The pillar of strength, guardian of all.

[RVallant]

Few things off the bat. 1) I'm new! 2) I'm a sucker for Paladins. 3) There's no Paladin FAQ of any note I could find regarding these questions but if there is, I apologise for not finding it >_<Addenum: This might be a bit long since I waffle >_>-So, a Paladin. Exactly what are they? I've always been an avid fan of Paladins, from the moment I got sucked into the Paladin class, per Baldur's Gate and beyond. I've never always agreed with the Paladin conception mind, I've noticed, each game has their own flavour to Paladins. WoW Paladin's for example (at least when I left that game ages back) seemed to heal better than most of the out and out healers and as a result found the healers out-dpsing them @_@I've seen, two-hand only Paladins, standard board and sword Paladins and of course the flavour'd one from D+D games (usually board and sword, heavy armour, insane buffs.) As a D+D gamer (BG, NWN for example) I've probably been pushed into the mind set that Paladins tend to be a dps-fighter with some heal capability but mostly drawing their strengths and thus kicking the snot out of most DPS-melee classes from the array of "cleric" or "god" buffs, blessed weapons, faithful strength, that type of thing.On the MMO scene though I've noticed they seem to be a hybrid compromise, falling well below the DPS line of anything decent and healing well below that line as well. I've yet to see a Paladin in heavy armour, weapon out, standing toe-to-toe and churning out big numbers as a supposed "god-chosen-fighter" is perhaps meant to do. (I clarify this here; An unbuffed Paladin is little more than a fighter minus the dps, but is a beast once he's racked his buffs up, yet will never ever be on par with a cleric for buffing/healing purposes for example.)I've always disagreed with the whole "tank" phrase (A Tank is swift, somewhat difficult to damage but stupidly lethal) since in-game usage of that phrase seems to mean "huge hp bar, bugger all else" and tends to be anything wielding the 'interesting' weapons/armours. Perhaps the problem, mechanics wise is the whole armour situation, heavy armour = awesome for defence but classes using it tends to be pushed that way, as such there's very little scope for heavy armour dpsers in general barring perhaps Korean MMO's and probably Guild Wars where, fighter's were impressive dps tankers and never saw the problem of everyone jumping on the bandwagon (go figure!)I admit though, I may be a huge sucker for a "wants all the cake" here by wanting heavy armour, nice sword, good dps and moderate heal with buffing capabilities. Of course I understand there's a need for balance and sacrifice in an MMO so the Paladin's of MMO's being a jack of all, master of none gets a heavier smack of the bat.<b>That's enough back-waffling though, now you have somewhat knowledge of my background for the whole class, onto the questions!</b>Firstly in EQ2, is there a linky I can click to give me an overview of the Paladin's lore? Or a quest even... I'm curious as to how the Paladin backstory is established within this game, is it anything like D+D or completely different? =oSecondly, a guess on my part but various topics I've read, I tend to see Paladins being hit with a whole lack of love, I'm guessing the Paladin suffers in EQ2 from the whole decent heal, excellent survivability, but fights with a rubber sword?Thirdly, I've been told Paladins can solo, that's kind of a given in most games. But, is there anything outside of super-duper equipment that I should be doing to cater my "tank" into decapticating foul forces of evil in one blow or near enough? I've yet to reach the lofty heights of AA's and "builds" and don't really feel too comfortable with the whole process, probably as I don't know much about it, but are there any general points on where to go, what to grab for their combat abilities fighting alone?Fourthly, A Paladin lives to quest! Explore, make safe the land and rescue damsels in distress, or just be a wizened old general on an iffy horse musing about the glory days of war (cough). What can I do to benefit questing, exploration in addition to combat, on a solo basis?In addition to those, will I be sacrificing group-ability? I don't really mind that much if I do, I've never been one for raids, but I do like to group on occassion, though I'm more an explorer and quester, donned in heavy armour with a board and rubber sword, taking in the sights and ambushing ambushers so to speak. In summary; Could I have your wholesome advice on setting my Paladin on the "right" path for jogging along game content that I'm aiming for (I'm not into farming/raiding). Other general advice is also nice if you have the time ^_^Cheers!-Rob(Edit addenum: I was also forgetting to ask, is there any stats I should be looking at? Strength and Wisdom I presume in general?)

