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Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 06:02 AM
With these:
Core + Psionics
PHB 2
ECS
Sharn: City of Towers
Magic of Eberron
Player's Guide to Eberron
And anything else on request (ToB appears to be approved)

I want to create a character who was brought up in a temple before becoming a paladin. Any suggestions on classes that would be worth taking 1 level in to represent that time in the temple before he became a paladin?

Edwin
2010-06-04, 06:04 AM
With these:
Core + Psionics
PHB 2
ECS
Sharn: City of Towers
Magic of Eberron
Player's Guide to Eberron
And anything else on request (ToB appears to be approved)

I want to create a character who was brought up in a temple before becoming a paladin. Any suggestions on classes that would be worth taking 1 level in to represent that time in the temple before he became a paladin?

Cleric would be a very obvious choice?

Otherwise, depending on what your character is inclined to, Archivist if he likes to study.

Favored soul, perhaps, if he has some sort of special connection to his/her god.

Edit: Actually, maybe cloistered cleric is better than cleric. And any of the other, really.

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 06:08 AM
Cleric did occur to me, just wondered if it was worth taking if I'm then going to move into Paladin.

Emmerask
2010-06-04, 06:23 AM
Well it depends a bit on the world you are playing in, but in general there are not only clerics brought up in a temple. For example a temple of mask might well have a few rogues or a temple of Azuth wizards and monks (says so in the fluff text, duno why monks ^^).
So the temple brought up/ taught thing does not really limit your options what class you want to be before you become a paladin :smallwink:

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 06:29 AM
Aye. Let me be a little more helpful then. The setting is Ebberon, Sharn to be precise. Rather than having my character be brought up in a temple to the traditional deities, I wanted him to be an orphan adopted into the Temple of the Unknown God, whose name and most other facts about him are kept secret. However, his followers are charged to help those in need, and so among other things look after orphans. The temple is chiefly funded by anonymous private donations from those who wish to support their work. So he could be anything, but I'm looking for something that would stack well with Paladin and fit reasonably well with that, rather vague, fluff.

Ed: The temple's devotees are also taught how to protect the weak, if they show an inclination for it.

HunterOfJello
2010-06-04, 06:40 AM
FYI Cleric is one of the best (if not the very best) class to dip into. You grab the ability to Turn Undead, a tons of low level spells, armor proficiencies and 2 Domains. The 2 domain abilities you get are what makes the dip beyond amazing since they provide benefits equivalent to feats.


Check out the Handbook of Dipping Cleric 1 (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=2773.0)

With a single level in Cleric you could get Improved Initiative and Extra Turning for your Paladin. The bonus to Initiative is always great and you can use the Extra Turning to fuel constant Divine Might attacks if you grab the feat.

Greenish
2010-06-04, 06:43 AM
Cleric 4, then Ordained Champion. You'll be more paladin than the paladin.

HunterOfJello
2010-06-04, 06:48 AM
Cleric 4, then Ordained Champion. You'll be more paladin than the paladin.

Yeah, that's actually better than the Paladin.

If you're really focused on playing a paladin, you might want to consider the Prestige Paladin from Unearthed Arcana, they're much better than core paladins.

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 11:40 AM
Related to the same character, is there anyway I can get wings like this (at some point):

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7301/paladinmotivational2.jpg

Greenish
2010-06-04, 11:43 AM
Related to the same character, is there anyway I can get wings like this (at some point):

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7301/paladinmotivational2.jpgFavoured Soul 17. :smallyuk:
Winged template for +2 LA. :smallyuk::smallyuk:
Wing grafts, slowly turn you Evil. :smallyuk::smallyuk::smallyuk:

I'd suggest Animal Devotion.

HunterOfJello
2010-06-04, 11:48 AM
You can get draconic wings that you can glide with at lvl 1 if you take the Dragon Wings feat from Races of the Dragon and play a Dragonblooded race like a Silverbrow Human.


To gain angel wings you could take tons of levels as a Favored Soul. There might be a way to gain them as an aasimar, i forget.

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 11:48 AM
*sigh*
Animal devotion works.
Or a Celestial Griffon...

