Suggestions for an elf paladin built

[Lord_Winn]

One of the hardest built I have is a paladin in general. On a previous thread, I have asked some forum members for what class to create for an elf since I do love those elves. Couple of member suggest "paladin" as a class.
I have a human paladin at level 10: she has decent strength and constitution.
For an elf paladin:
1) Is it better to use a regular elf (my preference) or a drow elf?
2) I want her to be geared toward divine casting rather than a pure dps melee tank: what particular ability scores should I concentrate on? Charisma is important for paladin based on my previous experience. How about wisdom?
3) Someone mentioned giving the paladin TWF. Doesn't that mean the paladin would have to be dex-based? Or is it better to go with str-based in general as is the case with my human paladin.
Of all the classes, the paladin is the hardest to design and allocate points. I would like to hear other fellow forum members' experience to see what works and what does not work. Thank you.

P.S. Yes, I do like those elves, even with the fact they suffer constitution penalties as a race. This would be my first true melee type elves so I hope you all can provide me with some input.

[Zachski]

No offense, but...

If you want to be geared towards divine casting, it seems like it'd be better to be a battle Cleric with high Wisdom.

[Rubiconn]

Agreed or if you have it available FvS.

Paly's are very feat challenged, which makes it a challenge to play. If you wanted to go drow that would be my choice(it was my choice), cha bonus, resistances. Mine is a DPS build, kind of wish I had gone human but it is what it is.

[unbongwah]

1) Is it better to use a regular elf (my preference) or a drow elf?
If it's 28-pt elf vs drow, I'd definitely say drow; it's just really hard to say no to that +2 CHA for a paladin, everything else being equal. If it's 32-pt elf vs drow, it's a lot closer; the drow still comes out ahead but only on INT, so if you don't mind giving up extra skill pts elves are fine.

2) I want her to be geared toward divine casting rather than a pure dps melee tank:Then you don't want a paladin, you want a battle cleric or FvS.

3) Someone mentioned giving the paladin TWF. Doesn't that mean the paladin would have to be dex-based?No, it means you have to hit DEX 17 to get ITWF & GTWF. One advantage of elves & drow is their +2 DEX, so you can hit DEX 16 with just 6 build pts. Then you just need to use a +1 DEX tome or put a lvl-up pt into DEX to hit 17.

Or is it better to go with str-based in general as is the case with my human paladin.Yes.

There are plenty of paladin builds in the paladin forum. I posted a TWF drow paladin to your other elf thread which should work fine, too.

[FuzzyDuck81]

If it's 28-pt elf vs drow, I'd definitely say drow; it's just really hard to say no to that +2 CHA for a paladin, everything else being equal. If it's 32-pt elf vs drow, it's a lot closer; the drow still comes out ahead but only on INT, so if you don't mind giving up extra skill pts elves are fine.


One advantage regular elves have over drow (especially if you have 32-point builds) are the racial weapon enhancements (if you have the AP to spare for the damage boosting one, but the faith based ones boost attack with them too) - elves can get rapiers, scimitars & falchions, which have a very high crit range to benefit the most from your divine sacrifice & smite evil abilities.

Also, dont underestimate the ability to cast a raise dead (or true resurrection on elves) at level 6, where non-elven divine casters will have failure chances on scrolls - its hardly a deal breaker, but can certainly be helpful!

[Lord_Winn]

If it's 28-pt elf vs drow, I'd definitely say drow; it's just really hard to say no to that +2 CHA for a paladin, everything else being equal. If it's 32-pt elf vs drow, it's a lot closer; the drow still comes out ahead but only on INT, so if you don't mind giving up extra skill pts elves are fine.
Then you don't want a paladin, you want a battle cleric or FvS.
No, it means you have to hit DEX 17 to get ITWF & GTWF. One advantage of elves & drow is their +2 DEX, so you can hit DEX 16 with just 6 build pts. Then you just need to use a +1 DEX tome or put a lvl-up pt into DEX to hit 17.
Yes.

There are plenty of paladin builds in the paladin forum. I posted a TWF drow paladin to your other elf thread which should work fine, too.

Thanks, unbongwah and everyone for the input. Yes, paladin is extremely challenging to play. That explains why I only have one out of twelve toons who is paladin. My first paladin was a complete flop due to inadequate constitution and he had to be scrapped after reaching level 7. By the way, should I get the feat like "weapon finesse" if I am to go the route of TWF and ITWF, but still maintain adequate strength like in the 18-20 range. Again points allocations will be crucial to avoid any re-rolling.

[tihocan]

If you go TWF, definitely Drow. It's overall better to go Str-based than finesse. You can check the Truthbringer build here (http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=2916014&postcount=137).

[unbongwah]

should I get the feat like "weapon finesse" if I am to go the route of TWF and ITWF
No - you can't spare the feat, it limits your weapon options, lowers your DPS, and you can't get your DEX high enough to really justify it. Maybe - MAYBE - if you were going for some sort of high-AC monk / paladin I would consider it, but on a pure paladin? Don't bother.