THE “MINI”-GUIDE TO THE IRORAN PALADIN by Rudy
The Iroran Paladin is not an archetype whose worth is immediately obvious. Most off-putting to many will be the seeming fact that they are “saddled” with the use of unarmed strike. I’m going to show that this archetype, while a slow starter, is solid by level 2, fantastic by level 5, and by mid levels can potentially surpass the standard paladin for both offensive and defensive capabilities..
The thread for discussion of this guide is at this link. Please add any feedback, or things I’ve missed/gotten wrong there. Thank you!
Path 1: The Sohei/Paladin Hybrid
Path 3: The Variant Reach Paladin
Appendix C: Power Progression of Three Primary Paladin Builds
A great deal of thanks to all of the following:
To those of you who are very sceptical, let me give you a slight teaser as to why this is going to work well:
I’ll be following the color-coding established (I think?) by Treantmonk:
Red - Awful.
Orange - Eh, not great.
Green - Pretty Good.
Blue - Amazing.
First, a quick list of what abilities you keep from the Core Paladin.
Now, what is added/altered by the Archetype:
Code of Conduct - Being able to write your own code of conduct (within reason, I’m sure, depending on your GM) is a fantastic RP boon.
Skills - Adding Acrobatics as a class skill is great, though for most of the builds I’ll discuss, we’d get it from a monk dip anyway.
Confident Defense - You add your Charisma bonus to your dex bonus to AC, to a maximum of your class level, wearing light or no armor, and not using a shield. You lose proficiency with medium armor, heavy armor, shields. NOTE that this means you won’t be wearing medium or heavy armor, which is a distinct change from most paladins.
This is the feature that makes this archetype worth considering, really. The wording is a bit unclear, but likely it’s intended to be the case that you add your charisma bonus and your dexterity bonus together, and the resulting number is capped by your armor. You can try and get a more generous interpretation by a GM, if you like.
Whether or not this bonus gets added to your CMD is not clear. The relevant text is: “..an Iroran paladin adds 1 point of his Charisma bonus (if any) per class level to his Dexterity bonus to his Armor Class”. The argument that it does is that, since it gets added to your dex bonus, and your dex bonus is added to your CMD, it also boosts CMD. The argument against is that it says “to his Dexterity bonus to his Armor Class”. You should check with your GM either way. I would allow it, especially because it seems odd that a monk-type would not get a boost to CMD, but I can see the RAW argument for not allowing it.
Unarmed Strike - Monk unarmed strike ability, as a monk of half your class level (min 1). Nice, especially since you can use a two-handed weapon, and still make unarmed strikes (more on that later). Note though, that it will be Paladin 8 before the unarmed damage even increases to 1d8, which is one of the reasons that we won’t be using Unarmed Strikes from the beginning.
Aura of Law - Replacing Aura of Good. Unrated, cause it is incredibly situational either way.
Sense Perfection - Give up Detect Evil to be able to detect creatures with a ki pool? Bleh. Unless the campaign is filled with invisible ninja, this is a terrible trade.
Personal Trial - Replaces smite evil, swift action to activate, same uses per day as smite evil (1st, 4th, 7th, …). Gives a +1 insight bonus to attack, damage, saves, AC, against a single target. Bonus increases by 1 for every 4 class levels (+2 at 4th, +3 at 8th, etc.)
While the bonuses are not as potentially high as the Paladin, it has a couple advantages over Smite Evil. First, it can be used against anything. Second, it adds a bonus to saves as well. Third, it is an insight bonus, and so stacks with your Ring of Deflection. Unless playing in a campaign where you are only fighting evil things, I think this is a strong trade.
Aura of Excellence - Anti-forced-reroll protection for you and your friends, basically. Very situational, but very good in those situations. Not as good as Aura of Courage, though.
