3.5 Paladin Prestige Classes

[chrsbrk21]

I'm having some trouble with this. My DM had asked me to look for a prestige class for my lvl 11 paladin in her homebrew 3.5 campaign. I've been told that I can use any sources I want to as long as it's compatible with 3.5 and preferably not from Pathfinder. My real problem is there are too f@$#ing many prestige classes to look through. I've found some that sound awesome, but they really don't fit with my character. Long story short, I am playing a half-elf paladin who has made a pact with the Fae queen of summer and taken on the mantle to be her knight and eventual successor. She is a queen of destruction and death, but the reason I accepted the mantle and the power promised was to protect my party mates. So, any ideas for which prestige class I could take? No one in my group has played a paladin before beyond short 5 level campaigns and dont know what ones would be good for me to use. Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Telonius]

Are you a standard LG Paladin, or are you using one of the variants? Gray Guard (from Complete Scoundrel) sounds like it would be thematic for you, if you're playing him as kind of a goody two-shoes who's starting to get his hands dirty. Full BAB, half casting, lots of interesting abilities.

Knight of the Raven (from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft) could work, too. Full BAB, 9/10 casting, cool abilities. You could re-fluff the "Raven" as some other thing appropriately symbolic of the fae queen.

If you're thinking of more of a "still Good but fallen from grace a little," Bone Knight (from Five Nations) could be interesting. Gives a bunch of undead-themed abilities.

If you're fully in the "deep end of the alignment pool," there's always Blackguard.

[Drelua]

There's also the Gray Guard from Complete Scoundrel for another a little bit fallen paladin option

[liquidformat]

could you give a bit more info on your build, like feat selection, do you have any ACFs, are you as it sounds starting to fall or are we misunderstanding?

Anyways in general Fist of Raziel (BoED) is a great choice, Pious Templar (CD) is interesting especially for Mettle, Knight of the Chalice(CW) is a cool option especially if you are in an outsider heavy campaign, Soulguard and HellReaver (FCII) are also both interesting classes as well. It really depends on what you have so far and where you are interested in going...

[Conradine]

Can a Paladin of Slaughter / Freedom / Tyranny fall and become a Blackguard following the same standard rules ( including level exchange ) ?

[chrsbrk21]

could you give a bit more info on your build, like feat selection, do you have any ACFs, are you as it sounds starting to fall or are we misunderstanding?

Anyways in general Fist of Raziel (BoED) is a great choice, Pious Templar (CD) is interesting especially for Mettle, Knight of the Chalice(CW) is a cool option especially if you are in an outsider heavy campaign, Soulguard and HellReaver (FCII) are also both interesting classes as well. It really depends on what you have so far and where you are interested in going...

Sorry, I guess I missed some important details. So the non tldr: I started out as a CG Cleric to Correlon Larethian. I learned through a lore dump that in this world, the gods aren't real. All life and magic in all its forms comes from the Fae and the gods were created as myths to explain the origins of life. Finding this information out, my character went into a crisis of faith and came out with a new patron, who was the Fae queen in disguise, and as a paladin. (Since warlock isn't in 3.5). So now I'm fully aware of who my patron is, and have accepted this mantle from her. Which brings me to my prestige class
My feats are Improved Initiative
Power Attack
Blind Fight (we fight a lot of monsters that can cast vision obscuring spells)
Combat Casting (my DM had altered my spell list to be a hybrid between paladin and cleric so I have a Clerics spell slots, but only access to paladin spells)
I use a greatsword that deals an additional d6 of fire damage when I'm below half hp and wear heavy plate armor

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by chrsbrk21
(Since warlock isn't in 3.5)

Was the warlock in Complete Arcane not appropriate for your concept?

[chrsbrk21]

Was the warlock in Complete Arcane not appropriate for your concept?

I didn't even know they're was a warlock in Complete Arcane. I'm still pretty new to 3.5, so I've just been going along with what my DM has been telling me to do.

[Palanan]

There are others who can discuss its relative merits, but in general the 3.5 warlock isn't much to write home about. The paladin variant your DM has come up with sounds more interesting and more versatile, so you're not missing much.

