Advice for a newbie Dwarf Paladin

[Ghamarro]

Hello,

I have never played EverQuest before and am just about to roll onto the new green server to make a Dwarf Paladin, but I don't want to muck my first character up and have to start all over, so I would like to ask some advice in terms of allocating the stats and AA points etc. Are there any good character guides out there that would help a newbie avoid most of the critical pitfalls?

[Fammaden]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Paladin

Keep in mind Paladins are almost certain to have a 40% xp penalty on green.

[DMN]

I'd probably ignore that guide and just go strength instead of stamina on green. The extra strength will be far more useful through most of green's lifespan than stamina. Sta is like endgame minmaxing stuff. 99.9% you will never make it to a point where that 15 stam was relevant. But that str will allow you to maintain aggro a bit better, solo a bit better, and carry some more loot. And when you already lug plate armor around extra carry weight is a big boon.

[Deathrydar]

Hello,

I have never played EverQuest before and am just about to roll onto the new green server to make a Dwarf Paladin, but I don't want to muck my first character up and have to start all over, so I would like to ask some advice in terms of allocating the stats and AA points etc. Are there any good character guides out there that would help a newbie avoid most of the critical pitfalls?

Dwarf Paladin is a good combo. I always put all of my stats into STR and STA when I start a tank. Dwarves already have great Wisdom to start, so your mana pool will be great.

Have fun with it!

[Fammaden]

Looks like dwarf starts at 70 agi so he should definitely do the five points in that though?

[DMN]

Ya certainly on green go ahead and grab the 5 agi. you aren't going to want be itemizing for that 5 points of agility all the time. no need to make life even harder on yourself as a hybrid in vanilla.

[Deathrydar]

Looks like dwarf starts at 70 agi so he should definitely do the five points in that though?

Oh yeah! I forgot about that. You kind of HAVE to do this!

[AbstractVision]

A few quests to check out.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Bone_Chips_(Kaladim)

https://wiki.project1999.com/Crushbone_Belts

https://wiki.project1999.com/Shining_Star_of_Light

[Danth]

Hello,

I have never played EverQuest before and am just about to roll onto the new green server to make a Dwarf Paladin, but I don't want to muck my first character up and have to start all over, so I would like to ask some advice in terms of allocating the stats and AA points etc. Are there any good character guides out there that would help a newbie avoid most of the critical pitfalls?

When you create your character, you'll notice some stats are in green (and raised above that race's default) and some are in white. This implies that the green stats are your class's critical stats. This is in fact not necessarily the case. Here's what those green numbers really mean: In addition to every race's base statistics, each class at creation gets 50 additional attribute points, with the game automatically allocating some portion of that 50. The green numbers means points were automatically placed in that attribute. In the case of the Paladin, 30 of the 50 are automatically allocated, some into each of Strength, Stamina, Wisdom, and Charisma. You can place the remaining 20 yourself. On a Dwarf, put at least 5 into Agility, even though it's not "green." Having less than 75 Agility carries a massive penalty to armor rating in-game, and the game doesn't warn you about this at all. For the remaining 15 points, almost any combination of Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, or Wisdom will work and there are arguments for any and all of them. You shouldn't need to add points to Charisma, even though it's green. It's only used for a couple Paladin abilities and as such more usually raised (when needed) through items or buff spells.

Don't fret it too much or over-think it. With only 20 points to allocate out of a 255 cap to all of them, it's not really possible to "break" your character. This is something of a big-numbers game, and 20 points isn't going to make or break anything. At worst you have to deal with some inconvenience, like needing 5 agility from equipment if you put nothing there and have only 70 base.

On a fresh server there is an important quality-of-life consideration with respect to strength and weaker races, but that isn't so critical for Dwarves since they start with a decent value there by default.

Danth

[loramin]

Rimson just made a great new http://wiki.project1999.com/Kaladim_Starting_Guide, and you can find lots of other great guides at http://wiki.project1999.com/Player_Guides.

[Fammaden]

Go 5 agi and rest into STA imo though.

[soronil]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Paladin

Keep in mind Paladins are almost certain to have a 40% xp penalty on green.