Ki pool - Replaces channel energy. As the monk ability, except ½ level + CHA ki points, and you have the additional ability to spend 1 ki to bypass the DR of your Personal Trial target. Since it says it functions like the monk ability, that means you also get ki strike, and all the other ki pool uses of the standard monk: +4 dodge to AC, +20 speed, and most notably the extra attack on a flurry of blows.
Divine Body - Like Divine Bond, except can only be used for unarmed strikes. Huh. Not a fair trade, but there are several ways we can make use of this. Note that it says it otherwise functions just like the Divine Bond ability. This will be important later.
Aura of Protection - A boost to abilities that let you re-roll saves in a positive way. This could be good if there is someone else in your party with re-roll abilities. It’s not great, but neither was the Aura of Justice that it’s replacing (given limited smite uses).
There is really only one other Paladin archetype that both works with Iroran Paladin, and isn’t terrible, and that’s the Oath Against Fiends.
What makes this a potentially good choice is the 9th level ability, Holy Vessel, that lets you divert bonuses from Divine Bond into armor instead of your weapon. Remember that Divine Body functions just like Divine Bond? That means you can use this ability to give the bonuses to your armor instead of your unarmed strikes. This is useful for versions of this build that don’t want to use unarmed strikes at all; more on that later.
The Anchoring Aura is good, but situational. Aura of Resolve would probably be better, but this build’s saves will be even more amazing than a standard paladin, so not crucial.
The other thing, easily overlooked, that the Oath of Fiends has going for it is that it adds resist energy as a 1st level spell. Why is this so fantastic? Because if you have that spell as a 1st level spell, that means you can use 1,000gp Pearls of Power to refresh it, allowing you to very cheaply provide amazing elemental protection to the entire party.
As far as monk, if you’re going to go with the Sohei Hybrid, tack on Qinggong Monk as a second archetype. There’s no reason not to, and it gives you the option of trading out High Jump and Wholeness of Body (those being the ones that Sohei doesn’t replace) out for other abilities.
Optimal point spreads will vary whether you are human or not, due to the human skill point boost.
Suggested Point-Spreads (Non-Human)
15 pt. buy: Str 15 Dex 12 Con 13 Int 10 Wis 7 Cha 15
20 pt. buy: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 13 Int 10 Wis 8 Cha 15
25 pt. buy: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 8 Cha 16
Suggested Point-Spreads (Human)
15 pt. buy: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 12 Int 7 Wis 8 Cha 15
20 pt. buy: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 8 Wis 8 Cha 15
25 pt. buy: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 8 Cha 16
Human - Rarely is human not an excellent choice, and this is no exception. The extra feat will allow us to grab both Power Attack and Fey Foundling from level 1, and the boost to skills allows us to dump intelligence. This is my top choice for a 15-pt buy, since the ability to dump intelligence to 7 will be a huge boon in that case. Floating +2 into Strength to start out with an 18.
Aasimar (Angel-Blooded) - The other contender for top spot, this has long been a great choice for melee Paladins, and this build is no exception. The +2 Str, +2 Cha boost your two most important stats, and it has great goodies: Darkvision, Celestial Resistances/Deathless Spirit, etc. It’s a bit slower to start than the human, but my preference for many builds in 20+ pt. buys.
Tiefling (Demon-Spawn) - +2 Str, +2 Cha, -2 Int, plus some neat miscellany. They also have a fantastic favored class bonus which lets them increase the amount healed by lay on hands by 1 when used on self; this is far better than a flat +1hp, and may make the race Blue for the builds that consist primarily of Paladin levels.
Half-Elf - +2 to strength, some neat elf stuff going on. This is especially worth considering if you want to take advantage of the Eldritch Heritage feats with this build: your free Skill Focus can take care of the prerequisite for that. Alternately they can replace it with a free Exotic Weapon Proficiency, if you want to grab one of the monk reach weapons (more on that later), or a Fauchard for reach.
Half-Orc. +2 strength. Not my top choice, but I can easily imagine tacking on some nice intimidation abilities using this guy.
