Paladin Chronicle by Gixander

Table of Contents

This Article is a Community Guide
Guides exist as a community effort to help fellow players navigate the game. Opinions and strategies in their content may vary from editor to editor, but feel free to add new or correct out of date information. Guides are subject to the same editing standards of other FFXIclopedia articles.

Current Page Table of Contents	Paladin Chronicle Table of Contents
	Section Levels Link Main Page -- Page 1 Fledgling Paladin, Part I 1-6 Page 2 Fledgling Paladin, Part II 7-10 Page 3 Sand In Your Eye 11-20 Page 4 Frozen Wasteland 21-25 Page 5 Jungle Heat 26-30 Page 6

The Paladin Gixander at a Glance

E-mail with suggestions: ouberion @ live . com

Level: 24 PLD / 12 WAR Race: Elvaan

The following statistics table are meant to show what Gixander current has at the moment, not as an attempt to show off, but as a quick glance at what his status is. I'd prefer to have it look like the graphic on the Linkshell Community, but I'm not that great with the wiki markup, so hopefully this gets the point across for what it needs to.

HP 442 MP 83 STR 33+2 DEX 22+2 VIT 32+5 AGI 17-2 INT 15 MND 29-2 CHR 27 ATK 103 DEF 112

Main Sub Range Ammo Kaiser Sword Shell Shield -- -- Head Neck Ear1 Ear2 Beetle Mask Fang Necklace -- -- Body Hands Ring1 Ring 2 Beetle Harness San d'Orian Gloves Tranquility Ring Stamina Ring Back Waist Legs Feet Lizard Mantle Warrior's Belt Beetle Subligar Beetle Leggings Fire Wind Lightning Light 0 0 0 0 Ice Wind Water Dark 0 +4 +6 0

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.

Statistics Review

Let's take a look at Statistics. Almost every guide has this section, but many seem to say a few words and then move on. So, let's take a look at each of the statistics that make up your character's strength. Instead of just running down the line, let's review them in the order I find them most important:

• Vitality:
  The first thing to note about Vitality is that 1 point of defense is gained for every 2 points of Vitality. Some of the things I've recently read are very interesting, but nothing like learning that Vitality boosts can actually overpower +Healing potency. If you don't believe me, read the page at Vitality. Obviously, at level 10 I don't have access to test this, but once again keep a look at for this guide to update as I learn.
  The main thing about Vitality is that it can lower the range by which you would take damage. For example, if you would normally take somewhere between 20 and 25 hit points worth of damage, increasing your vitality might drop it to between 15 and 20 points instead. You should focus on this at the beginning, because your defense will also go up as a result (as opposed to vice-versa when adding defense won't increase vitality), and it will affect both the range itself and the amount of which you take damage.
• Defense:<br.Defense is similar to Vitality, but has a different effect. If you were to take that 20 and 25 hit points range of damage and apply defense to it, the more defense you have, the closer to 20 you'll take. From what I've seen and read, the thing to look for is the range of numbers you take damage in. If you have, say, 20, 25, 24, 22, all over the place, you need Defense. If it's in the right 20-25 range, but you're staying constant on damage, such as 25, 24, 25, 24, etc., you need Vitality. At this point, don't trust the low-level numbers, since you can't really tell too much. By the time you hit the dunes (and the level 14 Rings which increase statistics), you might want to keep an eye on the damage you take during battles to see what you need to load up on.
• Hit Points:
  Hit Points...do I have to describe what this is used for? If you manage to find a near-perfect or even perfect balance between Vitality and Defense, then you shouldn't have to be worrying about increasing Hit Points.
• Agility:
  Agility helps with two important aspects. One that every job can level is Evasion, otherwise known as getting whacked repeatedly. Agility has a high level of impact on your Evasion. I have two AGI+2 rings at level 14 on my Warrior, so I saw a bit of an increase in my Shield skill increase, but there's no conclusive evidence that I've seen. As I go, I'll be studying the log, so look here for more information.
• Mind:
  Mind is important for your White Magic aspect. Paladin is tied with Red Mage for the third highest Mind rating in the game, not counting bonuses from your support job. I would say to increase this more than worrying about your Hit Points, but we'll see how I continue to think as I level.
• Charisma:
  I haven't tried this out yet, but apparently higher levels of Charisma will increase Killer potency. Your Undead Killer, for example, will be more potent and will intimidate undead monsters more often. Look for mroe information down the line.

Review Discussion

I went over to the Limit Break Radio forums and posted a few questions under the topic "Fledgling Paladin" (http://www.limitbreakradio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=6813). The start of our discussion focused on getting a few people to read this guide and give opinions, and fortunately they did. The most important discussion I felt that we were/are having was about Statistics. Much of how I see statistics was left over from my days as a White Mage, but now a bunch of things have been brought to my attention, some I overlooked and others I just didn't know about. Here's a quick run-down of what came out of the discussion.

My original order was VIT -- DEF -- MND -- HP -- AGI -- CHR. As you can tell, it has since changed due to the following information.

1. It's understandable that no matter what job you switch to Paladin from, you'll find something new each statistic brings to the table.
2. Dependency on statistics does matter a lot on how you play, but how you play also depends on your statistics. For example, a comment was made that MND should not necessarily be considered more important than HP. Now, I say that as a newbie to the class (having only played it for about a week and a half), I see Elvaan/Paladin and immediately go "high MND stat at 75". Which is true. Elvaan have the highest MND in the game. Unfortunately, that's not what is important. Certainly MND is important, as well as VIT and DEF, but if you have all the VIT and DEF in the world and you have 300 HP and something hits you for 400, you're still screwed. For that purpose, I switched it around so HP was above MND, and they came directly after VIT and DEF.
3. Although my statistics review was meant to be nothing more than just those you can see by bringing up your Status/Equipment screens, I understand that there are things unseen in the game, such as Enmity. Of course, for Paladin (as is true for the alternate tank, Ninja), Enmity is something you want a high amount of. You want to make certain when you P.O. that mob, you do it ROYALLY. Enmity is not a value I think the player base fully understands, and therefore I currently find it easier to work through that as I go through the levels.
4. Other things that we discussed were equipment options. Certainly, PLD are better at Sword and Shield combinations, but there is something to be said about a Paladin flinging around a Club. Or Staff. Or Great Sword. Or even Polearm. Well, maybe not Polearm so much as it's an E skill. I will try to factor this into my guide, but for the time being I am only using Sword and Shield. I'll probably do skill-up parties later on in the game with the other four weapon types.