Pathfinder paladin a true ac build

[WalkingWall]

Me and a friend are having a game were it us jsut the two of us she is playing a rogue that likes to shoot arrows and i was thinking the best way to inprove our survival ods is to be a class that can take large amount of dmg while having a few healign spells to get the enemy attention while she gets ready to let fly with the sneak attacks. My question is with a 32 point buy how do i make a max ac hp paladin that will still have secent healing and enofe +hit to hit enemys of our challenge rating or 2-3 highter. I am looking for a build that will use tower shild and mostlikely longsword. or basterd sword. As i said though I need massive hp and ac with the dmg outpud commign up last on my list but must still at least hit the enemys. Anyinput is apriciated. Also sorry about the spelling ints my dump stat.

[Paul H]

Hi

1) Are you sure it's a 32 pt build? PF starts with 10 in all stats, unlike 3.5

2) Play a Halfling. Good Dex & Cha are your goals. Dex 18, Chain Shirt & Lge Shield gives you AC 21 at 1st lvl. Dodge feat makes that AC 22.

3) Take level dip in Sorceror (Draconic), then go Dragon Disciple. You'll get Nat Armour bonuses, and eventually be able to turn into a Dragon for short periods.

4) Don't forget, when you 'Smite Evil', you add your Cha Mod as Deflection Bonus to AC vs your Smite's target.

Hope that helped
Paul H
PS Playing a Half Orc Sorc 3/Pal 2 going Dragon Disciple in Pathfinder Society Campaign. (20 pt buy). Uses Gt Axe, and wand of Shield for good AC.

[Paul H]

Hi

Also, don't forget Paladins don't do much healing, and then not until at least 2nd level. (though you can use healing wands).

I suggest with 25 pt buy:

Str 12 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 17 (Includes Halfling Racial mods)

1) Cleric Sarenrae: (6 Healing bursts/Day healing D6) [Dodge]
2) Paladin:
3) Paladin: 4/Day Lay on Hands. Add Cha mod to all saves [Toughness Feat]
4) Paladin: Immune to Disease. Immune to Fear. Mercy [Increase Cha to 18]
5) Sorceror (Draconic). Use Shield spell instead of actual shield. Arcane [Armour Training] You should be using Mithril Chain by now.
6) Paladin: Channel Energy (Heals 2D6). Bonus Pal spell.
7) Dragon Disciple: Nat Armour +1 [Arcane Armour Mastery if you need heavier armour]
8) DD: +2 Str. +1 CL Sorceror. Dragon Bite. Bonus Feat.

By 16th lvl you'll have +11 BAB. cast spells as 8th lvl Sorceror, +4 Str, +2 Con, +2 Int, Blindsense, chenge into Dragon 2/Day, etc. etc.

But, still, Clerics make best Heal bots. (Though don't use hvy armour). Halflings have best AC's.

Cheers
Paul H

[BobVosh]

Hmm.

My advice is off a build I did earlier, which I find amusing. Similiar to the above.

Race: Gnome, for the Con + Cha. Also the +1 to hit and AC from being small is nice.
Classes:
Paladin 2 (3 if you want, no point much beyond that)
Sorcerer 3 (2 if you went 3 pally)
Dragon Disciple 10.

Finish with Sorc.

Pick up UMD, buy some wands of Cure whatever, some scrolls of clericy goodness, and get a bunch of ac buffs, and miss chances for spells.

[WalkingWall]

Thx for the input but is there a way to go full paladin (1-20) and i was thninking of going gnome for the good stat bonuses but i though there was a ability with a tower shild that let you cover a ally that is the same size catagory as you are smaller (sense she is a elf i though it would help to be medium for this bonus) And i was plannign on a possible dwarf for the con bonus and ability to wear heavy armer with no loss of speed also there +sability would help me stop bull rushes. I was looking at a Stat of (13str, 10dex, 20con, 8int, 10wis, 14cha) then for the levels stat points you get i would put 2 in cha for 16 and 3 in str to get to 16) i was jw if this build would work effectevly (also i am gana be taking the paladins mount insted of a echacement to my weapon) Also i know that we are gana be fighting evil creatures or undead most of the time. O and for the feats (we are starting at second level) I was gana go with Toughness and Towershild profeciency).