Paladins need a group and won't have trouble finding one. In a mixed / balanced group, the difference in how fast each person in the group is leveling, with one person being a warrior and a paladin is going to be less than 10% (the penalties are shared)

Stop trying to scare people off of being hybrids, it's not that big of a deal.

[Deathrydar]

Paladins need a group and won't have trouble finding one. In a mixed / balanced group, the difference in how fast each person in the group is leveling, with one person being a warrior and a paladin is going to be less than 10% (the penalties are shared)

Stop trying to scare people off of being hybrids, it's not that big of a deal.

I was going to say the same thing, but then I thought its not going to stop people from being negative about hybrids...

[DMN]

I don't know. I'd prefer not to be cynical about it, but I'm a little concerned for the prospects of hybrids. it was awfully hard for them to find group once the whole secret got out that the party carries their experience penalty burden.

[Deathrydar]

I don't know. I'd prefer not to be cynical about it, but I'm a little concerned for the prospects of hybrids. it was awfully hard for them to find group once the whole secret got out that the party carries their experience penalty burden.

Because people made a big deal about it. Just don't make a big deal about it and people will play as they did back in 199-2002......no one will care!

[Ghamarro]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Paladin

Keep in mind Paladins are almost certain to have a 40% xp penalty on green.

I don't mind the xp penalty at all as long as it won't hinder me from finding parties that are willing to take me in along with the shared penalty. I don't have much of a time constraint in terms of playing EQ right now so slower leveling while soloing isn't a problem either.

[Ghamarro]

I'd probably ignore that guide and just go strength instead of stamina on green. The extra strength will be far more useful through most of green's lifespan than stamina. Sta is like endgame minmaxing stuff. 99.9% you will never make it to a point where that 15 stam was relevant. But that str will allow you to maintain aggro a bit better, solo a bit better, and carry some more loot. And when you already lug plate armor around extra carry weight is a big boon.

What are the situations in those 0.01% cases like? I'm planning on going at P99 green as hard core as I can, meaning I'll be playing a minimum of 5h a day and 5 days a week for the next 6 months atleast. I have played WoW before and am currently playing Classic so I do have some end game raid experience from that game playing hybrid classes like Paladins and Druids, if that is worth anything coming to EQ1. As I'm unfortunately too young to have experienced EQ1 in its prime when it was in retail and since blue is already a whopping 10 years old, I consider P99 green as my best chance of experienceing the aforementioned to the maximum in it's most authentic form currently available, and that means I have set as my personal goal to try to progress as far as I am able in the end game content. Given that, I hope going your suggested +15 strength instead of stamina won't make me completely useless in those 0.01% scenarios, will it? While I do appreciate being able to solo much better, I still want to be useful all the way to the end, or atleast to not be a dead weight holding the raid group down. I absolutely love hybrid classes like Paladins and Druids etc. in RPGs in general and I don't mind conforming even to some really specific niche roles if that is where I'm most useful for a raid as a Paladin. I do enjoy tanking the most though, healing and utility coming in a close second, and dps as the last, but I don't specifically mind any of those roles - quite the contrary.

[Ghamarro]

Paladins need a group and won't have trouble finding one. In a mixed / balanced group, the difference in how fast each person in the group is leveling, with one person being a warrior and a paladin is going to be less than 10% (the penalties are shared)

Stop trying to scare people off of being hybrids, it's not that big of a deal.

Don't worry; he didn't scare me off. =) My love for hybrids, no matter how broken they might be, is insurmountable. I have played a Druid and a Paladin for the entirety of my WoW career, and even though I enjoy tanking the most, coming to the realization that in WoW Classic I will be tanking only the trash adds and then healing the rest of the time didn't dispirit me in the slightest. =P

[Ghamarro]

Paladins need a group and won't have trouble finding one. In a mixed / balanced group, the difference in how fast each person in the group is leveling, with one person being a warrior and a paladin is going to be less than 10% (the penalties are shared)

Stop trying to scare people off of being hybrids, it's not that big of a deal.

That is good to hear! I'm looking to be very useful in groups and also in end game raids, and I hope my class selection will serve me to that end well.

