Effective paladin builds for paladin rp-pvp

[Akulakha]

So I was browsing nwn2db for some good paladin builds and I came across this one: The merciful sword. So far, it seems a good around build but I am not an expert build maker like some people are. The reason I'm posting this thread is because I read in the comments of a similar build in nwn2db that this build got alot of votes due to the builder having alot of "Fans" and so they being loyal fanboys and girls they gave everything he or she did a high vote. So I'm just looking for opinions on this build. Do you guys think this would be a good build for a killer pvp/pvm paladin?

Here's the build: http://nwn2db.com/build/?1038

Thank you for your comments!

[chad878262]

It's fine, but nothing special. Lots of feats, but could do more with paladin levels for some great spells or maybe weapon master?

[Karond]

A killer build? No.

It's not a bad build. It's decent, it's just that it can be very much improved. Is there something that resonated with you that you want to keep? Like, for example, I get that you want a fighter EDM build without buffing, but more specifically:

• Do you want to be able to fully use mithral fullplate or just a fullplate?
• Are you set on being a human?
• Do you want to min-max a bit for the highest mechanical efficiency? (like, that build has 11 wisdom to get two short-lasting level 1 paladin spells per day. Hardly worth the investment)

[Steve]

Exchange Power Critical for Steadfast Determination.

If you don't want to buff, then put the most important Abilities at ending on odd numbers (if possible).

[Akulakha]

A killer build? No.

It's not a bad build. It's decent, it's just that it can be very much improved. Is there something that resonated with you that you want to keep? Like, for example, I get that you want a fighter EDM build without buffing, but more specifically:

• Do you want to be able to fully use mithral fullplate or just a fullplate?
• Are you set on being a human?
• Do you want to min-max a bit for the highest mechanical efficiency? (like, that build has 11 wisdom to get two short-lasting level 1 paladin spells per day. Hardly worth the investment)

Well I'm more set for fullplate more so than anything else. Would prefer to be an aasimar rather than just a human. And yeah I would like this character to be possibly a hero, meaning I want him to be a paladin with a pretty damn good mechanical build and be very difficult to take down by enemies of the paladin order. I have been considering investing a lot more in paladin for their more cooler spells like holy avenger and maybe specializing in a great sword even.

[Akulakha]

Ok I just made up a new build. Opinions?

http://nwn2db.com/build/?234816

[NeonAvenger]

I have absolutely no skill at character building but I'd guess all bets are off until people have had a good play with their new toys.

[Karond]

Before you edited the first post, it said a tanky paladin, and since you seemed interested in casting spells and wanted to use a fullplate, I made this build among others:

Tanky Paladin

Aasimar
STR: 18+7
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 13
WIS: 15
CHA: 10

Feats: Shield Bash, Shield Charge, Shield Slam, Extend Spell, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Weapon Focus, Great Strength VII, Epic Prowess. Veteran Background feat.

Skills: 33 Heal, 10 tumble, 10 spellcraft, 13 UMD.

The build:

30 paladin levels. This is a tanky character, because of how it works.

Offensively, you've 53 AB long-term which is really good, but you only do 27 damage per hit with a +D4 damage weapon (such as a warhammer bought from thunderhammer). The key lies in locking the enemy down. Shield Slam gives you a stun attack at DC40 once per round, which few have a chance of resisting (remember, spellcraft ranks etc. don't help). You also have a knockdown ability with a +19 modifier, which means that even other STR fighters usually have little chance at resisting it. So what you do is stun them, knock them down when they break out, stun them, knock them down, stun them etc. continually.

This is good because even with using a shield, your AC is mediocre coming in at 45 long-term with +4 AC equipment. Your Blessings of bahamut helps though.

