Best Paladin?
raxtoren
Member Posts: 228
I know nothing about Paladin, but want one as for the co-op runs with a friend.
Cavalier or inquisitor?
Cavalier seems better for singelplayer, but inquisitor seems great with its dispel for co-op, especially for a newcomer who might be charmed/fear etc often vs mages.
Cavalier or inquisitor?
Cavalier seems better for singelplayer, but inquisitor seems great with its dispel for co-op, especially for a newcomer who might be charmed/fear etc often vs mages.
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inquisitor for solo small party debuffer anty-mage
black guard is much stronger than both with poison skill he may be even stronger than fighter/cleric
but for bg:ee bg1 i propose fighter/cleric dwarf because his spells are much better(earlier) than cavalier and he is almost paladin-like paladins shine in bg2 levels
Cavalier has some very useful resists and immunities. He's one of the best tanks in the game. Poison and Mind Control are major pains in the butt and having innate resistance to fire means its easier to hit 100 Fire Resistance with him. If you give him the two rings and the helmet you're in really really good shape.
The Inquisitor is good for smacking mages around. He gets things like True Seeing and Dispel Magic so mages' protections vanish in a hurry. Those aren't really too much of an issue in the first game though, but he's terribly useful in the rest of the series.
Be a pure man...a manly man...in service of Torm!.
For everyone else they are the worst choice among kits. I mean they are better than the default paladin but thats it. There are just enough ways to deal with undead that their bonuses become redundant.
The PnP Undead hunter is pretty much identical to the inquisitor. Except his dispel is every 4 levels and he can turn undead, and does so equal to his level, instead of 2 less. (his only immunity, aside from normal paladin disease immunity, is to paralysis/hold). Except where specified, it loses everything the inquisitor does.
Meanwhile the inquisitor is dispel every 3 levels, and 5% chance each round, per level of seeing through illusions (doesn't dispel them, the inquisitor simply ignores the effects of the spell...i.e. they can see through Invisibility if their roll succeeds) (I would've replaced the true sight implemented in BG2 with a passive, always active detect illusion that gains 5% per level). And they're immune to charm.
The plethora of options to trivialize level drain is truly depressing. Considering it's supposed to be the most dangerous effect in the game. Rendered a mere inconvenience, as discussed more in-depth in that feature request regarding level drain.
I prefer the cavalier myself....the fear immunity is awesome, the poison immunity is awesome, the charm immunity is awesome. They get full paladin abilities, and only lose the ability to use ranged weapons that lack a melee component. (still wouldn't mind seeing PnP-accurate kits.......the base paladin should NOT be out-done by it's kits).
Cavaliers are very strong in BG1, but less so in BG2 in my opinion. Fear, Poison, and Charm effects are deadly at low levels, and Cavaliers let you always have a tank ready to go to peel mobs off your casters. Like the Inquisitors, you can solo farm Sirens from the get go to level a few times before picking up the rest of your party.
Undead Hunters are easily the weakest of the kits. Level Drain sucks, it really does, but Restoration scrolls are easy to come across and Greater Restoration should be main slotted on your Cleric anyway once you get it. The bonuses against Undead are nice throughout BG2, but less so during BG1, when the toughest undead you face is the Ichoryd.
So, in summary, Inquisitor (BG1 + BG2) = Cavalier (BG1 ONLY) > Cavalier > Undead Hunter
In BG2, due to the F'd up caster level progression for paladin/rangers, a Cavalier (and UD Hunter and regular paladin) casts their spells AT level. Instead of 9 levels lower with a max of 9.
AoF at level 1, for DR goodness, DUHM at 2nd level for MASSIVE boosts to their physical abilities (and no, I don't include the BS powers for this discussion because they are not a long-term solution and even then the cavalier gets extra casts of DUHM), Dispel Magic at 3rd level...since there's really nothing else worth taking (not as strong as the inquisitors, but as strong as a mage or clerics, which are strong enough). 4th is whatever you want. Plenty of OH-$%#^ recovery options, due to being immune to fear and having a mass-remove fear to cast, emergency heal via LoH, can cast PfE for several benefits all around.
And of course...holy swords become available in BG with dispel on hit.
Soooo....actually the Inquisitor is the one who is under-powered and useless in BG2, because he's a fighter with 1 useful, but limited per day trick (and no GM) (that is useless vs PfMW anyway, meaning it's completely worthless) trick (a thief can dispel illusions all day long instantly, and every party should have one, so his truesight is a non-issue), where as the other paladin kits/true-class basically become F/Cs instead.
Vanilla: Good for every situation, but really doesn't excel in any either. Can provide heals and buffs at higher levels and Lay on hands is a life saver because of it's instants casting time.
Cavalier: Major tank orientation and definitely the first dude in combat. +3 vs all fiendish and draconic creatures definite plus for high levels, and immune to fear, poison, morale failure, AND charm. The ability to cast Remove Fear will save your life at low levels and free a slot or two for fellow mages and clerics. 20% resistance to Fire and Acid. Drawbacks Can not use ranged weapons, except for throwing axes, which are badass. <---- OP AS F**K, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
Inquisitor: Immune to hold and charm. Gains True Sight and Dispel Magic. Great for earlier levels and a solid anti-mage tank. But I find the removal of all other paladin abilities really is too much for the 2 spells that mages can provide.
Undead Hunter: Lose Lay on Hands for a +3 against undead and immunity to level drain and hold. Are vampires REALLY that big of a deal to you?
Blackgaurd: Pretty much a paladin is reversed abilities. Absorb health is great because it deals damage on top of healing you but you can't heal other party members with it. Their poison is always useful and Aura of despair is a great scaling ability. <--- RECOMMEND!
Carrion crawlers as well. At least when it comes to hold. They still come up occasionally in bg2.
cavalier is more of f/c as someone said and he is better at this than inquisitor but inquisitor is much better at fighting mages
Inquisitor is strong but loses almost all Paladin specific bonuses. Plus if I remember correctly there are high level defensive spells that simply cannot be dispelled.
The power of inquisitors isn't all that noticeable in vanilla since the vanilla AI plays casters too stupidly to make them all that dangerous. With mods like SCS though, being able to dispel magic at twice your level is absurdly powerful.
for example lich/mage with spellshield spell trap and absolute immunity
you need 2x rubyray 1x breach to be able to hit the mage with a weapon so that means 3 rounds or 3 mages
inqisitor need just 1 round of instacating his 200% better dispell and lich is dead