Author Topic: Critique my Paladin Build  (Read 3302 times)

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Mohji

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Critique my Paladin Build
« on: June 30, 2008, 02:45:59 AM »
It will be a long road before I can ever play this character but I was hoping for some criticism of this character so I can keep him at his best whenever someone other than myself choses to DM 4e.

Stilgar Firmstone Charisma Based Dwarf Paladin 1
Str 13
Con 15
Dex 12
Int 8
Wis 16
Cha 16

Trained Skills - Endurance, Heal, Insight, Religion
AC 20(Full Plate and a Heavy Shield)
Fort 13
Ref 12
Will 14

Feats-Toughness/Healing Hands(I can't decide between more hp as a tank or better use of my 3/D LoH)

At Will Powers- Bolstering Strike, Enfeebling Strike
Encounter Powers- Piercing Smite
Daily Powers- Paladin's Judgment
Will Wild Shape for FoodFace off with the Legion

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Re: Critique my Paladin Build
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2008, 05:04:38 AM »
It looks like you intend to go for Heavy Blade Mastery.  If this is not the case, then your Dex should stay at 10.  That will let you bump your Strength to 14 or your Constitution to 16, either of which will give immediate benefits and also allow you to qualify for Hammer Rhythm easier down the road.

Piercing Smite and Paladin's Judgment are both strength-based abilities.  Whether you pick up Fearsome Smite or Shielding Smite is a matter of preference, but I can't recommend Radiant Delirium enough for a Daily.  It's really good.

Finally, the question of Toughness.  If you buff your Constitution to 16 at first level, then it will likely be better to take Toughness because not only will it give you 5 more HP but it will also buff your Healing Surge value by 2 (huge boost, and you can really take advantage of it thanks to Second Wind being a minor action and having 13 surges per day).  If not, Healing Hands will likely find more use early on.  At 2nd-level, take the one you didn't take at first.

Mohji

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Re: Critique my Paladin Build
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2008, 06:28:42 AM »
I was leaning towards Heavy Blade Opportunity, Heavy Blade Mastery hurts my stats too much as I was intending to play the healer/tank since nobody in my gaming groups likes to fill those roles too often, and sacrificing Wisdom in favor of Strength and Dexterity hurts my use of Lay on Hands and various secondary effects of Paladin Powers, my feat progression I quickly worked out not in any optimization order are as follows

1 Healing Hands
2 Toughness
4 Blade opportunist(first chance to qualify with stat bumps)
6 Improved Initiative
8 Weapon Focus Heavy Blade(this was a dump stat I threw in)
10 Dodge Giants
11 Dwarven Durability
12 Mettle
14 Heavy Blade Opportunity(again first chance to qualify)
16 Heavy Shield Specialization
18 Fleet Footed(Another Filler Feat)
20 Combat Anticipation
21 Blind Fight
22 Font of Radiance
24 Open
26 Open
28 Open
30 Open
Will Wild Shape for FoodFace off with the Legion

Mohji

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Re: Critique my Paladin Build
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2008, 06:35:36 AM »
Further my intended attribute increases were as follows but as for all of this I am highly open to critiques and ideas to improve the build

Str at 11th 14th 16th 21st
Con at 11th 21st
Dex at 4th 8th 11th 21st
Int at 11th 21st
Wis at 11th 18th 21st 24th
Cha at 4th 8th 11th 14th 18th 21st 24th 28th

Will Wild Shape for FoodFace off with the Legion

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Re: Critique my Paladin Build
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2008, 08:57:43 AM »
Alright, in that case I say drop your Constitution 1 point and add it to Dexterity instead.  Then after that, you can leave Strength and Dex at 13 each and qualify for Heavy Blade Mastery at 21st.  The big advantage is that you're going to get 4 more level-up points for Wisdom and/or Constitution, and all three of your Wisdom, Constitution, and Charisma will end up even, so you'll be getting the most out of your ability scores.

Heavy Blade Opportunity does look nice, but the main draw of it is for Paladins is to use Charisma instead of Strength for Opportunity Attacks, and even at 20th level your Charisma modifier will only be 3 points higher.  With Blade Opportunist, your Opportunity Attacks will only be 1 point behind your standard attacks at the most.

That goes a bit against what I usually recommend, but trying to shoehorn a low-level Paladin into a Leader role is not going to work most of the time.  I strongly recommend taking some Multiclass feats to get some Warlord powers and maybe also the Raven Queen's Blessing feat.  Student of Battle will give you what essentially amounts to another use of Lay on Hands a day, and Acolyte Power will get you Inspiring Reaction initially and Warlord's Banner later on, both of which are impressive Healing powers in their own right, but more importantly they're Encounter powers.  That said, don't do Paragon Multiclassing.  You're going to want the Hospitaler Path.

If there is no Cleric or Warlord in the party, then I think you should probably either get one of the other players to roll one or roll one up yourself.  Having a Leader in the party really is a great help.  Also, if you are the only Defender in the party then devoting a lot of resources to Healing may detract from your ability to actually fill the Defender role.  Regardless, I gotta say it again: there really should be a Cleric or Warlord in the party.