thinking of building a paladin - need advice

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

I'm thinking of rolling a new toon, and this time I'm hoping to go intimitank.

I've got my eyes on a few things - high DR, high AC, Guards, and self sufficiency.

I'm looking at paladin 11: for the resist 30 spell and also the balwalk of good AC bonus enhancement. Paladins don't get intimidate though so I'd have to work out a way of spending skill points from other classes e.g. rogue or fighter. Please give advice on best way of spending other levels, and go to level 20 too since I'm keeping this toon for mod 9.

Kit I'm going to be getting includes the 3 Levik's armor set (armor, bracers +6, shield). My dragontouched armor will have +5 prot, +5 resist and Levik's Defender on it in order to get this. I will farm chattering ring. I'm also looking to go Dwarf and then getting armor mastery III in order to boost the max dex of the dragontouched FP up to 4 - thus my dex including a +6 item, +2 tome will have to be around 18?

I think my AC is looking like:

10
+15 (armor)
+4 (dex)
+5 (insight)
+9 (shield)
+5 (prot from armor)
+3 (chattering)
+4 (aura)
+1 (dodge feat, maybe if I can spare it)
Unbuffed/dps mode: 56

+3 bark pot
+5 CE
+1 haste
Few buffs: 65

+2 ranger bark
Keensly's buffs: 67

+4 bard
+2 recitation
Raid buffed e.g. tanking sulu: 73

I'm looking to be highish dps but also easy to heal so maybe some kind of healing enhancement. I have access to +2 tomes. I'll probably make a wis+6/concordant opposition item to free spell points back. Not going to wear chaosguards since I have levik's bracers.

Looking for advice on making this build work, and corrections on all my figures since I hate making new builds and usually just roll them semi-randomly and hope for the best.

Garth

[Inspire]

With Mod9 in mind, you may want to consider 18Paladin at least but we dont know what the enhancements are gonna be at 19 or 20, so for now Id suggest 15Paladin/1Fighter and go human(feat/intimidate dragonmark), when mod9 comes you can always take more Fighter levels if you dont like the 3rd tier Paladin lines.

Also you could get +5ac from the bulwark aura at 15 paladin.

Solid build though.

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

With Mod9 in mind, you may want to consider 18paladin at least but we dont know what the enhancements are gonna be at 19 or 20, so for now Id suggest 15paladin/1Fighter and go human(feat/intimidate dragonmark), when mod9 comes you can always take more Fighter levels if you dont like the 3rd tier Paladin lines.

just worried how I'm going to get my intimidate up without some more fighter levels...

Garth

[TreknaQudane]

That depends all on what skills you want to have.

Going dwarf, you'll have at least 3 skill points a level for both Paladin and Fighter Levels (2 + Int Mod). That assumes you start with the bare minimum int for CE, if you have even less and plan to do 11 and then eat a tome you're in some trouble in regards to skill. A human would be able to pull that off since they gain an extra skill point per level (and are easier to heal) but you then lose the Shield DR and extra dex bonus

If you take Fighter First, you can devote two of the paladin points into intimidate each level and use the other one (two for 14 int) for something else (umd? balance?)

[Inspire]

just worried how I'm going to get my intimidate up without some more fighter levels...

Garth

First level, Fighter.

Say you start with 11Int, add a +2Tome at lvl 1, at creation if human your getting 16 to start; balance/jump/umd/intimidate?

You will be able to crossclass intimidate by using 2 skill points at each level, you will be able to keep it maxed in ranks no problem.

[Furbitor]

first, reroll your toon an make sure you dont click on the button that has the steel gauntlet.... LOL

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

ok so stats I'll need are

INT 13 (for CE)
DEX 18 (for +4 max dex)
rest into STR and CON.

does CHA do anything for paladins (Smite evil?) at 2 pts for each +1 in intimidate I'm prob not going to take it just for the intimidate. I'm assuming my saves will be quite high already so won't spend too much in WIS...?

Argh I've forgotten how much I hate rolling new toons.

