Elven "Champion"

[Lhohkar]

So I've decided to make a toon based off an old childhood character of mine, an Elven Champion. I've decided for gear I will use a Scimitar and a shield, with heavy armor for role-play purposes. My only problem, I don't want to make him a pure Fighter, but I'm not entirely sure what to multi-class as. I was thinking something along the lines of Paladin (12) and Fighter (8) so I get a good amount of feats from fighter levels and the ability to heal and cast from being a paladin plus the deity-based feats from the Undying Court, which gives bonuses to scimmies. Is this decent? Or perhaps different levels? I don't necessarily want anything min-maxed, or to be EE solo material, just something that I can play and won't have to rely on my group during the entire quest to keep me alive

[cru121]

If you go up to Paladin 12, it would be a shame not to go to Paladin 14 to pick up Holy Sword.
And if you go to Paladin 14, why not go up to 15 to pick up Zeal.
Then think about which feats do you really need, and consider Paladin 18 or Paladin 20.

Divide abilities evenly between Str, Con, and Cha, and you're mostly done.

[unbongwah]

Your best option right now would be pure paladin for full Vanguard bonuses; see my Sacred Vanguards thread. For extra flavor, you could take Shadow DM, although that slightly gimps your other PrEs. Still, something like 41 APs VG (capstone), 12 APs elf (Gtr Shadow DM), 13 APs Sacred D., 14 APs KotC (Div Might, Exalted Cleave).

The "sweet spot" for most MCed pally builds is pal 15; that gets you Holy Sword & Zeal. If you really want a MCed build, would you consider SWF instead of S&B? Pretty easy to adapt Steel Shrine to any race.

[FranOhmsford]

If you go up to Paladin 12, it would be a shame not to go to Paladin 14 to pick up Holy Sword.
And if you go to Paladin 14, why not go up to 15 to pick up Zeal.
Then think about which feats do you really need, and consider Paladin 18 or Paladin 20.

Divide abilities evenly between Str, Con, and Cha, and you're mostly done.

Paladin 15 / Fighter 4 {Feats} / Wizard 1 {Feat} = Same Feats wise as Paladin 14/Fighter 6 and only 1 less than Paladin 12/Fighter 8.
Ignore the Fighter Enhancements - Kensai doesn't get you anything and Paladin already has the other two trees!

[unbongwah]

Quick-n-dirty pure paladin build:

Shadow Vanguard
Paladin 20
Lawful Good Elf


Stats
               28pt     32pt     Tome     Level Up
               ----     ----     ----     --------
Strength        16       16                4: STR
Dexterity       12       12       +1       8: STR
Constitution    12       12               12: STR
Intelligence    12       12               16: STR
Wisdom           8        8               20: STR
Charisma        14       16               24: STR
                                          28: STR

Skills
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Concent   3  2     2     2     2     2     2     2     2     2     2  23
Intim     4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
UMD       2     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     11
Heal      1                                                            1
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         12  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3


Feats

 1        : Shield Mastery
 1 Deity  : Follower of: Undying Court
 3        : Precision
 6        : Least Dragonmark: Shadow
 6 Deity  : Undying Call
 9        : Improved Shield Mastery
12        : Improved Critical: Slashing
15        : Empower Healing Spell
18        : Quicken Spell
21 Epic   : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic   : Stunning Blow
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic   : Improved Shield Bash
28 Destiny: Elusive Target


Enhancements (80 AP)

Elf (12 AP)

Elven Accuracy

Phiarlan Dragonmark Focus III, Valenar Weapon Training
Lesser Dragonmark of Shadow, Valenar Weapon Training
Greater Dragonmark of Shadow

Vanguard (41 AP)

To the Fore!, Shield Combat I, Vicious Shield I, Shield Combat II, Vicious Shield II, Shield Champion

Shield Specialization, Shield Smash III
Shield Specialization, Brutality III, Stunning Shield III, Missile Shield II, Melee Power Boost III
Follow Up III, Fatal Bulwark
Myrmidon's Edge III
Shield to the Face, Disorienting Smash II, Shield Charge III, Armored Strength

Knight of the Chalice (14 AP)

Slayer of Evil

Extra Turning II, Extra Smite II
Divine Might III, Exalted Cleave III

Sacred Defender (13 AP)

Holy Bastion, Sacred Defense

Extra Lay On Hands III, Durable Defense III
Resilient Defense II
Tenacious Defense III


Destiny (24 AP)

Divine Crusader

Endless Turning III, Purge the Wicked
Confront Any Foe, Consecration III
Sacred Ground, Empyrean Magic, Blessed Blades
No Regret, Crusade
Castigation, Celestial Champion
Strike Down

Twists of Fate (14 fate points)

Grim Precision (Tier 3 Shadowdancer)
Legendary Shield Mastery (Tier 2 Sentinel)
Legendary Tactics (Tier 1 Dreadnought)

[changelingamuck]

Paladin 12/Figher 8 is perfectly viable, as are most possible builds. My suggestion is make what looks fun for you, play it for awhile, and adjust your gear, enhancements, and a feat or two as you go if/when you find it lacking in some way.

Considering how much you can alter a character in this game while you're leveling, you can just pick a cool concept and build it how you like. The advice of the munchkin forumites here will almost invariably be complete min/max-ing regardless of what you said in your post--if they can get past clutching their pearls and searching for a fainting couch after you used the scandalous word "role-play".

[unbongwah]

"Role-playing" in an MMO is defined by what niche or playstyle you want to employ, not a specific class split which happened to work well in PnP (IMHO). "S&B elf using scimitars" is fine and is what I built upon. Pal 12 / ftr 8 is not the best option for bringing that concept into DDO, though, due to missing out on the best of both paladin's and Vanguard's higher-level abilities.

[Lhohkar]

Thank y'all for the insight And Unbongwah I only meant the s&b elf as my roleplay, not the levels XD sorry for confusion. But thanks to you as well for the direction on paladins, as well as the Steel Shrine; could definitely adapt that to an elf.

[Enderoc]

15 paladin 3 cleric 2 fighter would do you well with Divine Crusader as a Destiny.