[Ghamarro]

Call me a raving loonatic, will yah, but the fact that no-one is mentioning AAs even once has made me come to the impression that they don't yet exist in green, and are implemented in a later patch? I was under the impression that screwing up your stats allocation and AAs could completely "gimp" your character in terms of end game viability since neither of those can be reassigned later on. Your replies have given me comfort in that I won't be able to completely destroy my character with silly stat allocs, but what about them AAs? Aren't they kind of like permanent talent points?

[DMN]

AAs don't exist on any of the p99 servers and by all accounts never will.

[Fammaden]

What are the situations in those 0.01% cases like? I'm planning on going at P99 green as hard core as I can, meaning I'll be playing a minimum of 5h a day and 5 days a week for the next 6 months atleast. I have played WoW before and am currently playing Classic so I do have some end game raid experience from that game playing hybrid classes like Paladins and Druids, if that is worth anything coming to EQ1. As I'm unfortunately too young to have experienced EQ1 in its prime when it was in retail and since blue is already a whopping 10 years old, I consider P99 green as my best chance of experienceing the aforementioned to the maximum in it's most authentic form currently available, and that means I have set as my personal goal to try to progress as far as I am able in the end game content. Given that, I hope going your suggested +15 strength instead of stamina won't make me completely useless in those 0.01% scenarios, will it? While I do appreciate being able to solo much better, I still want to be useful all the way to the end, or atleast to not be a dead weight holding the raid group down. I absolutely love hybrid classes like Paladins and Druids etc. in RPGs in general and I don't mind conforming even to some really specific niche roles if that is where I'm most useful for a raid as a Paladin. I do enjoy tanking the most though, healing and utility coming in a close second, and dps as the last, but I don't specifically mind any of those roles - quite the contrary.

Given that this is your approach you should absolutely do STA. STR is much easier to cap with gear and buffs, especially as the game moves into expansions. You like to tank so that STA is going to benefit you more than any other starting stat boost.

As a dwarf you're already starting with 100 str which isn't bad at all. You can carry plenty and the plate won't be terrible on you, and eventually you'll be getting more str on gear to offset it. You aren't a dps class and knight dps is generally terrible for most of the P99 timeline so 15 str isn't going to change that. Paladin isn't generally known for its soloing so even if you end up doing some solo killing 15 str isn't going to make much of a difference in your (slow) kill speed. As far as aggro, paladins have tons of it through spells, that extra str dps isn't a tipping point on holding your threat.

Do the sta and 5 agi path IMO.

[soronil]

That is good to hear! I'm looking to be very useful in groups and also in end game raids, and I hope my class selection will serve me to that end well.

This is one area where your wow experience doesn't translate to EQ. Many of the classes are much less important for raids, but can still go. It also changes over time. A few examples

Rogues -medicore at launch but in velious top DPS
Wizards -top dps at launch but by velious often only used to Port the group there.
Mages -similar just used to Port the group
Enchanters, shaman, druid, bard- just there to buff

They make a lot of those classes face the wall during boss fights(after waiting around 12 hours for it to spawn) - not that fun.

Paladins and SK maybe can off tank stuff sometimes, but they aren't that useful DPS wise (unlike wow where you can change your paladin spec to dps or heal)

[loramin]

Enchanters, shaman, druid, bard- just there to buff

We don't slow in classic (or any other era)?

[Jimjam]

Slow is just a buff to the tanks, dude!

[BlackBellamy]

Rogues -medicore at launch but in velious top DPS


This is one of the things that made me consider Rogue. Because it's all just a nice ride up to the top.

[Nagoya]

CHA for a starting Dwarf Paladin could also be considered IMO.
You start like 20 points under the second-to-last race, and that stat determines whether a Pacify spells critical fails or not, which is often the difference between wipe or try again when the paladin exclaims proudly, "let me split that room guys!"

i'd go +10 CHA +5 STA +5 AGI personnally.
but as above posters said, you could go +20 INT and still be able to play so.. don't put too much thoughts into it ;) the most important in EQ is always the same: lower your expectations, play more.

