The Basic Paladin Build Guide v1.2

[jmonty]

i see. thanks for the help! the max dex bonus on that shield is +3, if only there were enhancements for that. i'll probably opt out of the ac boosts, but with buffs i guess i could hit 55, which is more than i thought. funny how alot of my ac is due to lucky loot pulls.

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

Fighter 3 - Fighter's Tower Shield Mastery 1 & Fighter's Armor Mastery 1

Also, a Mithral Tower Shield has a Max Dex of 4.

And depending on how high your Dex is... you may get equal or better AC out of a +5 Heavy Shield vs. a Tower Shield. If you have 20 Dex (+5), then getting DAM 2 and switching to a +5 Heavy Shield gives the exact same AC!

[KoboldKiller]

I have a question concerning Paladin levels. I have always played pure so I do not understand the 11 levels only if cross classing as I see the intimi-tank has. What is the purpose of only 11 Paladin levels?

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

After Paladin 11, the current Enhancement System & Spell List has very little to offer the Paladin levels 12+.

Level 11 Paladin gets:
30-point Resist Energy
Bulwark & Resistance of Good 3
Extra LoH 2
Level 3 Spells (1 Slot)

Level 12 Paladin gets:
Extra LoH 3

Level 14 Paladin gets:
Level 4 Spells (1 Slot)

And that's about it. The important part is that Pally 11 gives the RoG/BoG 3 and the 30-point resists. The Level 4 Spells are not that appealing, other than Death Ward... but there are static clickies in Tangleroot, and Clerics carry it as well. Many Paladins choose to MultiClass after Paladin 11, due to the lack of new "stuff" for high-level Paladins. Even with Mod 6 coming, there is nothing really new in the list for Paladins beyond Level 11. Additionally, all indications are that "Level 2" Specialty Enhancements are Class Level 11 required, so we are fine for that, if Paladins ever get any lovin (supposedly in Mod 7).

Many Paladins choose to take Fighter Levels, for Feats, or Rogue for Skill Points (UMD) and Evasion, or Sorcerer for SP. Some go into other classes, but those are the most popular, especially Fighter and Rogue 2/Fighter 1 (for L14, Rog 2/Fighter 3 for L16) due to the lack of anything to look forward to for Paladins from L12 all the way to L20.

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

I have a question concerning Paladin levels. I have always played pure so I do not understand the 11 levels only if cross classing as I see the intimi-tank has. What is the purpose of only 11 Paladin levels?

Let me put it a different way... you have a 14 Paladin, I have a 11 Paladin / 2 Rogue / 1 Fighter

For Levels 12-14, you gained: +1 LoH, +1 Level 4 Spell (Death Ward & Holy Sword are the only viable spells, IMHO)
For Levels 12-14, I gained: +1 Dex AP, +1d6 Sneak Attack, Evasion, +14 Skill Points, +1 Fighter Bonus Feat, Tower Shield Proficiency.


And the 2nd part: Looking at Level 20, with you staying pure classed, and I'm going 11 Pal / 2 Rog / 7 Fgt
For Levels 15-20, you have to look forward to: More Smite Evils, More Remove Disease
For Levels 15-20, I have to look forward to: 3 Fighter Bonus Feats, +2 STR AP, FAM 2, FTSM 2, Fighter Trip/Sunder/etc 3, Critical Accuracy 3, Weapon Specialization

[KoboldKiller]

I thank you sir. As you have layed it out for me very well. from a DDO standpoint staying pure may not be that viable and I may need to re-consider my role playing and PnP prejudice towards staying pure.

[Jondallar]

I thank you sir. As you have layed it out for me very well. from a DDO standpoint staying pure may not be that viable and I may need to re-consider my role playing and PnP prejudice towards staying pure.

Dont do it Man... if you have a pally over lvl 9 stay pure, the enhancements will be worth it... eventually. If you toughed it out pure that long I would keep on staying pure for RP and style reasons.If starting fresh then I recommend mutliclassing

[KoboldKiller]

Dont do it Man... if you have a pally over lvl 9 stay pure, the enhancements will be worth it... eventually. If you toughed it out pure that long I would keep on staying pure for RP and style reasons.If starting fresh then I recommend mutliclassing

Oh Leothalas will stay pure however I was looking at making a "Cavalier" build which will require multi-classing.