[Biggus]

If you're still CG Champion of Gwynharwyf (Book of Exalted Deeds) is pretty good and fits with the fae and destruction themes, if your DM will let you swap your patron from Gwynharwyf to the fae queen.

[Heavenblade]

Ordained champions are pretty neat - giving you an extra pool of smites, the ability to channel spells, and some other stuff.

[Buddy76]

Well, this is the first time that I (or, to my knowledge, anyone else) recommend Blighter, but here we go. Blighter is a prc found in Complete Divine, they're to Druids what Blackguards are to Paladins. You get 0-9th level spells in ten levels (from a list filled with debuffs and destructive spells), they also get a at will AoE fire attack (which is not very good, but hey, more fire) and have the ability to kill all plant life in a scaling (with class level) radius once per day. In fact, they need to do so once every 24 hours in order to prepare their spells.

Now, you can't qualify to Blighter because it requires you to be an ex Druid cable of casting 3rd level Druid spells and you need to of nongood alignment. But talk to your DM to see if she allows you to qualify. Since your character isn't really into the whole "death and destruction" thing you could refrain from deforesting unless you are going into a really tough situation (reinforcing the whole "power comes at a price" thing).

[Psyren]

Divine Crusader is a gem I like to add to paladins. It doesn't add many spells - but with the right domain choice, the ones it does add are far more powerful than what a Paladin gets. And since it prepares and casts as a Cleric, you get all the Sanctified spells too. You even get the domain power as well.

Another option I tend to like for a "paladin" is Favored Soul/Sacred Exorcist/Prestige Paladin/Fist of Raziel. This gives you a "super-paladin" that has many of the iconic paladin abilities but much, much more powerful magic and even martial ability.

[bean illus]

Ordained champions are pretty neat - giving you an extra pool of smites, the ability to channel spells, and some other stuff.

X stat to Y bonus is your friend (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?125732-3-x-X-stat-to-Y-bonus)

Ordained Champion doesn't just give an extra pool of smites. It gives a bigger pool of better smites. Much better, imho.

For one, the number of smites is connected to TU uses, so it's easy to increase the pool to 20+ uses per day. For two, the damage is keyed off effective turning level, so stays high as you prc. For three, it affects any opponent, without alignment restrictions/ etc.

So ...
20+/day, + Cha to att, + Turning Level to dam.

?? I believe that your paladin gains immediate access to divine power with the war domain from ordained champion. This frees you to take as many 0 bab levels as you wish, and spam divine power.

** Another feasible prc (that sadly loses caster levels) is Outcast Champion. The prerequisite says "Race: Half-Elf or Half-Orc or Half-Ogre", which fluffs well.
They have a second level ability that i believe stacks with smite.

Cha mod per day add Cha mod to attack (vs opponent that has damaged an ally), deal 1d6/outcast level damage = 7ish.

That all stacks with power attack.
2-3 times /encounter add 2x cha to attack, and add ETL level +7 to damage.

If you squeeze in a level of cleric before ordained champion you lose 1 bab, and a caster level. You gain a turn pool, and either 2 domains/devotions, or 2 fighter feats.

**With cleric spell progression but only paladin spells, i think you've gained all the paladin spell access you need, so you might as well do something else. You could add cleric prc levels, doubling up on low/mid level spells, but greatly increasing your spell list. This synergizes fully with ordained champion, which lets you burn spell slots on things like; move action channel spell, damage reduction, or extra damage.

This 4-6 level combo turns you into an all day, 2x cha smite, full bab to power attack menace.

[chrsbrk21]

Thanks for the input everyone! After looking through all these options and discussing with my DM, I'm probably going to go with Ordained Champion. I think that will work best for my character and within the world that we're playing in.

[Vaern]

If the campaign setting is homebrewed, you could always homebrew a new PrC for yourself (or enlist someone to help homebrew one for you). There's a number of prestige classes that are only accessible to members of certain organizations or followers of specific deities, and some even give tidbits of advice regarding changing up those classes to fit your game or creating your own classes. Then you'll be able to fit the class with exactly the flavor and features necessary to fit the setting and the story.