Here's a few build ideas I've been brainstorming lately for a Paladin:

-2 Hander Paladin

Best likely Race: Orc, Redguard, Nord

2 Handed Weapons
Restoration
Destruction
Enchanting
Smithy
Armor (Heavy)


This build really focuses on creating a powerful 2 handed weapon with both crafting skills and going all offense. With the use of Hotkeys, one can switch to a powerful close range damage spell after your fatigue is down, or perhaps fire off a ranged bolt before charging the enemy


-Dual Wielder Paladin

Best likely Race: Redguard

1 handed
Alteration
Restoration
Armor
Enchanting
Smithing

I swapped Destruction for Alteration because I don't think its possible to block while duel wielding. This build will still likely have good damage potential, and more utility spells and defense compared to the 2 hander, at the expense of relying mainly on melee strikes and no blocking.


-Sword and Board Paladin

Best likely Race: Nord, Imperial, Orc

1 Handed
Block/Shield
Alteration
Restoration
Armor
Smithing/Enchanting


Unsurpassed defense! Traditional type of paladin barring no Speechcraft. Probably the worst at potential damage, and likely lack of ranged attacks. But this build likely has the best chance to face waves of opponents and live.


-Spellsword Paladin

Best likely Race: Breton or High Elf

1 handed
Alteration
Restoration
Destruction
Armor (Heavy)
Enchanting

Disadvantages: No blocking, weaker melee damage too. But there's still good defensive potential, as you'll always be able to cast a spell, and youll have up to 3 of your skills healing/buffing you in battle. And this build is the best suited for ranged fights.

I really miss having the option to do a Paladin character like in the old Baulders Gate series

weapon and shield, because I stand for being a defender!
Illusion, because the way of bypassing battle is better than fighting.

...

I go with sword and shield. When I think Paladin, I think lots of shiny armor and a shield with a big crest on it. As for magic... restoration is the obvious one, but then I think of 'helping others' and being noble... so I'd pick enchanting. Fireballs or illusion seem to 'Battlemage-ish' for me...

I agree with the Illusion argument. Still, illusion by its very nature breaks away from the mold of a Paladin (honesty, no stealth).

Illusion is a powerful school though, good choice



Not all Paladins wield a shield, though most old school ones do. My avatar shows a Paladin that duel wields

Think of Destruction as the righteous fury of a Paladin in magic. Fire does work well on the undead after all




As for me, I'd go 2 Handed. Nothing beats swinging a blessed hammer/claymore at a row of skeletons

Magic wise is a toss up for me, between Alteration, Destruction, and Enchanting. Alteration works very well in terms of buffs and utility. Destruction is the holy fire that compliments the melee. And Enchanting feels a lot like blessing a weapon, not in terms of it actually being good in effect but in purpose. Turn Undead comes to mind (Damned Conjuration tree)

This is TES not WoW or baldour they are called crusaders not paladins

Paladin in TES takes a more Tolkien meaning, sooo...

Two-Handed (Claymore)
Block
Mitigation(Light Armor)
Sneak
Alchemy
Archery

I play a very traditional paladin aka the superb defensive tank. Most abilities are self explanatory.

Sword
Mace
Heavy Armor
Shield
Restoration
Alchemy
Alteration - utility magic that fits the divine crusader idea (walking on water lol)

I always envision the warrior priest from Warhammer as being the ideal paladin model.

2 Handed skills (using a great hammer)
Alteration (for defensive wards)
Heavy Armour
Restoration
And enchanting (any Paladin worth his salt has a truckload of talismans at hand.

I'd go for illusion for the use of Light spells. Restoration is a given of course, but as Paladins are meant to be Warriors of the Light or whatnot the abiltity to summon light wherever you are wuld be useful. (And dramatic)

surprised people are stating the actual builds for Crusaders when there was a discussion a month or so back about how Crusader/Paladins won't be able to heal themselves when needed during battle because you can't use spells with 2 handers hmm.

I would personally opt for One-Handed (focusing on Blunt weapons for that nice armor piercing perk), Block (for shields, duh!), and, besides Restoration, Enchantment, so I can make all of my equipment endowed with awesome holy powers and godly boons.


That's what the favorites system is for, friend. Just press the d-pad or a hotkey and switch to a spell combo and use that, then switch back over.

Im afraid my mouse does not have that many buttons and im one of those backwards people who use Arrow keys instead of the letters.

within reach I have my run/walk button, Crouch, ready/sheath weapon, Jump, and now SPRINT AND Block....so yeah.... D:

Hopefully they will allow us to change every key to our liking.

