Looking for a great Paladin Build!

[Mastodon Magik]

I need a great Paladin build!! I am mainly interested in Heavy Armor/Blade/Resto

What else should I take as far as Birth sign? Other Majors and 2 favored stats?

Also race consideration?

Thanks!

[Cactus]

Orc is a good race for that, with a warrior birthsign. I actually played a game as a paladin and that's what I used. I'm not sure about about other skills. Maybe armorer and block. It's hard for me to say because I make drastic alterations to my chosen skills whenever I play a new game. I still haven't gotten my perfect combo. I need 10 slots, is what I need. Oh, and Endurance and Strength are generally good for any kind of warrior. You could also change out one of those for luck, too, as a general boost to the game.

[Mastodon Magik]

Hmm orc does sound interesting, never really thought about that. Sounds good man thanks a bunch. I'll give her a try.

[Cactus]

Quite welcome.

[Esvedium]

Blade/Blunt (one of the 2, which ever you want)
Block
Restoration
Alteration (for shield spells)
Heavy Armor
Armorer
Athletics (maybe?)

STR & END

Ritual or Warrior sign

That's what I would do for a "paladin" character if I were to make one.

[DorostheConqueror]

You might also consider a Nord. They're slightly less powerful in terms of raw combat strength (at least in the beginning) but they're more magically inclined and better suited to being a 80-20 Warrior/Mage (like a Paladin would be). In fact, Nordic spellcasters are best known for their skills in Restoration magic (they're some of the best Restorers in Tamriel, actually), so if you're really looking for a holy warrior, able to wade into battle with the blessings of the Nine Divines, Nords are the perfect choice.

Birth sign? Probably warrior. Majors? A Paladin might get something like block, armorer, and maybe one other magic school (Illusion for the charming and leadership effects? Alteration for divine protection?) Some people hate taking Athletics because they believe it's too hard to level and stops you from gaining levels as fast; I say that's why you MUST take Atheltics, so my advice is to add Athletics too. And favored stats? Definitely Endurance, since the sooner you raise endurance the more HP you'll have, but Luck and Strength are good choices too. Maybe Willpower, since odds are you'll be getting plenty of Strength and Endurance boosts, but not so many for your divine magic skills.

[FaceInTheCrowd]

as above, go with a Nord for a paladin.
not as strong as an orc but by far one of the best combination mage/warrior races there is

I literally just finished off the knights of the nine quests with a nord, so i know how great they can be. it beats any other combo i've tried for a paladin/battle mage style guy lol

birthsignwise..go for either the lady or warrior. depending on what you want to start off being better at. but both get the amazing +10 END to help raise your health up

i used something like this, please bear in mind that this is based around Roleplaying so...it won't fit into any kind of "efficient" system. tho i was playing on middle difficulty and i only died once in the time of the quests and that was due to me falling off a cliff hunting wayshrines

combat

willpower
endurance

Blade
Blunt
Restoration
Block
Heavy Armor
Speechcraft * i don't recommend
Mercantile

couple of odd choices, mainly because i wanted to focus on being equal for both blade and blunt and speechcraft is just a roleplay choice. but the frame work is there.

so maybe fit alteration and illusion in there somewhere? up to your preference i guess. i jsut wanted to not use illusion coz i realised i always use it lol

but yeah, i found that to work out pretty nicely, hope that helps somewhat lol

[Esvedium]

Unless you're doing it for a role-playing aspect, I would avoid both mercantile and speechcraft, as you can create cheap custom spells for selling stuff.

fortify mercantile 100 for 1 sec on self
fortify personality 100 for 1 sec on self
charm 100 for 1 sec on target

Cast on merchant, talk to them right away, and you can usually slide the bar all the way to the right and get a bootyload of money for your spoils.

[Mastodon Magik]

Thanks guys this really helps a lot, I seem to have problems finding things to do in the game (crazy I know) but I keep getting scared of doing guild quests and what not for fear of getting crappy low leveld items.

Anyone suggest what to do?

[DorostheConqueror]

I wouldn't really worry about crappy low-leveled items too much. Sure, getting unique items at higher levels tends to make them more powerful, but you'll always be able to find items as good or better than uniques as time progresses (no sense waiting until Level 40 to get the Blade of Woe when you'll be finding stuff like Daedric Longswords anyway). Plus the "best" items in the game aren't leveled at all (like Goldbrand and Umbra) so don't let low-level rewards scare you off from doing quests.

