Palading Starting Feats

Paladin Starting Feats

I'm on my third start of the game here due to my lack of knowledge of the D&D rules. I finally have the starting feats picked out for my other characters, except my human paladin.

My party consists of a dwarf fighter, human paladin, human cleric, half elf bard, a halfling rogue and an elf wizard. I have played this set of characters up to level 4 and Elmo was part of the party until the characters obtained level 3.

For starting feats for the paladin, I was looking at the following: improved inititiave, the feat which allows you to make attacks of opportunity, and a weapon focus. How important is improved initiative? Will a weapon focus make that much of a difference for a paladin?

Or would I be better off starting this character out as a fighter and switching to paladin at 2nd level to get the extra starting feat for a fighter?

I am using the 5.0.2 Mod and I plan to play this set of characters to level 10, which I assume won't make the game too easy for my first time through.

Ohhh, I assumed that Combat Casting is a good starting feat to take for a Cleric and a Wizard. My question concerning Combat Casting is, is this a passive feat used on all casts or do you only take advantage of this feat when you select the Cast Defensively Option?

Thanks!

 

(so it applies only when activating the casting defensively? d'oh! anyway, never chose it :doh: )

As for your paladin, if he's going to be a tank the best is to have him be a paladin of Helm so he can freely switch to fighter anytime. And I would start as a fighter indeed, as that gets you 2 feats, 3 if you're human.

Personnaly I would take power attack/cleave. Cleave is the way to go!

Weapon Focus is quite useful, especially considering that it will also increase your odds at scoring critical hits! While we're at it, you need 4 levels of fighter to be able to chose Weapon Specialisation (in the same weapon you've focused on).

Finally, make sure you paladin has good charisma - useful for resisting spells, poison etc, heals more hp, will turn more undead, smite better and finally, be better at talking to people. Increase you diplomacy + sense motive skills as much as you can!

Strenght is still your priority though. That leaves little room for dexterity - which won't be too useful anyway if your paladin is wearing heavy armor, so it's unlikely he'll have a high dex.
Improved initiative can be useful then so your average-dex paladin is not among the last to act in a turn, but I really would focus on other stuff first!

 

Why do you choose a bastard sword over a long sword? For the extra damage?

 

Thanks for the info:mrhappy:

While I have your attention, what do you think about starting the paladin as a fighter for the extra feat at level 1 and then switching to Paladin at level 2?

Also, I'm not too sure how Combat Casting and casting defensively work. When casting defensively, you have a chance at fizzling the spell but you also have less of a chance of being interrupted correct? And when you mix in the feat of Combat Casting, you eliminate the chance of the spell fizzling?

 

I normally give my paladins a greatsword, power attack and cleave and almost always leave a least one point dedicated to power attack, since with a two-handed weapon you get double what you put in back as damage. I figure a permanent -1 to hit his worth a permanent +2 to damage.

If I don't go that route, I do what Allyx said and take WF and EWP Bastard Sword (mostly because I really like bastard swords. They're fun weapons due to their versatility and cutting power, though in the game all it really gives you is an extra bit of damage.)

However, a paladin isn't going to have trouble wielding Scather/Fragrach. They're chaotic weapons and paladins have to be lawful. So not only does the paladin not get to use most of those swords' nifty features but he's also got an effective negative level as long as he wields them. (At least, he should, per the rules and per the in-game description of both swords. I've never actually tried equipping a paladin with one.)

Helm is a Forgotten Realms god. He doesn't exist in ToEE and none of the deities within the game allow a paladin to freely multiclass.

Weapon Focus gives you a +1 to hit with the weapon. It has no effect on scoring critical hits (beyond the fact the confirmation roll for the criticals also gains that +1). That's what Improved Critical does.

Other than that, Daniel has the right idea, though whether or not you want to take that level (or levels) of fighter first is dependant on character concept. I normally take my paladins as single-classed. The extra fighter feats, IMO, aren't worth delaying your acquisition of the paladin abilities.

