Paladin Armor - lvl 28
 

I am currently lvl 28 on my Paladin and have been borrowing a full set of Imbued Koada, which is great armor but not really that great for my class. I'd like to give this set back it its owner eventually, but before that I'll need to get my own gear.

Let's say I have a 3k budget. What pieces should I be looking for? I know I want to focus on STA and STR - I already have a Deepwater helm, hero bracer, heavy velium brawlstick, and silver chitin handwraps.

Crusty? How important is CHA to you?

Crusty? I think the only spell I have that utilizes CHA is Lull, so voerall not very important. My current gear has lots of CHA lol

Not sure, but might be able to get a full set of Ro armor for that price, probaby a lot less. Although it's a fun series of quests to do.

Was referring to Crustacean Shell Armor
A full set gives 109AC, 45STR, 83STA, -10DEX, -48CHA

Compared to Armor or Ro
A full set gives 98ac 35hp 4str 6sta 6dex 14wis and 10 to all resists

Similar, although you said you wanted to focus on STR/STA which is why I suggested Crustacean (although major -CHA, which is why I asked). Can always mix and match too if you wanted. Prices are probably pretty similar between the two, although crustacean is probably easier to sell off once you're done with it since it's not PAL specific.

Ah Crustacean looks pretty good! Thanks! Ro armor looks pretty good as well, but I'd have to work on my armorsmithing.

A mixture of Crusty and DW armor should last you well into your 50's, or until you can get Velious quest or planar armor.

So I'm assuming that I should prioritize AC over everything? I am MTing usually for my group of friends so that make sense

In general, yes.
It's less important pre-50ish since you'll hit the soft cap so easily, but aside from resists (and agility, if you want to count that) it's the only stat available to you that will actually reduce the amount of damage you take in a fight - stamina and HP only delay the inevitable. So in a group setting, as long as your healer isn't constantly overhealing due to you having a tiny amount of max HP to work with, it's more efficient to focus on AC.

That said, having more HP can really save your ass if the healer runs out of mana or shit just generally hits the fan. So you still need plenty of that too :P
In general, i'd say focusing on flat HP gear until 45 then switching to more AC and stamina gives the best quality of life.

Velium fire wedding rings if you don't already have them. Nice hp boost and respectable ac for fingers.

Apart from that I'd fill on cheap junk; it is trivial to reach sufficient AC at your level. Save the plat for something meaningful like jboots/sow pots, regen breastplate, etc imo.