Hi, i started playing a paladin (class that i've never played) and i need some help to optimize it.
I rolled stats and this is what i got :
Str:16
Dex:13
Con:15
Int:12
Wis:11
Cha:16
(those stats are why i choosed the Paladin class)
which race and feats can i got to make it viable?
I'm starting the game at 5th lvl so Iihave a little margin.
Are you more interested in being damage or tank? If you want to tank, then the Fey Foundling feat is hard to beat for self healing with lay on hands.
Fey foundling is usually the go to feat for a paladin. The running joke is that all paladins are found abounded in the woods. The feat is actually about the best feat for a paladin.
For race half orc opens up ferocious resolve which gives you the ability to function at negative HP. Combine this with lay on hand and you character becomes incredibly difficult to take down. You literally have to be killed to be stopped. Half orcs also get a floating bonus with no penalty which would be best put to STR. You also get dark vision which is always useful.
For your third feat power attack is going to be your best bet. Use a two handed weapon and deal massive amounts of damage. Not using a shield is going to lower your AC, but your healing will offset that. Also if your AC is two high more intelligent monsters may simply bypass you. With a lower AC you take damage so they may be tempted to continue to attack you.
Another good race is Suli. They get a bonus to both STR and CHR and 5 points of resistance to all 4 elements. The trait unscathed can boost those to 7.
Keep in mind that your desired AC can vary a lot from campaign to campaign and from level to level. If you're playing something like Giant Slayer, then you are going to get critical hit to death pretty quick without a decent AC.
Angel-blooded aaismar is the most OP option you could pick for a race, but the flavor fits pretty well too.
At fifth level you can use shield brace if you want to do a two handed weapon (nodachi is your best non reach polearm option) and maintain high ac. You can also still pick up power attack which is really the only feat needed when going the two handed route.
If you go this route your saves will be astounding and your ac solid so you'll be hard to take down (that's normal for a paladin).
Ok, so the thing the Paladin does better than any other class is avoid dying.
FEY FOUNDLING is an amazing feat. As others have said it's the single biggest increase to your healing that you can get. The reason for that is that it multiplies all other self healing. If we put this on our 8th level Paladin he now heals 4d6+8 (~22) HP up to 7 times per day, for a total of 28d6+56 (~154) HP per day.
GREATER MERCY is another another feat that adds to the healing. While not as good, it does stack with Fey Foundling - the bonus 1d6 healed also gets +2 from FF. If we put this on our base level 8 Paladin we now get 5d6 (~17.5) HP healed per LoH, for a total of 35d6 (~122.5) HP healed per day. If we include Fey Foundling as well it's 5d6+10 (~27.5) HP per heal, for a total of 35d6+70 (~192.5) HP healed per day.
The BRACERS OF THE MERCIFUL KNIGHT do 2 things. First they give you +2d6 HP healed per LoH, second they give you 2 extra uses of LoH per day. This means they multiply everything we've said so far. If we put these on our Base Paladin he'd get 6d6 (~21) HP healed 9 times per day for a total of 54d6 (~189) HP per day. If we add it to Fey Foundling and Greater Mercy we get 7d6+14 (~38.5) HP healed per LoH, up to 9 times per day for a total of 63d6+126 (~346.5) HP healed per day.
Finally you could look at the HOSPITALER archetype. While a separate channel pool may not seem amazing (especially since it's at CL-3) it gets better if you can get yourself a MEDITATION CRYSTAL. This super-cheap item is 100% reusable without limits and lets you turn your 3d6 Channel Energy into a 4d6 Lay on Hands - or in the case lf our super buffed level 8 Paladin with Fey Foundling, Greater Mercy and a pair of Bracers of the Merciful Knight it lets us turn our 3d6 (~10.5) HP Channel Energy into a 7d6+14 (~38.5) HP Lay on Hands. This gives you 7 extra uses of LoH per day, up to 16 LoH per day for a total of 116d6+232 (~616) HP per day. It also increases the value of your Charisma modifier. You normally get an extra use of LoH per CHA modifier, but you now also get an extra Channel per CHA mod, meaning you now get 2 uses of LoH per CHA mod.
I know I said "Finally" for the Hospitaler, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the spell HEROE'S DEFIANCE. The extra HP isn't enough to be a major game-changer (because you don't have enough spell-slots to always cast it), but the ability to LoH as an immediate action, and the fact that you can use this to avoid an otherwise fatal blow make this spell an incredible defensive option. I'd prepare it once per day and get some pearls of power as you level up just in case.
Now you don't have to use all of these options, but combining a couple of them can be extremely powerful. My recommendation would be that Fey Foundling and the Bracers of the Merciful Knight are the 2 most powerful options to combine.
On top of all that you have a 2 good saves (the important ones), a huge bonus to all saves (Divine Grace), some immunities (some really good ones), some status removal (from Mercies) for if you ever fail a save, and the best Armour proficiencies in the game. You also have some great long term buffs to add to your defences.
Unless you have an idea for Race I'd also take a look at the FAVOURED CLASS BONUSES for Paladins. I'll draw your attention to ghe Half-Elf, the Human and the Tiefling.
The Human option gives you energy resistance, and when combined with the UNSCATHED background trait becomes a powerful option early in the game. It's also worth noting that this option is allowed for Humans, Half-Elves and Half-Orcs - although I'd check with my GM before assuming that (the rules say it works, but it's something I've seen ruled against often enough to ask first).
