A Binding/Soulmeld for a paladin :)

[ngilop]

Hey guys I have a paladin in a Return to the temple of elemental evil campaign set in a classic age (ancient egypt, greek, norse Sumerian etc)

I am a (human) paladin of Ra, Magic of Incarnum and Tome of Magic is allowed, i thought it would be nice to use one of my feats to bind a vestige or meld a soul.. I am not as familiar with ToM or MoI as I am with other books.

My plan is to; after level 2 go into favored soul the rest of my career though I was thinking of going into sacred exorcist

I am going to be the main front line and face of our party (not 100% sure about the face though) and all of my Favored soul spells are going to be self buffs with maybe a couple group buffs tossed in as well (like heroes feast)

I am just wondering if anybody knows what vestiges or soulmelds would be good for this character?

[Kuulvheysoon]

Call me crazy, but could I suggest the Divine Crusader (CDiv) for this? Although it requires WF (Ra's weapon) and a BAB of +7, it gives you 9th level spells in 9 levels (Cha-based), although it is only from one of Ra's domains...

As for the other, what kind of effects do you want to create? If you're going to focus on the social aspects, Bind Vestige (Naberius) is likely going to be your best bet.

Incarnum can create a huge variety of effects, so more information would be helpful.

[Kaje]

Keep in mind your ability to bind a vestige via feats is extremely limited. My guess would be that either Focalor or Naberius would be best for you.

[ngilop]

I am wanting to build my character around ebing the 'tank' of the party not in the lock down way of it but the guy who can withstand some damage and the ability to deal some out.

Just thought it be interesting to incorporate one of the two in my character.

I know what naberius is, but what does Falcor do for me?

[Kaje]

Aura of Sadness - Adjacent creatures take -2 on attack rolls, saves and skill checks. Wade into melee and make your enemies more susceptible to your and your allies spells.

[Red Fel]

With regard to Soulmelds, remember that to gain the full benefit of them, you'll need two feats - Shape Soulmeld and Open Chakra. That said, if you want to be the party meatshield*, there are a few good Soulmelds for soaking pain. Crystal Helm doesn't do much on its own, but if you can invest essentia, it adds a deflection bonus to AC. Airstep Sandals give you flight, which is priceless for melees. Lucky Dice are just perfect, just perfect. Lammasu Mantle gives deflection to AC against evil creatures, which fits a Paladin perfectly.

I'm going to second Naberius as a go-to Vestige; being able to recover quickly from ability damage is just too valuable to pass up on, if you plan to be able to Pact.

* Note: Mechanically speaking, meatshields do not function as advertised unless the NPCs are stupid. A pure meatshield will simply be ignored until the squishies are dead. Tanking in D&D doesn't work very well.