Paladin Final Build Planning - which classes for past life feats?

[Alleyna]

I have no experience playing a Paladin. My only real melee I have played has been my rogue. I also have a capped Bard and Favored Soul.

Now that I have completed my rogue's third and final life, I am ready to work on my new character. I need some advice from the Paladin community.

The final life with be a pure 20 Paladin, twf, KOTC, Elf scimitar user. I know this won't be THE bestest ultimate DPS build, but I really think this sounds fun and I want to work on making her a viable DPS tank build, so those parts of the build are non-negotiable for me.

Now, after suffering through a legend TR on a melee, I am hesitant to do it again. But, I know stats are very tight for a twf KOTC DPS paladin, so I am planning on at least one TR. As much as I am not looking forward to it, since I am planning on having her be my most geared-up character, I am also open to a third life to get her the 36 build points. This would give me some time to finish acquiring the epic gear, anyway

Feats planned: toughness, twf, itwf, gtwf, ic slash, power attack, 1 undecided feat
End gear hasn't been finalized, but I am looking at the 2-piece claw set, 3-piece Abishai set, red dragonscale armor, epic Brawn's Spirit after the update, maybe epic belt of the Mroranon?, event scimis (I'm okay with the neg level), epic Kronzek's Cruelties, etc...
Unsure about stats right now, but high strength, con, and charisma, enough dex for gtwf, dump int and wis

So, I need some help deciding what would be most useful to her in terms of passive, and possibly the active, past-life feats. I am leaning towards 1-2 barbarian lives and picking up the active barbarian past life feat to boost her hitpoints since she will be an Elf tank, giving her 30-40 extra hitpoints. I figure the one rage clicky wouldn't be horrible either after she has buffed herself with her spells and if she has someone watching her back for heals while it is active. But, I don't know how awesome or meh the Paladin passive and active past-life feats are. This is where I need advice.

My questions, then:
If I were only going for 2 lives, what should my first life be if I was only getting 1 past life feat?
If I were going for 3 lives, what should my first and second lives be for the past life feats?
What is the best option for my undecided feat? One of the active past life feats? A second toughness? Extend? etc..

Any help and discussion is appreciated! Thank you.

[eulogy098]

playing a 36 point paladin my self, ive put thought into this very subject at one point.


Ultimately it comes down to what you wan that last feat to do for you. (most just go extend by the way).

As a past life feat you can go for damage or defense or a mix or you name it.

Best for defense- I say Monk. no the fist damage dice wont help you but a paladin has mega saves- and that past life gives you a few minutes of evasion, very nice imo. The passive will also give you +1 damage bonus, very very nice.

Best for damage- Well in general, the paladin past life is the best for DPS, but not for paladins as it wont stack with our spell so... > Rogue (but only if your not tanking) as it gives 10 or so Sneak Attack damage.... or perhaps if they ever fix it - Barbarian past life will be awesome (20 hp and a lengthy Rage clickie, if it ever gets fixed ITS BROKEN RITE NOW) but eventually it will have an actual 20 hp for the selcted (currently only giving 5) and the Rage will scale with your con bonus, as of rite now its bugged and doesn't so the only thing working about the barb past life is the passive 10 hp... meh. Still, somthing to think about for the future, eventually it will be fixed.


I've heard people debate the benefit of a fighter past life on a Paladin, as paladins sometimes struggle to land hits in epics and +1 passive attack bonus with a attack-bonus clickie can sound tempting. I dont recommend it. The fighter selected past life is super slow, and not very fun to use.

really those are the only useful ones for a paladin, you might be able to debate ranger selected past life (fairly long amount of time of Barkskin) but if you dont have huge ac its worthless and if you have a ranger in the party its even more worthless.

good luck!

[Symar-FangofLloth]

Paladin active feat isn't too useful on a Paladin because it's Divine Favor, which you can already cast, and +2 Heal isn't worth anything.
The healing amp from the passive is a nice boost to self-healing.

I'd say go Monk, so your Strength can be a little lower and you'll still get the same damage. And if you're in light armor, you could take the active feat for an Evasion clicky.

[Claymorep]

If You are planning to play epics I say 2 passive past life from fighters will mitigate Your 2wf problem (missis) that is a great hole in dps.
I have seen divine might 4 with a pally that missed with 5... and needed only +4 str tome to end it.

If epics are not your final destination I suggest 2 lifes as a monk for +2 damage or 2 life as a pally for 10% HA and to start to understand a pally way of life. Remmeber that without buffs and continuos clicking You are nothing and a lot of friends didn't like it and changed class after reching lvl 20.

You are so low in feats with a 2wf that no comment on possibilities of an active past life feat (probably You can use monk active one but at another cost in dps as You'll miss a lot).

A lot of pally plays as not primary tank, so they consider a +5 vs their miss chance (+5 bonus to hit from sneak attack of tharne googles...) A pally need to stay in FRONTLINE and not to attack from behind like a vile rogue! Don't do this error. I've seen too many times 2wf endgame pallies to easily loose aggro as they miss too much if they have aggro.

If epics are not your style forget this and go as barbarian for 20 extra hp, monk for +2 extra damage, rogue for extra sneak damage, pally for extra 10 ha. Probably a pally will need all...

[Balkas]

If you plan on doing Epics, I would definitely suggest grabbing two fighter lives for the attack bonus.

If you plan on tanking, the added HP from Barbarian past lives are definitely useful also.

I don't really find any of the active past lives too useful for a paladin. The monk evasion clicky can be situationally useful, but Pallies are pretty feat starved as is.