Spore
2014-01-06, 11:55 AM
Greetings playground,
I have to ask you for some advice on retraining. First of all, only core books are concerned, so any combinations making a paladin or cavalier T2 from 3rd party is not available. Books are:
- Core Rulebook
- Advanced Player's Guide
- Ultimate Magic
- Ultimate Combat
- Advanced Race Guide (although no changes can be made since I won't retrain my race)
Currently, I am playing an Halfling Beast Rider on a cheetah (snow leopard, but small cat) on DM permission. Last session and this session, it's revealed, that both our BBEG(irl) is a half fiend red dragon, her wizard is an ancient lich plus the era of daemons is at hand. In addition to that, those primordial evils not only killed my character's backstory battalion, but they also killed us on the astral plane.
The group consists of an Evangelist Cleric, a Trapper Ranger, an Bladebound Hexcrafter Magus, an Fighter/Mage/Arcane Archer and me, currently a charging build cavalier.
My character wants to enter paladinhood and will trade in some, many or all his cavalier levels for paladin. That's the fluff, now to the crunch.
I feel like a mix of Cavalier/Paladin isn't really working here. I have several ideas here and want you to come up with additional ones as well as criticize mine. Charging build should be kept alive, as well as having a mount with EDL = HD.
Attributes: Str 14 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 16
Not the best array, but I am surviving pretty well.
Feats: Power Attack, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Trick Rider, Spirited Charge, Trample.
Ideas:
a) Empyreal Knight 10: The world is as magepunk as Eberron with small and big airships, so I figured, to have a soon to be flying mount is indispensable. We have a Cleric with cummonal Air Walk, but I haven't gotten around to train my mount to deal with that issue. Other than that, I have issues with giving up Divine Grace, but I really love the flavor and the summoning SLA. Still, giving up Lay on Hands could cost us lives, because the Evangelist isn't that good at healing.
b) Cavalier 4/Oathbound Paladin of Vengeance 6: More bam for the buck, I will incorporate Boon Companion in the build to still have EDL on my mount. Looks solid, but I really dislike having stunted paladin casting.
c) Oathbound Paladin of Vengeance 10: Yeah, pretty basic build. Hit evil for an gazillion damage. Repeatedly. My concern is that I'd have "too many" uses of Smite Evil per Day and too few Lay on Hands then.
d) Oathbound Paladin of Loyalty 10: I am all about rescuing lives and the Save bonus is neat, but the rest just....sucks. Also my charisma isn't up to par to really get the most out of that oath. 20 Charisma+ would be great (since our magus can buff his AC up to 30ish already).
e) Cavalier 9/Oathbound Paladin of Vengeance 1: Least commitment to the divine powers. Never change a running system. Trading in my weak Lay on Hand and Channels for more of the "ignore evil DR" type thing. No retraining.
f) And now for something completely different. Enter your idea and help me decide.
Important: I need reasons to justify my choices in character since I will have to solve a mini quest to acquire Paladin levels and retrain there. A few notes on my DM: He really enjoys challenging the group as we have proven to kill up to CR 16 with full ressources. Seeing as I am the second weakest character after the ranger, I want to contribute my part. Choosing to be a paladin after the recent revelations should be a logical choice.
I cam up with the following.
Revenge: Kill the enemy leader and all evil creatures for bringing pain upon this world. Good reason for Vengeance Oath.
Redemption: I have failed as a commander. Trying to redeem myself, I will gladly protect other with my life, my soul, my everything. Good reason for oath of loyalty.
Fear: I - as player and character - fear that my Cavalier won't be up to his tasks and let another group member die. Good reason for everything that improves my capability to combat evil.
Tactics: The character may be inspired by the divine, but he is a tactician and soldier at heart. He will devote himself to anything that improves his ability to "soldier harder". Probably a good reason to hold back on Paladin levels and keep a few levels of Cavalier.
I have to ask you for some advice on retraining. First of all, only core books are concerned, so any combinations making a paladin or cavalier T2 from 3rd party is not available. Books are:
- Core Rulebook
- Advanced Player's Guide
- Ultimate Magic
- Ultimate Combat
- Advanced Race Guide (although no changes can be made since I won't retrain my race)
Currently, I am playing an Halfling Beast Rider on a cheetah (snow leopard, but small cat) on DM permission. Last session and this session, it's revealed, that both our BBEG(irl) is a half fiend red dragon, her wizard is an ancient lich plus the era of daemons is at hand. In addition to that, those primordial evils not only killed my character's backstory battalion, but they also killed us on the astral plane.
The group consists of an Evangelist Cleric, a Trapper Ranger, an Bladebound Hexcrafter Magus, an Fighter/Mage/Arcane Archer and me, currently a charging build cavalier.
My character wants to enter paladinhood and will trade in some, many or all his cavalier levels for paladin. That's the fluff, now to the crunch.
I feel like a mix of Cavalier/Paladin isn't really working here. I have several ideas here and want you to come up with additional ones as well as criticize mine. Charging build should be kept alive, as well as having a mount with EDL = HD.
Attributes: Str 14 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 16
Not the best array, but I am surviving pretty well.
Feats: Power Attack, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Trick Rider, Spirited Charge, Trample.
Ideas:
a) Empyreal Knight 10: The world is as magepunk as Eberron with small and big airships, so I figured, to have a soon to be flying mount is indispensable. We have a Cleric with cummonal Air Walk, but I haven't gotten around to train my mount to deal with that issue. Other than that, I have issues with giving up Divine Grace, but I really love the flavor and the summoning SLA. Still, giving up Lay on Hands could cost us lives, because the Evangelist isn't that good at healing.
b) Cavalier 4/Oathbound Paladin of Vengeance 6: More bam for the buck, I will incorporate Boon Companion in the build to still have EDL on my mount. Looks solid, but I really dislike having stunted paladin casting.
c) Oathbound Paladin of Vengeance 10: Yeah, pretty basic build. Hit evil for an gazillion damage. Repeatedly. My concern is that I'd have "too many" uses of Smite Evil per Day and too few Lay on Hands then.
d) Oathbound Paladin of Loyalty 10: I am all about rescuing lives and the Save bonus is neat, but the rest just....sucks. Also my charisma isn't up to par to really get the most out of that oath. 20 Charisma+ would be great (since our magus can buff his AC up to 30ish already).
e) Cavalier 9/Oathbound Paladin of Vengeance 1: Least commitment to the divine powers. Never change a running system. Trading in my weak Lay on Hand and Channels for more of the "ignore evil DR" type thing. No retraining.
f) And now for something completely different. Enter your idea and help me decide.
Important: I need reasons to justify my choices in character since I will have to solve a mini quest to acquire Paladin levels and retrain there. A few notes on my DM: He really enjoys challenging the group as we have proven to kill up to CR 16 with full ressources. Seeing as I am the second weakest character after the ranger, I want to contribute my part. Choosing to be a paladin after the recent revelations should be a logical choice.
I cam up with the following.
Revenge: Kill the enemy leader and all evil creatures for bringing pain upon this world. Good reason for Vengeance Oath.
Redemption: I have failed as a commander. Trying to redeem myself, I will gladly protect other with my life, my soul, my everything. Good reason for oath of loyalty.
Fear: I - as player and character - fear that my Cavalier won't be up to his tasks and let another group member die. Good reason for everything that improves my capability to combat evil.
Tactics: The character may be inspired by the divine, but he is a tactician and soldier at heart. He will devote himself to anything that improves his ability to "soldier harder". Probably a good reason to hold back on Paladin levels and keep a few levels of Cavalier.