Suli - +2 Str, +2 Cha, -2 Int. The elemental resistances, and Elemental Assault ability make this a strong contender.
Nagaji - +2 Str, +2 Cha, -2 Int. My, there are several races with that set of stats. Another strong possibility, with several nice little boons.
Halfling - I’m not a huge fan, due to the loss of damage potential, however it has been pointed out to me that the Risky Striker feat allows them to deal significant damage to large and larger enemies. Defensively, they will certainly be amazing. If you can somehow combine this with reduce person and a dexterity oriented build, then it starts to have serious potential. (Note that James Jacobs has said that tiny creatures with a reach weapon can attack adjacent squares, which is relevant here. You may get an argument from some RAW-oriented GMs)
Aasimar (Other) - Lacking a boost to strength, the other Aasimar are numerically inferior. Only consider the ones that at least get a boost to charisma, and even then, only if very important to your character concept. The exception is the Azata-Blooded Aasimar IF you are trying to do dex-based, but that’s not something I recommend for this archetype (more on that later).
Gnome - There is only one interesting and viable way to make use of this race. Bewildering Koan; this is synergistic for this class due to the combination of high charisma and a ki pool. Though, you’re probably better off (in terms of optimization for melee combat) using Racial Heritage (via Human, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, or Scion of Humanity Aasimar) to get the Koan. Poor gnomes.
Dwarf - The worst. No strength boost, and a penalty to charisma. Stay away.
Elf - Not quite as bad as dwarf, but still awful. Unless you’re looking for a challenge, don’t touch it.
I’m going to go into detail about three sub-paths to take the Iroran Paladin on: Sohei/Paladin Hybrid, Flurry Paladin, and a variant on the Reach Paladin. These three paths are far from exhaustive, and after those three are discussed, I give minimal outlines of several other options.
The idea here is to combine the excellent defensive boosts granted by the Iroran Paladin with the offensive power of the Sohei.
Build Order: You’re going to start with a level of Iroran Paladin (better starting gold and hp), then you’re going to grab a level of Sohei, then three more levels of Iroran Paladin, then 5 more levels of Sohei. That is, Paladin 1 > Monk 1 > Paladin 4 > Monk 6. After that, it’s your call to continue with Monk, or with Sohei.
Weapons: You have two optimal weapon choices from among those you can flurry with. HOWEVER, the Sohei loses the normal monk proficiencies and instead gets Martial weapons. The best choice by far is the Sansetsukon (2-handed, 1d10, 19-20 x2, blocking, disarm, monk). Because this is two handed, your Power Attack trade-off will be -1/+3, even when flurrying. Other weapon include the Nine-Ring Broadsword (one-handed, 1d8, 20 x3, S, monk) and Double Chicken Saber (one-handed, 1d6, 19-20/x2, S, monk, disarm). Neither are great weapons, but you can’t get a temple sword since it is exotic, and the Sohei gave that up. This is the way to go if you want a more defensive build, leaving a hand free for Deflect Arrows / Crane Style. However, be careful not to invest in free-hand oriented feats if you plan to grab weapon training with a polearm later. Overall, I recommend sticking to the Sansetsukon.
Whichever weapon you choose you’re going to stick with until you hit Monk 6, at character level 10, at which point you can flurry with whichever weapon you decide to pick weapon training for. I would recommend polearms, and flurrying with reach weapon like the Bardiche, relying on your Unarmed Strike when foes get in too close.
Why This Is Awesome: The four levels of Iroran Paladin are going to do an awful lot for you. Assuming you have 18 charisma or more (which you will, at least with items):
You will hit Sohei 6, and thus weapon training, about the time that you can afford the Gloves of Dueling. Thus, turning you into a killing machine.
Overall, this is strongest option in terms of sheer melee damage potential, but obviously gives up the Paladin spellcasting and other goodies. It lags a little in offensive abilities at character levels 8-9 in comparison to the other builds, due to the lack of Paladin progression, before hitting Sohei 6 and Weapon Training.
