(PF) Paladin - Level 5

[Man With Dog]

Good Morning Playgrounders,

As this is the only site I seem to be able to get on to at work \o/ and I have a game coming up real soon I wanted to ask if there are any tips on ways to build my level 5 Paladin.

What to buy with gold isnt going to be an issue as will have next to nothing but more interested in ideas for Archetypes and Feats really. Anything that would help a Paladin. I cant recall my stats that well but they are good strong stats with primary in strength. He is at least heavily armoured with a good decent weapon and is currently one of 2 main front rank fighters.

All idea's greatly received and appreciated.

[Man With Dog]

Just as an additional update if this persuades anyone to have a little think.

I always prefer to hit like a truck so that would be a personal preference in relation to build idea's and such -
BUT
I am definitely not against having a build that can last forever in a fight with swift self heals and so forth so really am open to either.

Books i am looking through are mostly restricted to the PH and the Advanced Players - preference is to keep the books pretty simple.

Surely someone has some tips to make a Pally hit like a truck or last like a.... really long lasting kinda guy thing.

[Corlindale]

1. Take power-attack
2. Get the biggest two-handed weapon you can find
3. Profit!

If you have strength as a primary stat a two-handed fighting paladin is probably your best bet - you will hit really hard, and though you won't have the best AC you can still heal yourself with swift actions.

I'm not that impressed with Paladin archetypes, but Oath of Vengeance seem quite popular with offensively oriented paladins, and extra smites per day is indeed a useful trick.

I recommend taking weapon bond - mounts can be hard to use in many situations, but the weapon boost can always be really helpful. Especially once you can start applying Holy to your sword.

A fun paladin feat is unsanctioned knowledge - though you need to have the Int for it. Limited access to spells outside your list can make a big difference, if you pick well.

[Andvare]

An added, and often overlooked, bonus of a two-hander, is thatyou can use lay-on-hands and cast spells when using a two-hander. You cannot do this while using a heavy or tower shield and a weapon,, nor when using two weapons.

I like Sacred Servant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin/archetypes/paizo---paladin-archetypes/sacred-servant) as a paladin archetype. Getting a cleric domain and the planar ally spell chain once a week for free (say, a planetar (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/angel/planetar)) is quite good.
You do lose some smite evil uses though. The divine bond isn't all that good, unless you are going for a spell focused paladin.
Domain powers range from the incredibly good, to the useless. Touch of Law (law domain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo---domains/law-domain), duh), a fluff wise decent choice, can be quite good. Coupled with the Archon sub domain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo---domains/law-domain/archon), and this is extremely nice (if you are taking the law domain, and are good or neutral leaning-good, there is absolutely no reason not to take the Archon domain, the power you lose you regain via the 2nd level domain spell...).

The luck domain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo---domains/luck-domain) is also very nice.

The big difference between the two , is that Touch of Law helps an ally with many attacks (say your friendly TWF rogue or an ally archer), whereas the Bit of Luck helps someone focused on crits more. My Kali build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184592&page=22)would benefit tremendously with a Touch of Law, almost doubling its damage output.

[Corlindale]

Sacred Servant is indeed quite fun, and I've used it myself with a healing-focused paladin, but losing smites hurt if you're offensively focused.

A domain is quite nice, though. Heroism (Glory Subdomain) is also quite nice. Luck and Liberation are really powerful too, but may be hard to justify with a paladin as they mostly tend to show up on Chaotic deities.

I went with Defense for my SS. The aura power is a little awkward and loses steam quickly, but the save boost frees up your cloak slot, and early access to the Shield spell (and Barkskin later on) helps compensate for using a two-hander.

[Man With Dog]

Saddest thing of all is - i cant even check the links being posted til i get home as i dont have access to the sites linked :smallfrown:

With Sacred Servant - What do i lose in order to gain the domain. I see Smite uses mentioned. And does a domain (and namely which ones have what effect) justify the reduction in smite uses if i was going damage based?

[Andvare]

Saddest thing of all is - i cant even check the links being posted til i get home as i dont have access to the sites linked :smallfrown:

With Sacred Servant - What do i lose in order to gain the domain. I see Smite uses mentioned. And does a domain (and namely which ones have what effect) justify the reduction in smite uses if i was going damage based?

