this one min, they can drop these bonuses for a free REROLL on that saving throw.

4) Inheritor's Light, Any cure spells or lay on hands effects used to heal the wielder of this blade heal an additional 1 point of damage per die, up to the effect’s normal maximum healing amount.

Just remembered these off hand. They all help to make a tanky Paladin.


yazo wrote:
I want to have the option of S&B and a Paladin to me should have the option, and i dont want to have to spend all my feats on 2 different weapons to be able to use my shield effectively.

What do you mean by spending all your feats on 2 different weapons? Power attack is really the only feat you need to make two handed fighting the best. Take a normal one handed weapon and then it's no feat. If you are wanting an exotic weapon I suggest Falcata, same crit range as bastard sword but with a x3 crit. If you're insistent on S&B you're using a shield you'd probably spend feats on that.

I'm curious as to when you're thinking you'd want to use your S&B plan. It's trading damage for AC, and your AC just needs to be high enough to block some attacks, that way the enemies feel they can kill you and you heal up with LoH. And then you kill the enemy. Plus to keep the shield really relevant you'll be spending money on it and perhaps feats too like shield focus. While the two handed fighter still only needed power attack and can use the shield money elsewhere and feats on other things.

On option for a cool S&B would be go high dex and two-weapon fight with your sword and board, go halfling for the boost to that, dex, cha and a bonus to your hit chance to overcome the TWF penalty.


As I said, the Sacred Shield archetype grants you really nice bonus for using a shield, protecting your party and what not.


This build is alot different, I used the first level feat for additional traits!

Since you have another feat to work with you could do the same thing and still have a feat!


yazo wrote:
Hey, i'm thinking of playing a paladin and am looking for your advice on building him. we have a few house rules in our game. First, you gain a free feat at level 1, Second Dexterity adds to attack and damage with ranged weapons and attack and damage with finessed weapons. Im looking to use a bastard sword and be able to switch to Sword and Board if needed. I'm also looking to have good saves as i will be the tankiest front liner. The stats i rolled are 16, 16, 16, 12, 8, 8.

Long term I highly encourage you to regard Lay on Hands to be one of the best abilities in the game, and to maximize its versatility by considering:

Fey Foundling as a 1st level feat (increases healing from LoH substantially)
Extra Lay of Hands (no substitute for swift action heals and condition removal)
Oath of Vengeance archetype (turn Extra LoH into bonus smites)
Oath Against Fiends archetype (more good uses for those Extra LoH)

In addition, I've found that taking Power Attack and Deadly Aim can also be very beneficial to a Paladin, since Smiting effectively removes the attack penalty for either.

Finally, I strongly encourage an Oracle dip for one level as there are a number of options that you could benefit from and could add flavor to your character concept. For instance, consider this at 3rd level:

Human 2nd level Paladin (Oath of Vengance) / 1st level Oracle (Sidestep Secret, Legalistic curse)

Attributes:
STR - 16 (+2 racial bonus)
DEX - 8
CON - 16
INT - 12
WIS - 8
CHA - 16

Traits:
Reactionary
Omen

Feats:
1st - Fey Foundling
1st - Power Attack
1st - Toughness (or Improved Initiative)
3rd - Extra Lay on Hands

Legalistic Curse:
Sickened for 24 hours if you break your word, +4 to one roll/day when keeping your word.

Lore Mystery:
Sidestep Secret - use your Charisma score instead of Dexterity for AC and Reflex saves.

Paladin Abilities:
Detect Evil at will
Smite Evil - +3 attack, +2 damage & +3 AC vs. evil target 1/day
Lay on Hands - heal 1d6+2 to self as a swift action or 1d6 to others as a standard action 6/day.

Oracle Spells:
Osirons (at will) - Detect Magic, Enhanced Diplomacy, Guidance, Light
1st level (4/day) - Protection vs. Evil, Cure Light Wounds

Arm yourself with a reach weapon or a sword and board (or both) and you'll be a dangerous and versatile tank with a lot to offer the party both in and out of combat. After 3rd you just go straight Paladin the rest of the way.

Your game stats at 3rd would be as follows, not counting magical equipment:

HP 35 (HD 2d10+1d8+14)
Fort +9, Reflex +6, Will +7

AC 19, 21 w/shield or AC 22, 25 w/shield vs. Smite target
Attack w/Lucern Hammer (Power Attack with Reach) +5 attack, 1d12+9 Piercing or Bludgeoning damage
Attack w/Lucern Hammer (Power Attack & Smite with Reach) +8 attack, 1d12+11 Piercing or Bludgeoning damage
Attack w/Longsword (Power Attack) +5 attack, 1d8+6 Slashing damage
Attack w/Longsword (Power Attack & Smite) +8 attack, 1d8+8 Slashing damage

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