An Alternate Build path for this is Paladin 1 > Monk 1 > Paladin 2 > Monk 6 > Paladin 4 > Monk 8 > Paladin 6. This gets you to the Weapon Training (and thus Polearm flurry) 2 levels earlier, but delays ki pool, some ac, lay on hands, Personal Trial, and other Paladin abilities.
The idea here is that we flurry at first with a Sansetsukon, and later switch to flurrying with unarmed strikes, while using a reach weapon to additionally add battlefield control.
Build Order: For this build, a single level dip in Monk (Sohei) is absolutely required. I would recommend first taking a level of Paladin (better starting gold and hp), then a level of Monk, then the rest into Paladin. You may be tempted by a second level of Monk, to get the Evasion and extra bonus feat, but I don’t believe that it is worth delaying Paladin abilities by an extra level.
Weapons: Best starting weapon choices are the same as for the Sohei/Paladin build (see above). Whichever weapon you choose, you’re going to use until Paladin level 8 or 9.
At or before Paladin 8/9, several things will happen:
Example: Monk (Sohei) 1 / Paladin 9.
Once you make this switch to unarmed strikes, you’re going to ditch your Sansetsukon/whatever, and pick up an adamantine reach weapon of choice. You’ll still use FoB with your knees or whatever for damage whenever possible, but the reach weapon will give you added battlefield control ability, since you don’t need your hands free anyway.
Overall, this has great potential due to the ability to stack bonuses from three sources (amulet, bodywrap, Divine Body), and the ability to combine reach control with Flurry damage at mid to late levels. It has nearly full Paladin casting and lay on hands as well. In my opinion, it is the most consistently powerful of the builds.
The idea for this build is not to use flurry of blows at all; instead we’re going to focus exclusively on reach weapons, and use the Oath Against Fiends paladin archetype to divert our Divine Body bonuses into AC instead of unarmed strikes.
Build Order: This is the only variant where a level of Monk (Sohei) is not essential. However, I would still recommend it after you hit Paladin 5 or 6. You get the saves boost (which are very welcome, no matter how good you think the Paladin’s saves are), Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat (essential for reach builds), and the ability to flurry with your fists, which is useful if you are backed into a corner where you can’t use your reach weapon.
Weapons: Instead of focusing on FoB, we’re going to grab a reach weapon from the beginning, Bardiche being the classically optimal choice, and we’re going to stick with it. Once we hit Paladin 9, the Oath Against Fiends archetype is going to let us divert the bonuses from our Divine Body ability into our armor instead; that way, it is not “wasted” on unarmed strikes.
Overall: While I could be convinced otherwise, it’s seems like this is inferior to a standard reach Paladin. The extra defensive capability is a boon, of course, as is the extra mobility, but if you’re not making use of Flurry of Blows, it’s not worth giving up the ability to boost your weapon with Divine Bond, in my opinion.
Paladin Dip (2) - I’ve only discussed builds so far where the Paladin is a major aspect of the build. However, it’s worth noting that for any build considering dipping two levels into Paladin for Divine Grace, this archetype makes an excellent alternative for many reasons
First, you get the additional +2 bonus to your armor class (assuming you’re not limited by your max dex bonus). Second, you have a flexible code that you can write yourself; not to be overlooked. Third, you have Improved Unarmed Strike, which is useful for many options, and it’s the monk version, which means you can use it with your hands full.
The downsides, as compared to a normal Paladin dip, are the loss of Armor proficiencies, the loss of Detect Evil, and the loss of Smite Evil (for a two level dip only, Smite Evil is superior to Personal Trial +1). You can’t combine it with Divine Hunter, if you wanted the Precise Strike feat.
