Starting a Paladin

The Paladin in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition is a powerhouse against the forces of evil, if built right. So to get you off on the right foot here are a few pointers.

Race : Any of the common races make fine paladins, and all have one or more traditions amongst them as paladins in the service of good. However the vast majority of Paladins in Eberron are Human. I would recommend starting a human as well in DDO. For the skill point per level, and the extra feat.

Abilities : With a 28 point buy system your stat-template means you'll have to sacrifice in one end in order to do well. Other classes can afford to have a high main stat, where as a paladin needs a wellrounded build in order to succeed. Regardless of what you build for, there are two things you should mind. The first being wisdom. Paladins are Divine casters, and as such need wisdom in order to cast spells. The highest level spell a paladin can get is 4th level, so you'll need at least 14 in wisdom. High wisdom helps your spell pool, lets you cast spells from level 4 onward and gives will saves. I would not recommend going lower than 12 points at startup, and I would also not recommend going higher than 14 for wisdom. While the saves are nice, paladins get higher than average saves across the board from Divine Grace. Which leads me to what I consider the single most important stat a paladin should keep an eye out for - Charisma. Charisma for a paladin powers almost all of their special abilities. Smite Evil, Divine Grace, Lay on Hands, Turn Undead are all affected by charisma (Or lack thereof).

This is important to note when creating your paladin, but also when you gain opportunities to increase your charisma from level up ability modifiers, enchantments and gear. Due to my fondness of the wellrounded paladin I would recommend atleast 14 in starting charisma. I do not personally consider it worth it to go higher than 14 at startup, due to the increased cost pointswise, but if you have the points left over then go for it. A high charisma increases almost every aspect of your paladin, so remember that well.

It should also be noted that paladins in DDO can gain +3 to their charisma by level 10 through paladin enhancements, and an additional +1 from a human enhancement. This combined with your 2 ability points from levels 4 & 8 can give you a 20 in charisma at level 10 with a starting score of 14.

Well-rounded build
My personal stats spread would look something like this:

14 Str

10 Dex

12 Con

12 Int

14 Wis

14 Cha

A wellrounded build with a decent strength score for nice damage and tohit bonus, and a decent wisdom- and charisma score to be ready for spell casting, and to help your charisma-dependant abilities. I would put every extra point gained for leveling into charisma, as well as pick enchantments that increase it.

Skills: Paladins in DDO are heavy armoured champions of good. But all that time spent learning how to fight means you'll not have many skill points avaliable. The paladin gets 2 skill points per level, so starting as a human, and getting 12 in starting intelligence will help remedy that somewhat. But you're still stuck between a rock and a hard place if you want to keep Intimidate maxed out at every level. I would also recommend getting Concentration up to a respectable level, and if you have the points to spare the Heal skill as well so you'll make that critical DC when your friends go down.

Feats: Feat-allocation is important as well for any charcter. But it is also down to personal preference. I would recommend either Tower Shield Proficiency and Shield Mastery if you plan on being a one-handed and shield paladin, or the Two-handed fighting feats if you're going for a two-handed weapon using paladin. Both are fun to play, and both have their special features that must get attention as well. Personally I am going for Tower Shield Proficiency and Shield Mastery as I play my paladins as a one-handed and shield character.

So in closing I hope you consider the time well spent. Reading this small text on starting a paladin. Remember that you'll not have all your paladin abilities and spells till level 4, so do not be discouraged if you feel as though you're missing something at the lower levels.

Now then, off with you! There are fair maidens to rescue and dragons to best, young paladin!

Comments: I went with a similar build for my paladin but took Shield Mastery and Weapon Focus to help make up for the lower strength than other fighter types.

Alternate Build
Human Paladin: Based on 1-7 experience.

14 Str

12 Dex

14 Con

8 Int

14 Wis

14 Cha

Strength: Best buy, +2 tohit/dam

Dexterity: Max bonus in full plate.

Constitution: Best buy. 20hp @ lvl 10 & +2 fort saves

Intelligence: 2 skill points/lvl. You will get class skills higher/cheaper than cross-class skills. It's been suggested that paladins are a main tank and its likely intimidate will help achieve that. It is however a cross-class skill for paladins.

