New player - Paladin Advice

[Boarder981]

Hi all,

I actually played P99 a couple years back, but only long enough to level a Shaman into the early 20s. Shaman is a really amazing and versatile class, but it's just not my thing.

On EQ live back in the day, I really loved playing my Paladin and Druid. Of course Druids are a very powerful class, but I feel they're more solo-oriented. I'd like to group more, if possible, and have always enjoyed the tank role!

I really want to play a Paladin, but my fear is that it'll be difficult to advance, since I assume tank classes are extremely gear dependent. Is this a mistake? Do Paladins perform well in a group role compared to other tanks? Is it easy to get groups? Note that I'll likely have limited playtime.

In any case - I'll basically be starting from scratch, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[jolanar]

In a group setting, gear won't make a huge difference until the mid 40s and up. Thankfully as a knight class, your aggro isn't dependent on your gear at all.

If you know what race/starting city you will be at it will be easier to give more specific advice.

[Etris]

I've got a level 3 cleric sitting in Greater Fay if you're around. Paladins I believe have the best snap agro in the game. Forgot which spell...

Your gear doesn't matter - I'll keep you alive.

[Boarder981]

As for race, I'm split between Human and Dwarf. The main advantage of Human for me is that I'm much more familiar with the newbie zones of Antonica than Faydwer (specifically around Freeport, like EC/WC, NRo, Oasis, etc)

However, Dwarves are superior in pretty much every way, stat-wise. Also, it's pretty cool to be 4 feet tall and still kick butt :) Well, hopefully not get my butt kicked...

Anyway - thanks for the advice so far. And thank you, Etris, for offering to group. I'll ping you if/when I get this character started!

[Sage Truthbearer]

To answer your questions: Paladins are not item dependent at all, and we perform extremely well in group settings. Most people would say Paladins are the best group tanks in the game.

I don't think finding groups will be a big problem but won't always be easy. It's simple supply and demand. A traditional group only designates 1 slot for the tank, so demand is capped at 1 tank/group. To help with this you should make friends as you level and be willing to start and organize your own groups.

[teai]

I got a paladin to lvl 40 starting completely naked. Your biggest job is holding aggro and controlling the fight.

Great spells. BEST AGGRO SPELL is Flash of light, amazing, but blinds, so will run in a random direction if mob has no close target.

I would always FOL rooted mobs, I dont think it breaks mez anymore?

My gear sucked, but I saved up and had the cheaper HP rings and decent gear with around 300p earned from 1-10 in GFAY (CB BELTS ARE MAD PLAT STARTING)

I went highelf, for some raisin. If I were to do it again, I would probably go Human, start in freeport, then beg tunnel buffs/starting weapon and get rolling about 50x faster than Gfay.

I say human for dragon helm, cool shit


PS dont go dwarf unless you can deal with the shortstack forever. I hate how they look, fugging gem hoarding mushroom sniffers

[Jmcwrestling]

Er-u-dite, Er-u-dite, Er-u-dite

One of us, one of us, one of us

:)

[Shodo]

Shouldn't have any issues starting from scratch - just be savvy about saving bone chips/crushbone belts/etc to sell to players and you should have a set of banded mail and some hp rings by level 10-12 (if you have trouble finding banded mail feel free to PM me and I'll make you some). Get a baton of faith by level (only another 100p) and you can coast until level 50+ if necessary and save for bigger upgrades. Nab deepwater pieces as you can afford them, only 300- 400 each for lots of AC and good clickies at 45.

[Atmas]

dwarf paladin > all others

unless of course you're a tunarian high elf with the PoG 2h, which i don't think anyone on this server has? or if they do, they're not active

either way, paladins aren't really used for anything in endgame (neither are shadowknights). if it's fun to you, then play it - and enjoy little to no competition on your drops.

I stopped playing a few months ago but I have a HIE and with all the gear I got I was happy that I had higher base wisdom, the actual hardest relevant stat to cap with raid gear. This probably isn't going to be the case for a lot of people but understand with Velious strength gear is pretty easy to obtain.

Anyway, Paladins are awesome at agro and have a ton of utility. Don't expect to be the MT for the really hard hitting stuff but I always found myself to be very useful in the endgame. People have a perception about the maximum efficiency of warrior disc tank and spank and tend to forget how much more there is to the game that a Paladin just makes easier.