As for Combat Casting, Allyx described it pretty well. I normally only take it for clerics, since I know they're going to be in the thick of things, trying to heal other members of the party while in battle. I'll occaisionally give it to a wizard or sorcerer, but most of the time I do my best to keep them out of the way and give them cross-class ranks in Tumble so they can get out of dodge if they need to.

Combat Reflexes, the feat that grants you extra Attacks of Oppurtunity in a round, is only worth it if your character has a high dexterity and/or a reach weapon. Without a high dexterity, the feat only nets you 1 extra AOO each round. Without a reach weapon, you're probably not going to get that many AOOs provoked from your character anyway.

 

What do you consider a high dexterity? I took Combat Reflexes on my dwarf fighter who has a dex of 15 or 16.

 

Based upon your examples, it seems that casting normally at lower levels would be equal to the Combat Casting due to the amount of damage taken being low. However, when characters are taking more damage at higher levels, CC would be more adventageous.

Thanks for the info on the 5' step........I didnt know what it was for

 

That's fine. Anything that grants a Dex bonus is good for Combat Reflexes, but obviously a higher Dex will allow more AOOs. On the other hand, a lot of time you won't use all of your available AOOs because they're just not provoked.

 

What Kalshane said about power attack is great for a fighter with a two handed reach weapon. Take Improved Initiative and Power Aaatack for first level feats. You will also want Cleave at second level if you took something else for first level, like an exotic weapon proficiency or a weapon focus feat.

Set the power attack at one with the radial menu and when you enter combat, charge the enemy. A fighter with a decent dexterity and improved initiative should usualy react before most of your enemies. If you keep this fighter in light or medium armor to avoid decreasing your movement rate there aren't many situations where you can't hit an enemy all the way across the screen while he's flat-footed due to the extra length of your weapon.

Charging gives you a +2 bonus to hit and doubles your damage bonus, so with power attack turned on you still get a +1 to hit from charging and gain a +2 to damage, which is in addition to the bonus of 1.5 times strength for using the two-handed weapon. You may well drop an enemy right there, so having cleave will gain you a second attack if there is an enemy within range.

Since you are no longer flat-footed, when one of the enemies moves by you to rush the wizard you will get an attack of opportunity, and if you put him down you will cleave back to another enemy within range. If the dice roll well you could be getting four attacks per round at first or second level, provided you ended your charge near enough to a couple of other enemies to reach them with your glaive. Watch the circle that indicates where your fighter will end his charge, be aware of how much reach you have, and select a fairly easy enemy to put down who is near near enough to others that you can reach them as well.

This fighter becomes a human wrecking machine!

 

d'oh! I really shouldn't post here while playing Icewind Dale 2... :drunk:

yup, not talking about the threat range, however that one point in the second roll does help!

 

<Gratuitous SPAM in the absence of the Spam-King.
(...may his passions never tire)>

Uh-huh...you said pala-DING...huh-huh.

 

Good feats for a cleric include Improved Turning if you don't take the Sun Domain and Improved Summoning for stronger conjured help in combat. My favorite feat for a cleric is Combat reflexes.

Your main fighter should take improved initiative, which makes Combat Reflexes less important for him as he isn't flat-footed long enough to gain the benefits of Combat Reflexes allowing attacks of opportunity while flat footed. Not gaining the additional AoO equal to your dex bonus isn't that bad of a loss either since as Kalshane mentioned you don't usualy get all of those attacks anyway.

My cleric is normaly in the back, right in front of the wizard, where he is going to support with summonings, aid with buffing spells, and help by healing anyone hit badly. The cleric can also rush out of that spot to engage in hand to hand if needed, but usualy doesn't.

Since the cleric has a heavy mace in his hand and is standing in front of the wizard, he is in a prime position to benefit from provoked attacks of opportunity when the humanoids try to bum rush my wizard.

I don't give him improved initiative because he is going to want to go near the end of the round anyway when damage that he can heal has been dealt, and when summoned creatures are now present to be buffed/unbuffed, so having the Combat Reflexes allows him to bash the multiple rushers while waiting for his turn, and then either hit them again with his attack to finish them off or heal the wizard's wounds.