Paladin Build assistance?

[Aergoth]

We're about to hit 7th level in the pathfinder game I'm playing in and we've just lost the other primary martial player. My build was feeling a little lackluster previously but I'm now the only tank in a party with a lot of squishies.

The party includes: Rakshasa-blooded Tiefling Sorcerer (fire-blasty), Half Elf Oracle of Life (our primary healer), and a Kobold TWF Rogue.

My character is a Human Paladin running Hospitaler and Warrior of Holy Light. (I will likely not try to mix these two again). At the moment he is a big angry wall of sword and board righteousness for people to hit and dishes out combat heals with lay-on-hands, but he's a little lackluster in the damage department.

Feats as follows: Power Attack, Shield Focus, Improved Initiative, Greater Mercy.
Statblock looks like this at the moment: Str 18 (Base 16) Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 16.


I'm hoping to either improve the character's damage or action economy some how. My aim is to eventually get him back up to full speed with a mithral breastplate or something so I don't feel like I'm so darn slow. Open to retraining some of those feats if the GM allows it.
We're a fairly low-op group as it stands, so hopefully that can be taken into account. Only Paizo materials are allowed.

[T.G. Oskar]

Personally, any archetype that removes spellcasting is a big no-no in my book. A great deal of the damage potential you can get from a Paladin comes mostly from its spells, such as Divine Favor and Deadly Juggernaut. Since the archetype removes the ability even to cast them from wands and scrolls, you're losing on a lot of flexibility. Partial spellcasters aren't so complicated to play; while they have few spells to play with and thus must save them, they can go all-out in tough battles.

The second mistake is going Sword & Board with low Dexterity. While you might be doing fine defensively, offensively you'll suffer because you can't do shield bashes in conjunction with your full attacks, thus being unable to draw more juice out of your mark (as I always say: I refuse to call the Paladin's mark a "smite", for reasons). Your Strength and Charisma are formidable, so switching to an Animated Shield and going with a greatsword is a great way to improve your base damage, particularly with Power Attack.

Hospitaler improves your healing by granting you a separate set of Channel Positive Energy, so try to capitalize on that. Channeling feats aren't that useful, but if you're planning to provide good healing, get at least Selective Channeling. I'll presume you'll also get Ultimate Mercy, because you're gunning for it. Feats to consider include Furious Focus, Dazing Assault and/or Stunning Assault and Tripping Strike. If you don't mind having spikes in your armor, you could go boost Bull Rush and end up with Spiked Destroyer for added movement while retaining some of your damage potential from your mark.

As for magic items, aim for a weapon with Holy (obviously), Grayflame (turns your uses of Channel Positive Energy into extra damage) and Exclusionary (new from Advanced Class Guide, makes you use Channel Positive Energy safely), most likely on a good greatsword (like a Warbringer, which is just hilarious to wield, or a Sword of Vengeance). Armor with the Righteous, Titanic or Valiant properties are also nice to have.

While you have some ways to boost your damage, Warrior of the Holy Light and a focus on Sword & Board are some of the worst ways to do so. Your support is mostly on the morale bonus from the Nimbus of Light, which is too low to be honestly useful. Between your mark and Power Attack with a greatsword, you should have enough of a damage boost to pave your way through low-OP games, and with an Animated Shield, you should keep a degree of your defensive potential. Thus, you should focus a bit more on disabling opponents, so that they don't hit your allies.

[Aergoth]

I'm mostly looking on the mechanical side. I'd prefer not to go to two-handed since that means re-investing stuff in the magic weapon. I haven't used power attack much since our first encounter so I'm honestly looking at trading it out. Most of the enemies we're coming up against are high-AC anyways, so taking the penalty to-hit isn't pleasant either.

I'm not partial to quarter-casters like the ranger and paladin since I think it's a cop-out to give them spells.

[T.G. Oskar]

How much do you have to invest? At 7th level, I can estimate a +2 weapon or a +1 weapon with a +1 quality, perhaps pushing to +3. That's between 8,000 to 18,000 gp; the latter hurts a bit more, but the former is roughly within your grasp. Furthermore: if you wield a one-handed weapon in two hands, you get the 1.5x Strength bonus without having to replace your weapon entirely. That alone is a +2 bonus to damage. That, plus the bonus from Power Attack with a weapon wielded in two hands should give you a decent boost to damage without much to invest. Later on, you can invest on a proper two-handed weapon rather than improve your one-handed weapon for additional damage.

As for Power Attack: against high AC characters, you can get Furious Focus to have full attack bonus on your first attack each round. The boost to damage should be enough to let you use Power Attack reliably, contributing a bit more.

The reason I recommend a two-handed weapon is because it's the simplest solution other than Mounted Combat in terms of damage dealing, investment and cost. To gain offensive through Sword & Board, you should have started with a Dexterity of 15 and spent two feats to get Two-Weapon Fighting, which seems counter-intuitive but nonetheless allows you to add shield bashes to your weapon. Later on, though Shield Master, you denied every penalty from attacking with weapon and shield, thus adding the offensive of your shield to the offensive from your sword. As you might have noticed, you're nowhere near the necessary Dexterity for Two-Weapon Fighting, and the feat cost would be excessive for a mild boost to damage, whereas THF grants almost the same for lesser cost.

Regarding spells: I don't find Paladin (or Ranger, for that regard) spellcasting to be a cop-out, to be honest. Indeed, it makes their design simpler as most things they could get as class features are instead gained through spells. However, their spellcasting is a strong tool, one that when removed it hinders the class immensely. Just the difference between how you stand right now and how you'd stand with spells such as Divine Favor and Deadly Juggernaut is big; both boost your damage and the first also boosts your attack bonus, which allows you to compete with high AC opponents. Consider that the system is designed with buffs from allies as a balancing point; the benefits from Warrior of the Holy Light don't even get close to all the flexibility that Paladin spellcasting offers. This isn't something to sway your opinion in any means, but it's something that I can say from experience: just having access to the wands and scrolls is a big plus.

[emeraldstreak]

Two-handed weapons and Shield of Swings is superior at low-mid levels.