Wisdom: Able to use all paladin spells. Begin spellcasting at lvl 4. Possibly spell "penetration".

Charisma: Best buy, +1 all resists/modifier and tons of other stuff.

I agree with the guide above regarding stats except I believe you should strip intelligence and split the freed four points between dexterity and constitution. I'm also not sure that it's the best thing to focus completely on charisma with enhancements. What I mean by that relates mainly to the +1 human enhancement on charisma. If this enhancement does become +2 at any time then maybe at that stage it would be wise to get, but enhancement slot cost/ efficiency at +1 is not very high on this one. While the paladin charisma enh. becomes 3 times as efficient the human one lags behind. If we compare human charisma +1 to say resistance of good II that passively adds a total of 36 save points to a team without any mana cost, it's easy for me to see wich one is more beneficial. Of course, if you find yourself on an odd number in your charisma at any time you can easily swap something out for human charisma +1.

Ability points: You get two ability points(in the lvl 1-10 interval), one at 4 and one at 8. Guide above is probably dead right, charisma is the way to go. Although, one or two of theese could also be used to fix any odd numbers from creation. They could also be used to get access to the dodge-mobility-spring attack-whirlwind attack line. Basically you need 13 dex and 13 int, so my build as is wont work well for that. How useful this is or if the sacrifices in other feats (MANY!) are worth it I have no experience of, so Im hoping someone else will edit here. It's probably alot better for a fighter considering their amount of feats.

Feats: The ones worth to consider, in no special order.

Lvl 1 & 3: Weapon Focus:es, Shield Mastery, Improved Shield Mastery, Toughness, Improved Shield Bash, Dodge (13+ dex),

Lvl 6: Mental Toughness, Improved Turning,

Lvl 9: Improved Criticals,

Things like Power Attack might seem very attractive but in my experience, things that I hit all the time like your generic hobgoblin really dont warrant such a powerful attack. Things that would benefit from such an attack, bosses and so on, are hard to hit even with my tohit addicted paladin as it is. If you already feel that you hit well enough, combining action boost with a -tohit feat might be for you.

I really dont see any need to take anything that increases your saves more. You will have solid save increases thanks to charisma. I've never been cursed, poisoned and so on ever 1-7.

Shield Proficiency: Tower give you 4 base AC but also -2 tohit. Paladins will have less tohit than fighters/barbarians so I dont feel we have the luxury of using tower shields. I personally like having TOO MUCH tohit. Besides we have defensive stance. Wich, although it might be alot worse than a tower shield, is free.

I thought picking Exotic Weapon Proficiency:Bastard sword was a slick move but it's not. Your'e boxing yourself in and you don't want to do that. Maybe after you have found a SUPER one that requires the feat, then you could pick it up. (nb: There is a great Bastard Sword which drops, the Sun Blade. The catch?  It's ALSO enchanted to require no Exotic weapon proficiency!)

You DO get a -4 tohit when moving. Uncertain if shift-move shift-tumble negates this in any way. Flanking bonus +2 tohit applies to any mob not concentrating on you. Watch out for additional mobs hitting on you though since it works the same way for monsters.

Basing any creation stats on the "chance" that you'll get an suitable magic item later to balance it out (even number), is in my opinion unwise. Unless you KNOW that you can & will get the particular one you would need and that it won't conflict with anything else you ever might want to wear in that slot and that you'll never get anything better, fine. Otherwise, don't! (The fact is, in DDO you do KNOW that by level 4 you can get an item to +1 any stat, particularly as WaterWorks rewards) That solves the CAN bit. Not the will, anything else, or better part.

Comments:

It's worth noting that within the first levels, 1-4, you will be able to pick up (or buy) +1 items for pretty much every stat. This means starting with 13wis for a Paladin is fine, since by lvl 4 it's likely you'll have a +1 wis item.

I agree with the above to sacrifice the int for other stats (it's hard to go the dodge / whirlwind route since you'll loose out on other stats like str and cha if you try to go this route).

Personally I would start with higher cha and str and leave dex and con, and also begin with most of my stats as odd numbers.

For min/max chars like wizards and fighters it probably better to start with even numbers. However for a character requiring balance across the board almsot, odd numbers are the way to go (in DDO at least).

You'll have a harder start than most people but once you have a few feats and items you'll be better off for it.