[3.5]More feats for an epic paladin?

[Hawk7915]

Hey everyone. I might get to play this character in an upcoming campaign. I'm allowed two flaws though, and I can't decide which two feats would most improve my build. So I come to you for thoughts and opinions...

DISCLAIMER: This campaign has no arcane casters. Also, I'm well aware that Cleric 6/Prestige Paladin2+X/Fist of Raziel X/other PRCs y is a better build...but I really want to play a smite-heavy pure paladin.

My current list of feat contenders...

Divine Vigor: Standard action, good duration, +42 temp HP and 10' speed.

Travel Devotion: move as a swift action; insanely useful but with Battle Blessing my swift actions are going to be swamped most of the time.

Imp. Bull Rush -> Shock Trooper: And maybe swap a feat for Smiting Power. A new trick with Bull Rush, and a dramatic improvement of my charge attacks since I can always full power attack.

Leap Attack: I get next to no skill points, but I can probably afford enough to get this late in my build. Double PA on a charge; very nice.

Advice, oh mighty playground? Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Also, if anyone knows of a way with only 30,000 GP remaining to boost my CL one more point, that'd be great. I'd have CL 20 with my beads in the morning, giving me full GMW instead of just +4.

[Scipio]

Are you a full smiter? I would certainly recommend Great Smiting. It seems like a no brainer for a paladin.

[Pluto]

You only have 11 Turn Attempts per day. I'd avoid more Devotion or Divine feats, maybe even leaning toward Extra Turning to fuel the ones you have.

Of the options you've listed, I'd take Shock Trooper. It plays more nicely with smites than Leap Attack does and it provides more options without making you cross-class jump ranks.

[Runestar]

I am counting only 8 uses of smite (3 from paladin, 5 from fist), not 9. Though you can take extra smiting for 4 more uses of smite (2 on paladin's side, 2 on fist).

Also, your attack roll seems a tad on the low side (though you can admitably boost it with divine favour). Why is your str so low?

In addition, some of your magic items are overpriced (at least according to MIC's revised guidelines). You can add the basic stat boosters to existing magic items without an increase in price. For instance, a cloak of charisma+6 and resistance+4 would cost just 52000 (36000+16000), no need to multiply the 16000 by 1.5. Improve that to resistance+5 for 61000gp.

Likewise, get just the amulet of health+6 and NA+5 for 86000gp.

Wand of cure serious wounds is too expensive for its effect, replace with a wand of vigor (750gp), freeing up 10000gp.

While a tome of cha is undeniably useful to a paladin, it is also extremely costly. I would recommend replacing it with a +5 animated steel shield for the +7AC. This brings your AC up to 40, so you don't become a PA magnet.

MIC also has some magic items which are useful to any fighter, such as belt of battle (12,000gp) or mighty smiting (+1).

[SurlySeraph]

Definitely go with Shock Trooper.

If I were you I'd swap out Practiced Spellcaster for Leap Attack, and Great (or Extra) Smiting for Improved Toughness. A higher CL won't give you nearly as much of a power increase as tripling your power attack on charges (yes, tripling. Because you're using a two-handed weapon, remember). And an extra 21 damage per smite, or a bunch more smites, is probably going to be more useful than an extra 21 HP. Your choice, though.

You may also want to take the spell Rhino's Rush, which is 1st-level and doubles your charge damage. If you can find a way to get someone to cast Lion's Charge on you, which gives you Pounce, even better. With one or both of those plus Leap Attack, Shock Trooper, your Valorous weapon, and Charging Smite, you'll be doing silly amounts of damage.

As for raising your CL, there's a good list of ways here. Buying a whole bunch of Couatl Feathers and waiting for a successful roll is likely the cheapest way to do it, though Hero's Tears will work if you tend to have bad luck with percentile dice.

[Hawk7915]

I am counting only 8 uses of smite (3 from paladin, 5 from fist), not 9. Though you can take extra smiting for 4 more uses of smite (2 on paladin's side, 2 on fist).

I have Mighty Smiting on my weapon for an extra smite/day.

