Help with humanoid paladin

[Raistlin1040]

OK so for a game I'm DMing I've decided to have my party (9th level) face off against a paladin. Now if I made the paladin level 11-12, he wouldn't stand a chance against 4 level 9s. But, I don't want his to be super high leveled. So I was wondering what would be a good level for him to be at to be a good challenge for my PCs? He's supposed to be a reccuring enemy so take that into mind.

[illathid]

I would suggest making him a rebalanced paladin. It's abilities are significantly better than a standard paladin's, and you could just do a straight lvl 12 build (the smite feats give the paladin some much needed versatility).

If you don't use that, then I would suggest a going into sorcerer and/or fist of Raziel after he hits lvl 6. there is really no point in going higher than that with a standard paladin.

[ZeroNumerous]

Even though I'm going to regret this, I'm obligated to at least off some help.

Tip: Don't bother with paladin.

Theres a feat in Tome of Battle that allows smiting, and you can smite at your Charisma mod a day. Much more viable than Paladin X/day smiting.

After that, pick any other class if you want martial flavor. Crusader works fine if you still want divine flavor. If you don't want to bother with ToB classes, then go with a favored soul. Good ol' Sorcerous Divine Casters are fun.

[Stephen_E]

Well I'd recommend you use Leadership to take his special mount as a animal Cohort. If you aren't wedded to him been a pure Paladin I'd have him at 15th lev (you could possibly get away with lower, but franjkly better save than sorry). Paladin 5, Wild outrider (comp Advent), Ranger 2, Beastmaser 2 (comp advent) Fighter 1, Human,
8 feats - Leadership, Skill Focus - Animal handling (prereq), Natural bond, Devoted Tracker - Special mount can also be Animal Companion and adds bonuses from both (tweaked to work with Beastmaster as well as Ranger), Mounted Combat, Spirited Charge, Trample, Cavalry Charger. Feats are PHB, Comp Warr, Comp advent.
Your Hv Warhorse (assuming +2 lev adj for Hv Warhorse) will have base 4HD, 10 bonus HD from Animal Companion levs and Paladin Mount levs, and 5 class levs from Cohort, for a total of 19HD. He'll also have +12 NAC, +5 Str, +3 Dex, on top of the normal stat +3 stat bonuses for the 8th, 12th and 16th HD. Don;t foeget the 9 special abilities as well. Make sure that one of your Cohort's feats is Improved Overun. Scout levels are good for your Cohort class levels. Elusive Target and Shock Trooper are good feat options as well. Don't forget to equip the mount with a Belt of Giant Str +6.

Preferred attack pattern. 1st round - Overrun entire group (Cavalry charger), full attack the caster (3rd lev Wild Outrider) with bonus damage from Leaping Charge (Cavalry Charger again) and double damage (Spirited Charge). At this point the caster should be out of the game, and the remaining PC's are prone, with a hoof print on each of them (an awfully large hoof print if you got Skirmish damage from Scout levels.)

Stephen

[Matthew]

Without more information about the strengths and weaknesses of your party [i.e. a short stat block or two], it's very hard to answer a question like this.

[Smiley_]

Ok, so heres what I think you should know.

Paladins can be seriously overpowered if made correctly. You should make the best stat CHA, so pump it up. Give him "power attack" so he can get "divine might" and "divine shield" as feats. Forget about smiting and take extra turning for three more Shields and/or Mights. This will up the paladin's damage by his CHA modifier and add the same to his AC. The divine shield and might is activated as a free action, so assuming that he has about 8 turn undeads (from taking extra turning twice) he could become an impossible to hit powerhouse for up to 4 turns.

I believe the feats mentioned are in Complete Warrior.

If built up to 15th level or so, this build can get an AC of about 60.

[B!shop]

I you want to use a paladin, let them face the paladin AND his followers.
He could be an officer from an entire order that can become the recurring enemy (starting with him and some followers, and on the long run you can throw against your party the entire order).

[Person_Man]

Buy the Spell Compendium. The Paladin gets a lot of use out of it.

Make the Paladin Mount a dragon or something similarly powerful. You can accomplish this with the Dragon Cohort or Leadership feats.

Have the Paladin rain death down on the PC's for a few rounds, and then land and use the mounted combat tree on them. For extra fun, have the Paladin drink your favorite buff potion before combat. If it looks like you're killing too many of them, have the Paladin offer them an opportunity to surrender.