Roguish Paladin

[Makknus]

I need help with a level 6 character - an NPC that will be an occasional PC when a player is available for a campaign I'm running.

Background is he grew up as an orphan pickpocket of sorts that was taken under the wing of a LG ranger in a town that worshipped Erastil. His homeland was destroyed and the people scattered/enslaved. He was called upon by Erastil to take up a Paladin's mantle, find the scattered people, and rebuild his homeland.

I know it's not mechanically the best option to delay Paladin abilities, but I want to do a 2 level dip in Slayer to account for his upbringing, give skills, etc, and take all further levels in Paladin. It gives the rogue/ranger hybrid flavor without sacrificing BAB, and the second level slayer talent can be used for a ranger combat style feat.

I'm a little held up at the combat build, though. I like the idea of a light steel shield and rapier TWF, but Paladins don't have a ton of feats and I'm not sure the build would be effective. I've also looked at an archer with weapon finesse, as I still want a rogue feel in there somewhere.

Any ideas/suggestions to make this a competitive combatant would be appreciated.

20 point buy. Human. Level 6.

[Declindgrunt]

There is a paladin archetype that gives up spells for combat feats with your lvl count as fighter lvl, plus you get sacred weapon progression

[Declindgrunt]

You could use a slayer talent to get trap finding and be rogue like with your skills. I recommend focusing on archery as it isn't erastils favored weapon, maybe go quiverless style?

[Makknus]

Declindgrunt wrote:

You could use a slayer talent to get trap finding and be rogue like with your skills. I recommend focusing on archery as it isn't erastils favored weapon, maybe go quiverless style?

Longbow is Erastil's favored weapon, yes. I just want to make sure the character is mechanically sound, as a potential battle *could* spring up between the pally and one of the PCs, as the latter is a cleric of Norgorber masquerading as a cleric of Calistria. Sense Evil may turn things interesting quickly. (NOTE: The players are OK with this being a possibility. I wouldn't throw this at them willy-nilly.)

[Java Man]

It seems that the divine hunter archetype for paladin would go nicely with the longbow favored weapon.

[Declindgrunt]

You could stack divine hunter and tempered champion for the extra feats plus the free precise shot feat

[BadBird]

It's not that hard for a Paladin to go TWF. You don't really need Double Slice, just TWF and Improved Shield Bash, and possibly Dual Enhancement. You could also go rapier/archery - maybe even with some Inspired Blade Swashbuckler instead of Ranger or Slayer.

I would consider going 2 levels of Urban Ranger with a Favored Enemy appropriate to his backstory instead of Slayer; Studied Target is pretty weak when you can't even activate it by Sneak Attack.

If going with archery or with rapier/archery, Hooded Champion Ranger is pretty cool. With a Swordmaster's Flair: Blue Scarf and Dodging Panache, they can be a real handful tactically, striking with reach AoO's and making immediate action dodge/steps when attacked.

[Firebug]

In a similar vein, my Paladin dipped 2 levels of Ninja (you could also go Teisatsu Vigilante, if you can't square that circle) mostly for Ki Pool. Ninja would also gain a Ninja Trick, which Vanishing Trick is a great one for a former "pick pocket", or you can take Combat Trick for basically any combat feat. Or Wall Climber, or Rogue Trick for Charmer, Face in the Crowd, Combat Swipe or a number of others.

Sure you have a 'wasted' class feature in poison use (though I note that Erastil's Paladin code from Inner Sea Gods does not explicitly rule out poison).

Now, the really important bit. Tea of Transference. Meditation Crystal. Hospitaler Paladin archetype. The last gives you a separate Channel Energy pool from your Lay On Hands. This is important, because you can use the Meditation Crystal to turn your Channel Energy into Lay On Hands or Ki Pool uses. And this is important because the Tea will allow you to turn your Ki Pool back into Channel Energy (not that important) or Lay On Hands (moderately important), or Smite Evil (very important). You can also recharge your spells, but you need 3rd level spells before that becomes useful.

40 gp per dose isn't cheap, but by level 6 you should be able to afford a "wands worth" aka 50 doses of tea, 2000 gp. Knowing you can Smite Evil more then once a day, and in fact several times per combat if you take a Gatorade™ break, is useful. You won't feel like you need to save it in case a Big Bad™ shows up.

Where it becomes "overpowered" is if you have a way to make it more efficient then a straight 1:1 conversion. Specifically, serving Irori (or knowing someone who does) and the feat Ki Channel.

My Paladin served Sarenrae, so no Ki Channel, but also dipped 1 into Life Oracle for Life Link and another Channel Energy pool. I used the ninja trick for Combat Trick->Enforcer, since I had the Sarenrae trait Blade of Mercy. The class skills from Ninja and the extra 12 skill points (from 2 levels vs Paladin) was very welcome, as was the Shuriken proficiency because its treated as ammo for drawing and does get strength to damage. No Quick Draw needed. Demons never expect the Paladin to Smite + Shuriken from across the canyon. Or the Paladin to actually make the acrobatics check "without a running start" across the canyon in full plate...