Fiend-Hunting Paladin

[Justicar]

I'm trying to build a Paladin that is focused on hunting demons. I'm using the Sentinel (Paladin variant from Dragon #310) with the Sword of Celestia variant ability from Dragon #349. Are there any other good FEATs or abilities I should look into?

[Val666]

The Hellreaver prestige class is made to combat evil outsiders. Is powerful, flavorful and wonderful. The only issue with Paladin->Hellreaver is that you need 4 ranks in Knowledge The Planes which you can get with cross classing so at level 5 (either way you need to wait for 5 bab) you can get all requirementes. You may want to play a Paladin of Freedom, Chaotic good is more enjoyable than Lawful Good unless you want to be LG. Try to keep a good CHA mod. Priority: Str-Con/Cha-Cha/Con-Dex-Int-Wis

For Sword of Celestia, Choose a Greatsword.

For the build: Paladin 5/Hellreaver 10/ x 5

For feats (asuming flaws)

lvl 1) Power Attack, Improved Bullrush (flaw), Weapon Focus (Greatsword) (flaw)
lvl 3) Sanctify Martial Strike (Greatsword)
lvl 6) Shock Trooper
lvl 9) Travel Devotion
lvl 12) Leap Attack
lvl 15) Divine Might

I dont know much about paladin but hope this helps

[Justicar]

Actually, the Sentinel variant (which is Neutral Good) replaces the Paladin's Knowledge (Nobility) with Knowledge (Planes), so I don't have to multiclass or cross-train my skills. It also replaces all of the Paladin Cha skills with Wis skills (Listen, Spot, Survival).

I will look into that Prestige class and FEATs though.

[Justicar]

Just for those that want to know, Sentinel does not have Lay On Hands, Divine Health, Turn Undead, Special Mount or Remove Disease. Instead, it has Resist Fiendish Lure, Celestial Fortitude, Turn Outsider, Celestial Minion and Dispel Evil. I will be swapping the Celestial Minion for a Sword of Celestia.

Honestly, for this class variant, except for Divine Grace, Cha really isn't used. It appears to focus more on Wis.

[Angelalex242]

The Book of Exalted Deed's Fist of Raziel does this better, I think.

Proper build is Clr 1, Pal 6, Fist of Raziel 10, Clr 4.

7th level spells (as 13'th level cleric) on a Paladin with lots and lots of smites that do terrible things to evil outsiders (and undead too)

[Justicar]

Thanks for the suggestion, Angelalex242. My only issue is that I really like the flavor of Sentinel, which is Neutral Good, and Fist of Raziel requires the character to be Lawful Good. Otherwise, I would totally be into that.

[sleepyphoenixx]

The Serenity feat from Dragon Compendium lets you use Wis instead of Cha for Divine Grace (and other paladin abilities, you'll have to talk to your DM about that for your variant abilities).

[Darrin]

I'm trying to build a Paladin that is focused on hunting demons. I'm using the Sentinel (Paladin variant from Dragon #310) with the Sword of Celestia variant ability from Dragon #349. Are there any other good FEATs or abilities I should look into?

Battle Blessing (Complete Champion).

If you're NG, then that may open up a dip in Pouncebarian for you (Combining Spirit Lion Totem + Whirling Frenzy + City Brawler ACF from Dragon #349 is fun). If so, then feats up through level 6 should be pretty straightforward: Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Leap Attack/Shock Trooper.

Why Sword of Celestia instead of Hunter of Fiends? I'd take HoF for Favored Enemy: Evil Outsiders, maybe pick up Improved Favored Enemy, and if you need a flashy beatstick for smiting naughtyness, take Ancestral Relic (BoED), which lets you enchant your weapon at a better 1:1 loot ratio rather than Craft Arms & Armor.

[Shinken]

If you do take Favored Enemy evil outsiders, take the Nemesis feat from BoED.

[PraxisVetli]

+1 to Hellreaver.
I say this with personal experience from my Gestalt Bardsader. That capstone man, that Capstone.

[Starmage21]

Knight of the Chalice?

[Red Fel]

Seconding Hellreaver. It is an awesome class. That said, it is not wholly Paladin-esque. In fact, it can be taken even by a non-Paladin with Power Attack and a chip on his shoulder against Evil Outsiders. Knight of the Chalice is an okay class if you plan to be more of a caster-side Paladin. (Or Cleric, for that matter.)

But the big prize here has to go to Fist of Raziel. It gives you a ton of extra Smites per day. It tacks special bonuses onto your Smites - and these apply to all Smites, even the ones that come from Paladin instead of FoR. You get all sorts of useful passive abilities, like Magic Circle, Sanctify Martial Strike, and Holy Martial Strike. Plus you get an awe-inspiring 9/10 caster progression (which makes this outrageous for Cleric entry as well as Paladin).

Yes, Fist of Raziel (and Knight of the Chalice) requires LG. But man, what a ride. You become the embodiment of the avenging sword of heaven. At first level of the class, everyone within 10 feet of you gains a bonus on AC and saves, is protected from mental control, and can't be touched by evil summons. By 9th level, you've got five extra Smites per day that are good-aligned, automatically confirm crits, deal even more damage than usual against Evil, and even more than that against Evil Outsiders and Undead, and can strike extra targets. Oh, and your normal non-Smite attacks will wind up dealing Smite-eqsue damage anyway.

You will wield the perpetu-Smite. Wield it.

