Ritva

[Dream_Marauder]

Goal of this build: a solid, easy to play Paladin for a friend. She will use bastard sword and shield for decent dps and tanking. She will be implementing this build with her free heart of wood after our static group unlocks 32 point builds. Any suggestions to help polish it would be welcome, thanks.
Ritva
Paladin 20
Lawful Good Human


Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 16. . . . . . . . 4: STR
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . . . . . 8: STR
Constitution. . 16. . . . . . . .12: STR
Intelligence. . 10. . . . . . . .16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . . . . . .20: STR
Charisma. . . . 16. . . .+2. . . 24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: STR

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Heal. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Intim . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
UMD . . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. 11½
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .12. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3


Feats

.1. . . . : Exotic Weapon: Bastard Sword
.1 Human. : Power Attack
.1 Deity. : Follower of: Sovereign Host
.3. . . . : Two Handed Fighting
.6. . . . : Improved Two Handed Fighting
.6 Deity. : Unyielding Sovereignty
.9. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . : Greater Two Handed Fighting
15. . . . : Empower Healing Spell
18. . . . : Shield Mastery
21 Epic . : Improved Shield Mastery
24 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
26 Destiny: Holy Strike
27 Epic . : Blinding Speed
28 Destiny: Guardian Angel
29 Destiny: Deific Warding
30 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea


Spells

Cure Light Wounds, Lesser Restoration, Seek Eternal Rest, Bless
Angelskin, Remove Paralysis, Resist Energy, Bull's Strength
Cure Moderate Wounds, Magic Circle Against Evil, Prayer, Remove Blindness
Holy Sword, Zeal, Death Ward, Cure Serious Wounds

Enhancements (80 AP)

Knight of the Chalice (50 AP)
Slayer of Evil, Courage of Heaven, Slayer of Evil II, Improved Courage of Heaven, Slayer of Evil III, Champion of Good
Extra Turning III, Divine Light III, Extra Smite II
Improved Turning III, Divine Might III, Exalted Cleave III
Vigor of Life, Exalted Smite III
Censure Demons, Vigor of Life, Empowered Smite
Censure Outsiders, Holy Retribution III, Vigor of Life, Avenging Cleave III, Sealed Life

Sacred Defender (27 AP)
Holy Bastion, Sacred Defense, Divine Righteousness, Redemption
Extra Lay On Hands III, Durable Defense III
Inciting Defense III
Resilient Defense III, Tenacious Defense III, Constitution
Swift Defense, Strong Defense III, Constitution

Human (3 AP)
Damage Boost
Improved Recovery


Destiny (24 AP)

Unyielding Sentinel
Commanding Presence III, Shield Prowess III, Constitution
Endless Smiting, Legendary Shield Mastery III, Constitution
Endless Lay On Hands III
Purify Weapon
Strength of Vitality III
Undying Vanguard

[Ligraph]

Looks mostly fine to me, just few little things I noticed. Most of them depend on how tanky you want the build to be.

Might want to take the points from Dex and put them into Int, then you can max UMD. Since you have a relatively high Cha, it should be high enough to be useful.
Guardian Angel over Perfect THF?
Hardy Defense over Strong Defense?


The second two are fine either way, just depend on the tank/dps balance you want. Although since you don't have any points in Wis, Guardian Angel probably won't be much use.

I would also take the Shield Prowess and Legendary Shield Mastery enhancements in US, probably instead of the Con and Brace for Impact. Fury might make a good off-destiny if you want more dps at times.

[Dream_Marauder]

Looks mostly fine to me, just few little things I noticed. Most of them depend on how tanky you want the build to be.

Might want to take the points from Dex and put them into Int, then you can max UMD. Since you have a relatively high Cha, it should be high enough to be useful.
Guardian Angel over Perfect THF?
Hardy Defense over Strong Defense?


The second two are fine either way, just depend on the tank/dps balance you want. Although since you don't have any points in Wis, Guardian Angel probably won't be much use.

I would also take the Shield Prowess and Legendary Shield Mastery enhancements in US, probably instead of the Con and Brace for Impact. Fury might make a good off-destiny if you want more dps at times.

Yeah, I talked to her about the option of swapping INT and DEX for the points for UMD. I'm leaving that up to her.

Perfect THF won't be an option, since this is her first life -- that one requires 2 maxed primal destinies, and she will have to start in divine. Same for taking Fury as an alternate destiny - I'm sure she will work her way over there eventually, but to start with US pairs well with the direction we've been taking her character and puts her that much closer to martial as an option for her next destiny.

I debated between Hardy vs Strong defense, and decided that since she already had DM to pump her STR, pumping CON for more HP / survivability would probably pay off more for her. Depending on playstyle and difficulty of content, I could see Strong being a better choice for some. I like the suggestion for Shield mastery/prowess and will edit that into the build. Thanks!

[EllisDee37]

You'll definitely want to spend points in the Vanguard tree.

See this thread (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/470842-Vanguard-Paladin-for-new-players?p=5765403#post5765403) for my take on the same build.

EDIT: Legendary Shield Mastery III requires Improved Shield Mastery, which you take at level 30. Meaning you won't be able to spend any points in Tier 6 Unyielding Sentinel until level 30 as written. Just an FYI.

