Gifts from the Gods: Paladin Spellcasting

By Save-vs.-DM

One of the many divine gifts that paladins receive is the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. These spells are drawn from the cleric spell list and can give paladins the edge they need in a tough combat. This guide is intended to separate the wheat from the chaff and highlight both general spellcasting tips as well as important paladin spells.

Spellcasting Ability

Paladins are divine spellcasters, and as such, use Wisdom to determine what level of spell they can cast and how many bonus spell points they receive at each level. To be able to cast spells, a paladin must have a Wisdom of 10 + spell level (so you need an 11 wisdom to cast 1st level spells and a 12 wisdom to cast 2nd level spells). You gain bonus spell points for having a Wisdom modifier of +1 or higher.

You can use magic items to increase your Wisdom in order to either gain additional spell points or raise your Wisdom to a sufficient level to gain access to spells. For example, if you have a 10 Wisdom, a magic item that grants a +1 to your Wisdom would allow you to cast 1st level spells, provided you have spell points.

In general, most paladins should start with a Wisdom no lower than 10, with a 12 being preferable. A 12 Wisdom will grant you a few bonus spell points at Level four, allowing you access to your spells at the earliest opportunity. A wisdom higher than 12 is generally not worth purchasing at character creation, as the small amount of bonus spell points aren't worth lowering your other ability scores.

Spell Point Conservation

The most important thing to remember about paladin spellcasting is to conserve your spell points. Paladins will generally have around 110 to 200 spell points at 10th level, depending upon their Wisdom score and the magic items they possess. Due to your limited spell point pool, you'll have to understand when to spend spell points and when to conserve them. In general, try to avoid casting spells if a full spellcaster in the party can cast them for you. Also, you'll want to save your spell points for important fights or for patching up the wounded before using a rest shrine.
 

General Tips

Paladin spells come in two varieties: curative and combat enhancements. For the most part, paladins use their spells to improve their combat prowess prior to important or large fights. One important thing to remember is that if you're in a group with a cleric, talk with the cleric about what spells he is preparing. You can avoid preparing spells that the cleric has memorized, therefore freeing up your very limited spell slots for more useful spells. For example, if the cleric has memorized Bless, you most likely do not need to prepare the same spell, as the spells will not stack with each other. Conversely, you can prepare a spell that doesn't need to be cast very often instead of the party cleric, therefore freeing up a spell slot for the cleric. This works well with spells like Lesser Restoration, as you will not need to cast this spell very often between rests.

First Level Spells

 Paladins can memorize a single first level spell starting at fourth level, provided they have a Wisdom of 12 or higher. They can memorize two first level spells at sixth level, provided they have a Wisdom of 11 or higher. Useful first level spells for the paladin include the following:

• Bless: This spell provides you and your nearby allies with a +1 bonus on attack rolls and saves versus fear for one minute per caster level. Memorize this spell only if you're in a large group without a cleric.
• Cure Light Wounds: This spell cures 1d8 + 1 per caster level hit points to a target. This spell won't allow you to play the roll of a main healer, but if you're in a small group or solo, it's worth memorizing just to provide a little bit of additional healing.
• Divine Favor: This is the bread and butter spell of the paladin class. This should be the one spell you almost always have memorized. It provides a scaling bonus to attack and damage rolls for a minute, starting at +2. Generally, it's good to cast this spell before every tough fight if you have the spell points to do so.
• Lesser Restoration: This spell is worth mentioning, as paladins gain lesser restoration as a first level spell. Prepare this spell to enable the cleric in your party to prepare an additional second level spell.
• Vigor: In most instances, Vigor is actually more useful than Cure Light Wounds to a paladin. It grants a number of temporary hit points equal to 10 + 2 per level after 4th (max 20) for one minute per caster level. As this spell always gives you at least 10 temporary hit points, it's often a more efficient form of “healing” than Cure Light Wounds, as the temporary hit points are lost first. This is usually a good second spell to prepare in addition to Divine Favor.
  

Second Level Spells

Paladins can memorize a single second level spell at eighth level, and additional second level spell at tenth level, provided the paladin has a Wisdom of 12 or higher. Useful second level spells for the paladin include the following:

• Bull's Strength: With a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength, what's not to like about this spell?  About the only reason you shouldn't prepare this spell is if you have a magic item that grants you a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength. In addition, you can cast this on other party members.
• Eagle's Splendor: Everything that's good about Bull's Strength is equally good about this spell, save that you gain a +4 enhancement bonus to Charisma. Given how important Charisma is to paladins, you should definitely memorize this spell in addition to Bull's Strength, unless you have a magic item that provides a +4 enhancement bonus to Charisma.
• Resist Energy (Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, or Sonic): This is a good spell to prepare if you're in a dungeon that does a lot of elemental damage. Otherwise, stick with Bull's Strength and Eagle's Splendor.
  

Dirty Tricks

There are a few so called “dirty tricks” that you can use with paladin spellcasting. If you're in a party with a cleric who has the Divine Vitality Enhancement, have him (or yourself) cast Owl's Wisdom on you and then use Divine Vitality to restore your newly gained bonus spell points. This can often grant you enough bonus spell points to cast one or two new spells.

Conclusion

As you can see, paladins have a small array of potent spells that can put them on equal footing with the fighter. By choosing your spells wisely and conserving your spell points, you can give yourself a little extra oomph to make those hard fights a bit easier.

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