Paladin Chronicle by Gixander

Introduction
Hello, my name is Gixander. I currently eek out a living on the Fairy server as a fledgling Paladin/Warrior of the Elvaan race; previously I was a Tarutaru White Mage up in the 72 White Mage / 36 Black Mage range. Having got tired of dealing with keeping the party alive from a magical standpoint, I decided to flip to the opposite side of the coin. Now, you may think that White Mages and Paladins have a little bit more of a difference than just two sides of the same coin. This is true, but one of the things I pride myself on is the fact that I do a lot of research into how jobs worked.

When I was a White Mage, I had always planned on keeping that as my main. I made certain as I levelled that I opened all of the jobs (all 20) and started playing them. I got them all at least into the dreaded Valkurm Dunes, so I had a bit of first hand experience as to how each job functioned. Even knowing low levels playing tactics (and yes, they are different even from 1-20) helped me to predict what players would do nearing End-Game.

This guide is not meant to be a "here's what you are going to do in order to level and here's how to do it". There are too many guides like that scattered across the internet. In addition, many of those guides start out with the immediate disclaimer that the reader will have to "bear with them" since they are now level 75 and writing about experiences a level 1 player will have.

BIG DIFFERENCE!

The only disclaimer that I will make at this point is that I assume a few things about you as a starting Paladin:


 * You have levelled Warrior to 37 (subjob-level). As this is still the most popular, it is the only one I've included.
 * You have 30k, just like I did. This is extremely doable at this stage, and I personally would have had more, but I didn't want to sell any of my 30ish equipment until I was done with it on Paladin.
 * You have the ability to ride chocobos (since you've been 37 already, you should have this).
 * I do not assume you have the Airship available.
 * I do not assume you levelled Sword and Shield, as I did. It helps, but if you didn't you'll get very nice skillups (both are A+ skills).
 * I assume you do not have any equipment related to the job.
 * You have completed the Paladin Flag Quest and are sitting as a PLD01/WAR01 wondering what to do next.

While this is not a true and accurate assumption of any job, I am writing this guide from the perspective of a San d'Orian citizen. There was no reason for choosing San d'Oria as my starting city with the exception of everything regarding acquiring Paladin occurs in San d'Oria. Later on, I will review the databases and attempt to put information about starting a Paladin from Windurst or Bastok.

Layout
Any good guide has a nice layout; not necessarily a layout which pleases the eye (with all those funky tables and such that clog up the screen), but one that helps you answer the question "Where is this information?" with the answer "Here it is, right here."

This guide is divided, similar to other guides, by level. But underneath that, the following section headers are listed.


 * Initial Tidbits : This section gives an overview of sorts for the levels, such as what areas you will be heading into, what you should generally be looking for in a party, what the ability to solo in this level range is; may not seem very information heavy, but it helps to know what the outlook for the near future is.
 * Spells and Abilities : Self-explanatory. Spells are the Paladin's second way of life, following the ever-popular Meat-Shield reference. Your spells, to the onlooker, are nothing more than a red flashing neon sign over your head directing the mob to hit you. This section will help to overcome that idea. Abilties, which for the purposes of shortened section headers will also be the section discussing job traits, covers those extra things that define Paladin versus a Warrior with a severly gimped White Mage subjob.
 * The Cost of Survival : This section kinda lumps two sections together, one that deals with equipment and its cost, and one that deals with items and their cost. Not only will this cover information pertaining to what new equipment is available, but also a mini cost-comparision of the statistics. While I don't mean to suggest that I know everything about the inner workings of the game, feel free to read this section for more than just "Here's a list of items I can buy."
 * Locationx3 : Because it's shorter than Location Location Location; this section covers the area you are most likely going to be looking to solo or party in. This is basically nothing more than a suggestion of camping area, with a few words on why I'm suggesting this area.
 * Monsters Galore : Because I didn't give enough information in the Locationx3 section; Monsters Galore starts to review each monster in the area that you will be fighting in this level, and some ideas on what to do to fight them adequately.
 * Journal: Level by Level : A different viewpoint from the above, this is sort of a mini-journal of what I was learning as I was leveling through this portion of Paladin.

