Core-only Paladin Pathfinder 1e

[GeoffWatson]

I'm joining a Pathfinder 1e game.
To keep things simple, as most of the players are new to RPGs, we're using just the core rulebook for player options.
I'm familiar with 3.0/3.5, but haven't played Pathfinder before.
I've decided to play a Paladin.

What suggestions do you have?
What pitfalls to watch out for?

[Rynjin]

Not really much to say. Core Paladin is one of the more solid Core-only characters.

I will say using Sword and Board as a Paladin is a bit of a trap, ESPECIALLY in Core, as it locks you out of stuff like using your Lay on Hands feature or casting spells in combat. Use a 2H weapon like a Greatsword or (preferably) a Falchion instead.

Once you've nabbed Power Attack and maaaybe Furious Focus (*I think FF is core, but it might be APG or something) you're basically set on Feats for combat and can just do whatever.

[Elder_Basilisk]

Don't sleep on the possibility of an archer paladin either. It's thematically appreciate for paladins of Erastil and smite evil on an archer paladin will often let you delete what would otherwise be dangerous goes in a single round. You do have to be prepared to be something of a switch hitter but paladins do that pretty well too.

As for sword and board, it can be an effective fighting style but you need to use a buckler rather than a heavy shield. That leaves the hand available to use lay on hands but you get almost the same AC as the heavy shield guy. And you can still use the weapon two handed if you want to maximize your damage.

If you do go for a two handed weapon, I'm a fan of reach weapons like glaive, bardiche, or Lucerne hammer. You can get very similar damage to the falchion or greatsword but you will usually be able to get a couple OAs per combat and can control a much larger area of the battlefield.

[Kurald Galain]

What pitfalls to watch out for?
I suppose the pitfall is to underinvest in charisma. It adds to basically everything (when smiting, which is when it counts). And in most campaigns I would go for the weapon as divine bond instead of the horse.

But yeah, core-only paladin is solid througout, and takes big monsters down hard.

[Gnaeus]

For a slightly different core take, paladin 4/ Sorcerer 1/Dragon Disciple 10/paladin + is entirely playable in a core game. Solid Melee with built in flight etc. DD is normally seen as a caster PRC but it works fine if you want a paladin PRC

[Draconi Redfir]

h'uh, i ran a bastard sword + heavy shield paladin back in the day and the one-hand-free thing was never an issue. Must have been a houserule or something.


Personally, unless you know you'll be travelling by foot a lot, I'd strongly recommend taking the "Empower weapon" Divine bond over the "Personal mount" bond. We all love the Paladins of the Sapphire Guard and how each of them get their own custom mounts fit for their personalities and the like, but the reality is that outside homebrew, Paladin mount choices are unfortunately quite limited. you get like four options and that's it. Divine bond that allows you to upgrade your weapon with whatever enchantments you need though is always useful.

I'd also recommend trying to aim for a balance of ability scores. Paladins are unfortunately MAD, so you don't get a lot of options for dump stats. If you get "Finesse weapon" you could probably dump Strength, though i suppose if you don't go for Finesse weapons, you could dump Dex... beyond that, i think Intelligence is the only ability you can really dump, which you might not want to due to only getting two skill points per level.

Not quite sure how i did it, but at level 9 i was running a human paladin with 16 Str, 12 Dex, 18 Con, 12 Int, 13 Wis, and 16 Cha, with a magic item that gave me an extra +2 wisdom for a total of 15.

[Particle_Man]

The only thing I don’t like about the core paladin is the capstone ability at level 20, since the banishment effect will likely fail and will also stop your smite. But most campaigns don’t go to level 20.

What is the rest of your party? Are their holes that need filling? Is leadership (the feat) on the table? Also does “core” include races from the monster manual as playable races?

Also will you be going into dungeons a lot? If you want to use the paladin mount there you might consider a small race like halfling or gnome.

[Rynjin]

I'll second the recommendation to also go Weapon Bond over Mount at 5th. It's just a strong class feature, and is the source of many memes about the Paladin's level of menace. If you catch a Fighter taking a bath, naked and weaponless, he's basically toast. The Paladin merely picks up the nearby +5 Floating Branch of Holy Righteousness and starts whooping the ambusher's ass with it.

Archer Paladins are, also, pretty legit. The only real issue with them is that Paladins don't get any Bonus Feats, and archery is pretty Feat intensive. But you can manage it, and it's very strong.