Maybe:

STR 18 +2 tome + 6 item + 3 lvl (or do u get 4 now?)
DEX 10 +2 tome +6 item
CON 15 +2 tome +6 item
INT 12 +2 tome (for extra skillpoints)
WIS 10 + 2 tome + 6 item
CHA 8 + 2 tome

I'm no good at this. I might go back to my 'random rolling' method.

Garth

[Inspire]

ok so stats I'll need are

INT 13 (for CE)
DEX 18 (for +4 max dex)
rest into STR and CON.

does CHA do anything for paladins (Smite evil?) at 2 pts for each +1 in intimidate I'm prob not going to take it just for the intimidate. I'm assuming my saves will be quite high already so won't spend too much in WIS...?

Argh I've forgotten how much I hate rolling new toons.

Maybe:

STR 18 +2 tome + 6 item + 3 lvl (or do u get 4 now?)
DEX 10+2 tome +6 item
CON +2 tome +6 item
INT 12 +2 tome (for extra skillpoints)
WIS 10 + 2 tome + 6 item
CHA 8 + 2 tome

I'm no good at this. I might go back to my 'random rolling' method.

Garth

Cha; Divine Might, Smite *Attack - not damage, Saves, LoH

[SteeleTrueheart]

Just a reminder. If you have a high AC - Guards are near pointless.

Question for those that have guards.. If your DR reduces damage taken to 0 does your guard still go off?

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Cha; Divine Might, Smite *Attack - not damage, Saves, LoH

So can you advise how you would you allocate the remaining stat points after putting max into STR, enough into DEX for my cunning armor mastery plans, and enough into INT for CE and skill points?

Just a reminder. If you have a high AC - Guards are near pointless.

Good point - I was mixing my plans for a high HP low AC barbarian with this one

Garth

[TreknaQudane]

ok so stats I'll need are

INT 13 (for CE)
DEX 18 (for +4 max dex)
rest into STR and CON.

...

Maybe:

STR 18 +2 tome + 6 item + 3 lvl (or do u get 4 now?)
DEX 10 +2 tome +6 item
CON 15 +2 tome +6 item
INT 12 +2 tome (for extra skillpoints)
WIS 10 + 2 tome + 6 item
CHA 8 + 2 tome

Is that a dwarf? The stats don't add up right (You should have 1 extra point to allocate)

I'd not start with an 18 Strength, I'd go for 16 strength base, use the extra 6 points to shore up your charisma to 12 and put the remaining two else where

[Inspire]

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=145546

This is my paladin, hes Pure, but you get the point. With a +3Cha tome on him I have the highest divine might(3) which is an additional +6 damage a swing.

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Is that a dwarf? The stats don't add up right (You should have 1 extra point to allocate)

I'd not start with an 18 Strength, I'd go for 16 strength base, use the extra 6 points to shore up your charisma to 12 and put the remaining two else where

ok cool thanks for that - 12 CHA is important?

I've been thinking about equipment - rather than go dwarf for the armor mastery I could use daggertooth's belt given that the primary things I want will be filled elsewhere:

greater false life (ring)
heavy fort (mineral II goggles)
prot+5 (mineral II goggles)
resist+5 (Eldritch tier of DT armor)
disease immunity (Paladin)
poison immunity (ring)
str+6 (levik's bracers)
dex+6 (Tempest tier of DT armor)
con+6 (necklace)
wis+6 (concordant opposition cloak)
do I need cha+6 (helm?)
striding 30% (boots)
daggertooth (belt)

Anything think daggertooth is worth using a belt slot for?

edit: oops I missed off an intimidate item - that could go in ring if I use helm for cha I suppose

Garth

[TreknaQudane]

It's not so much that 12 is important.. but just the nature of Divine Grace, you'll want Cha.. point per point It does more for your saves than con, dex, and wis.

Not factoring stats, a 15 Paladin/1 Fighter would have 11/5/5 saves . We're talking a lot of buffs to get that into working 'good' saves.

