Do you want to bring the power of your lord to the furthest and most obscure outskirts of the (un)known world? Then your character will need the best Paladin feats you can choose in pathfinder.
In this guide, we will rank these feats, explain why they are so good, and share our experience using them in our campaigns. As always, we use a few criteria to rank these Paladin Feats. These criteria are:
- How valuable is the feat in an average campaign
- What alternatives are there
- What is our experience using the feat?
- How much fun is this feat for a Paladin
Top 7 Pathfinder Paladin Feats
The feats in this list are all related to the Paladin build. There are a few great feats that work for just about any character. However, you likely already know these, and continuously rehashing the same list is dull.
1. Unsanctioned Knowledge
I believe Unsanctioned Knowledge is the best feat for Paladins in Pathfinder. The unsanctioned Knowledge feat is fantastic for getting a lot more potent spells on your Paladin. This feat allows your Paladin to get a bunch of solid cleric spells and buff himself – and the party – with almost no drawback.
Unsanctioned Knowledge is excellent for spells that add to your armor / AC as a Paladin. The must-pick option here, in my view, is Magic Vestments. This level 3 spell gives you an almost permanent buff.
If you choose a spell different than Magic Vestments, keep in mind that the Paladin only has the ability to cast a few spells a day. So choose wisely.
2. Reward of Life
A good option for players who don’t have a member or way that can heal them consistently, the Reward of Life feat is a fantastic option for a cleric. When you combine this feat with Lay on Hands, your Paladin will become the prime healer in no time.
However, make sure you have a backup for when you are in the middle of a tough fight and can not expend the actions to heal party members.
3. Adapt Champion
Adapt Champion is a good option for players who aren’t looking to deal a ton of damage. I have placed Adapt champion in the third spot for best feats for a Paladin in Pathfinder because it is potent in the right scenario.
Adapt Champion gives a great bonus to your Combat Maneuverability Bonus (CMB). This bonus allows you to stay in the fight a lot longer and assist your party, but at the expense of your own damage per round.
4. Extra Lay on Hands
When you want to become the go-to healer of your party, then Extra Lay on Hands is a fantastic option as a Paladin feat. However, if you already have a Cleric in your party, then picking this feat might be a bit too much.
Extra Lay on Hands is an excellent pick if you already have a couple of party members that deal good and consistent damage, have a tank, and are missing a healer.
5. Word of Healing
The previous four are all significantly better than the following three feats. Word of healing is one of the best feats for your Paladin in pathfinder, but only if you aren’t picking one of the previous four. There are worse feats you can pick, so you won’t have a bad time using this one.
Word of healing uses a standard action and has a range of 30 feet. The feat allows you to heal as much as the normal rate. That said, it is hard to justify picking the feat over any of the others discussed here.
6. Channeled Revival
The effect of Channeled Revival is the following: ¨As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, you can expend three uses of your channel energy class feature to restore a dead creature to life as if you had cast the breath of life spell.¨
Channeled Revival is a good opinion if your party does not have access to spells like Breath of Life. Unfortunately, it does take quite a while before you are able to unlock this feat.
7. Reward of Grace
If Lay on Hands is one of your favorite spells, Reward of Grace is a fantastic feat for your Paladin in Pathfinder. You get a nice sacred bonus for one duration. While it is generally not worth it, and the six previously discussed feats are all superior, the feat is not all that bad when you know how to use it strategically.
Honorable mentions
- Radiant Charge: Radiant Charge is a Paladin-specific feat that isn’t very good. All your remaining uses of Lay on Hands are consumed when you use Radiant charge. So you can only use it at the very end of your battle or day. I wouldn’t pick this feat ever.
- Channel Smite: Channel Smite and how good it is for your Paladin on Pathfinder depends on your Dungeon Master. If he never sends undead your way, it will never be useful. However, if you are finding yourself fighting undead all the time, then Channel Smite is a really decent pick.
- Extra mercy: You can pick extra mercy, often, this is not useful, and many are just not worth it. If you do want to pick one, you should pick the Merciful Baldric. Again, there are too many options to pick this feat for your Paladin.
Final advice
If you want to make the strongest possible Paladin in Pathfinder, you should combine the best feats for a Paladin on this list with the overall best feats in general for characters. However, I would strongly advise you not to overthink things and try and maximize your build.
As long as you pick any of the top three feats and consider that having fun is much more important than storming through encounters, your build will be fine. We have written a lot of other guides on top feats in pathfinder, and many more are yet to come, so make sure to join us for the next article!
Want to know the ranking for other builds? Check out these articles: