Tank vs DPS... 1 Feat?

[Khelden]

Hello guys,
I've been on the paladin forum quite alot lately (well, after trying a pally and loving it :P). While I was reading, and reading, and reading, I realized that I could only see 1 feat difference between the tank and the DPS paladin...

Combat Expertise.

Well, to be more accurate, combat expertise & Dodge. So I was wondering... First of all, am I missing something huge there? Secondly, each time I make a character in my character planner (some kind of paladin TWF-DPS-Tank), I end up missing a feat... Would it be an acceptable decision to drop the Dodge feat?

Thanks all! :)

[BlackSteel]

prestige enhancements have alot to do with it too

say you want KoTC, and want to do both AC and good damage, so you take PA and CX.

you'll still want to fit in the 3 TWF feats, improved crit

now you're left with one feat, toughness or khopesh? extend?

5 AC on a DPS char wont make much of a difference (with the exception of monk splash builds with heavy sources of other damage) I'm sure you could make a monk splashed palidan thats capable of both roles. This would be less of a shield holding 'tank' and more of a smack you in the face and get aggro tank.

I'd recommend looking at Dark-star's hurtlocker build.

[Khelden]

*EDITED for Monks extra feat... Read rogue sorry*

Huhhh... I am counting 4 TWF Feats here :S
1: TWF
2: Imp. 2WF
3: Greater 2WF
4: Over-sized

[Gercho]

Its more than 1 feat, its the fact that you will need to hit int 13 to take ce, and you need tower shield, so you need to spend another feat or splash fighter, and fighter will allow you to have full intimidate.
Obviously, there is the enhancements difference, but you could switch them from time to time.
In the end, you can make a tank 18 pal/ 2 fighter, that resets his enhancements to respec from DoS to KotC and be almost as good as any other splashing KotC out there but without evasion or umd.

[Khelden]

Its more than 1 feat, its the fact that you will need to hit int 13 to take ce, and you need tower shield, so you need to spend another feat or splash fighter, and fighter will allow you to have full intimidate.
Obviously, there is the enhancements difference, but you could switch them from time to time.
In the end, you can make a tank 18 pal/ 2 fighter, that resets his enhancements to respec from DoS to KotC and be almost as good as any other splashing KotC out there but without evasion or umd.

That was pretty much my plan... As I said, the problem is that Im lacking some feats... If I drop Dodge, I can take my 4 TWF feats, but 0 metamagic...

So it's down to Over-sized vs Extend spells [or maximize for self-heal...] vs Dodge

[Gercho]

well, otw is not really needed, extend is great, but you can live without it, not that i would want :P
Now, if you want to mix self healing you start to get really feat starved... you will need quicken and maximize at least...

let me see what i would do, you have 10 feats assuming human.

toughness
power attack
3 from twf
ic: slashing
CE
maximize
quicken

those 9 are a must i think.

the final feat could be khopesh, dodge or extend, and i personally would take khopesh

[Khelden]

well, otw is not really needed, extend is great, but you can live without it, not that i would want :P
Now, if you want to mix self healing you start to get really feat starved... you will need quicken and maximize at least...

let me see what i would do, you have 10 feats assuming human.

toughness
power attack
3 from twf
ic: slashing
CE
maximize
quicken

those 9 are a must i think.

the final feat could be khopesh, dodge or extend, and i personally would take khopesh
Well I was more likely planning to self-heal with LoH and Unyield Sov while fighting, then wands between fights heh ;)

[Gercho]

well, then you shouldnt have any feat problems, drop maximize and quicken, get dodge and extend, consider sf:umd though...

[Ralmeth]

I wouldn't bother with dodge because you're so feat limited. 1 AC point at the cost of 1 of your precious feats is not worth it IMHO. SF-UMD would end up being more helpful, I would think. You could always save that last feat for last (i.e. 18th level). By the time you get to 18th level you will likely have a good idea what feat would help you the most. So I wouldn't worry about it too much atm.

[BlackSteel]

oversized TWF simply isnt needed for most content. If the to-hit is a real issue in some content then put a light weapon in your offhand. Noone is forcing you to run dual khopeshes.


heck before the release of epic content, some people ran around using dual khopeshes w/o the khopesh feat or OTWF.