Paladin: Guide by Larahmie

Introduction
Welcome to my quaint little Paladin guide. Now, first, a few disclaimers: 1) This is a guide, and as such, I feel as though I must say: these are my ideas and experiences; people will undoubtedly disagree with me. If you're not sure about something I say, feel free to test it - what worked for me may not work for you, or it may work well.  My hope is that you'll find the latter.

2) Throughout my Paladin career, and still today, I hold the idea that a Paladin has two jobs: to hold hate, and to not die while holding said hate.

With that said, let the guide begin.

Introduction to the Paladin Job
In Final Fantasy 11, there are three classes of jobs: Damage Dealing (DD), Tanking, and Support. Many jobs can skew these lines (take Corsair, for example, which bridges the lines between DD and Support), while some jobs are almost solely focused on one specific classification. Most jobs, also, can equip gear that would normally allow them to do things they normally don't: for example, a White Mage in Reverend Mail, with a Darksteel Maul and Hexa Strike can do good damage, especially on skeletons and the like; however, ultimately, even with all this gear, a White Mage's job is to heal, first and foremost.

Paladin is a focused tank, first and foremost. Paladin Job Abiltiies focus on surviving and gaining enmity, or hate, and a lot of the Paladin-focused armor, including its Artifact Armor. Paladins can capitalize on this through creative use of subjob and gear, and I will go into this somewhat later, but ultimately, when you become a Paladin, you are becoming a tank. If you're looking for a support class that can take a few hits, look into Red Mage, if you want a DD that can cast magic, I'd suggest Dark Knight. If you want to be a more damage-focused tank, then Ninja is where you want to go. However, if you want to be a brick-wall that can hold hate and blood tank the most ferocious of beasts, then Paladin is exactly where you want to be.]]

Story wise, Paladins are the knights in shining armor, gallant and noble adventurers who have taken the protection and safety of others to be their primary goal. They are well acclaimed in San d'Oria for their chivalrous deeds, although the steadfast determination and righteousness of these noble warriors is welcome virtually everywhere in Vana'diel. A great many legends surround Paladins and their feats of courage and heroism, and any adventurer wearing the trademark white armor of the Paladin is often given the same respect and admiration afforded the knights in these olden legends.

Stats, Attributes, and You
A lot of guides will tell you a Paladin's primary stat, and what stat is important when. I, too, will tell you the Paladin's main stats - they're fairly obvious once you know how they work, explain what they do, and tell you how I saw things in my experiences. However, as far as which stats are most important is going to depend on your experiences; it is my hope that these explanations will give you the tools to make these adjustments as necessary. I'll discuss the primary attributes first, listing in terms of what I feel to be the most important stats, and then secondary stats.

Primary Stats
These stats are the core stats of any character: Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Vitality, Mind, Intelligence, and Charisma. These seven stats, along with the "secondary stats" (themselves modified by the primary stats) are the gauges by which every spell and combat action is calculated.

Vitality (VIT)
Many people pin Vitality as one of a Paladin's most important attributes, and I am not going to disagree. Vitality, other than affecting Defense at a rate of 2 VIT = +1 Defense, Vitality basically lowers the "range" of damage. A simplified way of looking at how it works is that Vitality lowers the possible amount of damage you take. Say, for example, a hit could strike you for anywhere from 75-100 damage, but when you add Vitality to it, that range could lower to, say, 60-85 damage. These numbers are arbitrary, of course, but that's the general idea: the more Vitality you have, the lower the "big damage" numbers will be.

Agility (AGI)
Agility affects a great many things in the game, but there are three that are particularly important to a Paladin: the rates of shield blocks and parrying, and calculation of Critical Hits. Basically, the more Agility you have, the more likely you are to block with your shield or parry the attack (and evade, as well, but considering Paladin evasion skill and gear, this is less likely to happen, and shouldn't be relied upon). Also, a Critical Hit is calculated by an opposed check between Dexterity and Agility - which is why you see Thieves crit more and get critted on less. So, in essence, by boosting your Agility up, you will be blocking with your shield and parrying more - which will reduce damage directly - and you will be suffering from fewer critical hits - which keeps you alive longer.

