Need 28-Point F2P Pally for My Daughter

[unbongwah]

*deep breath*

Historically for S&B paladins, the choice was between better crit profile for khopesh (and later Knight's Training weapons) or the extra DPS of glancing blows using the so-called "hand-and-a-half" weapons (bastard swords or dwarven axes). There was also a "feat tax" if you went for the full THF chain, so you had to factor that in, considering how feat-starved paladins already are.

That's still basically the case now (swapping glancing blows for Strikethrough), but Update 45 makes the tradeoffs more pronounced:

• With full THF chain, H&aH weapons gain 1.6x damage mod from STR vs 1x for regular weapons in S&B.
• Knight's Training is now available free from KotC tree at tier-4, freeing a feat for our build.
• Dwarves can boost Strikethrough and add dwarven axes to their list of Favored weapons, so they benefit from the static bonuses from the KotC Combatant enhancements as well as any optional deity feats they take.

So my gut instinct is if you want a Vanguard build which focuses more on DPS (if that isn't an oxymoron), you'll want to use H&aH weapons and pay the Feat Tax Fairy. Whereas if you want to focus on tanking, you'd use the feats you save by NOT investing in THF to take more survivability-focused feats, like Shield Deflection or Combat Expertise.

So what does that mean for your daughter's toon? Well, that's up to her. She can keep following the build I posted last year. AFAICT nothing about it has been broken by U45 (well, no more than other paladins due to U45's teething pains), other than she can free a feat slot by taking Knight's Training from KotC now. When she gets to 20, she can decide if she wants to keep playing into epics or hop onto the TR Train.

Or she can use the free Heart of Wood she originally got when she made her paladin to convert over to something using bastard swords similar to my Vanguard of Helm. Although in that case I would advise waiting until she Favor-unlocked 32-pt builds and got a +2 stat tome so she can upgrade in the process.

[Dulcimerist]

Thanks, Unbongwah!

She's having fun with this build, and will stick with it to 20. At that point, she can see if she wants more DPS or more tankiness in her next life, and choose her build for the next life. 34 build points and a paladin past life will also be nice. For now, her current build will give her more familiarity with paladins, so she'll know what she wants for the next life. Thanks again for posting the build she's trying out!