If you're playing as a Paladin, you'll probably want to avoid the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild, for obvious reasons (a pity, since IMO they're the two best guilds). You might take a few Mages Guild quests (you ARE a semi-magic user, after all, and surely killing necromancers falls under the paladin job description), at least enough to get access to spellmaking, and make the Fighter's Guild your priority. The Arena might seem a bit mercenary, but it fits well with fighter-types and can net you some good cash and experience (not to mention a squire!). You might also consider doing a couple "good" Daedric Shrine quests- without revealing any spoilers, you'll have to do at least one at some point in the game, preferably two or three. Azura has the best reward (non-leveled and utterly essential for people who want to use magical weapons, which will be you by at least level 20, and since she's the nicest Daedra around you won't endanger your paladin status), and Meridia is also a good, clean Daedra to help. Clavicus Vile and Boethia are also excellent choices for the uber equipment you can get, although if you're big on roleplaying it might be hard to justify helping them out.

Ummm, what else? Downloading KotN would be a good choice if you've got a few extra bucks to spare (or a good pirate network- I kid! That's wrong) as well as that newish Fighter's Castle thingy. Buy houses, go explore, freelance as one of Countess Alessia's traveling guards, make pilgrimages to every holy site in the land... the world is your oyster full of Daedric armor and watermellons.

[Butterknife]

I'd go with
Combat
STR/WIS

Blunt
Block
Heavy Armor
Armorer
Restoration
Conjuration (for fearing undead. Train it up using a ghost summon.)
Athletics

[Baranor]

I have a female Nord Paladin. I choose the Thief as Birthsign, mainly because Speed, and Agility are a bit harder to boost when you're running around chopping people to bits. She uses

Heavy Armor
Blade
Block
Restoration
Mysticism
Marksman
Armorer

as main skills, and IIRC I chose something along the lines of STR/END. In hindsight I'd rather have chosen Luck though. Luck is good. Especially when you start out with 65 pts in it. Anyway, I did the Knights of the Nine when I was level 4, and am currently residing in Battlehorn Castle. I like the roleplaying, and started the Knights of the Nine quest line with only cheap clothes and a Rusty Iron Longsword (i.e. "humble").

[Bruffmeister]

What does IIRC and IMO mean???

[Baranor]

If I Recall Correctly and In My Opinion. Furthermore there is IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) and of course the obligatory STFU. Then there is ROFL (Roll On Floor Laughing) and ROFLMAO (My Ass Off), and OMG!!11!! 1! ROFLCOPTER, which is the absolute top of amusement, so to speak.

You really do not want to know. Trust me

[Coulsonji]

Lmayonaise
Roflcopter
and Lollerskates

[Daedra Prince]

Well since this is a family friendly forum about a game about killing and stealing lets just say STFU stands for Start Talking Faster yoU.

[Esvedium]

Lmayonaise

Roflcopter

and Lollerskates

and lets not forget
LOLcano

and the ever popular
ROFLamethrower

[Mastodon Magik]

I wouldn't really worry about crappy low-leveled items too much. Sure, getting unique items at higher levels tends to make them more powerful, but you'll always be able to find items as good or better than uniques as time progresses (no sense waiting until Level 40 to get the Blade of Woe when you'll be finding stuff like Daedric Longswords anyway). Plus the "best" items in the game aren't leveled at all (like Goldbrand and Umbra) so don't let low-level rewards scare you off from doing quests.

If you're playing as a Paladin, you'll probably want to avoid the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild, for obvious reasons (a pity, since IMO they're the two best guilds). You might take a few Mages Guild quests (you ARE a semi-magic user, after all, and surely killing necromancers falls under the paladin job description), at least enough to get access to spellmaking, and make the Fighter's Guild your priority. The Arena might seem a bit mercenary, but it fits well with fighter-types and can net you some good cash and experience (not to mention a squire!). You might also consider doing a couple "good" Daedric Shrine quests- without revealing any spoilers, you'll have to do at least one at some point in the game, preferably two or three. Azura has the best reward (non-leveled and utterly essential for people who want to use magical weapons, which will be you by at least level 20, and since she's the nicest Daedra around you won't endanger your paladin status), and Meridia is also a good, clean Daedra to help. Clavicus Vile and Boethia are also excellent choices for the uber equipment you can get, although if you're big on roleplaying it might be hard to justify helping them out.

Ummm, what else? Downloading KotN would be a good choice if you've got a few extra bucks to spare (or a good pirate network- I kid! That's wrong) as well as that newish Fighter's Castle thingy. Buy houses, go explore, freelance as one of Countess Alessia's traveling guards, make pilgrimages to every holy site in the land... the world is your oyster full of Daedric armor and watermellons.