[Hvymetal]

Dont do it Man... if you have a pally over lvl 9 stay pure, the enhancements will be worth it... eventually. If you toughed it out pure that long I would keep on staying pure for RP and style reasons.If starting fresh then I recommend mutliclassing

1 amendment, we HOPE the enhancements will eventually be worth it. Or we may get more extra smites and remove disease enhancements

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

1 amendment, we HOPE the enhancements will eventually be worth it. Or we may get more extra smites and remove disease enhancements

Funny you should mention that, because up on Risia, that's exactly what they did. Paladin's Extra Smite Evil now grants +2 Extra Smites for each Rank, instead of +1 for each rank... and I think we get more Remove Diseases or something stupid like that... but they good news is that they dropped Extra Lay on Hands to 1/2/3 AP's each instead of 2/4/6.

[jmonty]

After Paladin 11, the current Enhancement System & Spell List has very little to offer the Paladin levels 12+.

what are the lvl 15 and 16 enhancements?

i think i'll stay pure pally, if only to get all the current enhancements that i want, while crossing my fingers that the new ones (i assume there are new ones?) will be worth it.

[RTN]

what are the lvl 15 and 16 enhancements?

i think i'll stay pure pally, if only to get all the current enhancements that i want, while crossing my fingers that the new ones (i assume there are new ones?) will be worth it.

I think the answer to that is no one knows. The current version of Risia doesn't have anything entirely new that we've noticed. Hopefully there are at least a couple things that haven't hit the WDA yet. However, I think there's a real possibility that we won't see anything truly new and exciting until Mod 7, when Devs have promised paladins lots of love.

[jmonty]

Fighter 3 - Fighter's Tower Shield Mastery 1 & Fighter's Armor Mastery 1

Also, a Mithral Tower Shield has a Max Dex of 4.

And depending on how high your Dex is... you may get equal or better AC out of a +5 Heavy Shield vs. a Tower Shield. If you have 20 Dex (+5), then getting DAM 2 and switching to a +5 Heavy Shield gives the exact same AC!

my dex bonus is only plus 4, so i guess if i get a +5 mithral tower shield i could get my ac to 50 base, but the best i have now is a madstone shield, which is only 1 ac better than my heavy shield, and of course, the -2 too hit. but the good news is i finally got some chaosguardes!

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

As stated above, there are no new Enhancements for L15-16... for any class, other than the Arcane Archer. So, it comes again back to the uselessness of Paladin 12+...

Yes, there is some Paladin Lovin coming in Mod 7, but all indications are that 11 or 12 levels of Paladin should be able to get any "Advanced" Level Specialty Enhancement (based on the Ranger, Rogue, and Bard ones we've seen. Tier 1 @ L6, Tier 2 @ L11)

[miceelf88]

Love this guide, but Dworkin, I didn't see a translation for the basic paladin to halfling, although you billed post 7 as having translation for all six races. Will this be coming?

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

Love this guide, but Dworkin, I didn't see a translation for the basic paladin to halfling, although you billed post 7 as having translation for all six races. Will this be coming?

Wow! I didn't realize that I missed a Halfling conversion... well, I don't have it threshed out, but I'll take a stab at it real quick:

Pure 14 Paladin:
Convert Human to Halfling

Stats
----------------
STR: 15 + 3 (Levels) + 2 (1750 Tome) + 6 (Item) = 26 (+8)
DEX: 10 + 6 (Item) = 16 (+3)
CON: 15 + 1 (Tome) + 6 (Item) = 22 (+6)
INT: 8
WIS: 11 + 1 (Tome) + 6 (Item) = 18 (+4)
CHA: 15 + 1 (Tome) + 2 (Paladin Cha 2) + 6 (Item) = 24 (+7)
----------------

Feat/Enhancement Changes
----------------
-Weapon Proficiency Kopesh
Paladin Charisma 3 Ã* Paladin Charisma 2
-Human Adaptability 1 & 2
+Halfling Luck 3 (Will)
+Follower of the Silver Host
+Unyielding Soverignty
----------------

Net difference
----------------
-2 STR
-1 To-Hit (vs. Small Creatures. Equal To-Hit vs. Medium & Large)
-1 Damage
-1 Skill Point/Level (Total of 1/level vs. 2/level)
+1 to Reflex
+1 to Hit (Wielding Longsword)
+3 Will Save
+ Halfling Racial Abilities
----------------

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

I am planning to update the Guide for Level 16, once we have the final Release Notes. But as it stands now, there aren't many changes for the Paladin Builds.