CHA to AC Oracle Dip (1) - Whether this is a viable option to consider depends on whether you can stack two instances of an ability score to the same thing. James Jacobs believes that you cannot, and I would personally rule that myself as a GM, but if your GM allows it, then consider a dip into Oracle (Lore Mystery, Lunar Mystery, or Nature Mystery) to pick up Sidestep Secret/Prophetic Armor/Nature’s Whispers, which allows you to add your charisma modifier in place of your dexterity modifier to your AC and reflex saves/CMD (depending on which Mystery you choose). Combined with the Paladin levels, you’ll be adding twice your charisma modifier to your AC. Make sure you clear this with your GM before considering it, though.
The reason I don’t rate this higher is for a few reasons. One, the total of twice your charisma modifier is still going to be capped by your armor’s maximum dex bonus, meaning either you won’t get full benefit out of it, or you’re going to have to use lighter armor than Mithral Kikko, also reducing your AC bonus, and thus partially negating the benefit. Two, the dip itself is painful. Besides the curse itself, you’re losing both BAB, and progression in class abilities. Three, if you totally dump dex as a result, either your reflex saves or your CMD are going to be suffering, depending on which Mystery you chose.
You can also look into using the Extra Revelation feat for other goodies, depending on your revelation. Lunar, in particular, has a nice Darkvision option if you don’t have it from your race. Lore lets you pick up using charisma to knowledge checks, which in combination with the other knowledge possibilities this build allows (Deific Obedience to Irori, for example), may bump this rating to a Green if you need to be good at the knowledge with very limited skill point investment.
Life Oracle Dip (2) - The Iroran Paladin makes a very capable Oradin. A half-elf or aasimar works here to be able to boost the Life Link revelation with a two level dip; I prefer the Half-Elf, because the multitalented comes in handy in this case.
The first difference worth noting from a standard Oradin is that Extra Revelation can grab you Channel, which in combination with a Bronze Gong can net you an extra 1+CHA modifier ki per day. Additionally, you will want light armor, so Lame is not an ideal curse for you to pick.
Fighter (Unarmed Fighter) Dip (1) - A single level dip into unarmed fighter does a couple things of note for you. First, it gets you proficiency with exotic monk weapons, which allows you to do the Exotic Reach Flurry more easily (see below), and makes the dip Orange if you are trying to pull that off.
Second, it gets you a free style feat. If your DM agrees that a style feat is any feat in a style chain, as opposed to a feat with the word “style” in it, then this dip gets upgraded to Green for builds aiming for unarmed strike flurries, because you can then do things like take the excellent Dragon Ferocity feat, despite lacking Stunning Fist (note that Stunning Fist is a terrible feat for you to take, since you lack wisdom, and you couldn’t get it until level 9 anyway). Dragon Style you can take normally as a feat, since it does not require Stunning Fist.
If you’re going to dip for such a reason, then there is no reason to do so before Paladin 8 or Paladin 9, as that’s when you’re going to want to start using Unarmed Strikes.
Bard (Archaeologist) Dip (2 or more) - Not going to lie, Archaeologists are perhaps my favorite archetype (rivaled now by Iroran Paladin), so I may be overly excited about this possibility. If you go this path, you’re going to want at least 2 levels, which gets you a ton of fun things. The big ones are Uncanny Dodge, Archaeologist’s Luck (making the Fate’s Favored trait a must-have for this dip), and somewhat less importantly Clever Explorer +1 and Bardic Knowledge +1. Not to mention some bardic casting, of course. You can use the whip proficiency, if you like, in combination with a Nine Ring Broadsword, to have flurrying for close, and whips for reach maneuvers. Whip Mastery and Improved Whip Mastery are worth looking at in this case, but not must haves. Lingering Performance is an especially fantastic feat for the Archaeologist, as it draws out each use of luck from 1 round to 3.
You can consider going much farther with this class as well. Four levels gives you further spells, a rogue talent (aka Combat Feat), further casting, and boosts to Clever Explorer and Bardic Knowledge. If you’re going to stop at 4 levels, Aasimar is a race to consider, as the favored class bonus will allow you to advance your luck bonus to +2 (+3 with Fate’s Favored). Six levels gets you evasion, and the ability to disarm magical traps. Any farther than that, and you may as well make it your primary class. Example Build 6, in the example builds section, is an Iroran Paladin 4 / Archaeologist 16, that does exactly that.
