Dungeons & Dragons Online Paladin Build Guide

Name	Paladin Build Guide
Category	General

So you want to be a Paladin in the treacherous world of Dungeons and Dragons Online. Perhaps you are impressed by the ideals that a Paladin uphold. Or maybe, having the power to ward off evil appeals to your good-natured self. In any case, you should be able to know how to effectively use your powers and abilities that distinguish you from a Fighter, a Cleric, or a Wizard, even. To sum it up, a Paladin has the power to protect, to heal and to smite.

ABILITY SCORES

As with other classes, you'd have to start from the basics, and that's assigning points to your ability scores. Like a Bard and a Sorcerer, your Paladin will have to invest points on Charisma (CHA). Upon character creation, 14 is a high enough score and you'll have the chance to increase it by +1 on Levels 4, 8, 12 for a total of 17. Now, to some, 14 isn't too high a number for a character that relies heavily on CHA. True, that's why you can assign 16 points to CHA upon character creation. However, if you do this, you'll have less points to spend on other abilities. It's still a matter of preference, but a 14 is recommended.

The next two abilities that you have to spend points on will be Constitution (CON) and Wisdom (WIS). Most of the time, a Paladin is used as a melee combatant. As such, you'll need CON to increase your hit points and your Fortitude saving throws. A 14 is recommended upon character creation. As for WIS, you'd have to remember that Paladins are not given many spells to use, hence a 12 is sufficient to be able to cast all the spell on your list.

Points assigned to Strength (STR) will matter greatly depending on the role of your Paladin. Assume that you'll be a melee combatant for the most part, hence you need a decent number to assign to STR. A 14 is alright, but if you intend to make use of the Two Handed Fighting feat, you'd need a 15. Improvements to the feat would require a 17 STR as you advance in the game. If you see no use for it, you can go with the 14.

As a melee combatant, a Dexterity (DEX) of 12 should be sufficient. However, there are feats that require a high DEX (e.g. Dodge requires 13, Two Weapon Blocking requires a 15, and Greater Two Weapon Fighting requires a 17, etc.).

Intelligence (INT) would appear as the least important ability for a Paladin. It would only need a high score if you intend to take feats requiring the ability (ex. Combat Expertise requires a 13). It's recommended to assign a 10 on INT.

SKILLS

Concentration, Diplomacy and Heal are the three class skills for Paladins. Upon character creation, you're given a total of 8 points to spend, and 2 points for every level. That's not a lot, but among the three skills, you'd want to invest in Heal and Concentration. And since your Paladin would normally have a high CHA, it would also be a good move to pump up the Use Magic Device (UMD) skill in case you'd need to use some wands.

FEATS

If you go over the list of feats available for a Paladin, you'll end up with only a handful of useful feats. This makes choosing a little less complicated when you get the chance at levels 1, 3, 6, 9, 12. Of course, there are class-specific feats for Paladins at each level until level 3. At level 1, you'd have the Aura of Good (+2 bonus to AC and +2 bonus to saving throws) and Smite Evil (special melee attack against Evil creatures).

But as you progress in the game, you'd have to choose feats that are appropriate to the role you play in the party/group. So, here's a list of feats you can take depending on the type of Paladin you want to be.

Offensive Paladin

Combat Expertise. Lets you obtain high Armor class; requires INT of 13, so you'd have to think about the points you assign to abilities upon character creation if you want to gain this feat.

Weapon Focus: Slashing - +1 bonus to attack rolls when using slashing weapons

Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning - +1 bonus to attack rolls when using bludgeoning weapons

Stunning Blow - stuns your target for a few seconds, downside is that some creatures are immune to it

Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons - this doubles your critical hit range when using a selected weapon; requires a Base Attack Bonus of +8

Two-Handed Fighting - this lets you deal glancing blows to additional pesky targets, which means you can agro more foes at faster rate; requires STR 15

Power Attack - to use this, you'd have to trade your attack bonus for extra damage; requires STR 13

Two-Weapon Fighting - quite an odd choice, but if you think about it, this can be useful knowing that your Aura of Good can make up for your lack of shield, hence you maintain a high armor class; requires DEX 15

Improved Two-Weapon Fighting - increases number of attacks when using two weapons; requires DEX 17, Two-Weapon Fighting feat and BAB +6

Defensive Paladin

Shield Mastery - ability to increase damage you can absorb while using a shield

Improved Shield Bash - You get to keep your shield bonus while you bash targets; requires Shield Proficiency

Improved Shield Mastery - if you want to increase the amount of damage you can absorb using a shield, better choose this feat at higher levels; requires BAB +8 and Shield Mastery feat

Dodge - +1 dodge bonus to AC; requires DEX 13

Two-Weapon Defense - +1 bonus to AC when wielding two weapons; requires DEX 15 and Two Weapon Fighting feat

Luck of Heroes - +1 on all saves (to maximize your saving throw bonuses)

Toughness - Doesn't hurt to increase your hit points by +3 at first level and additional +1 for each additional level; it basically lets you stay alive a little longer

Tower Shield Proficiency - some players aren't really keen on obtaining this for their Paladins, but it does give you a great defense especially when you're not hitting your targets very well

Improved Turning - very useful when you're tasked to take on a lot of undead creatures; improves your success rate on turning checks.

SPELLS

You gain the ability to cast Paladin spells starting at Level 4. A Paladin spell list is as follows:

Level 1 spells
Bless
Cure Light Wounds
Divine Favor
Lesser Restoration
Protection from Evil
Resistance
Virtue

Level 2 spells
Bull's Strength
Eagle's Splendor
Owl's Wisdom
Remove Paralysis
Resist Energy

Level 3 spells
Cure moderate wounds
Dispel Magic
Prayer
Remove Blindness
Remove Curse

ENHANCEMENTS

Again, there are only a handful of very useful enhancements for Paladins. The good thing though is that Paladin-based enhancements really improve the way your character progresses in the game. Here are some of the enhancements too good to pass up:

Extra Lay on Hands I (Level 3)
You can use LOH one more time between each rest

Extra Lay on Hands II (Level 10)
You can use LOH two additional times between each rest. You can get full health in just a few seconds.

Paladin's Action Boost I, II, II, IV, V
Gives short term boosts to attacks, Armor Class, or saves.

Paladin's Charisma I, II, III
Never leave home without these enhancements. This increases your CHA by +3 (remember what CHA does to your character...)

Resistance of Good I, II, III
Provide bonus to saving throws (+1, +2, +3, respectively)

Paladin's Grace (starts at Level 2)
Additional bonus to saving throws

Bulwark of Good I, II, III (Levels 2, 6, 9, respectively)
Additional armor class bonus

For Human Paladins:

Improved Recovery (Level 2)
Just because you get extra benefit from healing spells

Human Charisma (Level 4)
More CHA and more saves

This guide should get you started with your Paladin. In most cases, some of you might want to multi-class, and in that case, you gotta do some adjustments appropriate for you new build. I'd personally go for a pure Paladin, but if I were to choose, I'd go a level of Sorcerer for additional arcane spells, spell points and the possibility of using arcane wands with less failure.