I want to start the game with a Paladin, mainly because of their overall high stats AND they start off with really good charisma (Gotta get Kivan in my party EARLY).

What are a paladin's most importatnt stats? I definitely want 18 dexterity for bowws and strength/constitution as high as possible...can I put wisdom and intelligence as LOW as possible without hurting anything? I could care less about being able to cast priest spells at level 9 or something ridiculous like that so intelligence wouldn't seem to matter much UNLESS it affects things when you talk to people.

As for wisdom, I have NO idea WHAT this is good for.

Any hints/suggestions you ppl have would be appreciated.

[ 10-18-2002, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: n00body ]

There may be some spoilers here!

My paladin that completed the game had the following stats:
Strength: 18/96
Dexterity: 15 (Once she found gaunlets of dexterity, it went to 18)
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 13 (The minimum I think)
Constitution: 18
Charisma: 17

Of course, some of her stats increased once she read the books.
Her weapons were bows, large swords, blunt weapons. She really likes using the bow! ;)

I exported her to BG2, SoA and she's doing well there too.

Could you get any NPC to immediately join your party? That's why I restarted. He wouldn't join!!!!

My paladin would only have good people in her party, so all good would join. I suppose that once my reputation was over 18, some evil NPC's might not join, but I didn't care about that. I don't know if a neutral will join you if the rep is over 18 either. Any neutrals I had in the party joined before my reputation went above 18.
FYI, my party was:
Me, Paladin
Imoen, Dualed - Thief/Mage
Kivan
Ajantis
Yeslick
Khalid

My stats were similar to Keraptisdm with

Strength: 16
Dexterity: 14 (Once she found gaunlets of dexterity, it went to 18)
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 15
Constitution: 18
Charisma: 18

A few things to consider -
For me, an 18/91+ (+2 +5) strength is a minimum for any fighter type. With the tome, it goes to 19 (+3 +7). Wisdom isn't an issue for Paladins because of the 13 minimum; but, it is important for certain saving throws. Anything below 8 will incur a penalty. Inteligence is something that BG has left to be exploited. There is NO penalty for a low score. You can have a 3 inteligence with no in game penalty. I always give it a minimum of 8 for role playing reasons. You would not be able to function with that low an IQ.

Also, for clerics, paladins, rangers and druids, Wisdom is the prime requisit for their priest spells. The paladins spell ability isn't effected by his intelligence, but by his wisdom.

my own palachick, Femme Fatale had an 18/62str, 18 dex, 18con, 10int(any lower and you lose alot of lore, which, granted isn't important to most fighter types, but I'm funny that way)15 wis(higher than 14 wis get bonuses against mind spells, like fear, confusion, hold, etc) and 18chr(I try to maximise it, with the tome, algernon's cloak (naughty Imoen, tsk tsk) the helm of glory that's a 22chr(and I may be forgetting something))
I used the x-bow of speed it has some great damage and fires as fast as a bow
large swords were my other starting weapon of choice

Interesting, I've just been asking myself that exact question nOObody.
I've just (as in, yesterday) started the game with a Paladin. I sat there at the character creation screen re-rolling my stats until my eyes were literally throbbing as I always make sure I get myself an awesome stat roll (you are the CHOSEN ONE after all, you SHOULD have amazingly high stats).

My stats are:
Strength: 18/41
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 18
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 18

Basically, the Paladin is a fighter, so you want high Strength and Constitution. He is also somewhat of a scholar and a gentleman so that's why he has a high minimum wisdom and charisma. The Paladin is THE greatest character class in terms of high stat rolls (and in my opinion the greatest character class full stop). Hang in there and wait until you get yourself a nice, high stat roll, it's worth it in the long run (it took me about half an hour to get the stats I wanted).

High strength, constitution, wisdom and charisma. Being a paladin, you need to have pretty high scores in general, and thankfully, the 'dice roller' does take this into account.

Here are my Paladins stats after about 45 min. of rolling.

Str. 18/69
Dex 17
Const 18
Int 3
Wis 18
Char 18

2 slots of Profinciency in Bows and Large Swords.

I've just started with him, and he can take on anything so far:)

When you check the stats, it tells at the rolling that in order to get bonus, this or that stat should be at some minimum. Basically STR should be 16 minimum to get the bonus, DEX/CON/INT/WIS 15 and CHA is 17 minimum for a paladin. So for starters try to roll such and then save the template, and then start to work up from there.

STR is - for a melee person - the higher the better. Best is 18/00, but sometimes it's pesky to get. Basically try to aim for 18/91 AT LEAST. From there roll on, idea is to get the DEX and CON to 18, or at least one of them to 18 and other to 17, due to the books in the game, which you will pick up. But should be possible to get to 18 both.

WIS is 13 for a paladin, so there's a little reserve for you. I wouldn't personally get the stat that low even, as it affects save rolls. Would be nice to leave it at 15 at least.

INT as such is not needed for your char, but letting it to drop drastically below 10 means that your char will be an idiot. Your char will be as smart as an old boot, unable to understand most things going on around him. Why would anyone want such an idiot in their party anyway. Heck, Minsc has only 8 INT and already is pretty "wacky", imagine someone with 3 INT, heh...

Basically if you keep rolling and saving good combos, you can easily roll, for example, 18/00, 18, 18, 15, 13, 17. Or 18/00, 18, 18, 14, 14, 17. Heck, if you be especially determined, you might even roll better ones then that. Frankly at times it's easier to roll paladin stats, as some are already set at minimum, can't go below these, and other stats at times get nice high scores more easily then without "frozen" stats.

Since the minimums are so high to be a Paladin then with a little patience...you should be able to roll one kick ass mage.