Needing help with a [4e] Paladin

[charlesm64yt]

Salutations Everyone,

For my first character I'm playing ever, I really wanted to make a paladin. What I'm going for is a party face who can deal some damage. Are there any other sources I should get aside from the first players handbook? I don't mind spending some money. Can someone explain two handing aswell? Id like to two hand a bastard sword. In regards to utility what feats/ powers should I be taking to act as a charismatic diplomat out of combat?

All help is appreciated.

[Nod_Hero]

I just started playing 4e in November '13 so take this advice with a grain of salt.

I think everyone will agree that Paladins are SO MUCH BETTER with the Divine Power book to draw from.
That would be my first purchase in your shoes.
Then you want to be able to get better equipment so:
Adventurer's Vault 1 (has a lot of good Paladin gear in it!)
and AV 2 and Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium if you have the $$ to spend.

My son who actually plays the Paladin in our party also says if you're Dragonborn get the PHB Races: Dragonborn book and to look for Dragon Magazine #378 for an expanded deity list, Dragon #381, #385, #386, #390, and #402 for some expanded options that he "can and will use".

Hope that helps.

[NecroRebel]

For a Paladin, Divine Power is definitely the best option for books outside PHB1.

That said, for a damage-dealer, Paladin isn't the best choice. They're Defenders, meaning their purpose is to take damage, not deal it. Paladins' Divine Challenge ability makes a target take a penalty to attack if they try to hit someone besides the Paladin, and they take damage if they do, too, thus encouraging the target to attack the Paladin (who should be wearing full plate armor and thus be difficult to hit).

Two-handed weapons tend to deal slightly higher damage per hit than one-handed weapons due to their higher damage die size. Versatile weapons, like the bastard sword, get a +1 bonus to damage when wielded in both hands, but have the smaller damage dice of one-handed weapons normally. For example, the Bastard Sword deals 1d10 damage for its [W]s, while the Fullblade (the go-to two-handed Heavy Blade) deals 1d12. The average of 1d10 is 5.5, while the average of 1d12 is 6.5, so with that +1 from Versatile, it's basically a wash. However, a Fullblade also has the High Criticals property, making it deal more damage on a critical hit and thus making it strictly better for wielding in both hands, at the cost of not being able to wield in one hand.

Being a competent diplomat out of combat is mostly just a matter of being a Cha-based character and taking training in the Diplomacy skill, and possibly having a Wisdom secondary and taking Insight as well. Paladins can be Cha-based, Wis secondaries are useful for them, and they have both Diplomacy and Insight as class skills, making it basically as easy as that.

[charlesm64yt]

I'll be sure to buy it, thanks guys

[Surrealistik]

If you want to be a damage dealer, take Ardent and/or Virtuous Strike and chargecheese.

[Nod_Hero]

Again, grain of salt:
You want to be as accurate as possible so considering that, Without spending a feat I think your best 2h weapon is the
Greatsword +3 proficiency, 1d10 damage, 2H Heavy Blade
Also of interest is the
Falchion +3, 2d4 (so higher min damage), High Crit 2H Heavy Blade
but the most adaptable toolbox weapon would be
Longsword +3 1d8 Versatile Heavy Blade (so if used 2H would be 1d8+1)
If you have Dark Sun materials available there's the
Alhulak +3 1d8 Versatile Flail (so same + and damage as Longsword but with a Flail).

With spending a feat there's a world of options but my son says "Bastard Sword is the Longsword on steroids, Fullblade is my jam, and Greatspear could have some neat tricks."

Hope that helps.

[MunkeeGamer]

If this is your first time playing 4e, you need to do your best to wipe your mind of whatever previous D&D games you've played as 4e is functionally very different.

It's good that you established you wanted to be a party face that deals damage. In 4e, it's usually best to pick out how you want to play, find what already exists in the game and line up with how you want to play and then finally repaint that choice in whatever way you want.

So in this case, you said you want damage. Is the paladin part important because you wanted divine/radiant attacks? Did you want to be a melee damage dealer? Was the heavy armor very important?

For example, if the most important part was melee damage with radiant attacks I would suggest checking out Thief or Ranger and just refluffing the class and powers with divine inspiration. Or, if you preferred heavy armor melee damage, I would suggest Slayer or Blackguard, and yet again, just change the class and ability names to suit your character's story.

So, to give the best advice, I would say pick out about 4 gameplay features that you want in your character. Let us know what you're looking for and then we can craft something mechanically you'll enjoy and then you can tell the story however you choose.

[charlesm64yt]

So having looked more through the paladin as a class, I've realized I'm definitely not going to be fishing any huge damage; however, I like dishing radiant damage. Should I be focusing on strength? I've been leaning more towards wisdom and charisma, typically how I played most RPGs before. The only tabletop I ever plate before was [3.5e] a couple years back. [4e] is weird.

[Tegu8788]

If you want melee radiant damage, and don't mind a wardrobe change, an Avenger would work well. Where the Paladin is the "tank" of the divine group, the Avenger is the "murder-bot" of the group.

[windgate]

Blackguard is an essentials Damage Dealing Paladin (Heroes of Shadow Book).

Be the human race for the bonus at-will power (Ardent or Virtuous Strike) so you can get away with a starting 20 in Charisma. The Book "divine power" would outline some powers you can swap in to make you an secondary defender.

[Tegu8788]

Unfortunately, the blackguard can only take powers from the shadow book. A hybrid could take any he wanted, but pure blackguard is limited by his vice.

[Firebug]

The Blackguard is still able to choose most of its utility powers though. And being human you can pick an extra normal at-will (Virtuous Strike).

If you wanted to choose all of your powers as a Blackguard, go Hybrid.