[PF] How much does a level dip hurt?

[FatherMalkav]

I'm building a character for a local game and settled on a in your face, damage dealing paladin (what Bohdi's Guide calls re "Castigator Paladin") but am unsure if I should go straight Paladin or take a level dip in Fighter.
Now the dip is for RP reasons, but I'm aware that PF puts a bigger focus on single classing to prevent this exact thing.
My question to you play-grounders is, for a two handed melee build is the extra feat provided by Fighter 1 worth delaying my Paladin progression by a level? I doubt this game will make it to 20 so capstones don't matter, but 10 in foreseeable.
If more information of the specific build is needed I will happily provide.

[Craft (Cheese)]

It puts back smite evil, lay on hands, mercies, and spellcasting by 1 level. In exchange, you get 1 combat feat, and +2 to fortitude saves. You don't get any proficiencies you didn't already have.

I'd say it's only worth it if you're going for a particularly feat-intensive build (like an Intimidator) and want to get it online ASAP. Consider retraining that Fighter level out for a proper Paladin level as soon as you get enough ordinary feat slots to fit in all the feats you need.

[holywhippet]

Do you have a particular feat you were going to buy? In taking a level of fighter you are slowing your spell progression by one, and paladins do have some nice spells.

[Stux]

Well simply it means you are a level late for all your Paladin class features. Lay on hands, spells, and so on will all be accessed a level later than they would have been. You'd keep your BAB on track thankfully, so it isn't as crippling a dip as it could be.

But yeah, it does hurt you. Generally it is only worth it if there is a big payoff in terms of some combination of abilities from the two classes that you are getting access to.

Very difficult to say just how bad an idea it is in your particular case though. For instance it depends how optimised the rest of your party is. If they are playing fighters and rogues without much optimisation then you can probably take the hit on your class features if you really want to and still be relevant. If you are playing with higher tier classes and/or with people who are quite optimised you risk becoming a liability.

[Kudaku]

Looking over the Castigator it doesn't seem particularly feat-starved - it lists Power Attack, and Critical Focus as blue while Furious Focus, Weapon Focus, Lunge, Vital Strike(!), and improved critical are green.

Human startoff:
1. Power Attack
1. Furious Focus
3. Weapon Focus
5. Vital Strike I guess
7. Lunge
(8). retrain Vital Strike to improved Critical
9. Critical Focus

Multiclassing in Pathfinder is not a death sentence for your character, so if you feel like you have good RP reasons to do so it then by all means go for it. That said, I don't really think you actually need to dip fighter to pick up your feats faster, and the paladin class features all scale with level - the closer you stick to the schedule the better.