Paladin Chronicle by Gixander Part IV

Spells and Abilities
This is the Dunes...and you have to fear it. Right off the bat you have Protect (Level 10)...and you won't use another scroll until Cure II at Level 17. Protect is very good to have in the Dunes, and the series of protective spells (both Protect and Shell) are always useful. No matter what I'm doing, I'm certain to keep Protect on at all times. If it drops...I throw it back up. Cure II will help out later once you get it, as the soft cap (the basic cap without any alterations from Mind, Vitality, or bonuses later on such as "Cure Potency+") raises from 30 to 90.

For Job Traits, you get Defense Bonus I at 10 (perhaps Square-Enix anticipated the Dunes for Paladin and gave them both a Defense Bonus and Protect). Defense Bonus gives an increasing value for each upgrade (10 at L10, 22 at L30, 35 at L50, and 48 at L70). Having both Protect and Defense Bonus I give you a full 20 points of defense over your equipment and base values. And in the Dunes, as you should know from taking at least two jobs into it (one for subjob ability and one for Paladin sub).

The only other trait you'll get is Resist Sleep. Remember that "Resist" traits are not what most people think. Yes, they do give a small chance of resisting sleeping. However, they don't have a high chance of procing (activating), so don't go out expecting "Resist Sleep" to prevent Sleep from taking effect. Over the entire year I've been playing, Resist Sleep has only proc'd 3 times. However, the Resist traits decrease the length of time the status effect lasts. Resist Sleep (all three versions of L20, L40, and L60) decrease the duration of Sleep by a large amount.

As far as new abilities go, you get one ability. But it's a good one: Shield Bash. Obviously, by the name, you must have a shield equipped (so it won't work with any two handed weapon equipped or if you have a Sword or Club or Dagger without anything in the sub-hand slot). When used, Shield Bash will make your character slam their shield into the enemy, doing a bit of damage (not much), makes the mob angry (a nice enmity boost around 1/2 that of Provoke according to testing), and has a chance of stunning the enemy. Stun is a pain when anyone gets it, because you can't move, and any spell you were about to cast still goes through most of the casting timer (around 82% usually) before you get the message that your casting was interrupted. While gathering information on other uses for skills and abilities, I actually learned you can still Shield Bash a monster having used Perfect Dodge. Interesting...since Perfect Dodge is designed to avoid physical attacks.

Weaponry
Swords

Daggers

Polearms