From PFSRD:


Smite Evil (Su)

This functions as the paladin ability, but the sacred servant can smite evil one additional time per day at 7th level, and every six levels thereafter (instead of 4th level and every three levels thereafter).

This ability replaces smite evil.

Spells

At 4th level, when a sacred servant gains the ability to cast spells, she also chooses one domain associated with her deity. Her effective cleric level for this domain is equal to her paladin level –3. In addition, she also gains one domain spell slot for each level of paladin spells she can cast. Every day she must prepare the domain spell from her chosen domain in that spell slot.

Divine Bond (Su)

At 5th level, instead of forming a divine bond with her weapon or a mount, a sacred servant forms a bond with her holy symbol. As a standard action, a sacred servant can bind a celestial spirit to her holy symbol for 1 minute per paladin level. When called, the spirit causes the sacred servant’s holy symbol to shed light like a torch. At 5th level, the spirit grants one bonus. For every three levels beyond 5th, the spirit grants one additional bonus. These bonuses can be spent in a number of ways to grant the paladin enhanced abilities to channel positive energy and to cast spells. Each bonus can be used to grant one of the following enhancements:

+1 caster level to any paladin spell cast,

+1 to the DC to halve the damage of channel positive energy when used to harm undead,

+1d6 to channel positive energy,

+1 use/day of lay on hands.

These enhancements stack and can be selected multiple times. The enhancements granted by the spirit are determined when the spirit is called and cannot be changed until the spirit is called again. If the sacred servant increases her number of uses of lay on hands per day in this way, that choice is set for the rest of the day, and once used, these additional uses are not restored (even if the spirit is called again that day). The celestial spirit imparts no enhancements if the holy symbol is held by anyone other than the sacred servant, but resumes giving enhancements if returned to the sacred servant. A sacred servant can use this ability once per day at 5th level, and one additional time per day for every four levels beyond 5th, to a total of four times per day at 17th level.

If a holy symbol with a celestial spirit is destroyed, the sacred servant loses the use of this ability for 30 days, or until she gains a level, whichever comes first. During this 30-day period, the sacred servant takes a –1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.

Call Celestial Ally (Sp)

At 8th level, a sacred servant can call upon her deity for aid, in the form of a powerful servant. This allows the sacred servant to cast lesser planar ally once per week as a spell-like ability without having to pay the material component cost or the servant (for reasonable tasks). At 12th level, this improves to planar ally and at 16th level, this improves to greater planar ally. The sacred servant’s caster level for this effect is equal to her paladin level.

This ability replaces aura of resolve.

The reason I didn't mention the Liberation domain, was that it doesn't fit all that well on a paladin, fluff wise, because the gods that have it. You could take it, liberation fits perfectly well in a paladin build IMHO (fighting against tyranny, emphasis on the good part of lawful good), just not any of the gods presented.

[Andvare]

Remember that you can more spells per day with a domain, as you get one domain spell on top of your paladin spells.

The domains:


Touch of Law (Sp): You can touch a willing creature as a standard action, infusing it with the power of divine order and allowing it to treat all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws for 1 round as if the natural d20 roll resulted in an 11. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Aura of Menace (Su): At 8th level, you can emit a 30-foot aura of menace as a standard action. Enemies in this aura take a –2 penalty to AC and on attacks and saves as long as they remain inside the aura. You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Domain Spells: 1st—divine favor, 2nd—align weapon (law only), 3rd—prayer, 4th—order's wrath, 5th—dispel chaos, 6th—planar ally (archons only), 7th—dictum, 8th—shield of law, 9th—summon monster IX (law spell only).

When you have 17 attacks, and they hit on an 11 or more, this is marvellous. The spells aren't bad either.
The Aura of Menace is the Archon replacement power, and the power it replaced is the same as align weapon. Yeah, there is no reason for a paladin to take the standard non-archon domain.

Gods: Erastil, Iomedae, Irori, Torag, Apsu (dragon god). Or in other words, most of the gods within reach of lawful good.


Granted Powers: You are a spirit of freedom and a staunch foe against all who would enslave and oppress.

