I've just levelled a paladin upto 11 and am seriously considering giving up on being a paladin and switch to being a plain old fighter as he is the main front line stalwart and doesn't have time to cast spells usually. His paladining skills come in handy all the time, is it so bad if I give up on advancing them any further?

Give it 4 levels of fighter, but be sure to be Paladin of Helm. Else, you'll lose your chance at leveling in the paladin, so you'll have to stick with figher.

IMHO, Paladins get the best of their bonuses in the first 3 levels or so. After that, they get fewer spells than clerics, and no fighter bonus feats.

My personal favorite Paladin combo is Pal 3/Sorcerer X-get three levels of Paladin, then switch to sorcerer. Great hit points, some cool spells, etc. And if you max your Charisma, each bonus point is +1 all saves, plus you get some cool bonus spells. The main downside is that they will refuse any rewards for questions, so they make lousy speakers.


-Raffin

Sometimes in key battles spells like holy power and divine shell can serve you far better than the extra feats a fighter gets. I am not totally sure about paladins, but i know my battleguard is a better melee unit than my barbarian in terms of damage when i use his excellent self boost spells. A paladin has the same amount of HP as a fighter, and aside from weapons specialisation which you could just get 4 levels of fighter for, there arent really much else going for the fighter.

If he is a paladin of helm, get WS, then go back to paladin. Otherwise stick with the paladin. That is my humble recommendation.

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E.Bill

I agree with Bozo, change to 4 level of fighter to get weapon specilization. Sometime later in the game you can use the paladin only weapon which make you kick butt.

Paladins are a matter of choice. I wouldn't create a party without one and routinely play them in solo adventures or even PnP. But if they aren;t your cup of tea, by all means drop them and go for a straight class fighter.

You WILL miss out on the best weapon in the game however as it a paladin only. And don't argue unless you have the HOF version of the weapon! lol