need help stating up a pally D;

[Askeladd]

so im planning on making a paladin, i only have core 3.5 to choose stuff from and can only multiclass once for one presteige class, to tell you the truth i have no idea wtf to do with this character, i simply wanna try the class out, our party has 1 psionic warrior 1 cleric 1artificer and 1swashbuckler. so i particuarly dont plan to multiclass, but if someone makes a convincing statement i might consider it, right now id be building a 4th lvl character and lving him up from there. since my barbarian died. so enlighten me people of the playground Dx for i no nothing about pally since ive never seen one being used

[Razanir]

Are you sure you mean core? Core is strictly the Player's Handbook, DM's Guide, and Monster Manual. The only other person in the party like that is the cleric.

First off, be warned that the paladin isn't that good of a class. And that's coming from someone who enjoys the RP involved. If I recall correctly, it's partly because of how limited you abilities are. For instance, you get ONE smite attack per day until level 5, and only 5 at level 20. Pathfinder is at least nice enough to have it apply to the enemy until it's dead, not just apply to a single attack.

How to fix it depends on how badly you want your class to be paladin, and what sources are actually allowed.

If you really want to be a paladin and it really is only core, there's not much you can do. None of the prestige classes would really help for power, except for the blackguard. And that would require your character to be evil, which I doubt you want if you want to be a paladin.

If you want the name paladin, but are allowed anything in the SRD, things get easier. Take the Wild Talent feat and multiclass into War Mind. Trust me, it should be more useful than levels 6-15 of Paladin.

Finally, the name paladin doesn't matter so much, be a cleric. Be a combat-oriented cleric, and just roleplay yourself as a paladin. You can even get creative and choose a war deity and use mostly buffs and debuffs for your spells. Try for something like War and Law as your domains.

[Mando Knight]

Or War and Good. It forces Blade Barrier or a metamagic spell into your 6th level domain spell slot, but Good has a few more spells that it affects, and really the only thing that Law brings to the table is Hold Monster...

[Feilith]

As a paladin you'll be torn between your cleric self and your wanna be fighter self. If you're truly bent on being a full paladin, not a super great idea but still its your choice,

Cha will be your best friend, It adds to your saves, adds to your smite's to hit and improves your turning.

Next up depending on what you want to do is Str or Wis. Wisdom needs to be 14 by lv 14 so you can cast all your divine spells.

For feats there isn't much that is "Mandatory" so have fun and build it how you like.

[Dramatic Addict]

As far as combat goes, the Pali really isn't your best bet. But if you insist on being one, try out some of the variants to them on "d20srd.org". By the way, this may just be my opinion, but as far as roleplaying goes, PALIs SUCK. Sure it's fun to save the little guys, but not really having an option to do otherwise, gets old....fast.