Warriors of Heaven

[Angelalex242]

I've just been given the option to take some of the alternate Aasimar powers from Warriors of Heaven, and the GM, instead of having me roll, is letting me choose which of the following I want.


Alter Self 1/day
Augury 1/week
Blur 1/day
Comprehend Languages 1/day
If I weren't a Paladin, Detect Evil 1/day
Detect Lie 1/day
Detect Magic 1/day
Enthrall 1/week
Feather Fall 1/day
Know Alignment 1/day
Light 1/day
Mirror Image 1/day
Protection from Evil 10'R 1/day
Protection from Normal Missiles 1/day
Read Magic 2/day
Shield 1/Day
Strength 1/Day
Water Breathing 1/Week

I could also learn to halve electricity damage or acid damage (I already halve fire and ice damage naturally.)

I could gain +2 to any number of types of saving throws, such as:
Poison,
Fire,
Cold,
Electricity,
(Petrification, Polymorph, Paralysis),
(Rod/Staff/Wand),
spells.

Since I am a Paladin, detect evil is right out...

However, which of the above would be best by optimization standards? Halving electricity and acid damage (on top of halving fire and ice already) seems like it's overall the best...but the spell like abilities can be pretty useful too.

For reference, this Paladin is currently level 4. The lucky Aasimar Paladin has a 19 strength (18+1 is 19...), along with 18 wisdom (sadly, that was a 17 on the roll +1, else I could've had 19 wisdom too...) and 18 charisma. He has 13 dex, con, and int.

[Wymmerdann]

Frankly, mirror image doesn't look like it was designed for a character who can get his AC as long as a Paladin can and will.

Once your AC reaches a certain point, being able to deny hits through effects like mirror image and stoneskin becomes much more useful, so I'd prioritise it over the likes of blur and shield. You already have a protection from evil affect, so I'm not sold on the circle either. The other advantage of mirror image is that it isn't a replicable affect: you have no other way of getting this cast on you, since it only affects the caster.

2 factors that are relevant are: what are your stats? Paladins often struggle to get a high str because of the cha and wis requirements, and if that's the case, strength might not be a bad call.

Some of the other spells are probably the responsibility of party casters, like the detect/knowledge spells. You'll be pulling your weight in that regard with detect evil anyway, and you don't want to become a demihuman polygraph that just gets pointed at people and uses a bunch of minor divinations. Ruins the fun.

I'm less certain about the saves. The vs fire could be interesting if you kit your guy out to survive fireballs, and bait a bunch of monsters to set your party wizard up for a slaughter. On the other hand, affects like paralyzation and petrification are going to be bigger threats later on, so you might consider how you want the bonus to scale over the course of the game. Spells is nice and generic, and enemy spellcasters will be a constant danger, and higher level ones will continue to be eve after you pick up a holy avenger.

Playing a Paladin myself, and am a big fan of the aasimar, so these are just my $0.02

[Angelalex242]

Like I said, this Paladin has:

Str 19, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 18, Cha 18.

Yes, he's a very lucky SOB. Yes, I was rolling 5d6 drop the lowest two. Yes, I got lucky even so.

(and for the charisma score, I didn't actually roll. I flipped a coin. Heads, 18, tails, 17. I got heads.)