[Mando Knight]

Straight Paladin is fairly weak, and Pathfinder Paladin is only slightly stronger than core 3.5 Paladin. Charisma is also the Paladin's most important score, since almost all of the abilities (even spellcasting in the Pathfinder version) depend on it. Being able to heal an ally's wounds more effectively or taking down an enemy faster may turn out to be more important than an extra two or three hit points each level.

While you don't lose additional speed as a Dwarf in heavy armor, you do start with a lower base speed. The only benefit a Dwarf gets is being able to run a touch faster in heavy armor.

Be sure you read and understand the text for your Channel Energy feature when you hit 4th level: you will heal living enemies in the burst unless you take the Selective Channeling feat.

Furthermore, unless you intend on wading into battle and having spellcasters drop area spells on your head, a 20-Con high-HD high-AC warrior-type doesn't need to grab Toughness. Ever. Boosting Divine Grace is better (higher saves means ignoring more fatal effects, and so forth).

[WalkingWall]

Manko thx for the advice i just wanset sure if id need ever bit of hp i can get or not sense my only other party member is a ranger rogue and i will have to fight each ecounter with only my lay on hands as a healing to outlast the enemes. I am farly sure at level 2 till maybe 6-8 this should be pritty eseay i am just worried that once we start fighting the hard hitters like a lich or large flesh contrucs there gana be able to tear though my hp even with a good ac. Also as a side note the storyline for our game is that we are becoming hunters of the undead and evil amoung other unatural thing. So with that knowledge i wasent sure if the paladin would make up for his weeker nature sense we will probly be fighting his favored enemy 90% of the time).

[Mando Knight]

If you're the only source of healing, then your Charisma is far more important than your Constitution. If the later enemies can shred through the 6 extra HP on you, then your allies are going to need that healing even more. (Why should the enemy focus on the guy who's basically a wall of iron when they can chew on the guys wearing nice and soft leather?) On top of that, PF Paladins apply their Charisma modifier as a deflection bonus to AC against the attacks from target of their Smite Evil. You won't lose much HP if your special abilities eliminate the offensive abilities of the strongest enemy in the room.

Because of this, I'd recommend capping your Con at 16, starting with at least 16 Cha and 14 Str, and go Human (using the ability score boost to jump to 16 or 18 Cha). The extra feat can go to Toughness if you really need it, but starting with less Charisma than Constitution in a Charisma-based class is rather silly. You wouldn't make a Sorcerer or a Bard with that low of Charisma, would you?

[WalkingWall]

K thx the only things is need to know now are 1 can i use lay on hands while holding a towershild and a longsword and 2 is it possible to duel weild tower shilds (the second is just for fun every so offten) i was planning on runing in and using the two shelds as a 2 sided total cover wall then i could esaly lure enemy into what ever corner of a room i like while the rogue sets up quitely behind them.... or if there undead just use a channel postive energy once there all gatherd around the walkingfortress. Agian though i would rarly ever do this it was just something i have been woudering about for a long time.Also if it is possible and i have proficency what panatys if any would occure.

[Mando Knight]

You can't use Lay On Hands as a PF Paladin without at least one hand free, as per the text of the ability. Furthermore, only one shield will do you any good at a time, as they provide a typed bonus to your AC. Dual-wielding tower shields is just silly unless you plan on never attacking (you'll have to use your standard action every turn to use one as cover, and you can't shield bash with a tower shield). If you never attack, then you're pretty much not a threat to the enemies, and thus your buddies will get skewered while you're standing there with a redundant pair of walls strapped to your arms.

