Build request - FVS and Paladin mix, new build or older build link

[Lethander]

Might anyone have a recommendation on a posted or new build combining Paladin with a splash of Favored Soul, or a FVS with a Pally splash?

I prefer humans and elves. I enjoy melee classes with heavy armor, and am partial to sword and board. I have 32 pt builds and FVS unlocked, and can start as a veteran (i.e., ride the airship to level 4). I'm F2P but own some premium content (StK, TR, Sharn, Three Barrel, Necro I). I cannot farm for equipment as I don't have any truly high level characters (I have a Cleric-6, a Fighter-1/Bard-5, and a Rog-2/Wiz-3).

Many thanks in advance!

[Lethander]

I'd not be adverse to mixing in bard.
(But I usually hate the idea of splashing a second class.)

[Gercho]

Well, a paladin wont get much from splashing fvs, in the other hand a FVS could get some benefits from splashing Paladin, aka saving throw bonuses from cha. But splashing pal for a fvs will be only for that, so wont add much fighting power really, splashing monk or fighter could be better for the feats (and evasion in the monk case), thats assuming you want to do a melee fvs, if you want caster then splashing is not a great idea.

So, if you want a pretty decent but far from top melee toon that can heal himself really well, and can be a healer in a party you should go mainly fvs, since you want to use heavy armor, fighter splash should be better than monk for you, though monk is better in general.
If you want a near top melee toon with some healing capability for self healing, then go paladin, but dont splash fvs, go pure or splash rogue or monk for more survaibility.

[unbongwah]

Here's a monk 2 / pal 2 / FvS 16 build that was posted the other day.

I realize it's probably gimped, but I've been tempted to come up with a monk 2 / pal 6 / FvS 12 build: basically a TWF build with extra casting oomph than a pure paladin would have.

[Lethander]

Excellent --
I don't have Monk unlocked yet, but will look at it.
And I've thought about Fighter-1/FVS-?, though the Pally aura from a splash intrigues me.

[Gercho]

Most usual fvs builds get at least 16 levels of fvs to cast lvl 8 spells, if you get 17 you get the leap of faith with is great, if you get 18 you get lvl 9 spells, and if you go pure fvs you get dr 10 and +2 to cha and some free spell depending the deity, so there are many options to splash it:
2 monk for 2 feats and evasion (could be for wis to ac aswell, though most builds dont use it or care much about it)
1 or 2 fighter for feats, and weapon access
2 rogue for evasion and full umd
2 paladin for st bonus and weapon access

You should check what you want to sacrifice, and what you really want for your char, dont splash for feats unless they are really needed for some specific purpose.

Be aware, that as melee, shield and board wont be efficient past lvl 9 or 10

[Ultrazen]

There are a few really good melee 3/ FVS 17 builds. 2 rogue 1 fighter etc. FVS tend to be pretty awesome characters when pure speced, so you have to be careful of what you're giving up and what you're getting. Palies can be and interesting splash, and there are some breakpoints for them. A 2 palie/18 FVS build isn't horrible, but you do give up some really nice things not going pure 20 FVS. You can also go something like 6 palie, but once you go past less than 17 levels of FVS, you are pretty much throwing away half of your spell list, because of DC problems. Those spells you throw away, tend to be very powerful if speced for, and are rarely made up for with more melee potential.

Out of all the classes in DDO, FVS probably have one of the better/best capstones, so you are actually giving up a lot. That's not the case in some of the more popular multi classes.

Even a pure 20 Palie might actually be more what you're looking for. Pure 20 Palies if built right are a pretty good combination of things.

The problem with splashing any kind of caster, divine or arcane, is that going less than 17 gimps your casting, and other than that the only thing you are really gaining are buffs that are usually available in any good party anyway.

In my mind, the only real reason to look at some of the more far fetched caster/melee hybrids, is if you are going to try and primarily solo. This game really does become less and less forgiving of builds that aren't optimized for either spell DCs or melee damage as the game progresses. There are a lot of multis you can dream up that are really fun up until about level 10 or so, where things start to get ugly because you can't land a spell or hit anything.

DDO is a very unforgiving game as far as the numbers go. This is a game where a few points really do make a difference once you get out of the low level game. It's actually pretty severe in end game content, where even one point off can make a pretty dramatic difference in your characters performance.

There are a lot of things that aren't readily apparent at creation and low/mid game.