Liberation (Su): You have the ability to ignore impediments to your mobility. For a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level, you can move normally regardless of magical effects that impede movement, as if you were affected by freedom of movement. This effect occurs automatically as soon as it applies. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Freedom's Call (Su): At 8th level, you can emit a 30-foot aura of freedom for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. Allies within this aura are not affected by the confused, grappled, frightened, panicked, paralyzed, pinned, or shaken conditions. This aura only suppresses these effects, and they return once a creature leaves the aura or when the aura ends, if applicable. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Domain Spells: 1st—remove fear, 2nd—remove paralysis, 3rd—remove curse, 4th—freedom of movement, 5th—break enchantment, 6th—greater dispel magic, 7th—refuge, 8th—mind blank, 9th—freedom.

Nice powers, very nice in fact, and decent spells. To bad none of the gods are all that non-chaotic.
Fits well with a paladin, just not one that follows any of the Golarion deities.
You could use Arshea, but that is an Empyrial lord, i.e. a semi-ascended angel.

Gods: None (Arshea).



Bit of Luck (Sp): You can touch a willing creature as a standard action, giving it a bit of luck. For the next round, any time the target rolls a d20, he may roll twice and take the more favorable result. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Good Fortune (Ex): At 6th level, as an immediate action, you can reroll any one d20 roll you have just made before the results of the roll are revealed. You must take the result of the reroll, even if it's worse than the original roll. You can use this ability once per day at 6th level, and one additional time per day for every six cleric levels beyond 6th.

Domain Spells: 1st—true strike, 2nd—aid, 3rd—protection from energy, 4th—freedom of movement, 5th—break enchantment, 6th—mislead, 7th—spell turning, 8th—moment of prescience, 9th—miracle.

Too bad you never get 9th level spells with this one. The 6th level power (9th level for a paladin), is bloody marvellous.

Gods: Shelyn, Kurgess (demi-god).


Granted Powers: You are infused with the glory of the divine, and are a true foe of the undead. In addition, when you channel positive energy to harm undead creatures, the save DC to halve the damage is increased by 2.

Touch of Glory (Sp): You can cause your hand to shimmer with divine radiance, allowing you to touch a creature as a standard action and give it a bonus equal to your cleric level on a single Charisma-based skill check or Charisma ability check. This ability lasts for 1 hour or until the creature touched elects to apply the bonus to a roll. You can use this ability to grant the bonus a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Aura of Heroism (Su): At 8th level, you can emit a 30-foot aura of heroism for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. Using this ability is a swift action. Allies in the area are treated as if they were under the effects of heroism. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Domain Spells: 1st—shield of faith, 2nd—bless weapon, 3rd—heroism, 4th—holy smite, 5th—righteous might, 6th—greater heroism, 7th—holy sword, 8th—holy aura, 9th—gate.

Again, it really is a shame you never get to that 9th level spell. Gate is all kinds of potentially broken awesomesness.
Oh, and heroism is "The target gains a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks."

Gods: Iomedae, Sarenrae.

[Andvare]

BTW, you might be able to convince your DM to allow you to take both Sacred Servant and Oath of Vengeance.


Channel Wrath (Su)

When an oathbound paladin reach 4th level, she can spend two uses of her lay on hands ability to gain an extra use of smite evil that day. This ability has no effect for a paladin who does not have the smite evil ability.

This ability replaces channel positive energy.

Powerful Justice (Su)

At 11th level, an oathbound paladin may spends one use of her smite evil ability to grant her allies within 10 feet the ability to smite evil, except they only gain the paladin’s bonus to damage, not her smite’s attack bonus or ability to bypass DR.

This ability replaces aura of justice.

Code of Conduct: Never let lesser evils distract you from your pursuit of just vengeance.

Oath Spells

1st—wrath; 2nd—confess; 3rd—blessing of fervor; 4th—order’s wrath.

Deities: Iomedae, Torag.

By strict RAW, this is not allowed, but the oath doesn't actually change anything the archetype changes, it just adds a couple of spells to your spell list.

The deities does limit your domain choice, but, again, you are not strictly required to have a patron god.

[Karoht]

1. Take power-attack
2. Get the biggest two-handed weapon you can find
3. Profit!

If you have strength as a primary stat a two-handed fighting paladin is probably your best bet - you will hit really hard, and though you won't have the best AC you can still heal yourself with swift actions.

I'm not that impressed with Paladin archetypes, but Oath of Vengeance seem quite popular with offensively oriented paladins, and extra smites per day is indeed a useful trick.