BardicDuelist
2010-06-04, 11:57 AM
Personally, I'd highly recommend the Cleric to PrC option over paladin. However, remember that backstory does not need to be represented mechanically. Game mechanics and character history/personality can overlap, but do not have to. If you want to play a paladin, you can simply do so and have his story be that he was brought up in a temple.

For the wings: I'd say the easiest and most mechanically viable is to get a magic item. For instance, a cloak that turns into wings, or winged armor. Talk to your DM, say that this is something that you'd like to eventually get. Maybe he can make it a gift from your temple that your character can earn after proving himself (and making sizable donations :P ).

Greenish
2010-06-04, 12:00 PM
There might be a way to gain them as an aasimar, i forget.Outsider Wings from Races of Faerūn. Requires Celestial (or Fiendish) Bloodline.

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 12:00 PM
I know backstory doesn't need to work perfectly, I was just asking if there was an efficient way to do what I wanted. Cloistered Cleric with Travel Devotion's looking like quite a good combo now.

Optimystik
2010-06-04, 12:14 PM
On the Psionics front, an Ardent, Psion or Erudite could have spent a great deal of time in a temple.

A Wilder would be an excellent choice to represent the tortured individual trying to "purge themselves" of the horrible abilities welling up within.

A Divine Mind would be there self-flagellating for picking such an awful class :smalltongue:

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 12:19 PM
On the Psionics front, an Ardent, Psion or Erudite could have spent a great deal of time in a temple.

A Wilder would be an excellent choice to represent the tortured individual trying to "purge themselves" of the horrible abilities welling up within.

A Divine Mind would be there self-flagellating for picking such an awful class :smalltongue:

Yeah yeah. I just want to try playing one. See if it's possible to not be hated.

Optimystik
2010-06-04, 12:25 PM
Yeah yeah. I just want to try playing one. See if it's possible to not be hated.

Just be a Psychic Warrior with a rosary in your pocket.

An Incarnate could be in a temple too, though Incarnum tries to be as generalist as religious classes get.

sonofzeal
2010-06-04, 01:54 PM
Any class (well, except for possibly Barbarian and maybe Warlock) can have been temple-taught. A Fighter could be a temple guard, a Bard could be a worship leader, a Beguiler could be a corrupt priest (at least in Eberron where alignment is fuzzy). If you can't figure out a way to get your class in, you're probably not thinking hard enough. :smallbiggrin:

lsfreak
2010-06-04, 02:00 PM
Honestly, why not just straight paladin? I don't see how being raised in a temple means you have to start out as something else. Where do you think paladins get their start? They're raised in the temple as devout worshipers. Perhaps the church themselves trains certain individuals that show promise. Perhaps being indoctrinated simply occurred at the same time you were under the tutelage of an expert fencer, thus the divine and partial prowess of your character developed at the same time.

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 02:02 PM
It's not necessary, I just wondered if there was anything useful that combined nicely with paladin. Cloistered Cleric and Travel Devotion is a good boost to my paladin's offensive abilities though. Plus, it means I get Turn Undead twice, so can use Travel Devotion more often.

Machiavellian
2010-06-04, 02:06 PM
My suggestion:

Race: Lesser Aasimar (+ 2 WIS and CHA!)
Class: Cloistered Cleric 3/Prestige Paladin 2/Ordained Champion 10/Sacred Exorcist 5
Feats other than prerequisite/: The wing feat mentioned earlier, Otherworldly, Dynamic Priest (makes EVERY Casting CHA-based), and Force of Personality (since you are using CHA for everything, WIS is no longer needed)

Optimystik
2010-06-04, 02:11 PM
Which Dragonlance book is Dynamic Priest in again?

Coidzor
2010-06-04, 02:13 PM
Aye. Let me be a little more helpful then. The setting is Ebberon, Sharn to be precise. Rather than having my character be brought up in a temple to the traditional deities, I wanted him to be an orphan adopted into the Temple of the Unknown God, whose name and most other facts about him are kept secret.

Whoa. I didn't know Vecna had made it to Eberron too! :smalleek: Seems to be trying a different tack with this cult too...

Machiavellian
2010-06-04, 02:14 PM
Which Dragonlance book is Dynamic Priest in again?

