Feats for a 5th level Paladin

[Xanos]

Okay, I'm going to be honest: I've never played a Paladin, woah, really? Yea.
Anyways, I'm utterly overwhelmed by the amounts of feats I have to read through to find something useful for my Paladin, so I was hoping this little community could help me find something fitting?
The Paladin reminds me a lot of Hinjo. Really honest and openhearted guy, but also not afraid to lay a smackdown if needed to, both physically and verbally. He's a fullplated shield-wielding warhammer-swinging tank right now, but I would rather like some utility.
Any books except ToB is allowed, don't ask if he has X attribute high enough, just post the feat and write the requirement instead ^^.
Thanks!

[Rex Blunder]

At level 5 you get to decide between your mount and Charging Smite class feature from the phb2. If you want to go smitey, I recommend Charging Smite - which increases smite damage, and also means that misses don't waste your smite use, so you can safely throw in a little power attack for even more damage. If you go this route, you could take the Extra Smiting feat from Complete Warrior, which will mean you will be able to use your Charging Smite four times a day.

[slexlollar89]

Improved Smite (i think that's what its called) from complete divine.

Jack of All Trades from com adv. (the ULTIMATE skill feat)

[Spiryt]

Yes, charging smite is probably much better than mount, and certainly less Windstriker, I choose you. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0373.html) :smallwink:


Also I don't know what you mean about utility, but certainly shield is unfortunately very poor in D&D, so if you want to improve your utility significaly use some two handed weapon.

[Xanos]

slex - I don't have Complete Diviner, could you explain what it does, exactly?

[Xaros]

Sacred Healing, from Complete Divine. Requires 8 ranks of Heal though (so you'd have to ask if you can take it at level 5). It has an advantage of soaking up nearly useless turning attempts.

[Spiryt]

slex - I don't have Complete Diviner, could you explain what it does, exactly?

Here's da link (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Improved_Smiting,CD).

It imroves your smite damage quite much, I can say.

[Xanos]

Sacred Healing, from Complete Divine. Requires 8 ranks of Heal though (so you'd have to ask if you can take it at level 5). It has an advantage of soaking up nearly useless turning attempts.
Again, could you be so kind as to stat it out? Seeing as I unfortunally am not in the possession of complete diviner :/

[Person_Man]

Here's my suggestion:

Be a Strongheart Halfling or similar small race. Pick a medium mount. You are now faster then most other players, and can benefit from mounted combat in virtually every combat. Pick up the Leadership or Dragon Cohort (Draconomincon) feat as soon as possible, and now your mount can probably fly as well, and it might even be stronger then you in combat. A great 2 for 1 bargain.

Mounted Combat->Ride By Attack->Spirited Charge + Power Attack with a lance two handed is my favored combat tactic. Note that Smite damage is a static bonus, so its multiplied on a charge.

If you're going to be sticking with this until high level, then Improved Bull Rush + Shock Trooper will let you shift the To-Hit penalty from Power Attack to your AC, greatly increasing your charge damage potential.

Battle Blessing from Complete Champion. Now all your standard action spells are Swift actions. Works wonders at mid-high levels. The domain feats from Complete Champion also offer a wide array of useful special abilities.

Divine Might from Complete Warrior adds your Cha bonus to all damage for one round. Again, a nice static bonus that can be multiplied.

If you prefer defense, then Combat Focus + Combat Stability + Combat Vigor will give you +4 to your Will Saves, +8 to resist Trip/Bull Rush/Grapple, and Fast Healing 4 (all within certain limits. Just check out the PHBII).

[Chris_Chandler]

Take a close look at the Divine feats in Complete Warrior, Complete Divine, and the PHBII. Paladins are going to have far more "turn undead" chances than they'll ever use, so you might as well divert that energy into something productive.

Divine might is great for a charger build. Divine Shield is an excellent defensive choice. Sacred Healing is quite useful for a mid-rank healing role (8 ranks of Heal is 5th level). Divine Justice is a good choice. Divine ward sounds nice, but the Paladin spell list is really not optimized for such a feat, nor is Sacred Healing or Divine Vigor.

The PHBII alternate class feature might be nice, but I'd not pigeonhole myself into a "hulk smash" paladin. Charging in combat is, seriously, not as common as you might think. The mount is more useful than folks let on. The game isn't all about combat, and a mount is handy to have, especially one that you can keep safe. The halfling "death on a dog" paladin is actually a very viable charge build that works, flavor-wise, and mechancically, and the build doesn't suffer from being typecast, becuase that type of mounted combatant can serve more than one role. A fast medium creature like a riding dog meets the "flanker", "grounded caster harrier", and "pursuit" roles pretty well.