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Elder Wraith
2009-06-07, 07:21 PM
Right, I've never used a non-pregen character before AND I've only got PHB1.
So, any criticism would be appreciated. He's 3rd level as a gaming group I've found is at 3rd level. All bonuses/detractions included.
Here he is:

Lelldorin - lv3 Half-elven Paladin of Pelor

Medium - 25 years old - Male - 1m70 - Good

Initiative 11

Speed 5

Stats
Str 16 - Mod 3/4
Con 14 - Mod 2/3
Dex 10 - Mod 0/1
Int 11 - Mod 0/1
Wis 13 - Mod 1/2
Cha 16 - Mod 3/4

Max HP 44 - Bloodied 20 - Surge value 10 - 12 surges

Defenses
AC 22
Fort 12
Ref 12
Will 12

Skills
Acrobatics -3
Arcana +1
Athletics +5 TRAINED
Bluff +4
Diplomacy +11 TRAINED
Dungeoneering +2
Endurance +5 TRAINED
Heal +2
History +1
Insight +2
Intimidate +4
Nature +2
Perception +3
Religion +6 TRAINED
Stealth -3
Streetwise +4
Thievery -3

Feats: Power attack, Weapon focus: Bastard sword

Class features
Channel divinity
Lay on hands
Divine challenge

Race features
Dilletante
Dual heritage
Group diplomacy

Senses
Low light vision
Passive insight 14
Passive perception 12

Items
+1 thundering bastard sword (lv 3)
+1 Dwarvern plate armor (lv 2)
+1 holy symbol (lv 1) (ring)
2 potions of healing
Heavy shield
Standard adventurers kit

Powers
At-will: Holy strike, valiant strike
lv1 Encounter: Radiant smite
Dilettante Encounter: Sacred flame
Lv1 daily: Paladin's judgement
Lv 2 utility: sacred circle
Lv 3 encounter: Invigorating smite

Decoy Lockbox
2009-06-08, 12:09 PM
Welcome to the wide world of making your own characters! I'm actually playing a paladin myself (he's currently level 9), so I think I can give you a hand.

First things first -- some of your math is wrong. Your defenses should look like this:

AC 22 = (11+8+1+2)
Fortitude 15 = (11+3+1)
Reflex 14 = (11+0+1+2)
Will 15 = (11+3+1)

Don't forget that being a Paladin grants you a +1 to all your non-AC defenses, which is included in the above stats. Additionally, shields grant their bonus to both your AC AND reflex. If you have any questions about where those numbers came from, don't hesitate to ask.

Assuming paladins get 15+CON hp at first level, like all the other defenders (other than the warden), your HP shoud be 15+14+(2x6) = 29+12 = 41, not 44. Your bloodied value, surge value and # of surges are all correct based on 41 max hp.

Your initiative should be +1, not +11. The formula for initiative is 1/2 level + dexterity modifier + misc bonuses (like improved initiative or quick draw). So your initiative is 1+0+0 = 1.

Some of the numbers on your skills are also off. Here are the ones that need to be updated:

Endurance +4 TRAINED (1+2+5-2-2) 1/2 lvl, con mod, trained bonus, armor penalty, shield penalty

Perception +2 (1+1) 1/2 lvl, wisdom mod

Unless half-elves get a bonus to passive insight/perception, your would have:
Passive insight 12 (10 + insight)
Passive perception 12 (10 + perception)





Suggestions:

Your ability score placement isn't optimal, but it should work out fine. Make sure you increase both strength and charisma every time you get the chance, like at 4th and 8th level for example.

I find it more effective for a paladin to focus on either charisma or strength. Charisma is a better fit for a half elf, so I'd advise that. Although taking both certainly does have its advantages; most Charisma-based paladins have very poor fortitude defenses and have to worry about having both a weapon AND an implement while strength-based paladins have worse mark damage and a worse overall choice of powers.

I would take action surge or toughness instead of power attack. Power attack is only good at the higher levels, and only with a two handed weapon like a greatsword or maul.

The feat you have listed as "weapon focus" is actually "weapon proficiency". Weapon focus gives you +1 to damage with the chosen weapon group, whereas proficiency lets you use a weapon's proficiency bonus to hit.

I would take a charisma or strength based weapon power for dilettante, so that it might be more useful. One of the better ones is the bard's Guiding Strike from PHB2. Since you don't have PHB2, I'd take the cleric's Righteous Brand as my dilettante power, although that one is strength based. As it stands now, you will only have a roughly 45% chance to hit with your dilettante power, since your wisdom is low. If you had Righteous Brand, your hit chance would go up to about 60%.

I'd go with Valiant strike and Enfeebling smight, though they are all fine choices. Holy strike is really good when you fight lots of undead (as my paladin does). Don't forget that when you are fighting a single monster, valiant strike will still give you +1 to hit, which is very nice. Your choice is powers looks good other than that. Paldin's judgement is a very useful power to have, and sacred circle, despite being a standard action to cast, is rather useful. Just make sure you use it, say, during the first round of a boss fight.

Your item choices look sound; dwarven armor is especially good at lower levels when healing surge activators are rare (healing word, lay on hands, etc). If I recall, you get 520gp in addition to the "big 3" items as a level 3 character, so I'd look into getting a +1 neck item of some sort to increase your non-AC defenses some more.

Elder Wraith
2009-06-08, 01:52 PM
Oh...the sheet says DEX not DEX modifier, so that's why my Initiative modifiers at 11.

Decoy Lockbox
2009-06-09, 03:25 PM
Oh...the sheet says DEX not DEX modifier, so that's why my Initiative modifiers at 11.

Seems like an easy mistake. Its definately dex mod according to the PHB, same as it was in 3rd edition.

KillianHawkeye
2009-06-09, 08:01 PM
I think you forgot the half-elves racial +2 to Insight?

darkblust
2009-06-09, 08:56 PM
You havent made a char. before?watever,my first chracter was made by me,but different dm different rules...
You might want to pick a backstory and stuff for your character before you start,but your 4.0,so its not a alot of character options.Pick a theme,and go with it.

Decoy Lockbox
2009-06-10, 10:15 AM
I think you forgot the half-elves racial +2 to Insight?

Not suprised I didn't notice that; I didn't have my PHB with me when I was giving the advise, just doing all the numbers from memory. I've never played a half-elf before, so I didn't have all their details memorized like I do for say, humans.

Elder Wraith
2009-06-12, 11:45 AM
You havent made a char. before?watever,my first chracter was made by me,but different dm different rules...
You might want to pick a backstory and stuff for your character before you start,but your 4.0,so its not a alot of character options.Pick a theme,and go with it.

No, it was at the MM2 games day.