We continue to jump around the play test to get a feel for the game, and this time around we jumped into the 7th level adventure, which is a survival horror game where you get SWAMPED with undead.
For comparison, one of my players made a battle cleric, and I made a paladin. We wanted to see who performed better and why.
It was him, for the obvious reasons, if said reasons aren't so obvious, continue reading.
cleric build
CN Human cleric of Gorum
1) Emblazon Symbol
2) Fighter Dedication (ended up being kinda wasted)
4) Expanded Domain (coulda been a fighter feat imo)
6) Channel Smite
paladin build
LG human paladin
1) Hospice Knight; Warded Touch
2) Divine Grace
4) Domain (Weapon Surge)
6) Attack of Opportunity
For combat, my paladin focused on Feint (being high in CHA) and use a bastard sword (d12s) to get the best damage possible. However, I had no means to bypass DR on the vampire spawns. I felt like a generic character who was not very good at smiting undead. I did crit a lot, but when you're fighting a hoard of level 0-3 zombies that tends to happen. Most of the time my crits were overkill. It was not very satisfying to play, I wanted to conserve my resources so I only used 1 Weapon Surge and 1 Lay on Hands (meaning I still have my remaining for the boss that we haven't fought yet.)
The cleric on the other hand had a jolly old time. He had spells to buff himself, could cast anything he wanted with his weapons (I had to build specifically to be able to do this, as there is not a feat that just lets paladins use SP with a weapon, only specific powers), and he had channels that devastated the vampire spawns. He not only bypassed their resistances, but nova'd for massive damage that rivaled my crits on a regular hit. He also could add in his Destructive Smite thing for gorum's domain just to add insult to injury.
I did get Retributive Strike to trigger 4 times naturally (which means I owe HWalsh at least 4 neener neeners) so that made me happy, but I realized how bad the ability is because I only got one reaction per round and it hardly made a difference when it came to the hoard attacking us.
The entire party had sufficient healing, but considering we were supposed to be the big damage bringers, I didn't feel my class contributed anything to combat that I couldn't have gotten from any other class using a d12 weapon (because I didn't).
I can say now that swords are the one true weapon group, as the crit specialization effect 100% allowed me to crit on a secondary attack, not sure if this is a good or bad thing for the game at large.
At the end of the day, the paladin class is just really lacking, and seeing the cleric be able to smite better than the paladin and having more damage than the paladin, and having more to do than the paladin just felt wrong. Mostly because none of my class features really mattered, compared to everyone else at the table. Most of my character's contribution came from system competence and understanding the value of trading an action for +2 to hit, whether it be in using Feint or in moving into flanking position. Also I HATE how heavy armor works now, and I feel the speed reduction is too much at 10ft. I also find it odd that the paladin has no way to bypass it.
I am dissapoint.
I wanted to compare choices, didn't think Heal was that necessary considering my spell point reserves, and also because I wanted to use my weapon two handed.
You could say that choice was restricted by the system.
Blade of Justice would be pretty bad at this level, plus it's better to feint. This playtest proved this to me, because I got to chain crits.
Attack of Opportunity actually triggered less than RS.
I still think it was the better choice over Blade of Justice.
I miss smite evil. If vengeful smite could deliver through a weapon I'd be much happier. There really isn't a martial nova class anymore.
Weapon Surge was my best ability, but it's stolen from the cleric...
Also we both had disrupting weapons, and I had ghost touch, so that mattered.
I'd like deity choice or something to influence the options with blade ally.
I'm going to be honest - I'm really not surprised the channel-focused cleric does better than the martial-focused paladin in a thing designed specifically to test the power of healing.
What weapon was he using?
I'd actually be mildly curious personally to test a certain paladin setup in this one (human with a polearm, using Warded Touch, Hospice Knight, Shining Oath, Channel Life, and probably AOO) to see how that turns out.
Shining Oath isn't that good.
He had a greatsword, I used a bastard sword two handed.