trying something different need critics

[loxe]

I have been a THW paladin and just fully bonded with my weapon ...then the new shield system came out. sigh

I had a 5x plasma flaring, sancted, +4 to dodge bonus, tower shield and a glaes-hafted shimmering ora warmace that i had always wanted to try out. so im burning a fixskills to see if i like it or not. (im not unbonding from my thw unless i really really really like the ohb/shield build)

here is what i got:

Race: Human Profession: Paladin (not shown)
Gender: Male Age: 43 Expr: 3153948 Level: 56
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 90 (25) ... 90 (25)
Constitution (CON): 85 (17) ... 95 (22)
Dexterity (DEX): 91 (20) ... 91 (20)
Agility (AGI): 91 (20) ... 91 (20)
Discipline (DIS): 90 (20) ... 90 (20)
Aura (AUR): 82 (16) ... 82 (16)
Logic (LOG): 92 (26) ... 92 (26)
Intuition (INT): 88 (24) ... 93 (26)
Wisdom (WIS): 90 (20) ... 95 (22)
Influence (INF): 58 (4) ... 58 (4)

Armor Use..........................| 214 114 114
Shield Use.........................| 186 86 86
Combat Maneuvers...................| 186 86 86
Blunt Weapons......................| 214 114 114
Physical Fitness...................| 186 86 86
Harness Power......................| 156 56 56
Spirit Mana Control................| 102 24 24
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 105 25 25
Perception.........................| 90 20 20
Climbing...........................| 90 20 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20 20

Spell Lists
Paladin............................| 40 40

Im currently using 8x hcp MBP and temp ecp arm guards.
i have 5 ranks cman sbash, and 5 ranks shield strike
and i have 395 ptp and 352 mtp left and i have 41 cman points and 56 shield points left to play with and am looking for ideas on how to use them.

i went as is to stone valley and did very well against trolls and giants.

thanks in advance
john

[Homur]

I use one of those warmaces and it is about the most undervalued weapon out there for a paladin. Ultra easy to aim, super fast mstrike & recovery (20 seconds), and crush only crits. Totally makes up for the cruddy damage factor.

Dunno how helpful this is, but if I were in your shoes I'd be thinking the following.

TPS
-I'd definitely want mstrike with your build, 30 ranks for 150/60 for a focused shot. Or 35 for the 4th unfocused.
-A few ranks (10-15) of MIU & AS might be nice too, unless you've got a pocket mage to keep you spelled up.
-To each their own, but I feel like 1640 is a bit of a ripoff for the points invested in it. Some folks will disagree with me, but I would really prefer having 101-107 always available to me. I know they are nothing sexy but those are 7 pretty good spells.
-Left overs poured into Armor. After that I'd pump up PT to full 2x.

Shield points
-1 ranks of eblock (6)
-1 rank of prop, mostly for the minor cman buff (6)
-2 ranks for forward to compliment your bash & strike (12)
-3 ranks of tower focus (18)
-I'm also a huge fan of pwall -- your hunting buddies will be too! (10)
that leaves you 4 points left over to start buffing your favorite.

Cman points
-3 ranks of surge (18)
-1 rank wspec1 (3)
-1 rank cmovement (3)
-1 rank focus (3)
-1 rank toughness (9)
That leaves you with 7 points left over. Could pick up another rank of wspec, or you could start building towards another offensive move like disarm or feint if you are comfortable with your stamina output. 2-3 ranks of Cunning Defense might also warrant some consideration.

Hope you enjoy your new setup!

~Homur

[loxe]

thanks for your thoughts.
when i was using thw i had 35 ranks of MOC and really liked it...so i will likely go that route again.

as for 1640 vs 1635 and 100's i found where i hunt mostly (RR citadel) i needed the little bit extra cs to reliably affect some of the bigger things. but now i will be working my way up to 107..

and for cmans i have never used surge/cmovement/focus/toughness....so im not sure about those...but i had great results with 5 ranks of feint so i think ill go that way first then pick up some of the other things you suggest as i can.

[Whirlin]

Looks pretty solid... There's a couple questions that I would have for you to challenge your thought process to better understand paladins!

First is the complete lack of dodge. I know that it's expensive, and it would have its effects greatly diminished by the heavy armor and tower shield, but now with the new smaneuvers to be able to reduce that dodge penalty, is it still just completely worthless?

Second would be the relatively heavy investment in spells. From what I have heard from pallies I've talked to, the goal is to hit 2x PF, and keep to around 1/2 or 2/3 spells in order to get heavy redux ASAP. Did you just want to rush to 1640 and then back off for a bit before getting up to 120?

Hand and Hand with the Redux thing... PF only at 1.5x... why not 2x?

1 More rank in SMC would give you multi-cast... slightly faster spellups... and hey, why not?

Is Religion Lore the best? Don't have a seed chart handy, but I remember blessings having a couple good perks too.

[Methais]

I use one of those warmaces and it is about the most undervalued weapon out there for a paladin.

I just found one of these in my cleric's locker yesterday from back when clerics used weapons. They're what, 4x and somewhat crit weighted? I can't remember, I just remember the AI crystal showing crit weighting yesterday.

Any idea what they're worth? I have no use for it anymore except to sell it.

[Buckwheet]

Paladins did not get the dodge reduction maneuver that Rogues and Warriors got. That said, dodge is still useful for a Paladin.

[celtani]

25 ranks Religion is necessary to max out the kneel on 1615 and 1630, so lots of people rush them first and then forget about lore for a while.

Dodging is worth about .36 offensive DS per rank in mbp with tower shield. Believe it or not, it would be cheaper to train Blessings for extra DS, up to a point.

[loxe]

these maces are +22 swcw.
to this point i havent really needed the spirit spells...but will be working up to 120 now as i can.
and im going to get my pf and cm both up to 2x as soon as i can.