Perception, climbing, swimming? Other training suggestions?

[lordsmo]

After a long absence (since GS3 era) I decided a few months ago that I would roll up a Paladin. This is what things look like so far.

XXX (at level 40), your current skill bonuses and ranks are:

Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 182 82
Combat Maneuvers..............| 141 41
Two-Handed Weapons.........| 182 82
Multi Opponent Combat........| 130 35
Physical Fitness..................| 182 82
Dodging.............................| 141 41
Magic Item Use...................| 15 3
Harness Power....................| 140 40
Perception.........................| 90 20
Climbing.............................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 3

Spell Lists
Paladin............................| 35
Training Points: 2 Phy 14 Mnt

I have a couple questions.

1) I was planning to stop at 20 ranks each for now, and then maybe get more later if necessary. Can anyone tell me if/when/under what circumstances more ranks will be required?

2) How much perception do I need? With my other training goals, I cannot be 1x in perception until post-cap. Is there any benefit to being 0.5x in perception or should I just stop now?

3) Upcoming training targets are 107, 26 ranks of Religion, 5 ranks of Summoning, and 120. MOC is done. Everything else will continue at its current pace, with extra points put into CM after the other targets are met. Any experienced Paladins have any comments/suggestions?

Thanks.

[TheLastShamurai]

Adjust climbing and swimming as needed for your hunting grounds. Same with perception, the more you hunt things that ambush, the more perception you should get. But not at the expense of your core Paladin skills.

[lordsmo]

I hunt bandits whenever the AG assigns them, but their ambushes are pushing me to full offensive most of the time. I spot/avoid the traps reasonably well, but I have no idea what factors play into that roll. All in all, 1630 + mstrike seems to decimate them. And if I get into trouble there's always beseech.

[TheLastShamurai]

The defense pushdown from bandits is going to require more Perception than you're probably going to want to train in. I still haven't reached the threshold of negating their ambushes; assuming it's possible. I'm working towards 1x now.

Whereas when I reached about 50 ranks of Perception, I no longer suffered pushdowns from Triton ambushes.

[thefarmer]

Your training plan, and goals are pretty solid.

I would suggest getting the occasional rank in MIU or AS, both for spellburst areas (you won't need to worry about having the ranks though until 70-ish) and because it's nice to be able to use embeds and tank up with scrolls. I have about 30 ranks in each and have no problems with any magical item.

[lordsmo]

Okay thanks. I'm not really familiar with how spellburst works, or which areas are affected.

[Menos]

Your harness power and spell ranks will be enough to get you past almost any of the level of spell based spell ranks you will encounter. I would not worry about extra ranks to make it up, although you may be happy using scrolls and magical items with those ranks.

I would avoid spending any more points than you find necessary on tertiary skills, it is hard enough to train up a paladin with every single point dedicated to primary combat skills. I went with 5 swim and 14 climb until fire mages on teras, when I had to add more climbing. Added swim when I moved to OTF at about 75-80ish.

AIM: GS4 Menos

[Wrathbringer]

I've got 5 ranks in climbing and swimming, 10 in perception and I've never had a problem hunting anywhere. My pal is lvl 50. The only reason I have that many climb/swim is so I can travel to EN when I want. I'd suggest taking them down until you need them, as stated before.