Building a Paladin of Mystra/Wizard

[Dave G]

I'd like to build a Paladin of Mystra/Wizard for RP reasons, but it seems like a difficult character to work out. There's so many stats that are important. How should the levels be divided? Should I start with Wizard to get the most out of my skill points? With every stat being important, it seems like I should let the Wisdom slide to 12 (so I can still get Draw Upon Holy Might).

STR 10
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 16
WIS 12
CHA 14

Extra points would be used to get INT up. Buffs would be very important to get those stats up (DUHM, Cat's Grace, Bull's Strength, etc) and for AC (are there any robes that would be particularly useful here? Taking off plate mail to cast buffs, then putting it back on is not what I'm going for).

Am I on the right track here or am I building it all wrong? Still not sure about the level division.

[wanderon]

Depends on what your RP "concept" is. Is this a traditional paladin that has an interest in the arcane arts that he chooses to use to augment his "holy warrior" style or a paladin who has decided that focusing primarily on his arcane powers is the best way to accomplish his paladin duties.

From a gameplay standpoint focusing one one side more than the other like either the paladin x/wizzie 4X or the opposite pally 4x/wizzie X are probably more useful than an even leveling pally/wizzie especially for the normal game.

I once tried a trio of pallys - one of each order designed to MC accordingly but abandoned it as only one of the three was really effective (fighter/pally) the evenly leveled pally/cleric or pally/wizard were neither good warriors nor good casters.

I'd say you need to define what your character is from an RP standpoint first and then the stats and number of levels will be more obvious to you.

[Dave G]

We'll I'd like to make a character is is a champion and protector of mages, a Paladin who respects the weave and order of magic and all that.

[Aerich]

Well, but that's kind of the standard definition. You need a little more detail about how the character is going to achieve its objective. Will it be a stalwart, wily defender with a few magical tricks, or will it be a wizard with paladin attitudes?

"A champion and protector of mages" - does that mean you are leaning toward a warrior-focused character?

I take it from your stat breakdown that this character will be human. You could take an aasimar for 80 stat points (compared to 76 for humans) and start off as a wizard and go for 5-6 levels. You could then switch over to paladin having learned a number of spells useful in melee. The only real downside is that if you switch back again from pally to wizard, that will be it for pally levels. You would not take an ECL penalty because the aasimar's favoured class is paladin, of course.

[wanderon]

If he chooses the Paladin of Mystra order he should be able to take levels of wizard whenever he pleases and still be able to take more paladin levels shouldn't he?

Its a shame that the same is not true of a paladin/sorcerer build since the two classes share the need for high Charisma.

I agree that the Aasimar would be the optimal choice for this build regardless of whether he will be mostly warrior or mostly spellcaster.

I'm not so sure how useful DUHM will be as a buff BTW - it only provides +1 to str, dex and con per every 3 levels of paladin and only lasts 10 rounds.

[Luvian]

Personally, for a paladin/mage, I see the character more as a holy mage than as a melee warrior.

Your stats seem ok. At first I'd play the character like a regullar mage, I'd keep the characted back with the other spellcasters and have him fight with spells most of the time.

Then later on when you get access to stone skin, mirror image and area of effect spells I'd send him on the front as the Mage Tank. Cast the defensive buffs, charge ahead and get surrounded, then cast the area of effect spells on yourself. You'll eventually want spells that can't hurt you, but you'll have more hp than a regullar mage and thanks to the buffs you'll be pretty much immune to physical damage for a while, so you'll be able to handle fireballing yourself.

At worst, if you get in big trouble you can cast healing hands and your healing spells on yourself.

Of course you can just cast stoneskin and such on yourself and them use a melee weapon, but I don't think that's as effective. You have lower hit chances and stats than a warrior, and you'll be ignoring your mage part, which is the most powerfull damage wise.

I had a paladin/mage npc in one of my pen and paper campaign I was dungeon master for, and she's one of my favorite character. There's nothing cooler than one charging up and raining destruction all over the place.

[Marty4]

I agree with Luvian's assessment of the paladin/mage role in a party, except that I usually have them aiding in the melee during the early game, and gradually switching to a spellsword-type character, and finally to a mage.

Don't forget to use some or all of the mage's considerable defensive repitoire (sp?). A mage with a few melee levels and both fireshields, stoneskin, mirror image, and finally tenser's transformation can make a frightening melee powerhouse. I actually had a certain huge boss commit suicide through hitting my mage and taking 44 damage a hit from the fireshields.