Need multiclass advice

[WarDestroyer]

Level 6 pally, Khopesh TWF KotC, I want to know what will be better for the build:
Level 20 Paladin->Capstone, +1d6 against evil mobs, and +3d6 against undead and evil outsiders
Level 18 Paladin/2 Rogue->Evasion
Thoughs?

[Maelphistez]

A few things...

If you didn't start as a rogue, you've lost a pile of skill points. Any time you are splashing rogue, you should always take it first to maximize the number of skill points available to you.

Having evasion is always a plus if you can support the Reflex saves necessary to make it worthwhile. Being a pally will help as long as you have plenty of Charisma to buff up your saves. I'd say that your saves would be high enough to make it a good choice in most cases.

Pally capstone is huge until you get into epics and start facing all kinds of humanoids again. Not having the capstone will definitely reduce your DPS up until you start running epics.

Summary: IMO, evasion is a better choice if you plan to build towards a hate tank/intimi paladin because it will make you much more survivable when bosses start spamming AoE attacks. If you are going pure DPS, stick with the capstone.

[Red_Knight]

But wouldn't Evasion be negated by wearing heavy or medium armor? I thought it only works when wearing light armor and lightly encumbered.

[Maelphistez]

Yes, you have to be in light (rogue) or no (monk) armor for evasion to work. I assumed that was a given, but maybe not.

For evasion to work with a 2 rogue splash, you'll need to be in light or no armor. This may seem like a huge deal, but in the upper levels you are likely to have the same AC in robes that you would in Full Plate +5 unless you spend a pile of AP on armor mastery.

Also note here that I have introduced Monk into the equation... you lose a bit (1d6 sneak attack, rogue skills) but 2 levels of monk splash would also give you evasion along with 2 feats, +1 to AC, and +3 to all saves rather than just +3 to Reflex. With monks, you need to be centered (no armor, light encumbrance) to get the evasion and the +1 to AC. Note that weapons will flash up a "not centered" notification but will not affect your evasion and AC bonus. In a feat starved TWF pally, those 2 feats (power attack and toughness most likely) make a big, big difference in getting in everything that you need.

[Red_Knight]

Thus any build planning on using evasion pretty much needs to be a high dex build. Especially if your getting it via monk class. If splashing monk, you'd also want some decent Wisdom too to get an extra bit of AC.

[WarDestroyer]

I'm planning to use Icy Raiments, and I don't have acess to monk =(

[Maelphistez]

There is nothing wrong with using Icy's. They are really only outclassed by some specific raid gear and well built sets of DT. On the topic of Dex, you'll obviously have at least 17 base to hit iTWF and gTWF. Throw on a +6 item and +1 exceptional/racial somewhere and you are hitting the +7 which is the "break point" where it is better to go lighter armor anyway. Dragontouched leather has a max dex of +7 with an armor bonus of +8, nearly matching the AC from DT plate (+15 AC, +1 max dex) and allows Evasion to work and no AP spent on Armor Mastery (which pure paladins can't get anyway unless they are dorfs).

I'm not knocking the 2 rogue splash by any means... it is perfectly valid and gives great benefits. I was just pointing out the synergies of going Monk instead. But if you don't have Monk, then rogue is a perfectly acceptable substitute. In the current era (ie: pre-U7), rogue also gives Pallys a way to get full ranks in Intimidate which monk doesn't. However, when U7 comes out Pallys will get Intim as a class skill and that'll make life a lot easier when building an intimi-pally. Just make sure you don't tank Charisma and your Reflex saves will be pretty decent. Probably on the order of +21 base with stat items at 20. Add in some other buffs and you'll easily be in the 30+ range.

[Ralmeth]

Pure will give you a stronger DPS (capstone, divine sacrifice III, access to divine might IV), while the Rogue splash will give you more utility (by way of maxing out UMD) and survivability (evasion vs. AOE spells). Either is workable and it depends on whether you want to focus on maxing out your DPS, or you want a bit more survivability and utility.

[Red_Knight]

Yeah, dex builds can work great. There are trade offs though. To get a high dex, you may have to sacrifice strength or charisma. And charisma is rather important to a pally.

Actually, at lower levels 24 dex puts you into the realms where using black widow bracers is better then wearing armor.