Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Hi Guys.

For those who were involved in the chat earlier, or not, whats the typically good paladin build that works on the server if items are decent enough?

I have a 27 toon I can rcr on and try out, so dont have to shine early, can be late bloomer.

Would prefer not a ECL Class like Aassimar

I've never made a paladin for BGTSCC so I'll refrain from outlining a specific build. That said, I can offer some general advice.

There are two routes most people go through in making a paladin. The first route is EDM (Epic Divine Might.) This means a build that has at least 21 STR and 21 CHA in epic levels. The balance can be tough, so picking a race with either a CHA or a STR bonus would help tremendously. The advantage of this setup is lots of irresistable divine damage on hit. This means you do a lot of damage to things regardless of their alignment.

The second route is to go all in on CHA. These builds typically pick up Great Smite feats for most of their epic feats. Full CHA paladins have better AC (through Divine Shield), godly saving throws, and a decent amount of damage via normal, non-epic Divine Might. Against any kind of evil-aligned thing, you can be expected to smite it to the ground. Your Lay on Hands will also heal the full health bar of almost any epic character (or one-shot a powerful undead if used offensively.) You're not as effective as an EDM paladin against non-evil things, though, and you're a bit vulnerable to Knockdown.

For both routes, you should plan on getting WIS to 14. WIS is required to get all the circles of the paladin spell book. Though your toolset is limited, you have some very potent self-buffing spells. And, whatever your build is, aim to qualify for Divine Shield and Divine Might. The earlier the better if you're leveling up a paladin. In your case, take them whenever you like.

The rest is up to your own personal preferences. Pure paladins actually work fairly well. Monk is a decent dip class option, and Divine Champion can both buff your saves even further while giving you extra epic feats (for, say, more Great Smite.). Paladins don't have a great skill selection, and their skill points per level are poor, so stuff like Able Learner and a dip class helps if you want, say, max Spot or some UMD.

Of course, it's been a while since I played a paladin and I'm unfamiliar with the specifics here on BGTSCC. If I made any errors in the above recommendations, feel free to correct me.

Those builds will echo these recommendations :

http://nwn2db.com/build/?179824 EDM

http://nwn2db.com/build/?147931 Great smiter

http://nwn2db.com/build/?141205 Pure strength

http://nwn2db.com/build/?179911 paladin 24 / monk 6 => gets access to evasion, expose weakness, tumble and gets free improved knockdown

These are a few possibilties.

I just tried out a 30 paladin with what I would expect my gear would be when I have him (Mostly +3 stuff, nothing exciting or overpowered/grandfatherly.)

I went 20 paladin, 10 divine champion and went for Aassimar, ended up on 34 charisma self buffed and full smite.

Had 3 infidel smites, and 7 evil.

Some of my evil smites when critted ended up at 600 dmg a hit.. is that.. correct? Or am I complete nuts? Those were crits, normal hits were around 300 on smite (Still insane)

Was able to reach 47 ab without a mithril set up heavy armour due to high char/divine shield without using a shield.

My average dmg was 40 (Hitting twice) So around 80... This was buffed up of course, but only self buffs.

Is.. this normal? Seems very op to me.

Welcome to paladinland.

Yes it's normal, but it's not as op as it might sound either as you can't spam divine shield and EDM or smite all the time. The burst damage can be very high but it won't last.

As said, quite normal.

Paladins are built for shining brightly during heroic moments.

The rest of the time, you're conserving your strength and waiting for the right time to strike. You don't have nearly as much sustainability as other setups.

From what I saw, basically a bosses worst nightmare.

Decent saves as well.

And was able to use 12 divine might or shield, can keep that up for some time.

With a tower shield easily sit on around 55 ac+ (Was using +3 items, not +4)

Bab seems very low though, fully buffed I was around 40.

The great smiter is a boss killer that gives up caster level for bust damage. Won't be as good as typical/even stat spread/edm type builds that get CL 30, but will shine in any "last battle"

Kiran wrote:Bab seems very low though, fully buffed I was around 40.

Since you went 10 Divine Champion, you can mitigate that with your upgraded version of Divine Wrath. If you need more AB for whatever reason, you can also try slotting some Divine Favors.

Stack Divine Favor, Divine Wrath, Divine Might and one of your smites for some crazy AB and damage.

I would avoid paladin 20/divine champion 10, with the dispel fix the CL can be too low.

Valefort wrote:I would avoid paladin 20/divine champion 10, with the dispel fix the CL can be too low.

Agreed.

Kiran wrote:From what I saw, basically a bosses worst nightmare.

Decent saves as well.

And was able to use 12 divine might or shield, can keep that up for some time.

With a tower shield easily sit on around 55 ac+ (Was using +3 items, not +4)

Bab seems very low though, fully buffed I was around 40.

Oh god, that is insane.

...did you happen to write it down?

Will test the 30 paladin later then.

Or would you go 26 pala something else? Or would the CL still be too low?

fearknight2003 wrote:

Kiran wrote:From what I saw, basically a bosses worst nightmare.

Decent saves as well.

And was able to use 12 divine might or shield, can keep that up for some time.

With a tower shield easily sit on around 55 ac+ (Was using +3 items, not +4)

Bab seems very low though, fully buffed I was around 40.

Oh god, that is insane.

...did you happen to write it down?

I did not sadly, but got the char saved so will test in a moment, what numbers is it you want to see, the ac or the dmg?

Pal 26/Rogue 4 = EW + EDM & 30 CL?