I recommend taking weapon bond - mounts can be hard to use in many situations, but the weapon boost can always be really helpful. Especially once you can start applying Holy to your sword.

A fun paladin feat is unsanctioned knowledge - though you need to have the Int for it. Limited access to spells outside your list can make a big difference, if you pick well.
High Strength + High Charisma = High Damage Smites which are very likely to hit.
The Feat Channel Smite is kind of nice, if you don't plan on using your Channels to heal the party too often, and again takes advantage of a High Charisma (number of times per day). Combo it up with someone casting True Strike on you and you're golden. Improved Channel Smite is nice too at later levels.
Channel Smite basically adds your Channel Dice as damage to an attack, Improved Channel Smite you can allocate that number of dice across more than one attack.

Vital Strike when you hit level 6 is excellent for when you charge, as you can only make one attack if you move, so might as well make it a good one. Vital Strike + Channel Smite + Smite + Power Attack = Boatload of Damage.

I did this on my Oracle (spontaneous Divine Caster) using the spell Bestow Grace of the Champion. Which, in a nutshell, adds half your caster level in Paladin Levels to anyone. (Sadly it only boosts actual Paladins by +4 levels). But my Oracle would then Improved Channel Smite + Smite things and just roll a bucket of dice. It was hilarious to watch the healing focused caster suddenly just get pissed off and smash something in the face for Xd6, just out of no where.
With an actual Paladin? And better feats and stats to support it? I can only imagine it as considerably more awesome and more effective.

[navar100]

Choose the Bonded Weapon option instead of the Mount. Aside from the coolness of choosing your own magic weapon, you'll never lose a class feature no matter where the party is. Need to climb down a hole to get into a dungeon? No Mount for you. Need to travel in the swamp? No Mount for you. Need to hike mountains? No Mount for you. Need to traverse the tundra? No Mount for you. However, in all places you'll always have your Weapon.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Use a Falchion. So your smite damage can multiply on crits more often!

Take Oath of Vengeance. If something conflicts with Oath of Vengeance...don't take it unless DM allows for them to work together.

Get Intimidate as a class skill via trait. There are many options for this. You may also want Dangerously Curious trait for UMD as class skill. Depends how dumb your paladin is / how many skill points he gets.

Note that a human paladin who applies favored class bonus to skill points can safely dump int to 7 and still walk away with 3 skill points per level. IMO, in general, if a class gets 2 + int skill points and has no real need for int, you should just dump the crap out of int. You'll still get the min. 1 skill point from class, so Int 9 is the same as Int 5. You can also safely dump wisdom and focus entirely on str/cha with moderate scores in dex/con.

Note the Dreadful Carnage feat. It gives you a 30 ft area of effect fear debuff (demoralize check w/ Intimidate) every time you drop a foe. This is very good. Requires level 11 and Furious Focus feat, so perhaps plan on Furious Focus at level 9 (if not sooner) and Dreadful Carnage at 11. It also requires Power Attack, but you should have that from level 1! :)

The Cornugon Smash feat, available at level 6 (or 7, effectively, due to feats at odd levels) gives you free Intimidate on every Power Attack. Whether you want it and Dreadful Carnage I don't know, they kind of overlap. But this is available 4 levels earlier. Does DM allow retraining?

Also consider the Eldritch Heritage (EH) feats, which give you some Sorc bloodline powers (and thus cha-based, a natural synergy for you). The default choice is Arcane bloodline for the familiar, which is very good. But I also like Marid bloodline if you can wait till level 11 for the payoff. Base EH ability for marid is a sucky cold ray for d6 +1/2 level damage x/day or whatever. Bleh. Then at level 11, you can take Improved EH and get Water's Fury!
Water’s Fury (Su): At 9th level, you gain the ability to summon a rushing jet of water from the elemental plane of water and direct it against your foes. As a standard action, you can create a jet of water in a 60-foot line that deals 1d6 points of damage per two sorcerer levels you possess, and blinds the target that was struck for 1d6 rounds. A Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma bonus) reduces the damage by half and negates the blinding effect.

Yup! An at will, ranged area of effect (just a line, though) supernatural attack that does moderate damage and BLINDS! Now you're not only deadly in melee, you can shoot things out of the sky, too! And really, does anything say "Paladin" like hosing people off and yelling at them to get off your lawn? :smallsmile:

[Blyte]

Water's Fury is a Fantastic find.