Number 1 stat in EQ is level.
Number 2 stat in EQ is gear.
Number 3 stat in EQ is skill.
Number 4 stat in EQ is actual stats.

[Cen]

The most important thing, already stated for a Dwarf Paladin is to add 5 points to agility to hit a very special 75 number. The rest isn't as important after that ;D

Also, Dwarf Paladins are extremely fashionable, and I may be joining you as one (but I may also make my first serious Ogre character, or a Human Ranger).

[Ghamarro]

AAs don't exist on any of the p99 servers and by all accounts never will.

Were they introduced in a later expansion that is outside the scope of P99's servers' progression lifespan? Or are they just generally considered such poison that they got left out as a service to humanity?

[Jimjam]

They were introduced with Luclin, an expansion outside the scope of the project.

[Qaldar]

If you are in it for raiding, you won’t be much use as a paladin. Your heals aren’t strong enough or mana efficient to make a difference, and your dps will be negligible. Warriors tank raid mobs so you won’t be tanking either. As a previous commenter mentioned, paladins aren’t the powerhouse here they were in WoW.

I’d highly suggest Druid for your first char if that is your other option. They get around easily with run speed and ports. They can solo easily, and their heals and other buffs make them useful in both raids and groups.

[Reecon]

Paladins are brought on raids to loot stuff that would rot, throw up their 1 HP buff clerics dont get (dps melee will usually take the ranger buff over the pally one, they dont stack), and on rare occasions off tank, pally shine in group content, raiding not so much. Dont let that keep you from playing one, the rogue is my favorite class but a pally is my second favorite EQ class.

[drfuzz]

Regarding 40% hybrid XP penalties... I started EQ about midway between Kunark launch and Velious launch, as an Iksar SK. Some people were leery of the penalty, but I found that if you learned to play your character, it wouldn’t take long before people would look for you for their group. By my 20’s it just didn’t seem to matter to most people.

[saftbudet]

Regarding 40% hybrid XP penalties... I started EQ about midway between Kunark launch and Velious launch, as an Iksar SK. Some people were leery of the penalty, but I found that if you learned to play your character, it wouldn’t take long before people would look for you for their group. By my 20’s it just didn’t seem to matter to most people.

uwww iksar sk ... worst of the worst! I would never tell you in game, but silently in the group I sit there and feel how slow xp goes since you joined. About the same as someone 5+ lvls higher joining.

60% :-)

[drfuzz]

uwww iksar sk ... worst of the worst! I would never tell you in game, but silently in the group I sit there and feel how slow xp goes since you joined. About the same as someone 5+ lvls higher joining.

60% :-)

Xp per mob might have been less per person, but I could pull fast and maintain total aggro so kills were fast. Casters in my groups got used to not ever getting hit. That counted more than not getting quite as much xp. And you build a group of friends who aren’t min/maxers who play to have fun.... you are playing to have fun?

[Ghamarro]

The past few messages claiming that I won't be of any use in an end game raid as a Dwarf Paladin is really disheartening to read as I would've really liked to play that race/class combo specifically. If I truly want to raid, and I mean RAID raid, should I make a druid instead? That's my other favourite class in RPGs in usual. If it soloes decently and is really useful in both party (leveling) content and end game raid content then that could be a better choice for me. What do you guys think?

[Deathrydar]

The past few messages claiming that I won't be of any use in an end game raid as a Dwarf Paladin is really disheartening to read as I would've really liked to play that race/class combo specifically. If I truly want to raid, and I mean RAID raid, should I make a druid instead? That's my other favourite class in RPGs in usual. If it soloes decently and is really useful in both party (leveling) content and end game raid content then that could be a better choice for me. What do you guys think?

I think you need to stop listening to negative people and play what you want!

[Gustoo]

Paladin and Ranger and Shadowknight are great.

Play and enjoy.

They can do a lot, and can help make themselves and others basically invincible.

They're a hybrid and their utility is hybridized. We can't all roll mages which is pretty much best strategy for all content. So..yeah.

Dwarf Pally FTW.

[Deathrydar]

Paladin and Ranger and Shadowknight are great.

Play and enjoy.


Dwarf Pally FTW.