[Arkinon]

Pally = Tank? Yes first and foremost.<div>We make very decent tanks. We have plate armor, decent Hp build and taunts in 5 different forms. We can heal ourselves and others in a bind with 4 types of heals and wards and depending on AA build give ourselves a 10 second immunity, bonus to shild block or add to healing and buffs. Are there better classes for tanking yes. We may not be the first choice for say Raid tank but we make awesome group tanks.</div><div></div><div>Typical Tank pally will sword and board. we have 2 stances Defence and offence... Def for tanking and Off for DPS. Yes we can dole out the damage as well but we will never be top of the damage meter. We can solo very well though at times can be slow going. </div><div></div><div>I use a 2 hd weapon ALWAYS for soloing in Off stance. My AAs are set for solo DPS mostly and have outlived most other classes on mobs well beyond my lvl. We are not however the best solo class in the game. </div><div></div><div>We can be a jack of all trades as well. We can heal in a pinch when not tanking or when off tanking (although I will admit to throwing off a couple group heals just to keep someone from dieing till the healer could get cought up) We can add to DPS and become a great backup  should MT fall in battle even in DPS mode. And as stated before We make great tanks.</div><div></div><div>So if your looking for a fun class that has survivability for both solo and tanking, pallys are it. But i am kinda biased LOL</div>

[Gwarsh]

<p>jack of all trades master of none is about right, you can focus your efforts a little to make yourself better at one thing, but in general that means you sacrifice another.</p><p>str will improve power pool, melee and ca dps</p><p>wis will improve power pool, resists</p><p>int will improve spell based damage (this includes spell based proc's)</p><p>sta will improve hp pool</p><p>agil will improve avoidance</p><p>first off, the pladin aa line is a no brainer, wraths and hero line all the way, after you maximize those you can put your remaining points where you feel it's appropriate</p><p>crusader aa's are tricker, for soloing, my advice is str line, int line, sta line.  get melee crits, spell crits, and haste. wouldnt hurt to get heal crits since you are going to be your only healer</p><p>pay attention to your % mitigation, if you are at around 50% mitigation self buffed, you need to pay more attention to gear that gives you avoidance.  solo before i maxed hero line i fought offensive stance with a 2hand weapon, after hero line and the huge gain in shield block from it, i used sword and shield in offensive stance.</p><p>in the end there are as many ways to play a paladin as there are people playing them.</p><p>best thing you can do is keep asking questions, use the serverwide pally channel, most of the time you will get good advice there.</p><p>good luck</p>

[Excalibre33]

<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Paladin" target="_blank">http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Paladin</a>. I think you may like Buzzing's old <a rel="nofollow" href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Paladin_Tanking_101" target="_blank">Tanking 101 Guide</a>.</p>

[Syrdeth]

I am pretty new, too and had many of the same questions. This thread has been very helpful and answered a lot of my questions.I am working my way down the Wraths and Hero lines in Paladin AAs. Glad to know I made the right choices!I do have one question, though. Except for the very first Crusader AA, I have been putting all my points into Paladin AAs. Should I keep doing that, or alternate between Paladin and Crusader AAs as I level up?

[Meirril]

<cite>Syrdeth wrote:</cite><blockquote>I am pretty new, too and had many of the same questions. This thread has been very helpful and answered a lot of my questions.I am working my way down the Wraths and Hero lines in Paladin AAs. Glad to know I made the right choices!I do have one question, though. Except for the very first Crusader AA, I have been putting all my points into Paladin AAs. Should I keep doing that, or alternate between Paladin and Crusader AAs as I level up?</blockquote>I'd suggest "goal" based expendature in AA. When you find an ability you want, put everything into achieving that goal. For instance, if you really like the idea of 10 seconds of invulnerability, don't stop putting points into stamina until you get it. It is much more satsifying to achieve something in AA than spreading your points around with no sense of accomplishment.