The spellbook you have gives you the following:
1xBless, 3xDivine Favors
1xAid, 1xWarding Shield, 2xExtended Silverbeard
1xExtended Bulls Strength, 1xFury, 1xHand of the Divine, 1xWeapon of the Deity
4xExtended Blessing of Bahamut

This in total gives you +2 AB, Keen, +5 EB to your weapon, +5 AC to your Shield, +8 Strength, +2 Universal Saves and 10/adamantine damage reduction. This is all long-term for about 30 minutes total. The only short-term spell here is the 3 divine favors (which you can turn into bless weapon etc. when needed).

Build Advantages:

• High AB (53) + divine favor
• DC40 Stun
• +19 Knockdown modifier
• Long-term spellbook, so is always ready
• 10/adamantine damage reduction

Build Weaknesses:

• Low Saves, particularly Reflex and Will (get a protection from evil item to help with will saves)
• Average Damage (27). It's not bad, but just average

Build Miscellaneous:

• 3 uses of turn undead. Works on most epic spawns, one at a time.
• 7 uses of Smite Evil, each doing an extra 30 damage.
• 390 HP with items.
• Aasimar elemental resistances
• A maxed heal skill helps a bit. You can carry an unlimited amount of healkits

Build Changes:
I would pick Warhammer, but longsword or some other martial weapon that works with a shield is fine too. The Weapon Focus feat can be exchanged for Luck of Heroes or even Extra Smiting or Blind Fight, so you're not reliant on a single kind of weapon.

Items:

The build requires a +3 Wisdom item, that isn't an amulet or boots. This is because with 15 wisdom plus this item, you get 18 wisdom, which is the perfect amount to get 4 spells of each level as a paladin. As such, you don't really need any bonus slot equipment.

A ring of the Knight is a perfect item for this build (gives +2 CON, +2 DEX, Toughness). Yes, you can get toughness with a level 1 spell, but this is just a really efficient way given your ability points and you save a slot that way and some time.

Fullplate of Gram the mouse is a great fullplate for paladins, to pair with +4 AC bracers. In general get +4 AC equipment, the above, and if possible, try to aim for +saves items. Your protection from alignment helmet, which there are many of out there, is just used, then unequipped in favor of something else.

Other thoughts:

It's a build that does really well when facing 1-3 enemies at a time at most. It's particularly good at facing 1 humanoid enemy. Sadly though, most bosses will be immune to your stun and knockdown attempts, so you're not that great as a boss killer. You're far better as a player killer, since you're focusing on long-term spells and the stun/knockdown lock can keep anyone down. You can carry a wand of lesser breach to deal with most mind immunity spells too to get that stun to take effect. Stun makes them unable to do anything, and they become easier to hit too. A wand of least spell mantle is also desirable for protection.

This also makes you a good team player, since you can make a powerful enemy unable to attack back, and so allows for your party members to deal the serious damage out of harm's way. You could hurt your bad saves even more with the natural leader background instead of veteran to further this, if you want.

The build would be slightly better as a Gray Orc actually since that gives you better starting abilities, but Aasimar is a good fit too.

[Thorsson]

Looking at Pious Templar I have to wonder if you cannot now build a Paladin that is not a Paladin... if you follow my meaning.

[Akulakha]

Before you edited the first post, it said a tanky paladin, and since you seemed interested in casting spells and wanted to use a fullplate, I made this build among others:

Tanky Paladin

Aasimar
STR: 18+7
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 13
WIS: 15
CHA: 10

Feats: Shield Bash, Shield Charge, Shield Slam, Extend Spell, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Weapon Focus, Great Strength VII, Epic Prowess. Veteran Background feat.

Skills: 33 Heal, 10 tumble, 10 spellcraft, 13 UMD.

The build:

30 paladin levels. This is a tanky character, because of how it works.

Offensively, you've 53 AB long-term which is really good, but you only do 27 damage per hit with a +D4 damage weapon (such as a warhammer bought from thunderhammer). The key lies in locking the enemy down. Shield Slam gives you a stun attack at DC40 once per round, which few have a chance of resisting (remember, spellcraft ranks etc. don't help). You also have a knockdown ability with a +19 modifier, which means that even other STR fighters usually have little chance at resisting it. So what you do is stun them, knock them down when they break out, stun them, knock them down, stun them etc. continually.

