Paladin optimization build help 3.5

[ianschilling]

Hello everybody!

I'm a new d&d player and this is my first post. I've played a little bit with a mage and a druid in other adventures, but now we started a new world (Forgotten Realms) and I'm playing a paladin of Tyr (Justice, Good, Knowledge, Law, Retribution, War).
I've spent some time reading the additional d&d 3.5 books, looking for some interesting prestige classes. I've thought about a paladin build and I would like some tips, please :)

First, this is about my paladin:
Race: Aasimar
Alignment: LG
Deity: Tyr

Initial stats*:
STR: 14 (+2)
DEX: 10 ( 0)
CON: 14 (+2)
INT: 10 ( 0)
WIS: 16 (+3)
CHA: 16 (+3)
*We had 28 points to spend with all the stats starting at 8 and Aasimar have +2 WIS and +2 CHA.

We are currently level 5, but I have a level adjustment 1, so I am lvl. 4. The DM told me I can change the feats until I'm sure what I want to build, so this is the build I'm thinking:

LEVEL 1:
Class: Paladin 1
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 1
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 2/0/0
Special: Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil (1/day)
Feat: Weapon Focus (long sword) - Needed for the Pious Templar PrC
Extra: Holy warrior (complete champion book) - You don't get the paladin spells, but gets an extra feat at levels 4, 8, 11 and 14. I think it's way worth, because the Pious Templar gets it's own spell list.

LEVEL 2:
Class: Paladin 2
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 2
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 3/0/0
Special: Divine Grace, Lay on Hands

LEVEL 3:
Class: Paladin 3
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 3
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 3/1/1
Special: Aura of Courage, Divine Health
Feat: True Believer (complete divine book, needed for Pious Templar) - Once per day you may elect to add +2 to a saving throw. This feat allows use of relics of the appropriate deity.

LEVEL 4:
Class: Paladin 4
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 4
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 4/1/1
Special: Turn Undead
Feat: Power Attack

LEVEL 5:
Class: Paladin 5
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 5
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 4/1/1
Special: Smite Evil (2/day), Special Mount

Now the fun starts :)

LEVEL 6:
Class: Pious Templar (complete divine book) 1
Requirements:
- Base Attack Bonus: +5
- Skills: Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks
- Feats: True Believer , Weapon Focus (with deity's favored weapon)
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 6/1
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 6/1/3
Special: Mettle
Feat: Sacred Healing (complete divine book)
Spells per day (1/2/3/4): 0/-/-/-

LEVEL 7:
Class: Pious Templar 2
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 7/2
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 7/1/4
Special: Smite Evil (3/day)
Spells per day (1/2/3/4): 1/-/-/-

LEVEL 8:
Class: Pious Templar 3
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 8/3
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 7/2/4
Special: Damage reduction 1/—, Weapon Specialization (long sword)
Feats: Cleave
Spells per day (1/2/3/4): 1/0/-/-

LEVEL 9:
Class: Pious Templar 4
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 9/4
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 8/2/5
Special: Bonus Feat
Feats: Servant of the Heavens (book of exalted deeds, needed for Fist of Raziel) and Nimbus of Light (book of exalted deeds, needed for Risen Martyr)
Spells per day (1/2/3/4): 1/1/-/-

LEVEL 10:
Class: Fist of Raziel (book of exalted deeds) 1
Requirements:
- Alignment: Lawful good
- Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks
- Feats: Power Attack, Servant of The Heavens
- Base Attack Bonus: +6
- Spells: Able to cast divine favor
Base Attack Bonus (BAB): 10/5
Fortitude / Reflex / Will: 10/2/5
Special: Magic circle, smite evil (4/day, good-aligned)
Spells per day (1/2/3/4): 1/1/0/-

After this level, I'll continue with Fist of Raziel PrC. If my character suffers a martyrdom, I'll try to have the Risen Martyr PrC (that's why I will pick the Nimbus of Light feat).
About the Risen Martyr requirements:
- Alignment: Any good
- Feats: Nimbus of Light
- Base Save Bonuses: Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2.
- Skills: Any one skill 9 ranks, Speak Language (Celestial).
- Feats: Any one other exalted feat.
- Special: The character must have suffered martyrdom (see Chapter 2) and must not have been returned to life. As a special feature of this prestige class, the character rises with the abilities of a 0-level risen martyr added to the character's previous abilities. When the character earns enough experience points to advance another level, he must become a 1st-level risen martyr.

I want to know what you think about this build. It's my first time creating a build and I really appreciate any suggestions :)

Thanks,

Ian

[GilesTheCleric]

Welcome to the playground.

Your build seems fine; are you using the lesser aasimar (iirc PGtF 181)? Regular aasimar have a +1 level adjustment, so you'd effectively be level two as an aasimar Paladin 1.

