Paladins

[Randomgamer]

I'm not entirely sure where this post belongs so bare with me.

Frankly even with the spell upgrades paladin as a primary class is trash. My character is always the weakest one in the party for his level outside of one character who is a crafting build. There is little to no custom content for someone who would wish to play the alignment Lawful Good and no Paladin specific content feats while there is a ton of content for others who want to play chaotic evil or other alignments. Yet lawful good and especially paladins have strict codes of conduct to maintain their alignment and class. Effectively they are gimped roleplay wise AND power wise. D&D intended for Paladins to be the most powerful class mechanically in the game because of these strict roleplay restrictions. I don't know the exact content of the new paladin kits, but I do know that the shield bash line of feats is very weak versus bosses and elite trash mobs and it wont have turn undead so they'd have to cross class to use divine feats.

[Boddynock]

D&D intended for Paladins to be the most powerful class mechanically in the game because of these strict roleplay restrictions.

That isn't even remotely true. In no iteration of D&D have paladins been the most powerful class.

[Randomgamer]

D&D intended for Paladins to be the most powerful class mechanically in the game because of these strict roleplay restrictions.

That isn't even remotely true. In no iteration of D&D have paladins been the most powerful class.

Boxed set and AD&D. 3.0 ruined the game mechanically as far as pen and paper goes. The recent incarnations 5.0 and forward have made strides to correct how broken 3.0 quickly became.

[flipside43]

Paladin's are challenging to roleplay that is for certain.

Mechanically, there are plenty of custom spells that paladins get that give them advantages, the availability of spellslot items, plenty of feats that are available. I played a paladin a few years back and was able to keep up with favored souls and many others 1vs1. Paladins do tend to really come into their power later on as most build for EDM or Great Smite. I remember fighting 4vs1 in PvP and taking down the dracolich solo. I wouldn't really call that trashy.

[chad878262]

If I may make a suggestion try posting in the Character Build forum for advice on how to build a strong paladin. It is widely considered the most balanced class because it is powerful if built correctly without being OP. However, the spells are a big part of that power so if you are trying to build some kind of straight melee paladin the kits can help or you can mix in Fighter / Weapon Master. End of the day as a paladin you should be aiming for EDM or Smite with some spells mixed in. They are the only class that can make their weapon +5 and Keen with one spell to my knowledge while giving big bonus damage against Undead, Evil and/or Chaotic enemies. Once they have level 4 spell casting they can do some pretty solid damage around the server while gaining strong AC as well as their very good saves. Instead of assuming the class is weak it would be beneficial to ask advice from players that have played paladins on the server. I assure you they will be helpful in providing advice on your character.

[Boddynock]

Boxed set and AD&D. 3.0 ruined the game mechanically as far as pen and paper goes. The recent incarnations 5.0 and forward have made strides to correct how broken 3.0 quickly became.

You mean the box set that only had three classes; magic-user, cleric, and fighting man? Paladin didn't even exist in the original boxed set. And still, when they were introduced, were far from the most mechanically powerful class.

[Randomgamer]

Paladin's are challenging to roleplay that is for certain.

Mechanically, there are plenty of custom spells that paladins get that give them advantages, the availability of spellslot items, plenty of feats that are available. I played a paladin a few years back and was able to keep up with favored souls and many others 1vs1. Paladins do tend to really come into their power later on as most build for EDM or Great Smite. I remember fighting 4vs1 in PvP and taking down the dracolich solo. I wouldn't really call that trashy.

I didn't see any Paladin specific content while leveling up, I could be mistaken in that regard. Great Smiting can be a game changer for sure, but it comes at a cost of expending resources at the expense of other ability scores and feats a character might normally take. I'm only saying that most other builds are better and without any roleplay restrictions to speak of and as far as I am aware there is a lack of custom content. This servers PRCs and content are evil and non-lawful focused. I'm not sure that was intended, but that's the way it is looking at all the custom PRC's and other custom content.

[Boddynock]

Paladin's are challenging to roleplay that is for certain.

Mechanically, there are plenty of custom spells that paladins get that give them advantages, the availability of spellslot items, plenty of feats that are available. I played a paladin a few years back and was able to keep up with favored souls and many others 1vs1. Paladins do tend to really come into their power later on as most build for EDM or Great Smite. I remember fighting 4vs1 in PvP and taking down the dracolich solo. I wouldn't really call that trashy.

I didn't see any Paladin specific content while leveling up, I could be mistaken in that regard. Great Smiting can be a game changer for sure, but it comes at a cost of expending resources at the expense of other ability scores and feats a character might normally take. I'm only saying that most other builds are better and without any roleplay restrictions to speak of and as far as I am aware there is a lack of custom content. This servers PRCs and content are evil and non-lawful focused. I'm not sure that was intended, but that's the way it is looking at all the custom PRC's and other custom content.

Hospitalier, Anointed Knight, Dragonslayer. Hospitalier in particular was basically made for paladins to multi-class with.

[Akroma666]

I started a rather lengthy thread about this months back. The end result was "kits are coming and they will fix the class."
http://www.bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=4 ... ellcasting
I agree, class is garbage, exactly why you don't see any of them. Sorry your experience was sour, RCR now while you can.

