Fighter vs Paladin?

[DetectiveHacc]

Warning ahead of time: This is probably going to be one of the more frustrating "What should I play" posts that you could have clicked on. Sorry for that.

I'm fairly new to the game. Really, really enjoying it. Seriously. So far this seems to be one of the greatest MMOs out there. Dungeon crawling! Group puzzles! ACTUAL ****ING TEAMWORK!

That aside, I have no idea what I want to play. I've experimented with everything from Pale Master Wizard and Soul Eater Warlock to Lord of Blades Paladin and Ravager Barbarian. I've fallen in love with pretty much everything I've played so far. Pale Master's sustain and minion DPS is insane! Warlock's life stealing and AoE is amazing! However, I've always been one for melee. I know I'll never really "Click" with a caster class long enough to main it.

So, I've narrowed my choices down to either my Lord of Blades Paladin or my Kensai Fighter. Both are Warforged. Both seem to be awesome.

Originally, I was going to pick the Paladin, but then my wife picked Pale Master Wizard as her main, so it just didn't feel right to have this big holy warrior guy tag along with a necromancer through most of his adventures. I originally liked him for his healing, but I quickly realized it's not all that great for self healing, and since my wife is constantly in vampire form, it's not any good at healing her either.

I know it's a really stupid reason not to play a paladin, but if I'm going to need a cleric hireling and potions anyways, wouldn't it be better just to go all out DPS and pick Fighter, or would the loss of wand healing be a huge blow?

[bjones0064]

Warning ahead of time: This is probably going to be one of the more frustrating "What should I play" posts that you could have clicked on. Sorry for that.

I'm fairly new to the game. Really, really enjoying it. Seriously. So far this seems to be one of the greatest MMOs out there. Dungeon crawling! Group puzzles! ACTUAL ****ING TEAMWORK!

That aside, I have no idea what I want to play. I've experimented with everything from Pale Master Wizard and Soul Eater Warlock to Lord of Blades Paladin and Ravager Barbarian. I've fallen in love with pretty much everything I've played so far. Pale Master's sustain and minion DPS is insane! Warlock's life stealing and AoE is amazing! However, I've always been one for melee. I know I'll never really "Click" with a caster class long enough to main it.

So, I've narrowed my choices down to either my Lord of Blades Paladin or my Kensai Fighter. Both are Warforged. Both seem to be awesome.

Originally, I was going to pick the Paladin, but then my wife picked Pale Master Wizard as her main, so it just didn't feel right to have this big holy warrior guy tag along with a necromancer through most of his adventures. I originally liked him for his healing, but I quickly realized it's not all that great for self healing, and since my wife is constantly in vampire form, it's not any good at healing her either.

I know it's a really stupid reason not to play a paladin, but if I'm going to need a cleric hireling and potions anyways, wouldn't it be better just to go all out DPS and pick Fighter, or would the loss of wand healing be a huge blow?


I have one question why not consider barbarian over fighter? They have self healing and do great dps. They do well in reaper too.

But to answer your question pally all the way. Selling healing higher saves, they do higher damage against creatures in epics because of their class abilities. It's a clear advantage that you can't understand estimate. Another plus is that you can do tank or thf builds with a pally and they work well. Pdk racial abilities support both.

Edited: If you play a melee your gonna need a cleric hire regardless. Unlike casters your taking damage toe to toe.

[DetectiveHacc]

I have one question why not consider barbarian over fighter? They have self healing and do great dps. They do well in reaper too.


It's mostly the "Rage" mechanic. It seems like the main point of Barbarian is to keep your rage going, charge in, kill everything as fast as you can with simple attacks, and then continue to the next room for more killing. No tactics, no extra, just rage and kill.

That is fun. I'll admit that. I just don't enjoy it thematically.

[Vish]

Role play is important
The idea of the necro and the pally,
Seems a strange combination,
But it could be an interesting role play

Or you could play to lawful good and not go there
Fighter is valid, could be companion, or ward
Fighters are valid, with a hire,
Or you could go aasimar, with self heal
They are strong for melee

But might I suggest monk
They have lots of special abilities,
And are supreme melee rs
Maybe a lawful neutral monk tagging along,
Helping the balance from the dark side?
Or could be trying to convert,
Monks can be nefarious
But monks are great melee too,
So consider

[Kriogen]

How about this build: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/426765-Kensei-Warpriest-for-new-players-%28Human-12-8-Fighter-Cleric%29

It can:
- fight, frontline fighter
- a couple of nice buff
- self heal
- can heal your vampire wife with Inflict woud/Harm spells

It plays more like Paladin, but Paladins don't get Inflict spells. Clerics do. Its also Kensei, good melee damage output.