Also, consider that you could do the same build a different way: instead of starting with Paladin, you could instead start with Cleric, then later take Prestige Paladin (UA, sorry I don't have the page memorized. Maybe around page 30).

Edit: missed your note on LA, sorry.

[flappeercraft]

I would seriously reccomend not going risen martyr. You can't take levels in anything else if you take a single level and the 10th level class feature is that the character becomes unplayable. The class features aren't even that good either. Then there is the code of conduct which means you are automatically destroyed if you commit an evil act which includes lying, regardless of the purpose of the lie or if it's for the greater good. Pious templar is ok but there are better choices.

If your DM allows you to, even though you follow Tyr. Use Ruby Knight Vindicator (Tome of Battle), it's a really good PrC for Paladin although the problem here is that you must follow Wee Jas but most DM's ignore that so ask your DM if that is ok. Also, I would replace Nimbus of light for the feat Battle Blessing (Complete Champion) which lets you cast standard action casting paladin spells as a swift action and full round action spells as standard actions. If you mix those 2 even better as Ruby knight vindicator has an ability which gives you more swift actions.

Other than that there is no more advice I can personally give as I am not really specialized in paladins.

[Honest Tiefling]

Risen Matyr also has some RP consequences on top of being hard to use in a party with neutral characters. I'd run that one by your DM before assuming you can take it. The game might not be suitable for Exalted characters and best to ask beforehand.

Also, what are you picking for your mount? If Dictum's guide is to be believed (I don't have the ability to verify this) you could take a racial substitution level to get a celestial mount. I think that fits the flavor.

[ianschilling]

Welcome to the playground.

Your build seems fine; are you using the lesser aasimar (iirc PGtF 181)? Regular aasimar have a +1 level adjustment, so you'd effectively be level two as an aasimar Paladin 1.

Also, consider that you could do the same build a different way: instead of starting with Paladin, you could instead start with Cleric, then later take Prestige Paladin (UA, sorry I don't have the page memorized. Maybe around page 30).

Edit: missed your note on LA, sorry.

The adventure has already started and all my background is about Lief (my character) being a paladin, so I can't change the first levels to cleric :(

[ianschilling]

I would seriously reccomend not going risen martyr. You can't take levels in anything else if you take a single level and the 10th level class feature is that the character becomes unplayable. The class features aren't even that good either. Then there is the code of conduct which means you are automatically destroyed if you commit an evil act which includes lying, regardless of the purpose of the lie or if it's for the greater good. Pious templar is ok but there are better choices.

If your DM allows you to, even though you follow Tyr. Use Ruby Knight Vindicator (Tome of Battle), it's a really good PrC for Paladin although the problem here is that you must follow Wee Jas but most DM's ignore that so ask your DM if that is ok. Also, I would replace Nimbus of light for the feat Battle Blessing (Complete Champion) which lets you cast standard action casting paladin spells as a swift action and full round action spells as standard actions. If you mix those 2 even better as Ruby knight vindicator has an ability which gives you more swift actions.

Other than that there is no more advice I can personally give as I am not really specialized in paladins.

Thanks for the suggestions :)
I'll think about it. I was planning on going to Risen Martyr because I want to make an exalted paladin and destroy Bane (the biggest god of the world I'm playing and he os evil)

[ianschilling]

Risen Matyr also has some RP consequences on top of being hard to use in a party with neutral characters. I'd run that one by your DM before assuming you can take it. The game might not be suitable for Exalted characters and best to ask beforehand.

Also, what are you picking for your mount? If Dictum's guide is to be believed (I don't have the ability to verify this) you could take a racial substitution level to get a celestial mount. I think that fits the flavor.

I was planning on going Risen Martyr to make an exalted paladin and destroy Bane (the biggest god of the world I'm playing and he is evil).
About the mount, I didnt think about it... I was going to take the standard paladin horse. I'll take a look in the celestial mount. Thanks for the suggestions :)

[Vizzerdrix]

I was planning on going Risen Martyr to make an exalted paladin and destroy Bane (the biggest god of the world I'm playing and he is evil).
About the mount, I didnt think about it... I was going to take the standard paladin horse. I'll take a look in the celestial mount. Thanks for the suggestions :)

Ya know, Ive seen stats for chocobos as pally mounts in one of the old Dragon mags. If that is the sort of thing that floats your boat.

[Godskook]

Can you A)Worship Heironeous or B)Convince your DM to allow a houseruled God to qualify for Ordained Champion? Cause 3+Cha Smite attempts per day is an amazing boost from a prestige class you otherwise auto-qualify for as your 5th character level.

[GilesTheCleric]

I think the key question here is: How optimised do you want the build? You ask for optimisation help in the thread title, but some explanations in the OP sounds like you're making sub-optimal choices for flavour.