I haven't yet played a paladin in Pathfinder. We will be playing an extended campaign that will be pretty ordinary for the first 5-6 levels, but then we will go through Ravenloft.
My paladin will be a straightforward sword-board pally, with the goal of getting the holy avenger later on. Been wanting to play a holy avenger-swinging paladin my whole life and never have.
I'm considering dipping a level in fighter or ranger roundabout level 2 for some extra sauce...one has an extra feat (gravy for the paladin), the other has favored enemy, to which undead would be awesome. Right now thinking of an angel-blooded Aasimar (loving stat boots and Alter Self), but human is also possible.
Any thoughts? I would take one of each but I don't want to dilute him too much, or delay his abilities from coming online. I also want to somehow keep him relevant if we get to levels above 10...seems like melee chars have trouble with that.
J
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Unless you have some specific mechanic you are planning to take advantage of by multiclassing, a single class character is almost always better off than a multiclassed one.
Paladins get not only new abilities with level, but have abilities that scale with level as well and I think you would be much better off just sticking with Paladin.
yeah, Unless you have a clear NEED for dipping, dipping for funsies makes a less good paladin.
Like that 1 feat needs to be worth.
having 1d6 less healing per LoH every other level.
Having 1 less smite per day every 4 levels.
Having Less spells and spell levels.
Having less damage on your smite.
Having your sacred bond be delayed and weaker.
So unless you're wanting to play something like a TWF shield bashing sword and board that really needs the extra feat to actually work, straight pally is good.
yeah, Unless you have a clear NEED for dipping, dipping for funsies makes a less good paladin.
Like that 1 feat needs to be worth.
having 1d6 less healing per LoH every other level.
Having 1 less smite per day every 4 levels.
Having Less spells and spell levels.
Having less damage on your smite.
Having your sacred bond be delayed and weaker.So unless you're wanting to play something like a TWF shield bashing sword and board that really needs the extra feat to actually work, straight pally is good.
Not sure how to build a TWF sword and board-bashing, but curious about it. Could try a quickdraw light steel shield with spikes or something.
Then again I could try a two-handed build with a Greatsword, which my DM would be ok being a holy avenger. Maybe try to make it keen, take improved criticals. Is there a recommendation here?
J
A level of monk would be nice for your saves (+2 to all of them, and with the right archetype you might get some interesting abilities), but I agree that it needs to be a very good dip indeed to be better than another level of paladin.
As others have said, dipping is mainly good for picking up extra feats. I really don't think that you'll be that feat starved as a sword and board Pally.
Something I'm currently doing:
1 Level of Prowler at World's End Bloodrager with the community minded trait gets you a decent amount of rage if you cycle it on and off (well rage and fatigue stacked for 2/3rds of the time), an exotic weapon proficiency, as well as +1 to hit and damage. I think this is better for 2 handing something like a fauchard, but if you weren't going to focus on the longsword for the eventual holy avenger, you could use it to sword and board with a 1 handed exotic.
Tangentially, I like 2 Levels of Zen Archer Monk as a start for a ranged Paladin to get all the Ranged Feats that they otherwise wouldn't have until level 9 or thereabouts.
Ninja for better Reflex saves, Charisma-based ki, sneak attack, and swift action invisibility, plus some extra skill points. You can take a rogue talent for a combat feat and/or Weapon Focus.
You may want to re-flavor the ninja fluff, such as calling it a shadow slayer or ascended assassin or something.
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If you dont Mind a slightly Lower ac due to rage, the best 1 level dip in my opinion is id rager (kindness emotiinal rocus). Take one feat as the extra rage feat and youre good to go. What it gives you:
-12 rounds of rage per day
-skill focus diplomacy or heal as a bonus feat
-an incredibly powerfull Special ability during rage, named opening Strike, hich allows you to attack once as a standard actioj and if you hit, your melee buddy van also Make one attack. That is potentially better than iterative attqxka and works from level 1!
-you hqve access to the bloodrager spelllist, for wand using purposes, which has some realy good spells such as shield.
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long ago, I had a friend with a Pally take a dip in Sorcerer. It gave him access to all the Wizard spell wands, and then for his Sorcerer spells he took Truestrike because it didn't have a "S" component (so it was unaffected by Arcane Spell Failure from his armor), and Shield ('cause he was a 2HW user). He even got the shield up a few times when we had a round or two of prep before a fight... and the Truestrike was often impressive.
I don't remember what his zero level spells were...
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Ninja for better Reflex saves, Charisma-based ki, sneak attack, and swift action invisibility, plus some extra skill points. You can take a rogue talent for a combat feat and/or Weapon Focus.
You may want to re-flavor the ninja fluff, such as calling it a shadow slayer or ascended assassin or something.
I have a ninja/paladin in pathfinder society. Smite evil sneak attack with a greatsword works remarkably well.
I have a ninja/paladin in pathfinder society. Smite evil sneak attack with a greatsword works remarkably well.Ninja for better Reflex saves, Charisma-based ki, sneak attack, and swift action invisibility, plus some extra skill points. You can take a rogue talent for a combat feat and/or Weapon Focus.
You may want to re-flavor the ninja fluff, such as calling it a shadow slayer or ascended assassin or something.
Paladin//Ninja is the gestalt I want to play!
I don't know about 1 level, but I can really dig a 2-level dip in bard or skald for a paladin. Some basic performances when you have a standard action ready,some cantrips, a few extra skills and versatile performance, and a license to go totally ham.
Trait: Dangerously Curious is the only "dip" a paladin needs.
Dangerously Curious prohibits taking Magical Knack, go for Underlying Principals instead (Religion trait, does the same thing).
I'll go ahead and mention the elephant in the room, Oracle. Dumping Dex and getting Cha to AC and either Reflex or CMD is always useful. And the curse will still lessen in its effects over time, if much slower than full Oracles.
Just bear in mind that Charisma to Reflex saves doesn't stack with Divine Grace, since neither bonus is typed, so the "same stat" FAQ nerfed them. (The untyped bonus to AC should stack with the Smite Evil bonus to AC, as that is a deflection bonus)
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If trading away Divine Grace is an option that doesn't make you white in the face upon seeing your saves plunge six points apiece without it, it's probably because the build takes the bare minimum CHA to function.
...which begs the question: why not be a cavalier instead?
(Then you can dump CHA all you want while still enjoying something similar to Smite.)
I liked my idea of Dawnflower Bard/Paladin Oath of Vengeance. It's not a meat shield Paladin, but if you want that DEX to Damage immediately, it seems the best way to go. You get Inspire courage for a few rounds though not all day. Extra Performance helps with that.