That was great thanks a ton man, I'm going to get started and just have fun with it now.

[thealtkey]

Here's what I recommend:

Race/Gender: High Elf (Altmer) / Male
Birthsign: The Warrior
Specialization: Combat
Attributes: Strength, Endurance
Major Skills: Alteration, Restoration, Speechcraft, Security, Athletics, Blade, Heavy Armor

Health/Magicka/Fatigue: 110/200/180
Encumbrance: 225

Abilities:
- Resist Disease (constant: 75 pt. Self)

Drawbacks:
- Weakness to Fire, Frost, and Shock (constant: 25 pt. Self)

Stats:
INTELLIGENCE-50: Alchemy-10, Mysticism-15, Conjuration-10
WILLPOWER-40: Destruction-15, Alteration-35, Restoration-25
PERSONALITY-40: Illusion-10, Mercantile-5, Speechcraft-25
AGILITY-40: Security-25, Sneak-5, Marksman-5
SPEED-30: Athletics-30, Acrobatics-5, Light Armor-5
STRENGTH-45: Blunt-10, Blade-30, Hand to Hand-10
ENDURANCE-55: Block-10, Armorer-10, Heavy Armor-30
LUCK-50

Since your class will have a focus on healing/defensive magic, you want to start off with higher magicka so you aren't stuck power-training for the first part of the game. With this build. you still start off with a good amount of STR and AND, and the specialization in Combat skills will make it plenty easy to increase those anyway.

I should also mention that I chose Speechcraft and Security because they're easy skills to avoid raising, in case you want to do some efficient levelling. And they do kinda fit in with the roleplaying aspect of the class anyway.

Hope this helps!

[DorostheConqueror]

Why would a Paladin use security? Speechcraft I can see, since Paladins are meant to be noble and charismatic, not to mention capable of solving problems through nonviolent methods if possible, but Security? Wouldn't that be an anti-trait for a Paladin? Picking locks is for thieves, murderers, and people more concerned with finding treasure than smiting evil and defending justice.

If you have to pick the lock, odds are you either don't need to get it open, or you're doing something you shouldn't.

[thealtkey]

Paladins are basically knights of a higher order who sit closer to a king or other ruler. They ultimately serve their cause (noble or otherwise) and their empire, so you could definitely say that secrecy and security are their kind of thing.

Also, if you give any credence to the occult, you could also reason that Conjuration would be an appropriate skill choice.

[DorostheConqueror]

No they aren't. If the king wants secrecy and security, he turns to spies, agents, diplomats, assassins, and specially trained monkeys. A Paladin's job, at it's most cynical, is to be the PR face for whatever cause recruits him: his duty is to hit things, heal things, gesticulate nobly, and strike a dashing pose when'ere a skulking raggamuffin dost dare show his knavish head. Wave in parades, kiss babies, write best-selling memoires in which he admonishes Tamriel's invisible children to stay in school and eat nutritious breakfasts- "Stay away from skooma!", that sort of thing. Debasing and dishonorable sneaky-things are for knights of a lower order, like Sir Robin or Mazoga the Orc, not for knights of a higher order, like Roland or Galahad.

[Butterknife]

No they aren't. If the king wants secrecy and security, he turns to spies, agents, diplomats, assassins, and specially trained monkeys. A Paladin's job, at it's most cynical, is to be the PR face for whatever cause recruits him: his duty is to hit things, heal things, gesticulate nobly, and strike a dashing pose when'ere a skulking raggamuffin dost dare show his knavish head. Wave in parades, kiss babies, write best-selling memoires in which he admonishes Tamriel's invisible children to stay in school and eat nutritious breakfasts- "Stay away from skooma!", that sort of thing. Debasing and dishonorable sneaky-things are for knights of a lower order, like Sir Robin or Mazoga the Orc, not for knights of a higher order, like Roland or Galahad.

What pills are you taking?

Paladins were just politicians.

[weka]

Doros, for the first time, you've made Paladins sound appealing to me!!

[DorostheConqueror]

No they aren't. If the king wants secrecy and security, he turns to spies, agents, diplomats, assassins, and specially trained monkeys. A Paladin's job, at it's most cynical, is to be the PR face for whatever cause recruits him: his duty is to hit things, heal things, gesticulate nobly, and strike a dashing pose when'ere a skulking raggamuffin dost dare show his knavish head. Wave in parades, kiss babies, write best-selling memoires in which he admonishes Tamriel's invisible children to stay in school and eat nutritious breakfasts- "Stay away from skooma!", that sort of thing. Debasing and dishonorable sneaky-things are for knights of a lower order, like Sir Robin or Mazoga the Orc, not for knights of a higher order, like Roland or Galahad.