This is good because even with using a shield, your AC is mediocre coming in at 45 long-term with +4 AC equipment. Your Blessings of bahamut helps though.

The spellbook you have gives you the following:
1xBless, 3xDivine Favors
1xAid, 1xWarding Shield, 2xExtended Silverbeard
1xExtended Bulls Strength, 1xFury, 1xHand of the Divine, 1xWeapon of the Deity
4xExtended Blessing of Bahamut

This in total gives you +2 AB, Keen, +5 EB to your weapon, +5 AC to your Shield, +8 Strength, +2 Universal Saves and 10/adamantine damage reduction. This is all long-term for about 30 minutes total. The only short-term spell here is the 3 divine favors (which you can turn into bless weapon etc. when needed).

Build Advantages:

• High AB (53) + divine favor
• DC40 Stun
• +19 Knockdown modifier
• Long-term spellbook, so is always ready
• 10/adamantine damage reduction

Build Weaknesses:

• Low Saves, particularly Reflex and Will (get a protection from evil item to help with will saves)
• Average Damage (27). It's not bad, but just average

Build Miscellaneous:

• 3 uses of turn undead. Works on most epic spawns, one at a time.
• 7 uses of Smite Evil, each doing an extra 30 damage.
• 390 HP with items.
• Aasimar elemental resistances
• A maxed heal skill helps a bit. You can carry an unlimited amount of healkits

Build Changes:
I would pick Warhammer, but longsword or some other martial weapon that works with a shield is fine too. The Weapon Focus feat can be exchanged for Luck of Heroes or even Extra Smiting or Blind Fight, so you're not reliant on a single kind of weapon.

Items:

The build requires a +3 Wisdom item, that isn't an amulet or boots. This is because with 15 wisdom plus this item, you get 18 wisdom, which is the perfect amount to get 4 spells of each level as a paladin. As such, you don't really need any bonus slot equipment.

A ring of the Knight is a perfect item for this build (gives +2 CON, +2 DEX, Toughness). Yes, you can get toughness with a level 1 spell, but this is just a really efficient way given your ability points and you save a slot that way and some time.

Fullplate of Gram the mouse is a great fullplate for paladins, to pair with +4 AC bracers. In general get +4 AC equipment, the above, and if possible, try to aim for +saves items. Your protection from alignment helmet, which there are many of out there, is just used, then unequipped in favor of something else.

Other thoughts:

It's a build that does really well when facing 1-3 enemies at a time at most. It's particularly good at facing 1 humanoid enemy. Sadly though, most bosses will be immune to your stun and knockdown attempts, so you're not that great as a boss killer. You're far better as a player killer, since you're focusing on long-term spells and the stun/knockdown lock can keep anyone down. You can carry a wand of lesser breach to deal with most mind immunity spells too to get that stun to take effect. Stun makes them unable to do anything, and they become easier to hit too. A wand of least spell mantle is also desirable for protection.

This also makes you a good team player, since you can make a powerful enemy unable to attack back, and so allows for your party members to deal the serious damage out of harm's way. You could hurt your bad saves even more with the natural leader background instead of veteran to further this, if you want.

The build would be slightly better as a Gray Orc actually since that gives you better starting abilities, but Aasimar is a good fit too.

Awesome build! Thank you for doing this really appreciate it! Just one questions: I wonder do you think it's worth it to expend 2 points of strength to invest and bring charisma up to 16 or no? Just to give a boost to saves and grant a small atk bonus for smite evil.

[Atlas]

-

[Rhifox]

I did it anyway though, because six charisma, and dump stats, and especially when egregiously expressed for mechanical benefits in combat only, without the person role playing their character as disabled/pick your attribute and disability here - are just plain ugly to me (on the character sheet), and against the spirit of the game.

Word.