I cannot remember. I just memorized that feat for any cleric build I ever do (makes cleric less MAD [as if cleric wasn't SAD enough], meaning that a Cloistered Cleric really only needs CON and CHA)

and yes, I play paladins (Usually Sword of the Arcane Order MFK palys), and I use either Dynamic Priest or Serenity, depending on backstory

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 02:15 PM
Whoa. I didn't know Vecna had made it to Eberron too! :smalleek: Seems to be trying a different tack with this cult too...

Haha. A very different tack, if he's going about doing good.

Greenish
2010-06-04, 02:16 PM
It's not necessary, I just wondered if there was anything useful that combined nicely with paladin. Cloistered Cleric and Travel Devotion is a good boost to my paladin's offensive abilities though. Plus, it means I get Turn Undead twice, so can use Travel Devotion more often.You don't get extra uses from having Turn Undead twice.

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 02:18 PM
You don't get extra uses from having Turn Undead twice.

Don't you? Not even from different sources? :smallfrown:

taltamir
2010-06-04, 02:23 PM
With these:
Core + Psionics
PHB 2
ECS
Sharn: City of Towers
Magic of Eberron
Player's Guide to Eberron
And anything else on request (ToB appears to be approved)

I want to create a character who was brought up in a temple before becoming a paladin. Any suggestions on classes that would be worth taking 1 level in to represent that time in the temple before he became a paladin?

why does the character has to have a prior class? paladin is a perfect class for him. First, as a young child he probably didn't learn much...
then he might have started down the path of clerichood, only to divert into paladinhood later. He doesn't need to have finished an entire 1st level worth of training though. I mean, even if he went on to be a wizard or something he doesn't need an entire first level, but for a "Raised in temple" the perfect classes are monk, paladin, and cleric. And he is a paladin.

Greenish
2010-06-04, 02:24 PM
Don't you? Not even from different sources? :smallfrown:
Turn Undead (Su)
For the purpose of determining his ability to turn undead, a prestige paladin's class levels stack with his levels from all his other classes from which he has gained the ability to turn undead. For instance, a 4th-level fighter/1st-level cleric/2nd-level prestige paladin would turn undead as a 3rd-level cleric.It stacks your levels for turning undead, not your uses.

Cogidubnus
2010-06-04, 02:26 PM
I meant normal Paladin, which only says:

When a paladin reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to turn undead. She may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. She turns undead as a cleric of three levels lower would.

Prime32
2010-06-04, 03:09 PM
There are some domains which grant other kinds of turning, which your DM may allow to fuel those abilities. Then there's the Extra Turning feat, which you can also pick up from the Undeath domain - note that it increases your uses of every kind of turning.

Finally, nightsticks.

Optimystik
2010-06-04, 03:32 PM
I cannot remember. I just memorized that feat for any cleric build I ever do (makes cleric less MAD [as if cleric wasn't SAD enough], meaning that a Cloistered Cleric really only needs CON and CHA)

Forget Cleric - Favored Soul is the one that needs this! :smallamused:

Agrippa
2010-06-04, 04:21 PM
On the Psionics front, an Ardent, Psion or Erudite could have spent a great deal of time in a temple.

A Wilder would be an excellent choice to represent the tortured individual trying to "purge themselves" of the horrible abilities welling up within.

A Divine Mind would be there self-flagellating for picking such an awful class :smalltongue:

Hehe, that's the divine mind for you. On a somewhat more serious note I would treat psionics as sorcery, with psion now called sorcerer, psychic warrior as mystic knight, ardent as templar magus and wilder as spiritualist or aetheric shaman. The sorcerer and mystic knight are rather straightforward. The templar magus can be seen as a combination of Harry Dresden, Bishop Ordo, Solomon Kane, Abraham van Helsing and a Jedi Kinght. While the spiritualist or aetheric shaman uses his or her personal, raw magical power to channel their supernatural "friends", hence the importence of a good Charisma score.

Pluto
2010-06-04, 07:28 PM
Related to the same character, is there anyway I can get wings like this (at some point)
Go Raptoran (RotW)?
2 Levels Totemist (MoI)?