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 builds
The paladin class to me is a warrior with great saves and a few points less AB. Thus i also believe that a 16, possibly 18 cha is really effective; REMEMBER - your charisma modifier gets added to all of your saves. An initial +3/4 to all saves makes the paladin more effective at all saves than any of the other classes (closely following a dexterity characters reflex save, or a clerics wisdom save. I also dont beleive in any negative points in dexterity, thus i would take a 10. Intelligence is not important at all for paladins except for skill points (with a paladins lack of skills to chose from these really arent that important) so i would make mine 8(-1). With the remaining points i would put my strength up to 14(+2) and con up to 14(+2).

Str: 14(+2) to 15(+2)

Dex: 10(/0)

Con: 10(/0) to 14(+2)

Int: 8 (-1)

Wis: 13(+1) to 14(+2)

Cha: 15(+2) to 16(+3)

The only thing the alternative builds seem to agree on is 10 dex and 8 int. Perhaps 16 charisma. It's not easy to clearly say wich is best in the long run.

What you need to realise though, and this is the problem with stats, is that if you decide to take any stat above 14 you 'passively' agree that this stat is TWICE as valuable as any other stat. If you decide to take any stat above 16 you 'passively' agree that this stat is THREE times as valuable as any other stat. (not including racial modifiers)

Also people have been advocating starting on uneven numbers because you soon get +1 items. That is true. So are you gonna put ability points or waste an enhancement on that stat later to keep it even when you get a +2 item? Actually, eventually you might get a +4 item so maybe you should remove 4 points instead. You can easily argue this back and forth. Sure I admit it's worth considering, and in some cases maybe smart, but some stats are probably better of kept solid. In the end, it's almost impossible to say what is "best" in the long run.

Feats: The ones worth to give extra consideration, in no special order.

Lvl 1 & 3: Weapon Focus:es, Shield Mastery, Improved Shield Mastery, Toughness, Improved Shield Bash,

Lvl 6: Mental Toughness, Improved Turning,

Lvl 9: Improved Criticals,

Ultimatetely, one point here and one point there is not going to be the downfall of your Paladin. Consider the framework and advice given to you above and have fun.

Yet another sample build
Human Paladin:
 * 14 str
 * 12 dex
 * 14 con
 * 14 wis
 * 8 int
 * 14 cha

Bonus stat points into cha.

Skills:
 * intimidate cc (or heal)
 * concentration

Feats:
 * 1 Luck of Heroes
 * 1 Lightning Reflexs
 * 3 Toughness
 * 6 Mental Toughness
 * 9 Improved Mental toughness

Enhancements:
 * aura +AC
 * aura +resists
 * paladin action boost
 * paladin cha

Small Opinion on Strength
Starting with Str 16 is something to consider, you are going to use Strength a lot. Yes you could use spells and whatever else to up strength, but the plain fact is, nothing stacks so well with any ability that having a naturally higher starting score. In fact, if Half-Orcs were in DDO (I suspect they were left out for a good reason), I would've made a Half-Orc Paladin (18 Str is nice, but paying 16 points for it gimps a character). Sure the -2 to Cha would hurt, but the +2 Str would be awesome. Also, stat based switches seem to require 17 in the stat. In fact, the only thing bad about Half-Orc Paladins is their 6 Intelligence which just screams "Touch of Idiocy me," but that is what a Paladin's high wisdom is for right? 16 Str is close enough that when that +1 Str item shows up (or you mail it from another PC) you are set to open stuff.

Human Paladin
 * Str 16
 * Dex 10
 * Con 14
 * Int 8
 * Wis 12
 * Cha 14

Dwarf Paladin (I would only do this if you found a level 1 +1 Cha item)
 * Str 16
 * Dex 10
 * Con 14
 * Int 8
 * Wis 12
 * Cha 13

Dwarf is great if you plan to take Toughness a few times, because Dwarven Toughness (a level 4 enhancement) DOUBLES the effectiveness of that feat (so 4 + Twice level per Toughness instead of 2 + level per Toughness). I am not saying a Dwarf Paladin should ONLY take Toughness, just that two Toughnesses and Dwarf Toughness equates to 56 hp over 12 levels. My Dwarf Paladin at level 4 had 91 hp (20 + 40 + 18 + 8 hp and a +5 hp belt).

Warforged Paladin (I don't really recommend this, but if you can mail items it could work)
 * Str 15
 * Dex 10
 * Con 14
 * Int 8
 * Wis 12
 * Cha 13

Halfling Paladin (I don't recommend this, unless you are planning a Paladin 2/Sorcerer X)

Elf Paladin
 * Str 16
 * Dex 10
 * Con 12
 * Int 8
 * Wis 12
 * Cha 15

Drow Paladin (if you already unlocked the Drow race, a Drow Paladin could be awesome)
 * Str 16
 * Dex 10
 * Con 12
 * Int 10
 * Wis 12
 * Cha 16