Dexterity (DEX)
Dexterity and Strength are both important to melee weapons, but in different ways. Dexterity gives to melee attacks accuracy (in the conversion of 2 DEX = +1 Accuracy for one-handed weapons, and 1 DEX = +1 Accuracy for two-handed weapons), and affects some weapon-skills. It is also the stat used to calculate the frequency in which characters strike with critical hits. Basically, even though Paladins are not DD, hitting with their weapon and damaging the enemy is still useful to them for hate and TP, and even in later levels, where Paladins hit for little damage, the bottom line is that you can't use Spirits Within without TP.

Strength (STR)
Strength determines a character's melee damage. For one-handed weapons, 2 STR = +1 Attack, and for two-handed weapons, 1 STR = +1 Attack. Strength is also a common modifier on many weaponskills. Generally speaking, the more Strength a character possesses, the more damage they hit for. Again, although Paladins are not damage dealers, any extra damage they hit for is more hate for them.

Mind (MND)
Mind is important to a Paladin for two reasons: cures and resists. Cures take their strength off of Mind, and the more Mind you have, the faster you'll be hitting cure caps, which means more HP for your MP, and more hate for your MP. Also, any Mind-based enfeebles, such as Slow, Paralyze, or Silence, are resisted based on how much Mind the victim has - which means, with more Mind, you're more likely to resist these spells when cast on you.

Intelligence (INT)
Although Paladins don't have any native spells that are modified based on Intelligence, they are still going to be hit with spells that base their resist rates on the Intelligence stat. Because of this, any black-magic spells that hit the Paladin - everything from elemental magic to enfeebles such as sleep or bind - are going to calculate their resistance rates off of the Paladin's intelligence.

Charisma (CHR)
Charisma is a mysterious stat, as its effects are not often directly seen. It used to be rumored that Charisma affected hate, but Square Enix stated this to be false. Charisma affects offensive bard songs, cures, and the activation of "killer" traits (of which, Paladin possesses "Undead Killer", which is one of the only uses of this stat), and also affects resistance to bard songs and charm effects. Because of the unreliability of killer traits, and the rarity of fighting mobs where charm or bard song resistance is needed, Charisma finds itself relegated to the bottom of this list.

Secondary Stats
Secondary Stats are stats used in the calculation of various battle actions and spell effects, although they often modify these in different ways than the primary stats and, in some cases, secondary stats are modified by the primary stats, as well.

Accuracy (ACC)
Accuracy determines how often your melee attacks hit and is modified by the Dexterity stat. This stat is important in both normal melee and in weaponskills - especially multi-hit ones. For Paladins, Accuracy gear is important, arguably more so than Dexterity: although our skill in Swords is very good, much of our gear often goes to tanking, which means that directly modifying accuracy instead of Dexterity can often mean the difference between hitting the mob and missing repeatedly.

Attack (ATK)
Attack determines the striking power of melee attacks, and is modified by the Strength stat. Although Attack is important to a Paladin's melee ability, it isn't as important as Accuracy, since, again, much of our gear goes towards tanking, not damage dealing. Still, if the equipment slot can be spared, investing in Attack gear can help with hate management.

Magic Defense Bonus (MDB)
Magic Defense Bonus affects resistance to magic spells in a more dynamic way than the primary stats do. Awarded by the job trait of the same name, available to White Mages and Red Mages, and by various pieces of equipment, Magic Defense Bonus can be useful to a Paladin if he or she knows they will be facing an enemy that relies heavily on magic attacks. Unfortunately, many of the pieces that give uprgades to this stat are in slots that are normally reserved for important pieces of gear, which means that the sacrifies that are needed to equip these pieces of gear are often ill advised for normal tanking situations.

Magic Attack Bonus (MAB)
Magic Attack Bonus does exactly what it says: makes offensive magic spells more powerful. Afforded by the job trait of the same name, Magic Attack Bonus is given by the Red Mage and Black Mage jobs, and also awarded by various equipment. Ultimately, this trait means little to a Paladin, as our only offensive spells; Banish, Banish II, and Holy, are typically ineffective against any mob even approaching the Paladin's level, including undead.