[Randomgamer]

Paladin's are challenging to roleplay that is for certain.

Mechanically, there are plenty of custom spells that paladins get that give them advantages, the availability of spellslot items, plenty of feats that are available. I played a paladin a few years back and was able to keep up with favored souls and many others 1vs1. Paladins do tend to really come into their power later on as most build for EDM or Great Smite. I remember fighting 4vs1 in PvP and taking down the dracolich solo. I wouldn't really call that trashy.

I didn't see any Paladin specific content while leveling up, I could be mistaken in that regard. Great Smiting can be a game changer for sure, but it comes at a cost of expending resources at the expense of other ability scores and feats a character might normally take. I'm only saying that most other builds are better and without any roleplay restrictions to speak of and as far as I am aware there is a lack of custom content. This servers PRCs and content are evil and non-lawful focused. I'm not sure that was intended, but that's the way it is looking at all the custom PRC's and other custom content.

Hospitalier, Anointed Knight, Dragonslayer. Hospitalier in particular was basically made for paladins to multi-class with.

In regards to the Hosp class..... restrictions again on roleplay of the class and mechanically it is pretty weak compared to the evil focused and non lawful focused classes. It is also non-chaotic only. It is NOT a good focused class. Anointed Knight vs Warrior of Darkness. Dragonslayer is also a roleplay class really and is not alignment restricted. Your argument only proves my point in that there really isn't any lawful good focused PRC and other custom content.

[Akroma666]

I also agree paladins should be the most powerful class on the server because of their rp railroading. They should also never have over 10k gp because of rp donations.
Paladins should be the Favored Souls of the server. At least it would give us evil guys something to do and a challenge in PvP.

[Kiran]

Playing as a mostly "bad guy" I am sorry to see how little pure paladins there are about currently. A lot go fvs/paladin because mechanically its easier.

Saying that though I seen some paladins who when warded up to their necks are a killing machine, such as Arkaine Halforken (SP?) - However I do believe you really really need to know the limits and strengths of that class in particular unlike FVS which is a cakewalk.

Perhaps instead of a buff more of a better way to multiclass them so you have very high paladin and low in other classes rather than the other way? FVS gets +5 to weapon and if you use a hammer, got keen covered too, so Paladins aint really.. unique, in their holy crusader omg shiny op weapon.

Would love to see more of these guys roaming after those damned warlocks and tieflings!

[chad878262]

Playing as a mostly "bad guy" I am sorry to see how little pure paladins there are about currently. A lot go fvs/paladin because mechanically its easier.

Saying that though I seen some paladins who when warded up to their necks are a killing machine, such as Arkaine Halforken (SP?) - However I do believe you really really need to know the limits and strengths of that class in particular unlike FVS which is a cakewalk.

Perhaps instead of a buff more of a better way to multiclass them so you have very high paladin and low in other classes rather than the other way? FVS gets +5 to weapon and if you use a hammer, got keen covered too, so Paladins aint really.. unique, in their holy crusader omg shiny op weapon.

Would love to see more of these guys roaming after those damned warlocks and tieflings!

Paladin can make any weapon +5, Keen, 2d6 damage vs. evil and on hit dispel.

[Mallore]

Just take half your levels in favored soul and you'll be rolling epics in no time.


I do love a good paladin though. Rp can be so amazing

[Aelcar]

I didn't see any Paladin specific content while leveling up, I could be mistaken in that regard.

Yes, you are mistaken.

Great Smiting can be a game changer for sure, but it comes at a cost of expending resources at the expense of other ability scores and feats a character might normally take.

Well, thank god. Getting stuff like Great Smite V+ for free wouldn't exactly be a joke, balance-wise.

I'm only saying that most other builds are better

You're mistaken. Again.

and as far as I am aware there is a lack of custom content.

But you are, in fact, unaware.

This servers PRCs and content are evil and non-lawful focused. I'm not sure that was intended, but that's the way it is looking at all the custom PRC's and other custom content.

I think it's still your lack of awareness speaking.

To be perfectly clear, paladin is a good class. More or less as good as ranger, which is another good class. It has great class mechanics (Turn Undead, CHA to saves, Lay on Hands which is the best healing skill in game, Smite/Great Smite, easy access to Divine Might and Shield, a fantastic spellbook full of excellent custom spells), and it's balanced by the fact it's a multi-attribute dependant class, and that it requires heavy level investment to become really good, much like Monk, Bard, Druid, Warlock and the aforementioned Ranger, to quote a few instances.

To build a really good paladin, you need decent Wisdom and high Charisma. In particular, Charisma has huge synergy with everything I mentioned above.

Classes with CHA penalties, characters with full STR and CHA as dump stat or heavy multiclassing with subsequent loss of CL weaken a paladin character. Taking feats like Shield Slam isn't exactly synergetic with Paladin, although it can be done.

I played a pure Paladin with CHA 36 (buffed long term) in DM Bloodlust's events, and I had zero issues. You might actually say he shone quite brightly...

Before making a post like this, you really should gather some proper, accurate intel.