There have not been many announcements that really interest many of these builds, but a few things are of interest:
1) Feat: Force of Personality - For builds with enough WIS to cast without an Item, this can beef up Will Save and free an item slot
2) Enhancement: Extra Lay on Hands - Reduced cost from 2/4/6 --> 1/2/3. This will free 3-6 AP's for most builds
3) Enhancement: Extra Smite Evil - Adds +2 Extra Smites per Enhancements Level vs. +1. Might make taking Extra Smite 2 or 3 worthwhile
4) Ability: Paladin's Rally/Remove Disease - Additional uses with Enhancements. Likely no impact.
6) Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty - Only way to rid Death Penalty Negative Levels. Likely a pickup with saved AP's from LoH

Pure 14 Paladin --> +2 Levels of Paladin.
Pickup Silver Flame & Unyielding Sovereignty (Do dispel Death Penalty Negative Level)

11 Paladin / 3 Fighter "Intimitank" --> +2 Levels of Fighter *OR* +2 Levels of Rogue *OR* +1 Fighter +1 Rogue, depending on build.
+2 Fighter - if planning for 11 Pal / 9 Fighter
+2 Rogue - for Evasion & Skill Points
+1 Fighter +1 Rogue - Bonus Feat + Weapon Spec + Skill Points
Could be a good candidate for Force of Personality, depending on Wis & Cha
Unyielding Sovereignty is a good pickup

12 Fighter / 2 Paladin "Intimitank" --> +1 Level Paladin +1 Level Rogue *OR* +2 Paladin *OR* +2 Fighter
+1 Paladin +1 Rogue - Disease/Fear Immunity & Skill Points
+2 Paladin - Disease/Fear Immunity & Level 1 Spells
+2 Fighter - For 18 Fighter / 2 Paladin build
Force of Personality may be a good choice, as Wis isn't needed for casting

7 Fighter / 7 Paladin --> +1/+1 *OR* +2 Paladin *OR* +2 Fighter
+1/+1 - Maintain Balance. Fighter Bonus Feat & Greater Weapon Focus. No real advantages, plan for 10/10 split or 11/9
+2 Paladin - +3/+3 Divine Favor
+2 Fighter - ?
Force of Personality
Unyielding Sovereignty

11 Paladin / 2 Rogue / 1 Fighter "Holy Avenger" / "Evasion Paladin" --> +2 Fighter Levels
+2 Fighter - Bonus Feat, FAM/FTSM 1, STR 1
Force of Personality - Really depends on reliance of Wis Item for casting
Unyielding Sovereignty
Fighter STR 1
FTSM 1



Those are my thoughts for now.

Force of Personality has some merit, mainly in cases where either Paladin is a 3-level or less splash, but CHA bonus is at least 3-4 points more than WIS. Or in cases where WIS is sufficient for casting, or you don't mind putting an item on to cast, then take it back off. Either way, FoP is really good if you can eliminate the need for wearing a WIS Item. Then I think the feat is worthwhile. If you have to keep a WIS Item on for DF, then yes the +2 to +6 Will Save is nice, but Paladin's saves are pretty good already. I see the value in this feat for freeing up an item slot (Neck or Belt, usually)

Unyielding Sovereignty seems to be an Auto-Include for any Non-Drow Non-Warforged Paladin 9+ (as Drow and WF will take Vulkoorim &* Lord of Blades for Racial Weapon Bonuses)... even Kopesh and other weapon users, as the Removal of all Death-Related Negative Levels, even with the 10-minute cooldown, could be very useful.

Other than that, there is little new of interest for the Paladin. For the Pure Pallys, Holy Sword will make Holy Burst weapons, but I still don't see that as a driving force to continue past Paladin 11 in most cases.

[miceelf88]

Cool! thanks, Dworkin. I've used the halfling dragonmarks on my paladin, because I'm in a dedicated group with a bard and caster and no cleric, so wanted to help out a bit with healing. But this helps me think about it.

Appreciate the quick response.

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

Note: I have added some speculation on Level 16 updates to the builds, but I am holding off until we see a little more information on the new Feats/Enhancements/etc. Force of Personality could be useful to some builds, and the decreased cost of Extra LoH is nice... not sure if the extra Smites with Extra Smite Evil is really worth it or not.... but I think Unyielding Sovereignty might become a standard pickup for many Paladins now...

[IgorUnchained]

I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to make this resource.

I just renewed my subscription and had played the game before "by ear".
When I checked out the character that I achieved Drow with, he was level 6
and he had 2 +STR items, 2 +Wis items, and 2 Sacred items that he was wearing.
I didnt know that they didnt stack!

I dont enjoy reducing the game down to numbers and equations, but had to get a quick
education on the game, and I came here.

Now I have a loose version of your Evasion Paladin in progress. I dont have a 32 point build or tomes, but he survives whole quests, helps the party, and is a heck of a lot of fun to play.

You made that a lot easier and less time consuming with this resource.