The Half-and-Half Paladin

[BadenBeast]

NOTE to the reader: I posted this almost seven years ago. Hard to believe time flies that fast. But I think the post is as relevant today as it was back then. There have been a few changes and adds as I've tweaked the build through the years and with EE the subraces have changed. But without further adieu:

A dissertation on the half-and-half Paladin.

While reading through the old thread I noticed that many people consider the smiting paladin a one trick pony and therefore flawed. So they were proponents of the strength based devastating critical (dev crit) paladin as stronger.

Others considered the nerfing of dev crit and the super high fort save that everyone strives for on their builds as making the strength based paladin weak.

Having played both the devver and the smiter my favorite pali to play is the half-and-half. That is, half strength and half charisma based. Heresy! No dev, no smite, it must be the worst of both worlds. One would think, but in my honest opinion you would be wrong.

How does 53 AB with the simple casting of divine favor sound? Damage with a longsword in the 50-60 range and crits at 100+ easy. Be a real chesser, go with the scimitar and crit to your hearts content. AC with just divine shield is 66 with only +4 equipment.

Tweak with prayer, shrieker belt or Barbarian drum and your AB is easily 55+ with no minuses. Add mage armor, dusty rose ioun stone or some +5 stuff and AC can easily reach 70.

Other bonuses of the build, with Salandran Champion Plate and Triad Shield you heal at around 80 with a +10 bandage so you rarely have to use heal potions. No cool down and you save tons of gold. Your saves are excellent and with primo equipment, insane.

You hit almost as hard as a Warmaster when using divine might and with the higher cha (30-32) your Divine Shield and Might last longer than the strength based devver. You can easily go through a spawn protected and dealing major damage like a whirling dervish of Holy Warrior death without Whirlwind.

No more worries about low AB and damage from the smiter and you hit lots and hard with divine favor. With haste your AC is around 55-57 so you don't have to use divine shield in most fourth tier dungeons like fire and frost giants and even Sahuagin (best to have improved invisibility for that area).

Two shortfalls to the build that I have come across, one perceived, the other real. You don't have smiting or dev crit so there is NO quick kill aspect of the build. This is not a good PvP build unless in groups. I highly recommend knockdown if you can fit it in. It is not necessary to have. You kill monsters that quickly.

The other is the use of rogue in the build. I know, I know, you are screaming power build. But any paladin with a tumble dump is a power build. The paladin class is just that solid. But to have UMD combined with the paladin's abilities is nearly the ultimate in flexibility and versatility. And I have to add, with the right equipment you can craft ANYTHING using mythals. Your paladin will be self reliant. Not only that, but like any guy or girl with a pickup truck, you will become sought after by other PCs to help them craft their items. Excellent RP opportunities. One more thing with rogue, you can disable and remove ANY traps with the right equipment. The bridge in the Gauntlet, cake.

Also with UMD, get the Cyl mandolin in the Triumvir to have Haste (10) to propel you around Amia at a higher and longer lasting speed. Keep the Grand Father Pocket Watches for buffing before battle if you want to speed up the process.

As far as race is concerned, you can use Aasimar or regular human or really any other race you like to play. In the 1.69 version Aasimar was better for higher ability scores, but with the nerfing of 4 ability points in EE, Aasimar as a race is not really needed anymore.

Final scores are:
Str 22
Dex 12
Con 8
Wis 14
Int 14
Cha 18

This build was P/21, F/6, R/2 in the old module because Aasimar lost a level. With the removed you go up to 30. Feel free to add one level where you wish.

Please notice the 12 dexterity. This requires no buffing or use of mythals on equipment required when using plate to keep the +1 AC modifier. 14 intelligence allows you to have full discipline, healing, tumble, UMD (UMD only needs to be 15 though due to the high charisma), and with points left over to put in concentration, spot, crafting or whatever else you wish to use. With con buffs hit points are right around 400.

My half-and-half runs around with all his spells extended such as Bless, Aid, Bulls Strength, Aura of Courage and GMW. And he is still able to take 5 divine favors and 5 extended divine favors. You hit so hard with weapon spec and epic spec that you don't need the divine favors to be effective, but they really do amp up the damage when you want.

My little twist of my pali was adding spot. I had to modify the build and take more fighter and less pali to include epic skill: spot. I think it was well worth it, making the build even more versatile. I can't tell you how many times I've been PM'd in the middle of an event when I roll a spot check. No, it is not as good as a cleric's chance, but darn close (+100). (Note: I have since removed spot and gone back to the original build with concentration. Occasionally I need to cast a second Divine Favor in combat, so it comes in handy.)

I'm not going to post the whole build. I leave it up to your imagination and creativity to come up with your own. But building palis is very straight forward. PM me your build if you want.

Hopefully I have provided food for thought in this thread.

BadenBeast

PS: With so many different dieties to chose from the RP from pali to pali is wide ranging. I absolutely LOVE that I chose Ilmater, the Broken God or Crying God. It has allowed me build on the aspect of my paladin being a physician. Increased RP opportunities. Also, in group situations he is a battlefield medic. His healing is around 115 with a +10 bandage so it saves other toons on their use of Heal Potions. (A certain player that I admire greatly for his awesome RP in the middle of a DM event PM'd me saying "You heal for 113? Nice.") Or need him to fight he can throw on the Divine Shield and Might and a Divine Favor and watch him go.

I know paladins aren't for everyone, but if this gives you an itch to start one or perhaps dust off one you've made in the past and bring them back, please look Jerand up. He'd be more than happy to talk to you.

[Alcomancer]

Do your numbers still work this way with the Aasimar changes?

[BadenBeast]

Kind of. In 1.69 Aasimar was definitely superior for ability stats.

In EE, I am actually changing the build from Fighter to Field Medicus so P/23, FM/5, R/2. Strength and charisma will be the same. Losing some damage because of dropping weapon specialization and epic weapon spec.

And to replace the additional 2 points lost in Constitution I had to take Toughness.

AB and AC will not change but losing the 6 points of damage for higher saves and the ability to heal with bandages like nobody's business.

I don't make test builds and run them through Amia-like modes, but I highly suspect human would be on par or slightly better in EE than Aasimar. I will leave that to others who do to prove it.