Wow, I can't believe that is at-will.

You might also take Sulis for your race to further your elemental heritage.
+2 Str/+2 Cha, resists, and elemental weapon buff.

[Karoht]

@Water's Fury
Then take Improved Overrun and smack the hell out of all of them while they are blinded.

[JellyPooga]

Are you set on playing a straight Paladin 5?

If you're open to the idea of multiclassing, then I've always liked the idea of a 1 level Ranger dip for Favoured Enemy vs. either Undead or Evil Outsiders for a kind of all-day Smite-Lite and the extra skill points.

[Man With Dog]

I am not hell bent on anything but he is already a paladin 5 - i am just allowed to rejig a little - so feats mostly.
Loving some of the idea's - some are a bit intricate and fire straight over my head and some are good ol fashioned face smashing which im sure is probably less exciting but much easier to build and follow.

Am gonna hope some different idea's come up today - something to read through tomorrow at work.

Thankyou everyone who has posted and taken some real time out for me so far :smallsmile:

[Andvare]

There's a paladin guide you could read. It's old, and sorely lacking in some areas, but it does a good job on describing the different roles you can take as a paladin, and to a degree which feats to take. Just beware that there are many more feats now, and that the archer especially have been buffed.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/cryptic-s-lab

Oh, and it really sounds like you are enjoying work :smalltongue:

[JellyPooga]

It's probably not worth spending the three potential Feats (that I know of) on it, but a Paladin is a good candidate to pump the hell out of the Intimidate skill. Not only because his high Strength to complement his high Charisma allows him to take the Intimidating Prowess Feat to some effect, but because playing as a Paladin, you should probably be looking at some method of diffusing a potentially hostile encounter without wanton bloodshed!

A Human with Str and Cha of 16, Intimidating Prowess, Skill Focus (Intimidate) and Persuasive can be looking at an Intimidate modifier of +17 at level 3. Given an average roll of 10+17=27 against a DC: 13 (the DC for an opponent with equal HD to your own and no Wis mod), that's one foe Shaken for 3 rounds for a single Standard Action. If you've a mage in the party, then having Enlarge Person cast on you adds another +5 to your modifier (+4 for being a size category larger and +1 from the Str increase).

I'm sure there's probably some Archetype or character option from a different Class that's far more 'optimized' than Intimidating as a Paladin, but it's certainly worth a think.

[Man With Dog]

Some of the idea's that crop up on here are very well thought out - i can only think some people have tried these out before.

The heavy damage dealers are always an impressive thought, although i'd be worried of getting the ever loving hell beaten out of me.
A couple of people have mentioned a 2H Falchion idea which is appealing - who doesnt love a high crit HUGE behemoth like sword to beat some creature around the head with?

We do have a 2h weapon damage dealing fighter who takes a hard hit but im not sure if i could compete with him - unless they were undead of course.

What would i need to look at in order to compete with him? Even if its fun but effective like whips and spiked chains etc.

[Corlindale]

Since Smite damage gets multiplied on a crit, Paladins are quite well-suited for crit builds. The two-handed falchion will make you a downright scary damage dealer when you're smiting - you should easily be able to outdamage the fighter (when smiting) at the higher levels.

[Man With Dog]

Since Smite damage gets multiplied on a crit, Paladins are quite well-suited for crit builds. The two-handed falchion will make you a downright scary damage dealer when you're smiting - you should easily be able to outdamage the fighter (when smiting) at the higher levels.

Currently only be level 5 - not sure how high we will get or how quickly.
Falchion - Power Attack - Cleave - Imp Crit
That kinda feat tree you think if i went out all damage?

And unless I need updating - i can still only smite evil creatures right?
What about damage for non evil?

[Corlindale]

And unless I need updating - i can still only smite evil creatures right?
What about damage for non evil?

That's the curse of the paladin, you will be drastically more effective against Evil enemies.

Fortunately, most campaigns focus on evil-aligned enemies, and evil-aligned creatures also tend to be the most powerful foes (ie. dragons, demons, etc...).

But speaking from experience you are occasionally going to say "Damn, it's only neutral?!" when facing a powerful foe. That's the balancing factor to the sheer power of Smite Evil.

[Man With Dog]

There really is alot of options from alot of different people so again - i am very thankful for everyones time.