Also, your attack roll seems a tad on the low side (though you can admitably boost it with divine favour). Why is your str so low?

Yeah, I rolled a decidedly mediocre 16, 14, 13, 13, 12, 10 for abilities. Far from optimal as a paladin, but this campaign (so far) doesn't seem excessively optimized. I bumped the two 13s to 14s during "level up", so strength only got a +3. Note that my attack also gets boosted a little bit from Greater Magic Weapon, though. And Smiting adds +8 more attack to that. And Animal Domain can be worth another +4 to hit and +6 damage.

In addition, some of your magic items are overpriced (at least according to MIC's revised guidelines). You can add the basic stat boosters to existing magic items without an increase in price. For instance, a cloak of charisma+6 and resistance+4 would cost just 52000 (36000+16000), no need to multiply the 16000 by 1.5. Improve that to resistance+5 for 61000gp.

I'll change those; thanks!

Wand of cure serious wounds is too expensive for its effect, replace with a wand of vigor (750gp), freeing up 10000gp.

I didn't think Vigor et. al. were on the Pally list; wouldn't I need UMD for them?

I think I have to keep the tome; I really want Great Smiting someday, and I'll never get a 25 CHA without it. There's a PrC that grants +2 with no drawback in this campaign, so that leaves me needing 3 more CHA from feats and level up to get it. Worth it?

I hadn't realized Extra Smiting would double up on both classes, so that's getting taken. I think I'll go for Bull Rush -> Shock Trooper, and then drop Toughness for the Smites. Thanks for the tips everyone!

[Drekk]

If you have access to it, Serenity from the Dragon Compendium is pure gold (Wisdom used for all Paladin abilities that normally rely on Charisma, so spellcasting, turning, smiting, and your save bonus are all reliant on one stat). Not to mention your Will Save suddenly becomes sky-high.

Also, Battle Blessing is handy; Complete Champion. All of your Paladin spells become swift actions, which, if you pump Wis, means you'll actually have quite a selection to choose from.

[Runestar]

I think I have to keep the tome; I really want Great Smiting someday, and I'll never get a 25 CHA without it.

Where did your stat boosts go? With 16 in cha, +2 aasimar, +2 lv boosts, +6 cloak gives you 26 cha, enough for great smiting. I think you should focus on cha over str.

This would give you
str: 20 (base13, +1stat, +6enhancement)
dex: 12
con: 20 (base13, +1stat, +6 enhancement)
int: 10
wis: 18 (base14, +2racial, +2enhancement)
cha: 27 (base16, +2racial, +3stat, +6enhancement)

I didn't think Vigor et. al. were on the Pally list; wouldn't I need UMD for them?

I could have sworn vigor was a paladin spell as well. Well, wand of CLW it is then.

[Hawk7915]

Wait, those feats (Great Smiting, etc) let you count your magic items? Wow...yeah...gotta take Great Smiting then. The 16 went to STR and the 14 went to CHA (14 + 2 race + 4 tome, +6 cloak)...so if those feats let you count your items than I am totally taking Great Smiting for the +21 smite damage (and even more with Righteous Fury and a Charge attack).

[Roderick_BR]

(...)
Also, Battle Blessing is handy; Complete Champion. All of your Paladin spells become swift actions, which, if you pump Wis, means you'll actually have quite a selection to choose from.

Seconded. Battle Blessing lets you play part-time buffer without losing your attack actions.

Also, since you already have Power Attack, you can get Awesome Smite (Complete Champion). Allows you to go "miss chance? erm... no" against anything, or make Knock Back effects, or ignore parts of damage reduction if you don't have the best kind of weapon against some foes.

If you want to invest in Smite, you could get the 5th substitution level in PHB2 to deal tripple smite damage when charging instead of getting a mount (technically, additional +2 damage/level). Remembering that when you get that epic smite feat, each time it increases the original multiplier by 1. So the first time you get it, your smite will be x4, then x5, etc.

[Runestar]

He already took the charging smite feat, IIRC.