Lizardfolk Paladin of Apsu - Give my idea a looksee?

[Shorticus]

I'm adding a character to the backlog, a rehash of a concept I once got to play to level 5. Here's the rough plan:

Lizardfolk Paladin (Sacred Servant) of Apsu

POINT BUY
___15 | 20___
STR: 18 | 18
DEX: 12 | 12
CON: 14 | 16
INT: 7 | 7
WIS: 10 | 12
CHA: 14 | 14

Alternatively, I could have 8 INT and 10 WIS with 20 point buy, but that'd mostly be a roleplay decision.

TRAITS
One of them will be Inspiring Leader. You'll see why when the character hits level 9.

SACRED SERVANT DOMAIN
Travel. It gets me some amazing spells, including Longsitrde, Fly and Dimension Door, and lets me ignore difficulty terrain penalties at low levels.

FEATS
1. Power Attack
3. Multiattack
5. Dangerous Tail
7. Death Roll
9. Unsanctioned Knowledge - 1st: Dazzling Blade, 2nd: Heroism / Mirror Image, 3rd: Good Hope / Haste, 4th: Dance of a Hundred Cuts / Shadow Conjuration / Greater Invisibility

I may potentially dip Unchained Monk for 1 level to grab Improved Grapple and Hamatula Strike, but only if I don't have a way of getting Lockjaw on myself.

The plan for this character is straightforward:

Step 1. Find evil creature.
Step 2. Smite it.
Step 3. Power attack the ever-loving CRAP out of it.
Step 4. Grapple with bite, death roll it prone, and beat it up more.

What I lack is a way to pounce. I could adjust my build to get Dimensional Dervish since I would have Dimension Door via my domain... but I only get one Dimension Door per day. One domain slot. Not exactly a riveting prospect.

I also like that this character would get to full attack when grappled thanks to not using a 2H weapon or the like. Natural attacks, baby!

Any thoughts on how to improve this? The idea is to stay in the Paladin class as much as possible, only dipping as necessary. What I want is...

1. More attacks. I know a couple items exist (like the Helm of the Mammoth Lord), but more is always better.
2. A way to get lockjaw.
3. A way to move and full attack (if possible) without using a mount + Mounted Skirmisher. (Can my Celestial Ally pick me up and drop me in front of bad guys, perhaps?)
4. Anything obvious I might be missing.

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

[avr]

Unsanctioned knowledge requires 13 Int. At level 9 a +6 Int headband is unaffordable, especially since Int isn't otherwise especially useful to you.

I'm fuzzy on why you're getting the inspiring leader trait. Surely magical knack (paladin) would be more useful? Though anything which is intended to build on paladin spellcasting runs the risk of being less useful than you'd like given their lack of spells/day.

Sacred servant gets a special holy symbol, not a celestial mount or similar BTW.

Flickering step could get you more dimension doors, and death roll doesn't look that useful. You don't get any bonus to fighting prone so making both you and your enemy prone cancels out bonuses & penalties, and makes you slower to move on to the next target when this one's finished.

[Shorticus]

avr wrote:

I'm fuzzy on why you're getting the inspiring leader trait. Surely magical knack (paladin) would be more useful? Though anything which is intended to build on paladin spellcasting runs the risk of being less useful than you'd like given their lack of spells/day.

That's because for some reason I misread it as granting a +1 higher morale bonus. That's what I get for waking up in the middle of the night, saying "AHA!" and doing rushed research.

Ignore the comment about the trait. Addled, dream-touched mind.

Quote:

Unsanctioned knowledge requires 13 Int. At level 9 a +6 Int headband is unaffordable, especially since Int isn't otherwise especially useful to you.

I forgot about the INT requirement... Thanks, I'll bear that in mind. Probably have to go for a simpler concept for this character.

Quote:

Sacred servant gets a special holy symbol, not a celestial mount or similar BTW.

Oh, absolutely! I mentioned not using a mount because the build DOESN'T get one.

Quote:

Flickering step could get you more dimension doors, and death roll doesn't look that useful. You don't get any bonus to fighting prone so making both you and your enemy prone cancels out bonuses & penalties, and makes you slower to move on to the next target when this one's finished.

Flickering step, huh? That might just work, thanks.

Oh! For Death Roll, my plan was NOT to maintain the grapple. It was:

Full attack with a bite (or move action > standard bite) > initiate grapple via bite > IMMEDIATELY let go after the target is prone.

This does a few things:

A) Makes it harder for the target to escape if they wished to run away.
B) Makes my subsequent attacks easier to get off (+4 attack) in that round.
C) Punishes them if they stand up.
D) Prevents 5 foot free steps.

The goal isn't to fall prone with them unless there's an enemy I REALLY want to keep grappled. It's to get a free chance to knock someone prone 1/turn as part of my full attack, more with Lockjaw (2 claws). I suppose once I have a Helm of the Mammoth Lord + Hamatula Strike I can likewise hit things with grapple checks twice using Gore and Bite.

Also, I'd be unable to make a full attack (I believe) if I was the one initiating the grapple. The defender actually gets more attacks than the attacker.

[Reksew_Trebla]

Dread Wing on Full-Plate armor will get you both a fly speed and 2 wing attacks, but it is a +5 enchantment, so that won’t be for awhile.

It has to be on Full-Plate (or Hellknight) armor though, not just any heavy.