The Paladin

[Cristian]

ok i played a few characters but not the paladin is he good? why should i play him is he as good as in Baldursgate ?

[Nerull]

Originally posted by Cristian: ok i played a few characters but not the paladin is he good? why should i play him is he as good as in Baldursgate ?

Not as good as in BG. The ones in BG are pretty overpowered (then again, many of the classes in BG are overpowered; just look at the sorcerers and monks). In NwN, they get many of their abilities at early levels (and other than Lay on Hands, Smite Evil, spellcasting and Turn Undead, none of them progress beyond the level you get them). Divine Grace is nice (when is a bonus to saving throws not nice?), and Divine Health and Aura of Courage can help. Lay on Hands is good if you keep progressing as a paladin (since it is based on level), as is turn undead (always weaker than a cleric, but the higher charisma that you need for a paladin helps in this area, since turning is based on charisma). Smite Evil is okay, but only usable once a day. Spells suck, just like in BG (not exactly your strongest spellcaster).

However, the biggest limitation is the fact that you cannot actually roll your stats. You only have a limited amount of points to distribute, and lots of places to put them (Strength for fighting, Constitution for survival, Charisma to strengthen the classes special abilities, and Wisdom to cast spells).

To be perfectly honest, I personally would not play one in the new system, unless there are good prestige classes in the game. NwN doesn't have them until Shadows of Undretide (sp?), and those introduced in that expansion are not the best paladin choices. Thus, my answer would be no.

However, some of the best fun I have had in RPGs is just playing a certain type of character just because I liked them. In BG1, the formations drove me nuts when I played through as a wizard (I hated always walking through the door and being right up front with the bad guys), and he was very weak through much of that game. But I still love that character, and really enjoyed playing him. So if you want to play a paladin, go right ahead!

[spydar]

I fidn paladins extremely handy to play, you have great fighting abilities and spells. almost the quint-essential character, if you don't like bards which I have never figured out how to play properly. but like previously stated it's the fact that you have only a limited amout of points to distribute in a large variety of areas. so unless you want to be fairly specialized you're gonna end up stretched pretty thin.