[SteeleTrueheart]

ok so stats I'll need are

INT 13 (for CE)
DEX 18 (for +4 max dex)
rest into STR and CON.

does CHA do anything for paladins (Smite evil?) at 2 pts for each +1 in intimidate I'm prob not going to take it just for the intimidate. I'm assuming my saves will be quite high already so won't spend too much in WIS...?

Argh I've forgotten how much I hate rolling new toons.

Maybe:

STR 18 +2 tome + 6 item + 3 lvl (or do u get 4 now?)
DEX 10 +2 tome +6 item
CON 15 +2 tome +6 item
INT 12 +2 tome (for extra skillpoints)
WIS 10 + 2 tome + 6 item
CHA 8 + 2 tome

I'm no good at this. I might go back to my 'random rolling' method.

Garth

Those stats make me want to vomit. 8 Charisma = roll a fighter.
Assuming you really want high STR and since you have the tomes...

(No.) = build point cost
(10) STR 16 +2 tome +6 item +4 level = 28
(04) DEX 12 +2 tome +4 item = 18
(04) CON 12 +2 tome +6 item = 20
(04) INT 12 +2 tome =14
(00) WIS 8 +2 tome +6 Item = 16
(10) CHA 16 +2 tome +6 item = 24

The STR will mean you don't miss much when you swing and do decent damage. If you go human you will have access to +1 STR enhancement and then you can put +1 level 20 point in here as well or fighter STR +1 available to level 2 fighters.

The DEX this will give you the option of the dodge feat if you want it later. a +4 DEX item also allows for a semi decent mod to also occupy the same slot. Like +9 tumble or something.

The CON assuming high AC means not needing so many HP also with toughness feat and enhancements plus GFL & raid HP gear you will stil be well over 400HP

INT, I like skill points too.

WIS, tanked because I assume you will get a concordant opposition item asap and never take it off. That and a tome will give you 16WIS which is more than a paladin really needs. I also assume that the concordant item will be a SP item too. (assuming it will also add to CHA skills...)

CHA. This base will give you access to Divine Might 3 and with you going at least 14 Paladin will give you 161HP LoH's +7 to all your saves and a decent attack bonus on your smite attempts.

Just my suggestions.

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Those stats make me want to vomit. 8 Charisma = roll a fighter.
Assuming you really want high STR and since you have the tomes...

Thanks for the stats - this is exactly the help I've been after - I really am good at building characters and this is my first paladin so didn't really know what the stats were useful for.

I might go DEX 11, which would give me access to Dodge with a +2 tome, and allow me to wear spectral gloves - I forgot gloves in my previous post so looks like I will have space for both an intimidate item and a cha+6 item after all.

Garth

[Dexxaan]

I can cook up one or two Dwarf Paladin - Bruttus Variants - if u like Garth.

Lemme know. (Paladins are what I enjoy playing.)

[Aesop]

18/2 Pally Fighter

17 +1 (Ftr2) +5 (Level 20 coming Mod 9)+3 (Tome or +2 and +1 from Human)+6 Item=32
11 +1 Tome +6 Item = 18 how much do you really need? don't forget the Dragon Touched armor
14 +2 Tome +6 Item = 22
11 +2 Tome for CE
9 +1 Tome +6 Item 16... you'll be able to cast all the spells you need
14 +1 Human +3 Paladin +2 Tome +6 Item =26 can't get too high on the Divine Might table ... but you could take a level up in Charisma and hope they add +5 Tomes eventually... I suppose

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

I can cook up one or two Dwarf Paladin - Bruttus Variants - if u like Garth.

Lemme know. (Paladins are what I enjoy playing.)

sure - as long as I don't end up anything like your gimped characters

Garth

[Sequell]

Just a reminder. If you have a high AC - Guards are near pointless.

Question for those that have guards.. If your DR reduces damage taken to 0 does your guard still go off?

I have done some extensive testing of this with a guildie and it has resulted in a Barbarian DR build with "guard armor" a shroud guard item and bramble casters for some really nasty DPS while taking 0 damage. Basically if you had a build with enough shield blocking DR and spell immunity you could theoretically shield block and wait for the mobs to kill themselves.