As for some of these builds, they're pretty out there. 7 skills is most likely not going to be optimal in Skyrim. I'm envisioning more like 5 at most, with 3-4 being the main focus. The rest will most likely see modest increases, but most players will likely have a good core of 3 main skills that do most of the work.

If you want to go for a classical paladin then I′d say you should go for...

Weapons: Sword & Board (They live to protect, it is a must for any classical paladin to go for a shield, magic and physical damage comes 2nd)

Race: Imperial (Paladins have been seen as leader figures, they don′t protect the public in the shadows silently muttering to themselves. No they take the lead shining with charisma lifting the spirits of their weary subjects inspiring awe and courage in those on his side while striking fear and spite into his enemies)

Skills:

1 Handed Weapon skill
Block/Shield
Alteration (old versions of paladins would pray to their god for protection and health, can′t really do that too well so this will have to do)
Restoration (see alteration)
Armor (would be heavy specifically if possible)
Speechcraft/Charisma (or whatever it may be called, if there is no such skill you should go for destruction to take down Daedra and Undead (and whatever other creatures insult your gods))

This should be the most like classic representation of a paladin but how effective it is for playing is another matter but if you′re role playing a classic paladin you probably want to go with this.

Totally disagree. I base my idea of the paladin off of some of the medieval fighting monks. They were not allowed to "draw blood". So they took it literally and beat people to death with cudgels and the like, as that would not draw blood (just break so many bones in someones body and rupture organs until they died!). That's why I build my paladin's with blunt weapons.

Sword and Board male Nord is the way to go for me! That will be the first character I create as always followed by a female Bosmer Archer Thief. Petrose and Rach'el, respectively.

Peace, +Petrose

quote Orzorn: Totally disagree. I base my idea of the paladin off of some of the medieval fighting monks. They were not allowed to "draw blood". So they took it literally and beat people to death with cudgels and the like, as that would not draw blood (just break so many bones in someones body and rupture organs until they died!). That's why I build my paladin's with blunt weapons. unquote.

This is still just your idea based on your experience which is the exception to the rule. The vast majority of Medieval European monks did no fighting whatsoever (there was one famous "order" of warriors modeled after monastic communities, but they were not really monks) and many descriptions of Paladins in medieval fantasy are sword and board. Truth is that Paladin and Crusader are pretty much the same thing and used a wide range of weaponry available at any given Medieval time.

With only 50 perks available you can only specialize in 3 or 4 perk trees, so character builds may need to be a bit more specialized than most of the above, perkwise at least.

I'd say there are 5 absolutely essential skills for a Paladin:
- Weapon (whether 1-handed or 2-handed)
- Heavy Armour
- Restoration
- Smithing (not very Paladinish, but it's been pretty much a must have skill for melee characters in previous TES games)
- Block

So even before we start considering Speechcraft and secondary magic skills, I think there are going to be some tough decisions to be made about the above 5 skills (and perks).

PS It may also be manditory for melee characters to allocate a few perks to encumbrance boosts to make up for the loss of the Strength attribute, but we don't really know how that will work yet.

Either two-handed sword or sword with shield.

No other magic skills except restoration. Paladins are mainly fighters, not magic users.

My Paladin build will look like this:

Nord
2-handed(with perks in warhammer/2-handed mace)
Armor/Heavy Armor
Restoration
Smithing
Block
Alteration
Enchant

In combat I will bash my enemies skull in with my hammer while being protected by my heavy armor and shield spells. I will also put a lot of perks in restoration. All equipment is of cource ebchanted at higher lvls.

Definitely a two hander, with alteration after restoration to further defensive/utility.

1-H blunt weapon with shield(hotkeys would include, blunt'n'board, heal'n'board, double heal)
Block
Heavy armor
Restoration
Smithing/enchanting

Dunno what to choose when it comes to enchanting and smithing. I'm like, smithing cuz the priest's does the enchanting(RP perspective), and also enchanting because a warrior arent a smith and a holy warroir should now some chants which gives protection against evil and undead(aka enchanting)

For some reason I found that Bretons fit well for the role of a paladin. When RPing in Oblivion using the knights of the nine expansion I would use strictly my sword and sheild, restoration, and banishing undead/human spells. I would allow myself to occasionally use enhancing spells and a few illusive spells but only once in a while. I would hunt down daedra, necromancers, and vampires.
I usually don't use two handed weapons, but there's nothing wrong with it.

Sword and board is what I'm rolling first, and I like the paladain idea. It's pretty much decided for me now. Also I chose enchanting for secondary, because I think I'll sort of replace the word "Enchant" with "Bless" as I role-play the character.

1 Handed weapons
Shield/Block
Restoration
Enchanting
Armorer/Smithing
Heavy armour