Cleric Dip (1) - Doesn’t seem so great at first, but consider. Cleric (Separatist) 1. For your domains, you can pick Travel for one, due to separatist, giving you +10 base speed, and agile feet (limited uses due to low wisdom). For the other domain, good choices include Strength, for enlarge person domain spell/wand use, and Knowledge [Memory] if you want to make your guy a knowledge guru in combination with Deific Obedience. Shop around.
The real reason to consider this, though, is the use of the Bronze Gong. This means that your channel energy can be used to effectively give you an additional 3+CHA ki per day, more or less doubling your ki pool. This is very nice. The domain stuff, cleric orisons, saves boost, spell list, etc, is gravy on top.
I was almost tempted to rate this dip blue, but the loss of BAB, and further slowing of other abilities, keeps it in green territory.
Ranger (Wild Stalker) Dip (2) - This archetype is mentioned in particular because it gives you Uncanny Dodge at level 2. Other goodies include boosts to perception (and low-light vision if you don’t have it), track +1, and wild empathy (actually usable with only a dip, due to your high charisma). You can trade out the ranger spell list (and thus the ability to use ranger spell wands without UMD) for trapfinding by adding the Trapper archetype on. I consider this a good trade if you don’t have another trapfinder in the party, because you’ll likely end up with good UMD anyway, and have the paladin spell list access regardless.
Overall, probably beat out by the Bloodrager (below) as a 2 level dip for Uncanny Dodge among full BAB options. Could be the better choice for particular concepts, though.
Bloodrager Dip (2) - I’m not so huge a fan of this possibility for flavor reasons (Bloodraging Iroran Paladin?), so disclaimer, but there are some viable combos. You’ll likely want to take two levels if you go this route, since the second level gets you Uncanny Dodge, which is very good for the Iroran Paladin. The build otherwise gets you rage, fast movement, and a rage bloodline. Make sure to take “fatigue” as one of your mercies for lay on hands.
Two bloodlines in particular deserve a mention. First, the Celestial bloodline is nice. It mitigates the flavor issues somewhat, as you can view it as a “righteous fury” type thing. Treating your attacks as “good” aligned is a nice boon, and the extra 1d6 per attack to evil outsiders is somewhat situational, but very useful.
The Abyssal bloodline has a particular combination that is potentially powerful. If you play as a tiefling, you can use the Claw or Maw alternate racial feature to grab a bite attack. The Abyssal bloodline will then give you two claw attacks. These can be combined with iterative Unarmed Strike attacks (though not Flurry of Blows, so don’t dip Sohei in this case). Further, since you will have three natural attacks, you can take the Multiattack feat, so that your bite/claw/claw is only at a -2, in addition to your full iterative unarmed strike. If you go this way, the Feral Combat Training is worth looking at to apply to your claws. While using your unarmed damage for claws is not much of a boost, the less obvious thing is that the Brawling enhancement you will be applying to your armor will then also benefit your claws.
Thematically, the abyssal bloodline is problematic, but you can imagine the tiefling turning to the discipline of Irori to combat the pernicious influence of his evil blood. You can consider dipping up to four levels for this build, and getting the 4th level enlarge person effect that occurs whenever you rage; this is one of the few ways you can get such an effect without being a humanoid. The main mechanical downside of this build, besides the loss of paladin advancement, is that you cannot combine it with a reach weapon for control, since you’ll need your hands free for claws.
Swashbuckler Dip (1) - Eh. It seems like it has potential on the surface, due to the charisma synergy. However, the main roadblock is a lack of decent flurriable, piercing weapons. If you’re adding this onto a Sohei dip, remember that Sohei does not get the exotic weapon proficiencies that a monk does, meaning there are NO flurriable, one-handed piercing weapons available. This means that you are either going to have to pick up Hamatulatsu Strike, either at Sohei 6 for the Hybrid build or after taking Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike), OR drop a feat on an Exotic Weapon Proficiency, though all of the qualifying weapons are honestly pretty terrible.