Looks like there is a lsight leaning towards -
Sacred Servant
Two Handed Weapon - Falchion
Power Attck - Cleave - Others
Possibly a couple of the other feats mentioned.
Skills in Intimidate for later use mostly

Does all this fit into one build.
Check my stats -
18 Str,
13 Dex (High armour)
14 Con
And then memory fails me but my Cha must be around my Con score.

Is there a way to incorporate some of these idea's into a lvl 5 monster with a few levels progression in mind?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Don't take Cleave. PF Cleave sucks. It becomes especially bad around BAB +6, which you're on the verge of. It's mostly "good" for a level 1 one-shot or something, its value degrades rapidly.

(On a Flyby Attack based build that does aerial skirmishes w/ a reach weapon, Cleave can be OK as an alternative to Vital Strike, which isn't terribly good, either. That is probably the only sort of build I'd ever consider Cleave for.)

[Man With Dog]

Don't take Cleave. PF Cleave sucks. It becomes especially bad around BAB +6, which you're on the verge of. It's mostly "good" for a level 1 one-shot or something, its value degrades rapidly.

(On a Flyby Attack based build that does aerial skirmishes w/ a reach weapon, Cleave can be OK as an alternative to Vital Strike, which isn't terribly good, either. That is probably the only sort of build I'd ever consider Cleave for.)

So what would you suggest?
What woud you take an an alternative or have you ever tried a build that works particularly well?
Power Attack seems to be the staple start to nearly all melee builds for obvious reasons - but if you have an alternative option or a better idea i would love to hear it.
From you or anyone else in fact.

[Andvare]

The simple Weapon Focus feat is better for pure damage output.

Dazzling Display (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dazzling-display-combat) is also nice on a paladin that get intimidate (class skill via the Bully (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/social-traits/bully) trait for example). It is not a pure damage output maker, but helps your whole team not getting hit, and land more spells.

On that note, Cornugon Smash (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/cornugon-smash-combat) is bloody awesome. Again it helps if you have intimidate as a class skill. I would probably take this together with Weapon Focus.

And if you really want those to stick, get Intimidating Prowess (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/intimidating-prowess-combat---final).

Step Up (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/step-up-combat---final) can really annoy the enemy's spellcasters.
And on that route is Step up and Strike (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/step-up-and-strike-combat), which is also quite annoying for spellcasters, it requires dex 13, which you have, and Following Step (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/following-step-combat). You can't take Step up and Strike until level 6, but it is there.

And Improved Critical on level 8 is nice with the Falchion. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/improved-critical-combat-)
On that road, Staggering Critical (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/staggering-critical-combat-critical) is downright insane combined with a weapon that crits as often as a Falchion does. This is not available until somewhat far into the future, but it never hurts to plan a little ahead :smallwink:.

Edit:
Some Teamwork feats. These usually require that you work well together with your group, but the potential can be rather big.

Coordinated Charge (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/coordinated-charge-combat-teamwork) Now this wont come online until level 10, and requires two other Teamwork feats, but when you get it, it is fan-bloody-tastic.

If your ally is focusing on critical attacks, Seize the Moment (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/seize-the-moment-combat-teamwork) is great.
Combine it with Paired Opportunists (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/paired-opportunists-combat-teamwork), and the sillyness really begins.

An example. Your ally charges. You then charge as an immediate action and crits. Your ally get an attack of opportunity because you both have Seize the Moment, and then you get an attack of opportunity because you both have Paired Opportunists. Two attacks, all at your highest BAB, plus one for your ally, you now threaten an enemy (if he/she/it isn't dead yet) and it hasn't even been your turn yet...

[Andreaz]

The reason I didn't mention the Liberation domain, was that it doesn't fit all that well on a paladin, fluff wise, because the gods that have it. You could take it, liberation fits perfectly well in a paladin build IMHO (fighting against tyranny, emphasis on the good part of lawful good), just not any of the gods presented.Gods are optional.

[Andvare]

Gods are optional.

Really?


The deities does limit your domain choice, but, again, you are not strictly required to have a patron god.

:smalltongue:

[Andreaz]

Deities are optional. Sacred servants have to choose, and that's the exception.

[Andvare]

Deities are optional. Sacred servants have to choose, and that's the exception.

Which means they are not really optional for a paladin taking a domain.