A pure paladin is a bad char.
Its a worse fighter than a fighter and a worse caster than a cleric.

Often a cleric (or favoured soul) is a better fighter than a fighter, because they can buff themselves and the party and they have a bit offensive magic too.

The cleric I made was meant to be a typical "white knight". He is not the worst fighter, not the worst caster, can buff himself and the party well and has some immunities. Its good in several things but perfect in none. Human would be a good choice for a beginner.

I also made this: http://nwn2db.com/build/?163388
It a better "white knight" than the cleric from above.
As a beginner, take human, change stats (16, 10, 14, 10, 10, 16 for example) and feat order a bit and take diplomacy instead of spot.
Remember that is is a great fighter when buffed, but its offensive magic is pathetic because of his low (wisdom based) DC.
Extended divine power + persistant divine favour + fovoured soul haste + epic divine might will make you a god. But it takes some time until you get there.

The game's not that difficult, so go with what appeals to you. If the Aasimar character build you posted looks good to you and seems like you'd have fun with it, then go for it. Don't worry about 1 level ECL. It's not a big deal, especially for a character that's not relying on magic for offense.

Granted this coming from a noob, but what I've read it sounds like clerics must buff up so much before every fight, which sounds tedious and kind of cheesy to me. But I don't know sht about this game either. : )

Depends how you build them. Many people go with moderate STR and high WIS, thus allowing you to be a bit of an offensive caster, but you can go the other way around and go more for the 'holy warrior' type of build. It's not so much that you require buffing, but you have access to so many good buffs that it would be a bit silly to ignore them. You don't have to use a ton of them though. Just use the ones you feel are all-purpose and go with those on a regular basis. Have others handy for tough encounters.

If you're still considering a Human Paladin build, I'd suggest just grabbing a few levels of Fighter as well for some extra feats, Paladin spells aren't all that great, so if they're delayed a bit it's no big deal. If you like the melee-centered approach of your holy warrior, you could consider dipping into Divine Champion down the line for even more feats and extra benefits. Easy build to play that doesn't require a ton of buffs, gets some nice class benefits, gets a few extra feats as well, and allows you to concentrate on beating down those heathen mobs.

I had thought about a bit of fighter. Does it matter when I take them? Suggestions on how many levels of fighter? Because paladin spells are delayed, if I take say 3 levels of fighter to start, does that mean I won't get paladin spells till like level 7, assuming I switch to paladin at level4?

If you're going for a "sword and shield" Paladin, just make sure you have a good strength and charisma score, and get the "divine might" feat as soon as possible. A single-class Paladin that does nothing but spam divine might is a fine character. Just keep bumping your strength and charisma with magic items and your damage will be great.

Thanks. As I said my character is an Aasimar paladin. I don't know if I will ever multi class him or not, but from what I see the multi class paladin's always seem to use humans instead of Aasimar? is that right?

The Aasimar's favored class is Paladin, so you probably don't need to worry about multi-classing penalties.

But is there an advantage to multiclassing a paladin with a fighter as a human vs as an aasimar?

Only in as much as a Human doesn't have the ECL adjustment, so will be a level ahead of an Aasimar that has the same amount of XP.

As for how many levels of Fighter to take and when: really depends on what you want and when you want it. 4 levels of FTR gets you 3 bonus feats and access to Weapon Specialization for a bit of extra damage. This is generally what I do when multiclassing the Pally to FTR. When to take those FTR levels totally depends on whether you feel getting access to Paladin spells and level-based abilities is more important or whether the extra feats are more important.

In the end, IMO, the only real reason to take FTR levels is to get a few more feats. If you're fine with the amount of feats you get with a pure Paladin build, then just go that route. If you're looking at the feats list and keep thinking to yourself "Damn, I wish I could grab just a couple more feats", then consider grabbing some FTR.

The biggest differences for your character are as follows:

* Aasimar will have a higher wisdom and charisma (both very useful for Paladins)
* Humans will be one level higher than an Aasimar
* Humans receive a bonus feat at the 1st level
* Humans receive additional skill points

* Fighter - great for extra feats. As Coelocanth says, 4 levels is the sweet spot for weapon specialization
* Rogue - great for extra skill points. Sneak attack and evasion are also very nice. Once again, 4 levels is a sweet spot.
* Divine Champion - this is a superb choice, although the list of bonus feats is more limited than the fighter
* Red Dragon Disciple - you'll need to take a level of Sorcerer to qualify, but it's worth it.
* Weapon Master - very difficult to qualify for (you'll need at least 13 dexterity and intelligence, and lots of feats), but very powerful once you get it.

Keep in mind that, as prestige classes, the Divine Champion, Red Dragon Disciple, and Weapon Master are not subject to multi-class penalties.

Awesome - thanks again!

Imo the best two sword & board multi-class are favourite soul (intermediate) and sorcerer (novice);

Favourite soul 18 (19) | Paladin 2 (1) is a divine melee fighter class that gets the same weapon skills as a fighter coupled with the type of spell system that sorcerers use… the splash of Paladin really just unlocks epic smite witch is great if you want to play MotB but not much chop otherwise, the best races (in no particular order) are Human, Aasimar, Half elf or Half Drow.

Paladin 8 | Sorcerer 2 | RDD {Red Dragon Disciple} 10 is a VERY strong melee fighter that is simple to play and even considered by some to be a little overpowered. This build is front heavy and doesn't need epic feats to make it viable… best races (same as above) and Wild Elf.

There are up to 4 class or prestige picks per build with several variations but most notable here are, add a splash of Doomguide to the first build to get some better undead fighting synergy without losing your spells or two Divine Champion to the second build for an extra feat.

Again its your game and really you are the guy that best knows what kind of player you are but as a rule of thumb if you want to run forward hacking left and right then my advice is multi-class early and often but if you are the lets hang back and think about this kind of guy then pick a class you like and stick with it until you figger things out… after all I understand that some people have been known to re-play this game more than once so there is probably no wrong answer.