Fledgling Paladin, Part I (Levels 1-6)
Initial Tidbits So, now you find yourself as a level 1 Paladin sitting (or standing for that matter) in San d'Oria. Your first thought might be: ''How come nobody is inviting me to a party? I thought Paladins got all the invites!'' Well, just like everybody else, you have to make it through to level 10ish before people actually want to start partying. Not always true, of course; you might get lucky and find a party who would want to party in the 7-10 range in La Theine Plateau, but these are rare to come by.

So, the first ten levels are divided into two groups, with the only difference being a spell and a weaponskill. The first group, levels 1-6, are nothing more than getting used to being a Level 1-6 Warrior with a Level 0.25 White Mage. Yes, I know that's a bit harsh, but for the time being, you are nothing more than a hack-and-slash damage dealer with the ability to throw up a Cure or two. If you choose a Tarutaru, maybe a third Cure as well.

Spells and Abilities

So, what do you have in the way of Spells and Abilities between levels 1 and 6? Well, for spells, you only have Cure, but unfortunately you don't even have that until level 5. And when you do, you are already way behind the capped skill curve (assuming that you had no skill whatsoever in Healing Magic). I will say this: I spent about an hour capping my Healing Magic out. Take this into consideration: Keeping Healing Magic capped, as with all other skills, HELPS IMMENSLY. You don't have that much MP to begin with, so my suggestion is to go to the Auction House, and go into Food. Under the Sweets-and-Drinks section, you'll find the pies. Grab a stack of Apple Pies, since they are the cheapest and you really don't need the higher tiers of pies just yet. Apple Pies give a few bonuses to statistics, but for our purposes here, the statistical increase we are focusing on is the +25 MP. In my case, at level 5 I had 26 MP base, so 51 MP after eating a Pie. Maybe not a lot of MP to people beginning Paladin from a mage job, but 51 MP allows you to perform 6 Cures before having to heal. 6 Cures versus a standard 3 means less time healing and faster capping of the skill; it also means a little bit more in the lines of survivability as you approach level 10.

As far as you are concerned, you only have two job abilities in this level range, Invincible at Level 1 and Holy Circle at Level 5. Invincible is the god-send of two-hours: the ability to negate all physical damage for 30 seconds. Now, I'll stop you right here because I learned second-hand (remember, I used to be a White Mage) that Invicible does not make your Paladin an impregnable fortress. Invincible prevents all physical damage, right? Magical damage, such as a mob casting Fire, will still damage your Paladin. There are many reasons you might use this. The most-oft use of this is the "Oh Crap" effect, when your party gets aggro through a link. The Paladin will hit the mob (or perform an action on someone who has) to gain emnity, then fire off Invicible. If anybody out there is reading this and is not going to be a Paladin, i.e. is just reading this to understand the job better, then if you see a Paladin fire off Invicible please, do us a favor and RUN TO THE NEAREST ZONE! That's the whole point. If the Paladin can give you a 30 second head start, why are you waiting around? Other uses may come up, and if I ever am forced to use the two-hour, you'll hear about the event and what may have happened.

At level 5, you gain Holy Circle. Start screaming "Yay!". So many people have attacked this ability, as they have with all the abilities ending in the word Circle, as a bad use of an ability slot. Holy Circle is a ten minute recast ability which increases your ability to intimidate undead for a full minute. This is different than what the scrolling information says in-game. The in-game description, "grants resistance against undead to party members within an area of effect", makes it sound like it just resists anything undead. I was never certain how that would work in practice, but if you've ever seen the statement "The is intimidated by 's presence" on your screen, that's what this does. This form of intimidation is like going to attack a monster, and when you go to swing, he rears up and roars, and instead of attacking you go "Dang!" Easy way to put it is that there is a chance that with this up party members will intimidate the monster. Useful in the dunes at night, but not when just starting out.

At level 5, you also gain the passive trait version of Holy Circle, entitled Undead Killer. Undead Killer does the same thing as Holy Circle, but it's always active on you. No casting anything, you get the ability to intimidate your undead opponent naturally. After all, you are a Holy Knight.