There was plenty of hard hitting trash to clear in zones that snap agro makes it way more effective for knights to tank and clear. At end game as a Paladin you can also buff (one of your buffs is exclusive for best MT setup). You can heal which comes in more handy than people would think, mainly because our 57 HoT is awesome and clerics are usually only doing MT healing rots. You also can always provide some crappy DPS, Knight dps is bad but I've found that my 60 Pal with a good 2hander can do better dps than a 56 rogue who can't do a quarter of the other things I can.

This might all be irrelevant because you may never make it to the end game. So I will just leave it at this the Paladin is a phenomenal group tank. FoL when close to mobs stun when you need the extra agro (don't really ever need more than the earliest stun).

[jolanar]

Strength is one of those things that seems super helpful when you are first starting out and your already at the weight limit with just a set of banded and some bags and you are getting all your income from rusty weapons. Once you stop caring about picking up heavy vendor items like weapons and get your strength up to like 120/130 which is very doable in cheap gear it becomes much less important feeling.

When it comes to the Tunare quests, keep in mind a Half Elf can be Tunare and have a lot better melee stats than a High Elf.

Personally if I were starting fresh as a Paladin, Dwarf is definitely what I would choose. Hard to be those starting stats, great melee stats and surprisingly high wisdom too. Only downside is the low charisma.

[Boarder981]

Thanks everyone for all the thoughtful responses! I really appreciate it.

Has the hybrid XP penalty been removed?

[Munkh]

I had a Human Paladin and got him to 14 but just didn't like the pixels and remade him as a Dwarf. I'm greatly enjoying playing him. He's my go to fun toon when I'm not able to find groups for my other toons.

[Pyrion]

Thanks everyone for all the thoughtful responses! I really appreciate it.

Has the hybrid XP penalty been removed?

Yes. Only racial penalties remain.

[bum3]

I had a Human Paladin and got him to 14 but just didn't like the pixels and remade him as a Dwarf. I'm greatly enjoying playing him. He's my go to fun toon when I'm not able to find groups for my other toons.

Jump rolling beats all fashionquest.

[Boarder981]

Another question regarding Lull...

The only real advantage I see for going Human would be the higher Charisma, which I believe affects the Lull spells. Does a failed Lull pull aggro? If so, then I guess higher CHA could actually be useful.

[bum3]

Another question regarding Lull...

The only real advantage I see for going Human would be the higher Charisma, which I believe affects the Lull spells. Does a failed Lull pull aggro? If so, then I guess higher CHA could actually be useful.

Failed lull doesn't always pull agro. It can and will at the worst times possible. CHA does affect lull line. My wife put on a full set of crusty and can't lull green mobs anymore. lol.

[Shodo]

Lull can resist, or it can critically resist. A normal resist will not pull aggro and is based solely on your level compared to the mob's level and on the mob's magic resist. Charisma does, however, affect the chance that you will get a critical resist, which will pull aggro.

That said, raising your charisma is fairly easy with a couple of item swaps so I wouldn't avoid going dwarf solely for that reason. Kobold Jester's Crown + Crude Stein is ~400-500p for +45 charisma when lulling. You can also have your friendly local shaman or enchanter give you a charisma buff, or farm a Luminary Two Handed Sword from Kaesora to buff yourself with.

[Sage Truthbearer]

With the traditional composition for 6-person groups, you will rarely if ever use lull because there will be another designated puller for your group.

[Boarder981]

@Sage Truthbearer - you have a good point, but it's rare to find an ideal 6-person group during the leveling process. That is, unless you have an organized guild or group of friends that have been specifically setup for it.

I understand that from levels 50-60 it's MUCH more likely for this to be the case (I'm sure some would argue it's necessary)... but for me, that's a LONG time from now :eek:

[bum3]

@Sage Truthbearer - you have a good point, but it's rare to find an ideal 6-person group during the leveling process. That is, unless you have an organized guild or group of friends that have been specifically setup for it.

I understand that from levels 50-60 it's MUCH more likely for this to be the case (I'm sure some would argue it's necessary)... but for me, that's a LONG time from now :eek:

Exactly. in exp pick up groups paladin ends up pulling way more than they should considering they have to med to keep hate.

[Dillian]

This song says it all. It was written by a p99 community member from red =)https://soundcloud.com/spice-boys/felwithe

[Jimjam]

What are people's preferences to trying to lull a group of mobs vs pulling with root and rooting any further adds on inc?

[Atmas]

This thread brings back memories.

[bum3]

What are people's preferences to trying to lull a group of mobs vs pulling with root and rooting any further adds on inc?

When lull works its beautiful. Root pulling is dangerous of wandering mobs or pathing can be an issue. Wife root pulled a camp in runneyeye and instead of taking a direct path it ran down stairs. Wasn't pretty.