The Half-Elf option is an interesting one, increasing ghe radius of your auras. If you combined this with the FEARLESS AURA and/or ULTIMATE RESOLVE feats it could give you some incredibly powerful passive buffs that cover most of the battlefield. There are some archetypes that give new auras as well, and this could work well with them.
There are some great Paladin archetypes. I'd even look at the options that lose spells as - despite being quite a good spell list - they aren't the strongest part of the class. I won't go into as much detail here, but the OATH OF VENGEANCE is a very good offensive option, and I like the TEMPERED CHAMPIONfor this role as well. For a more defensive option there's the HOSPITALER (explained above in the first spoiler). I personally really like the OATH OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL archetype for a more party-buffing Paladin, it replaces Smite Evil (and all Smite related things) with Bardic Performance, making it less of a Boss-killer and more of an all-day beatstick/buffer.
It's also probably worth looking up an "Oradin" (Oracle/Paladin). It might be something you're interested in.
That's probably enough of a wall of text for now. I'l let someone else add something.
Fey foundling is usually the go to feat for a paladin. The running joke is that all paladins are found abounded in the woods. The feat is actually about the best feat for a paladin.
For race half orc opens up ferocious resolve which gives you the ability to function at negative HP. Combine this with lay on hand and you character becomes incredibly difficult to take down. You literally have to be killed to be stopped. Half orcs also get a floating bonus with no penalty which would be best put to STR. You also get dark vision which is always useful.
For your third feat power attack is going to be your best bet. Use a two handed weapon and deal massive amounts of damage. Not using a shield is going to lower your AC, but your healing will offset that. Also if your AC is two high more intelligent monsters may simply bypass you. With a lower AC you take damage so they may be tempted to continue to attack you.
Another good race is Suli. They get a bonus to both STR and CHR and 5 points of resistance to all 4 elements. The trait unscathed can boost those to 7.
Thanks!! i'll take a look at those feats and the half-orc race conviced me since the "Function at negative hp" hahahah
I have to add that this character is for a custom campaign with friends.
I`ll get a +1 in one stat for reaching lvl2 and one +2 to other stat for reaching 4th lvl. so the stats will increase a bit.
i asume that i'll start putting the stat increases like this:
Str:16 +2 (lvl 4) = 18
Dex:13 = 13
Con:15 +1 (lvl 2) = 16
Int:12 = 12
Wis:11 = 11
Cha:16 = 16
also i start with 6000gold for equipment/items. Some advice?
The half orc with Fey founding got me instantly, obiously being hard to take down and heal a lot is important for a Paladin.
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Don’t forget that half orcs get +2 to any one stat. Put that into STR and at 4th level you should have a 20 STR instead of 18.
For your Divine Bond take weapon. That means you will want to have a magic weapon so you can use it to add enchantments. Being able to add things like Keen and flaming to your existing weapon is more useful than getting a +1 to hit and damage. Start with a +1 Falchion for the 18-20 cirt range, and use keen to boost it to 15-20 Since you will not be using a shield get the best heavy armor you can afford. +1 Full Plate goes for 2,650 gold. Between this and your sword that is going to use up the majority of your starting wealth.
You will want some sort of a ranged weapon. A masterwork composite long bow with a 20 STR rating goes for 900 gold. This leaves you about 75 gold for the rest of your gear.
For your mercies take those that remove conditions you are likely to get. Don’t bother taking those that remove conditions you are immune to. Your lay on hands are what keeps you going in combat so will mostly be used on yourself. Avoid things like shaken, diseased, frightened, and focus on things like fatigued, staggered and poisoned.
If you're going half orc consider sacred tattoo and fate's favored. An additional +2 to all saves is a nice boost you to your already high saves.
Edit: Nevermind. You want the orc ferocity, sacred tattoo replaces that.
A little expensive for you right now, but Inheritor's Light (6,555 gp) would work well with Fey Foundling. Especially if your GM allows you to upgrade it past +1.
Otherwise, start with the basics: +1 Armor(~1k), +1 Shield(1k, light shield so you can still use the hand for LoH), +1 Weapon (2k), Cloak of Resistance +1 (1k), Ring of Protection +1 (2k), Amulet of Natural Armor (2k), etc.
Opalescent White Pyramid ioun stone (cracked, 1.5k) if you want to use an exotic weapon and don't want to spare the feat.
Robe of Needles(1k) is cheap and useful if you don't normally have a ranged attack, since it targets touch. Important to note that even though it does only 1 damage, if you have damage bonuses (aka, smite evil) those still apply.
Corset of Delicate Moves(2k) would allow you to use a second Lay on Hands on yourself once a day.
Deathwatch Eyes(2k) if your GM withhold current health information from the party.
I like Ioun Gauntlet(1600gp) for the enhancement bonus to a skill (which is uncommon).
Can you wear clothes (i.e the corset or robe) under your armor? I've never been sure.
Can you wear clothes (i.e the corset or robe) under your armor? I've never been sure.
Yep. Non-magic items can be worn pretty much however you like (I'm sure there are some restrictions, like you wouldn't get the befit of a swarm suit and a pickpocket's outfit at the same time).
Magic items all have slots. It's 1 item per slot, but there are a lot of slots. The PFSRD has a good breakdown HERE.