Viability of a Paladin/Sorcerer gish.

[NOhara24]

Hey all, I'm currently playing (for all intents and purposes) a 9th level paladin. He's a solid build, but eventually I know he will be overshadowed by the tier ones of the party.

I know that a paladin/sorcerer gish has been done before with varying degrees of effectiveness. It's something I would like to do, but I'd like to know if even taking levels this late in sorcerer would be worth it, especially with a CHA score of 16.

Thoughts?

[Mystic Muse]

At this point, not likely. It depends on the build of the other guys, but for a Paladin/Sorcerer gish (Also referred to as "Sorcadin") the general cutoff point is at level 2 to get divine grace. At this point, you'll get 4th level spells by the time they have 9th. There's really no way to keep up with fully fledged tier 1s at this point.

[dextercorvia]

At this point, if you want to gish, you are going to be kind of a gish lite. I would recommend something with a rapid progression like Suel Arcanamach, or Divine Crusader.

[dextercorvia]

The other thing you can do is see if you can get Sword of the Arcane Order, and just keep pressing on with Paladin.

Chameleon makes a solid Paldinesque gish, but chances are you can't qualify for it at this point.

[Flickerdart]

Divine Crusader probably is your best bet - Paladin 9/Divine Crusader 10 would get you 9th level spells, and means you can take a 1-level detour into Prestige Ranger or Ordained Champion to add extra spells to your list.

Edit: Though if you really want to to Sorcerer, the feat Sword of the Arcane Order will stack Paladin and Sorcerer for CL, meaning that despite capping out at 5th level spells you'll have the caster level of a proper arcanist.

[hex0]

or Dragon Devotee?

[Incanur]

There always abjurant champion, too. Take one level of sorcerer, the Combat Casting feat, and end up with the ability to cast third-level spells at caster level fourteen. I actually love this prestige class for martial characters. Full casting is stronger, sure, but beatsticks give up little for a bunch of cool abilities.

[hex0]

There always abjurant champion, too. Take one level of sorcerer, the Combat Casting feat, and end up with the ability to cast third-level spells at caster level fourteen. I actually love this prestige class for martial characters. Full casting is stronger, sure, but beatsticks give up little for a bunch of cool abilities.

That would also work well with what i put forth. Free sorcerer castin...

[Psyren]

You can also buy a Thought Bottle, play patty-cake with a Wight down to 2nd level, and (once your allies have slain it) announce your newfound interest in your sorcerous heritage before unstoppering the bottle to become a Paladin 2/Sorc 9. (though you'd of course drop Spellsword 1, Abjurant Champion etc. in there instead of taking any more Sorcerer levels than you needed to.)

[faceroll]

There's really no way to keep up with fully fledged tier 1s at this point.

Being a tier 4 class to begin with, who cares?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

There always abjurant champion, too. Take one level of sorcerer, the Combat Casting feat, and end up with the ability to cast third-level spells at caster level fourteen. I actually love this prestige class for martial characters. Full casting is stronger, sure, but beatsticks give up little for a bunch of cool abilities.

This also works well with using Suel Archanamach as the base casting class. In fact, there's a lot of synergy between the capstone of AbChamp and Suel.

To the OP: Do you have a problem with ToB? Pal2 then into Crusader/Warblade until you qualify for SA, then into AbChamp and a one-level dip in Spellsword...

If you have a problem with ToB, then maybe a two-level dip in Fighter for bonus feats. So you'd be looking at Pal4/Fighter2 as your entry into Suel.

If you're wanting more 'no', you can go Pal2/Monk2/Fighter2/Witch Slayer2/Suel Archanamach1/AbChamp5/Spellsword1/Legacy Champion5

You'd be auto-quickening all of your Abjuration spells, as well as auto-extending them. You'd have both Mettle and Evasion and solid saves, so you're hard to affect. You're using the spell Greater Luminescent Armor or whatever from BoED which is an Abjuration spell, combined with auto-quickened Shield spell and Greater Mirror Image for your defenses to make you nearly impossible to be hit.