[BDog77]

For ease of play, I would consider taking the level 5s in SD (getting the 3 extra LOHs and +25 PRR/MRR) and taking the bottom row to glorious stand (gaining 5 more PRR/MRR). I would then take the capstone in KoTC (this will lose you avenging cleave and sealed life, but if you are gonna go the shield route, might as well get worthwhile defense). I feel this gives you the best mix of defense and offense, and the high PRR/MRR allows for some mistakes (the extra LOHs help).

I tried a Vanguard Pally, but found the defense sorely lacking, however, I will admit I did NOT try a Vanguard/SD hybrid (like above, taking all defense from SD and DPS and capstone from Vanguard) yet, and I am interested to try it soon (after my last martial EPL).

So far, I just love my KoTC/SD hybrid. It's a lot of fun and extremely easy to play. I also feel I can contribute in any content at any level, even higher level EE content when I am levels 20-22.

[Ligraph]

I personally have a strong aversion to shield builds, but it would definitely be a valid choice, depending on the favored playstyle(s) of the person using the build.

If you keep a lot of AP in KotC, it might be worth running in Legendary Dreadnought, with Blitz up, that's +70 Melee Power, which boost the KotC Light damage. It's also not very far from US.

[Dream_Marauder]

You'll definitely want to spend points in the Vanguard tree.

See this thread (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/470842-Vanguard-Paladin-for-new-players?p=5765403#post5765403) for my take on the same build.

EDIT: Legendary Shield Mastery III requires Improved Shield Mastery, which you take at level 30. Meaning you won't be able to spend any points in Tier 6 Unyielding Sentinel until level 30 as written. Just an FYI.

I think Vanguard would be more worthwhile if I was more willing to take the points from other trees. For the purposes of this build, I'd rather keep it simple and specialize in a couple trees. From my own experience, the KOTC with SD for defense stance is both durable and relevant in combat. I do think your build is good too, though.

I did go ahead and rearrange epic level feats to squeeze in improved shield mastery early. Unfortunately, I had to delay overwhelming crit until lvl 24, but that is not a prereq, so it can wait. I also took epic DR instead of 1 more point of STR.


For ease of play, I would consider taking the level 5s in SD (getting the 3 extra LOHs and +25 PRR/MRR) and taking the bottom row to glorious stand (gaining 5 more PRR/MRR). I would then take the capstone in KoTC (this will lose you avenging cleave and sealed life, but if you are gonna go the shield route, might as well get worthwhile defense). I feel this gives you the best mix of defense and offense, and the high PRR/MRR allows for some mistakes (the extra LOHs help).


I personally still like KOTC more for tier 5, although if she ends up having trouble staying alive in epic content, I may revisit this suggestion and have her respend her tier 5 points in SD. My experience has always been tier 4 SD stance is enough to make a huge difference in defensive capability.


I personally have a strong aversion to shield builds, but it would definitely be a valid choice, depending on the favored playstyle(s) of the person using the build.

If you keep a lot of AP in KotC, it might be worth running in Legendary Dreadnought, with Blitz up, that's +70 Melee Power, which boost the KotC Light damage. It's also not very far from US.

Obviously we will have her run though some other destinies after she caps US, and LD is high on the recommended list. I thought I might suggest to her to cap all divine destinies (which should also get her 6 mil karma for the past life), then get to lvl 3 GMOF to unlock LD, and finish there.

Thank you all for the comments!

[cru121]

I agree with reducing investment in KotC (for example losing the +2 strength, divine light, improved turning = 10 AP saved) to pick up 5th core in SD.

What also could work is 41 / 31 / 1 human / 7 vanguard to pick up 2nd core and first rank of Stunning Shield maybe.

Also, if you are still in heroic questing, max Holy Retribution. It's a bit less useful in epics, but still nice, at least 1 rank to recharge smites.

[Dream_Marauder]

I agree with reducing investment in KotC (for example losing the +2 strength, divine light, improved turning = 10 AP saved) to pick up 5th core in SD.

What also could work is 41 / 31 / 1 human / 7 vanguard to pick up 2nd core and first rank of Stunning Shield maybe.

Also, if you are still in heroic questing, max Holy Retribution. It's a bit less useful in epics, but still nice, at least 1 rank to recharge smites.

I had kept the div light and imp turning in there because she seems to enjoy having a strong turn undead ability. I will confer with her to find out how important that is to her ... also, I'm not so sure how strong it will be in epic content, and may recommend that she respend those points when / if they stop being useful to her. I do think I may change the STR to give her the smite recharges, though... updating the build post to reflect this.

Edit: This also freed up 1 more point for tier 3 SD - +5 PRR/MRR and the ability to raise/resurrect.

[EllisDee37]

Edit: This also freed up 1 more point for tier 3 SD - +5 PRR/MRR and the ability to raise/resurrect.Paladins can natively use raise/resurrect scrolls, no umd needed.

[Dream_Marauder]

Build has been updated - discussed some choices with the friend that the build is for. She would like to keep the enhancements geared toward turn undead, we put some points in int for UMD, and changed Hardy defense to Strong defense