[unbongwah]

So, I've narrowed my choices down to either my Lord of Blades Paladin or my Kensai Fighter. Both are Warforged. Both seem to be awesome.
Presuming we're talking pure builds, the short answer is: paladin has better survivability making it a more newbie-friendly solo build (IMO); Kensei has better DPS but no self-healing and poor Reflex saves (so it tends to soak up more damage). Bladeforged complicates the equation because Reconstruct SLA is the great equalizer between classes, but you didn't mention having BF so I'm presuming that's a non-issue.

Since your wife is playing a Pale Master, she could also handle Repairs if you want to play a pure WF fighter or barb. You may also want to check out the Arcane Warrior (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/476982-The-Arcane-Warrior-3-different-builds) thread which has a WF ftr / wiz build; you trade melee DPS for self-sufficiency and some useful self-buffs like Displacement et al.

It's mostly the "Rage" mechanic. It seems like the main point of Barbarian is to keep your rage going, charge in, kill everything as fast as you can with simple attacks, and then continue to the next room for more killing. No tactics, no extra, just rage and kill.
Well, you can pick up a tactics feat or two like Stunning Blow or special barb attacks like Ear Smash for more variety; but you have the gist of the Tao of the Barbarian correct, yes. https://www.ddo.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.png

EDIT: see the THF Kensei in my build index. It's human but converting to any race is easy.

[Alisonique]

How about running with the idea that the pale master uses the power of necromancy to prevent the deaths of more living creatures? I know that all characters kill the monsters one way or another, but from an RPG point of view, the dead are dead , so using their mortal husks to battle evil is just making good use of an expired product, recycling them and not being wasteful. One could say very "green" (and possibly mouldy), and therefore "on trend".

OK , so now you know why I'd make a lousy salesman. :)

[count_spicoli]

Without knowing what you are trying to achieve its hard to say. Im assuming being new that 10 skull epic reaper isnt your concern. Probably you and your wife enjoying hard or maybe even elite lvl heroic questing. Pally would be your best bet for that. Pally for heroic questing is going to be better survivable and should be able to still achieve a decent stunning blow and trip dc without all the past lives and gear for those lvls. If your talking lvl 30 legendary high reaper than fighter is going to net you way hire cc with dire charge, sb, trip and lay waste dcs that are no fail and better dps to smack em down once stunned.

[Enoach]

it is a funny combination. Try a campaign where one player is a paladin and another is a Revenant. Strange bedfellows indeed, one common goal Strahd. but each with a different desired outcome.

As a note as this may help with the distinctions. Pale Master is not a Necromancer. They do have overlapping aspects. The key difference is a Necromancer strives to have power over the undying while the Pale Master is on a self quest of transcending death.

[Qhualor]

Warning ahead of time: This is probably going to be one of the more frustrating "What should I play" posts that you could have clicked on. Sorry for that.

I'm fairly new to the game. Really, really enjoying it. Seriously. So far this seems to be one of the greatest MMOs out there. Dungeon crawling! Group puzzles! ACTUAL ****ING TEAMWORK!

That aside, I have no idea what I want to play. I've experimented with everything from Pale Master Wizard and Soul Eater Warlock to Lord of Blades Paladin and Ravager Barbarian. I've fallen in love with pretty much everything I've played so far. Pale Master's sustain and minion DPS is insane! Warlock's life stealing and AoE is amazing! However, I've always been one for melee. I know I'll never really "Click" with a caster class long enough to main it.

So, I've narrowed my choices down to either my Lord of Blades Paladin or my Kensai Fighter. Both are Warforged. Both seem to be awesome.

Originally, I was going to pick the Paladin, but then my wife picked Pale Master Wizard as her main, so it just didn't feel right to have this big holy warrior guy tag along with a necromancer through most of his adventures. I originally liked him for his healing, but I quickly realized it's not all that great for self healing, and since my wife is constantly in vampire form, it's not any good at healing her either.

I know it's a really stupid reason not to play a paladin, but if I'm going to need a cleric hireling and potions anyways, wouldn't it be better just to go all out DPS and pick Fighter, or would the loss of wand healing be a huge blow?

If you want to play WF and wife is a vampire, better off getting a sorc or wizard hire that will repair you. Or the vampire can cast repair on you and with investment would make repairs better than the hire.

Easier for the fighter to be more tactical, but the Paladin has overall better survivability. For a WF paladin to have good healing you would need to invest with feats and gear or healing will be pretty bad.

I don't think you can choose wrong either way. They both have their pros and cons.