[WalkingWall]

O so id have to put the sord away heal self then use a action to draw my sword if i wana use lay on hands during battle. And about the duel weilding tower shilds i though sense the decreption in pathfinder says the tower shild gives you total cover from 1 derection that if you had 2 you could effectivly cover youself from tow sides (it would just be useful if i was getting bombarded by arrows or the such allowing me to have 2 total cover font agest them were they could not hit em from whiel the rogue in sthealth moves in to make a kill once she shoots i could just drop one shild yank out a sword and start up the pain train.) However would the game rules allow one to have to sides of there occupied aquare giving total cover if they had 2 tower shilds. Also sense my other posting isent getting any reponses i was woundering if it would be possible for a paladin to get and ride a snake constricter and a mount from his god if its of large size and he is of medium size.

[Mando Knight]

The standard action lets you use one tower shield as cover for one round. To put down both, you'd need two standard actions. You only get one standard action each round. See the problem with that?

[WalkingWall]

o darn..... heh yea sorry about that i havent played a none housed rule game in agest so i am still getting used to the way its meant to be played.Thx for all the help and i was jw if you knew weather or not i could pick a more exotic mount for my paladin mount like the one i edited into my last post.

[gartius]

from pathfinders srd

The second type of bond allows a paladin to gain the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount is usually a heavy horse (for a Medium paladin) or a pony (for a Small paladin), although more exotic mounts, such as a boar, camel, or dog are also suitable. This mount functions as a druid's animal companion, using the paladin's level as her effective druid level. Bonded mounts have an Intelligence of at least 6.

So any mount on the druid list can be used.

[Paul H]

Hi

Yep - there's a D&D mini of a Halfling riding some Tyranosaurus type dinosaur, (Eberron), for example........

Cheers
Paul H

[Paul H]

Hi

Oh - and having the only party healer 'tank' isn't usually the best tactic.

If there's just two of you, I'd suggest a Cleric (Sarenrae: Fire & Healing Domains), use Summoning spells for the 'tanks', and Channel Energy for healing. A Halfling Rogue/Diviner/Arcane Trickster covers traps & arcane support.

Cheers
Paul H

[gartius]

Oh - and having the only party healer 'tank' isn't usually the best tactic.

couldnt agree more- paladins also have the channel energy ability(good for healing both of you or just hitting undead) also would also think about not using tower shield-it frees up a feat, and if you pick up animated ability on your heavy shield (which tower cant do) you only lose out on 2 shield armour and the cover bonus which if you are being agressive you shouldnt be using. but animated means you can use your LoH as it frees up a hand and increases your damage output for the 4 rounds you use it. (4 rounds animated, healing, 4 rounds normal attacking, then 4 rounds animated again...)

divine bond, instead of picking a celestial mount you can choose the weapon (means you can put money into other places where itll be needed) and choose the leadership feat to gain a animal follower which a lvl-2 CR is probably better than the companion. You just need to take care of it more.

[Eldariel]

Have you considered a warrior Cleric? 'cause their magic does more for survivability than any amount of HP, and you can be a very efficient warrior out of one. And reach very high AC, probably through a single level of Monk, and decking yourself out with magic enhancing various aspects of your AC, while pumping your Wisdom to the stars.

[WalkingWall]

K thx for all the tips and info.

[Paul H]

Hi

The highest AC I've managed is a 3.5 Cleric with DMM Persist spell.

Unfortunately DMM doesn't exist in PF, so the best I can see is a Halfling Paladin with one lvl of Sorceror, going Dragon Disciple.

Easy to get AC 34 as Lge Dragon, especially with your +12 Nat Armour. Plus your Cha mod as Deflection bonus vs target of your Smite Evil ability.

Halfling Dex 20, Mithril Chain Shirt +4, Mithril Lge Shield +4, Nat Armour 6, Size +1, Ring Deflection +2 makes for AC 38. Again, more vs target of your Smite Evil. (But you get more attacks in Dragon Form).

Hope this helps
Paul H