Paladin Ability Roll

[Sir Exxon]

Through my RPG-experiences, the Paladin is always hard to roll for. And in IWD2, where the ability rolls are already set, I must say that I have a few problems with sharing the 16 spare points.
So, as an Aasimar Paladin of Torm, how should I spend my 16 spare points? If it helps, I do not plan to multi to a Fighter, I do, however, plan to use my melee abilities more than my spells.
Thanks on forehand!

[ 12-25-2002, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: Sir Exxon ]

[Draten-Master of Fire and Ice]

Sir Exxon, I have played paladins a lot in the past so I may be able to help. Personally, if I planned to use melee more than spells, I would definitely max out STR first off. If you plan to use turn undead and other pally special abilities, then u should consider spending something on CHA as this ability affects them. I usually wear the heaviest and most expensive armour I can find...what paladin wouldn't? So DEX is not important beyond 12 (+1 bonus) as that is the max bonus allowed with heavy plate. As with any fighter, or fighter subclass, CON is important for HP. If spells are not your thing, then it is pointless to bump WIS up past 14 because pallys don't get to cast spells past fourth level, and you probably could care less about the bonus spells. So here is my concept for the pally character you have described:

STR: MAXXXXXXXXXXXX
INT: 10 or 12 (you can put more in if you really need the skill points)
WIS: 14 (no more, no less)
DEX: 10 or 12 (unless you want access to some of the feats req higher DEX)
CON: 12+ (you want SOME extra HP, I suggest leaving till last and pouring in the leftovers)
CHA: 12+ (once again: important but depends on what u want)

I can't remember what the racial benifits of Aasimar are so this is not exact. Hope this helps.

Slater...

[Luvian]

I always max str and charisma, and then spend the rest in other stats, depending if I want to be more like a fighter or spellcaster.

[Sir Exxon]

Originally posted by Draten-Master of Fire and Ice: I can't remember what the racial benifits of Aasimar are so this is not exact. Hope this helps. Slater...

Aye, that helped alot. Aasimar gets a +2 to Wisdom and Charisma.

How does this sound:
Str: 18
Dex: 11
Con: 14
Wis: 12
Int: 10
Cha: 15
?

[Callum Kerr]

Why dex 11... absolutely pointless that one extra point... put it to 12 or leave it at ten... same with the charisma i think... but i'm not sure... you may get bonuses to rolls even on odd numbers, but i think not... so minus 1 dex and 1 charisma and spend it on constitution...

[Bristowe]

Originally posted by Callum Kerr: Why dex 11... absolutely pointless that one extra point... put it to 12 or leave it at ten... same with the charisma i think... but i'm not sure... you may get bonuses to rolls even on odd numbers, but i think not... so minus 1 dex and 1 charisma and spend it on constitution...

Ah...but you see, if the ability point is an odd number, the next time you get to increase an ability score by one (once every four levels iirc), th score become even, thus improving the bonus, thingy. Right? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Luvian]

Your Charisma affect your saving throws and smite evil ability. I suggest you start with 20 cha, it will give you a bonus of 5 on all your saving throw, and your smite evil ability will be better.

Don't bother starting with 12 wis, that will only allow you to cast level 2 spells. I say raise it more, or leave it at 10.

[Jim]

I've just played through with a paladin on core diff, and got to level 17 by the end of the game (party of 6). This meant that she could cast no higher than 3rd level spells, so my 14 WIS (in order to cast 4th level spells) was wasted. I would distribute the points as follows, starting with:

STR: 16 (adequate start for a warrior)
DEX: 10 (no point in raising this higher for a paladin, missile weapons probably won't be used often, and paladin saves rock so don't worry about the reflex saves. Half plate armour doesn't allow a DEX modifier anyway (and I found some awesome half plate )
CON: 14 (12 HP per level is fine, again, don't worry about fortitude saves, they'll be sky high anyway)
INT: 10 (no penalties, pump up your diplomacy with your sole skill point each level - paladins never really get to use the bluff ability anyway as they can generally only choose the honest dialog)
WIS: 13 (unless your playing on HoF mode, your paladin probably won't (in fact I'm fairly certain) be able to cast 4th level spells by the end of the game - ALSO, there's a certain little quest that boosts your paladins WIS and CON by 1 point, but I won't spoil you )
CHA: 17 (rest of the points here. With your first 3 extra ability points from levels 4, 8 and 12, pump your CHA up to 20. CHA is VERY important for paladins - it boosts your conversational skills, vastly increases ALL your saving throws, affects store prices (so take mercantile background as soon as you can to maximise your discounts). CHA is also the lay on hands multiplier, so you can potentially heal 17*5 HP by level 17). Boost this up to 22-25 with the 2nd level spell eagles splendor. No real point in increasing it's base beyond 20 because you don't want to neglect other stats).

For your ability point for level 16, place it into CON, giving you final core rule stats of:

STR 16
DEX 10
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 14
CHA 20

by the end of the game.

An Aasimar character gets 4 bonus ability points and no negatives, and remember that you can still subtract these from the stats they were applied to (making them great for ANY class). Well worth level adjustment +1 IMO!

[Zoltan]

Aasmir paladins are cool. They get +4 ability bonus.

STR 18 (all the level-up ability points here)
DEX 10
CON 18 (or 16)
INT 10
WIS 10 (or 12)
CHA 14 (or 16, 16 is high enough no need to raise it more)

It's the ideal paladin roll IMO.

[Magness]

Here's another take on Paladin stats.

If you do not care about paladin spellcasting, check this out.

Aasimar paladin:

STR: 18
DEX: 10
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 8
CHA: 20

Reasons:
INT: Paladins don't have much need for many skill points, except perhaps for Diplomacy.
WIS: If you don't want to bother with Paladin spellcasting, push the WIS to 8. Bad Will Saving throw? Not really.

CHA: This is the unsung hero of Paladin stats.
Lay-on Hands healing is CHA bonus * levels of paladin. Thus, a 10th level paladin with a CHA of 20 would heal 50 HP.
Divine Grace: Add the CHA bonus to all savings throws. A CHA 20 means a +5 to all savings throws!

While this type of Paladin is somewhat out of the ordinary mold, it is a surprisingly potent build!