Where to go from here

[rushblitz]

Just hit level 50 and looking for some direction on where I should go for training from here. Here is current stats, skills:

Strength (STR): 98 (29) ... 103 (31)
Constitution (CON): 83 (16) ... 96 (23)
Dexterity (DEX): 87 (18) ... 87 (18)
Agility (AGI): 87 (18) ... 87 (18)
Discipline (DIS): 78 (14) ... 78 (14)
Aura (AUR): 92 (21) ... 92 (21)
Logic (LOG): 94 (27) ... 94 (27)
Intuition (INT): 78 (19) ... 78 (19)
Wisdom (WIS): 88 (19) ... 88 (19)
Influence (INF): 55 (2) ... 55 (2)

Armor Use..........................| 190 90
Shield Use.........................| 204 104
Combat Maneuvers...................| 160 60
Blunt Weapons......................| 209 109
Ambush.............................| 90 20
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 120 30
Physical Fitness...................| 204 104
Harness Power......................| 152 52
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 58 12
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 105 25
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 50 10
Perception.........................| 90 20
Climbing...........................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20

Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 7

Spell Lists
Paladin............................| 35

COMBAT MANUEVERS
Skill name Mnemonic Ranks
Disarm Weapon disarm 3
Feint feint 5
Specialization I wspec1 1

SHIELD INFO
Skill name Mnemonic Ranks
Tower Shield Focus tfocus 2
Shield Bash bash 5
Shield Forward forward 2
Shield Strike strike 5

I have 71/48 available right now. Shield training is currently migrating away shield strike mastery and I have plans to migrate away shield strike as well and pick up more defensive options like prop up and more focus.

Should I get more CM? Right now patrons blessing with lore gives me 31 ranks so 60+31=91, fully doubled is 104-91= 13 ranks I could pick up to be considered fully doubled. Advantages I see from picking up these ranks, better CM for shield bash, more AS. I could pick up the first rank of surge or second rank of weapon spec. Downside, expensive and doesn't round out the character. I'm going to need more spells and armor down the road and this does nothing to address it.

Getting more armor and spells is very uninspiring. I don't have any full plate armor waiting for me and the minor spirit circle right now is meh at these middle ranks. Not until spirit strike does the minor circle look promising which is a full 10 spells away. So the disadvantage for this path is I gain for little for spending these points right now.

I have also considered getting more perception. I die to maneuvers, not AS or CS or getting stunned. Getting crit from a maneuver or locked in round time is what ends me. Perception helps a little and increases other areas such as foraging. Training some in survival looked alright for this aspect as well, but that is a goal after I feel set on CM and spells and armor.

[Whirlin]

You really seem to have a great handle on the options available to you.

Spells... You're done in my opinion. You could push further... but the ultimate goal at that point would be 120... Usually that's a post-cap goal from what I've seen.

Armor... I really would recommend training up to full plate, as uninspired as you may be. Even if you never end up using the additional ranks and keep in your current armor, the additional Armor Use ranks provide cheap Redux Points, and the overtraining in armor use provides additional points for fluidity training, and reaching 50 ranks over trained will help reduce the maneuver penalties.

Lores... I would need to know whether you run Zealot like the last level 50 poster, or run with Divine Shield with whether to recommend more. But it looks like you hit a lot of really good breakpoints on your lore training.

Combat Maneuvers are another option, for the reasons you highlighted. Although I think that would be a short lived goal... not too many ranks to go!

Perception, also a strong option. Very cheap depending what other training to do, and how your overall PTP/MTP split is looking.

Another option is more MoC. This would be the most fun option available, in my opinion... but likely also the less advantageous by the numbers. Mstrike is just fun... especially with pally flares.

[rushblitz]

I use divine shield when hunting, but sometimes switch to zealot when facing a caster with higher DS non swarm situation. Example would be eidolons or seekers, they are harder to hit and have very weak physical weapons. I switch back to divine shield after ending them unless on a bounty just for them.

Maybe the next question should also be what should I be looking to spend silvers on for gear. I'm using 4x greatshield, 4x breastplate, 4x superior morning star. I have a 7x perfect maul, I no longer use. I'm thinking a good set of plate with some padding, would that line of thought be correct? Gives me a reason to train armor then too.

[lordsmo]

You said crits and RT-lock from maneuvers are your main cause of death?

Which maneuvers? If they're CMANs with a visible roll (like bandit stuff), then extra CM training, with the points put into the specific maneuvers that hurt you if possible and into Cunning Defense otherwise, is your best defense.

If they're maneuvers with a hidden roll, they are presumably SMR-based, meaning that Perception ranks are as good as additional CM ranks, and a lot cheaper to boot.

Another argument for moving to full plate is that getting max light full plate will allow you to carry more than max light MBP. Not sure what race you are, and whether or not you find encumbrance to be an issue.

One possibility I am considering for my own Paladin, who is the same level as yours, is moving to 110 ranks of Armor and wearing hauberk, with the purpose of casting 117 and 119 in the field. 119 will be mostly to prevent illoke from casting stone fist at me when I start encountering them in a few levels. I am also considering 55 ranks of MOC for the 3x focused mstrike. Like you, however, I am unsure on which direction to take.

In terms of spending your silvers, crit padded armor is always a good call. If crits and stuns from maneuvers are a problem for you, crit padding is the answer.

[rushblitz]

Boil Earth, glacia ice shards, knee bash and other RT moves with a few bandits in a room while I get stuck in offensive. That is what has killed me.

[lordsmo]

Crit padding will help with boil earth and the ice shards,. It won't directly help against the RT-stacking maneuvers, but it will help you survive the beatdown that ensues.

In terms of training, given that you're already 2x PF, perception will be the cheapest way to add additional defense against boil earth and ice shards. For bandit CMANs that you can't get ranks in (knee bash, groin kick etc....), cunning defense and wpec will be the best way to increase your defense.

Edited to add:

One last thought in terms of gear. Picking up a 6-7x greatshield and breastplate probably wouldn't set you back too much these days, and will be cheaper than padded armor. An extra 20-30 DS can make a huge impact when you're prone in offensive locked in 20 seconds of RT in a room full of bandits.

[Jeril]

Training more in combat maneuvers would help you better defend against them in a very generic way then you can gain a couple ranks in some of the maneuvers that hurt you the most. I've got 5 ranks of cunning defense and 2 ranks in hamstring, sstrike, bullrush, and charge, all to defend against those maneuvers. I also have 30 ranks shield use and 5 ranks shield bash, I've been thinking about getting more shield use to gain ranks of shield charge but I'd prefer to be getting my spells sooner and shield charge is mostly just annoying not deadly or dangerous to me.

You didn't mention MoC at all but in 3 levels if you pushed MoC up to 1x you'd be able to triple strike a single target which would be something to consider.

At level 50 those last 2 ranks of HP are only giving you 1 mana each, I'd suggest either drop them or just not train HP for the next two levels.

About the spells, while you aren't interested in any of them until 117, how do you plan on getting to that spell? I know for me I've just been piling up my tps until I have enough for the spell goals I want then gaining the ranks. Other people feel they've got to use the points somewhere so work on a skill that will help them in the interm then use a fixskills later on down the road.

Whirlin raises good points about armor training and if all you have is a 4x set of metal breastplate you are wearing in most cases 4x fullplate will be an improvement over that. Just because you don't have a good set now doesn't mean that you can't be in fullplate, I used a plain 4x set for the longest time and for a few months I wore some imflass plate while mine was getting enchanted up.

[rushblitz]

Yeah migrated the harness power back. Thoughts on getting the spells - I think I'd fixskill into them next may. Dislike having points just sitting there not helping.