[Angelalex242]

That's why there's a Clr 1 at the front of my Clr 1/Pal 6/Fist 10/Clr 4 build.

I put all the Fist's caster progression into Cleric to get maximum use out of it.

And it's worth noting the capstone of Fist of Raziel is actually the Epic Feat Holy Strike. Getting that particularly feat 4 levels early is pretty cool, because then you can revamp all your weapons to have other special abilities instead of Holy. It saves you +2 enchantment bonuses on all your weapons. Good times!

[Red Fel]

That's why there's a Clr 1 at the front of my Clr 1/Pal 6/Fist 10/Clr 4 build.

I put all the Fist's caster progression into Cleric to get maximum use out of it.

And it's worth noting the capstone of Fist of Raziel is actually the Epic Feat Holy Strike. Getting that particularly feat 4 levels early is pretty cool, because then you can revamp all your weapons to have other special abilities instead of Holy. It saves you +2 enchantment bonuses on all your weapons. Good times!

Where available, I actually prefer to go Clr/PrPal rather than Clr/Pal, if I have to use Paladin at all. Why? Because Prestige Paladin (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigePaladin) gets you your Paladin abilities, a better casting progression (1/2 Cleric casting is still better than Paladin casting), and it adds Paladin spells to your Cleric list. Further, because it's a PrC, there's no multiclass penalty (assuming that's used at your table; it is a default rule, after all) and, unlike regular Paladin, you can class in and out freely.

Yes, if you plan to use ACFs, Paladin is better. And yes, because it's a PrC, you can't hop into it after a single Cleric level. And of course, where Paladins are already in the setting (or the DM just doesn't like Prestige Paladin), PrPal is a no-go. But it flows from Cleric very smoothly, I find.

[atemu1234]

For starters, I like Hellbred with a couple levels of fighter for the feats. Stick to Weapon Focus (Greatsword) and maybe Improved Initiative. Then for normal feats maybe you should pick Improved Turning and maybe Extra Turning.

[Justicar]

Thank you all for such wonderful suggestions.

As great at Fist of Raziel or Knight of the Chalice are, the alignment lock-out is kind of a dealbreaker for me. I'm really set on the Sentinel variant for flavor and backstory reasons. I will definitely give Hellreaver another look. With the Serenity FEAT (An inspired suggestion, by the way), Charisma isn't as necessary for this build except for Holy Fury (not too bad) and Divine Retribution (possibly will have an impact). So I think it might win out on this one. Unless of course the DM allows housebrewing...

I went with Sword of Celestia for two reasons: 1) I like the idea of him receiving the weapon in a Lady of the Lake type scenario, 2) As much as I love the Sentinel variant, I wasn't a big fan of the Celestial Minion. So this was a twofer. I didn't get Ancestral Relic because, well, I didn't know about it. It's a really nice FEAT. It uses up a FEAT slot, but it would mean I didn't have to use XP to upgrade the Sword of Celestia... I'll have to debate on this one, but will DEFINITELY keep it in mind for future characters.

I went back and forth on the Hunter of Fiends originally. However, some of your suggestions like Nemesis and Improved Favored Enemy really work well with the concept. I may have to ask the DM if I'd be allowed to use both. If not, I'd probably end up going with... HoF with Ancestral Relic. BUT I do have one question: HoF gets rid of the Knowledge (nobility and royalty) while the Sentinel variant doesn't have Knowledge (nobility and royalty). What would happen in this instance?

Since I have you all 'gathered', do you know of any good Traits or Flaws? D&DTools just covers the ones in the books and not Dragon. So I haven't seen any that quite fit. I still don't know if the DM will allow them, but it's always good to have the information on hand just in case.

Again, thank you all for your help with this.

[Justicar]

After looking into the Hunter of Fiends and the favored enemy stuff, I found a couple interesting FEATs. I'd like to hear your opinions. Specifically, Unyielding Bond of Soul and Wise to Your Ways. The former gives bonus equal the favored enemy bonus for saves against the extraordinary or supernatural abilities of outsiders. The latter adds the favored enemy bonus for that type of creature to saving throws against the standard extraordinary, supernatural AND spell-like abilities of your favored enemy.

Basically, one gives a bonus against all types of outsiders, while the second gives a more comprehensive coverage against a single type of enemy, in this case, Evil Outsiders.

Furthermore, Sentinel's Celestial Fortitude gives a +2 Sacred bonus on saving throws against the effects of Evil Outsiders & Evil Spells. If the effect or spellnormally causes half or partial damage on a successful save, the effect does no damage on a successful save to the Sentinel. So would Wise to Your Ways bonus against spell-like abilities stack with that?

[Darrin]

So would Wise to Your Ways bonus against spell-like abilities stack with that?

Unyielding Bond of Soul is an untyped bonus. There's a special clause that says if you selected outsiders as your Favored Enemy, then your bonus is equal to your Favored Enemy bonus. However, due to the wording, it's still an untyped bonus.

Wise to Your Ways adds your Favored Enemy bonus to saves.

Celestial Fortitude is a Sacred bonus.

These are three different types of bonuses from three different sources. So they all stack with each other.

[Justicar]

Darrin. Wow... Just wow... So, theoretically, at Lvl 20, he would have +22 against the extraordinary or supernatural abilities, +12 spell-like abilities and the effect does no damage on a successful save? Am I reading that correctly?

[Dictum Mortuum]

+1 to hellreaver, it's awesome.