What pills are you taking?

Paladins were just politicians.

None, sadly, but it looks like I'm in luck, since you're clearly a good source for high-quality pills. How much to start thinking paladins are politicians?

Sadly, Wikipeida is wrong, or at least horribly, horribly misleading. I'm guessing (and this is just a guess, mind you) that you Googled up "Paladin", found a Wiki article, read the first and most irrelevant definition in the article, and mistook it for a useful bit of trivia. You read this bit, right?

The Paladines of the Imperial Guard were named after its neighboring Scholae Palatinae. The Scholae Palatinae, itself named after its location on Palatine Hill, the mythical founding place of Rome, was the older of two schools of the ancient Salii brotherhood of God of War Mars, which lent some of their symbols to the imperial, later the papal palace.[3]

Originally the term paladine was applied to the Chamberlains and to some troops guarding the palace of the Roman emperor...

A chamberlain is a politician, right? So that means paladins are politicians, right? Unfortunately, nobody who wants to play as a Paladin cares two whits about pasty-faced, toga wearing paladines. That's an etymological root, and even if this is the first RPG you've ever played, the spelling and usage difference should be enough to tip you off that you're on the wrong page.

Keep reading, and you'll happen across... tada! Roland and friends. When we say "paladin" today, we're not talking about idle bureaucrats named "paladines", or even petty German officials who took the office of comte palatine (who, btw, were all members of the knightly class themselves and were as much soldiers as politicians), we're talking about paladins, a legendary knight, similar in scope and deed to the various hero-figures of the Middle Ages.

Paladin, a word that has been understood in the West since at least the 18th century, refers to mythical or semi-mythical knights who upheld the ideals of chivalry: honor, bravery, selflessness, generosity, strength, fealty, piety, being collosally boring at parties, and so on and so forth. (and before you say it, no, Sir "I Bonked My Bosses Wife" Lancelot doesn't count as a Paladin; that was one of the central tragedies of the Arthurian cycle, how Lancelot's pursuit of courtly love cost him his purity and his place in the heavenly halls of chivalry) They were the clean living, God fearing, infidel smashing champions of their faith and their kingdom (or at least that's how they were written in their books), and not a one of them would ever be called a "politician". And it was this image- of Galahad and Percival questing for the Grail, and Roland beating up Muslims like no Frenchmen before or since- that the 20th century adopted, twisted around a bit (more emphasis on God, give him some magical abilities, etc etc), and turned into standard fare for RPGs. What, you don't honestly think people are telling this man to "pick Restoration" and "pick Heavy Armor" in hopes it'd "fit with the duties of a Chamberlain", do you?!?

Now I'm sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but people really need to stop using Wikipedia as a crutch, or at least learn to filter the information on that website and pick through it critically, seperating out what is relevant in a given situation and what is not. It's becoming far too easy to just copy and paste information and pass ourselves off as experts on subjects, and errors like the one you just made are a perfect example of the poverty of that approach. Now I must admit, it's usually the other way around: nerds mucking things up with irrelevant nerd-details (ever tried to discuss history with a SCA-enthusiast?), but this time we've got someone mucking up the nerdery with irrelevant non-nerd details. And in the very heart of nerddom, too! Hallowed halls where everyone should know by rote the duties and roles that are borne of Paladinhood! So no more Wiki-ing for you, young man! And God help you if someone comes here asking for advice on how to build a Ninja, a Monk, or even a Knight (did you know that Knights were really just adolescents?! Wikipedia says so!)

The word knight derives from Old English cniht, meaning page boy, or servant (as is still the case in the cognates Dutch knecht, German Knecht, Norwegian and Swedish knekt and Danish knægt for servant and the Polish knecht for a medieval non-noble foot soldier, a clear borrowing from German), or simply boy. (In a parallel development, the word "Samurai" in Japanese also comes from the verb "to serve".)

Knighthood, as Old English cnihthād, had the meaning of adolescence, i.e. the period between boyhood and manhood. The sense of (adult) lieutenant of a king or other superior was in existence at least as early as 1100, although there are signs of it as early as Alfred's Orosius.

Do you see how absurd things get when we don't learn to differentiate between etymological roots and relevant terms?

Doros, for the first time, you've made Paladins sound appealing to me!!

NOOOOOOO, Sithis forgive me, I knew not what I did!!!

But, erm, thanks?