All that being said, Dodging Panache is quite nice to possibly block full attacks (besides the first attack) made against yourself, and secondarily helping protect against that first attack. Alternately, you can use this to close in to enemies. The other uses of “panache” are hum-drum, but this one is the major reason you would consider this dip at all. In any case, I would not do more than one level, unless you’re actually going for a primarily swashbuckler build with Paladin dip.
Brawler Dip (2) - This can be viewed as an alternate to the Sohei dip. There is no reason to take both.
Advantages to the Brawler (as compared to Sohei) include full BAB (as opposed to just for flurries), increasing unarmed damage (which is useful only if your GM lets you stack this with the level granted by Iroran Paladin, which is reasonable), the martial maneuvers ability (1/day, you can use a combat feat you don’t have), effective fighter level for feats (not relevant, unless you’re taking other classes that increase effective fighter level, such as a fighter dip, or Sentinel PrC), and a bonus combat feat (as opposed to the more limited selection of monk feats).
The biggest disadvantage to the brawler is that you need two levels to get flurry, instead of just one; that’s a big deal. Other disadvantages
are the loss of the excellent Devoted Guardian ability, loss of the good will save boost (the equivalent of the Iron Will feat), loss of Stealth as a class skill. Overall, if you’re just looking for a dip, I think that the Sohei dip is flat-out superior. Opinions may vary, though.
That being said, Iroran Paladin 4 / Brawler X definitely has potential as an excellent build.
Uncanny Dodge - Uncanny Dodge is a big deal for this build, since you are light-armored, and so much of your AC is tied up in charisma/dexterity, both of which are lost if you are flat-footed. The best ways to get it include a 2 level dip in Bloodrager, a 2 level dip in Bard (Archaeologist), a 2 level dip in Ranger (Wild Stalker), or a 2 level dip in the Shadowdancer PrC. There are all included in the dips section/prestige class section, and are all something to consider (though obviously you don’t need more than one).
Grappling - This can add some more diverse utility, when faced with opponents with lower CMD than AC. You can grab Improved Grapple from the beginning (either as a standard or bonus feat), and you’ll have the BAB to get Greater Grapple as your 7th level feat if desired. Note, though, that’s you’ll need a Dex of 13, so plan accordingly.
I rate this Green for the Reach Variant, as they won’t be able to Flurry, and they can make good use of this when forced into close-quarters. It’s also Green for all builds if your GM allows later feat retraining, as grappling becomes less useful as levels progress, or if you are only playing an early level campaign. Otherwise, Orange.
Exotic Reach Flurry - One other possibility to consider is to try and combine Flurry of Blows with a reach weapon (besides the Sohei Hybrid build). The three weapons that would allow you to do so are exotic: The Double-Chained Kama (1d6/1d6, x2, double, monk, reach, trip), the Kusarigama (1d3/1d6, x2, double, grapple, monk, reach, trip), and the Kyoketsu Shoge (1d4, x2, disarm, grapple, monk, reach). Note that this means you have to achieve an Exotic Weapon Proficiency somehow. The Half-Elf can take an EWP in place of their Skill Focus, so that’s one possibility.
The reason I give the Double-Chained Kama the edge is that it has the unique property that if you drop one of the two kamas on a failed trip attack (to avoid being tripped yourself), you can retrieve it as a free action. This could be worthwhile if you wanted to build a flurry-trip technique out of it. I upgrade this to Green if your DM allows feat retraining rules. In that case, take EWP, Improved Trip, etc. early on, and then train them all away when tripping becomes sub-par (by mid levels).
Bewildering Koan feat - While only a single feat, this is a significant enough option to be worth its own entry in this section, because it is a major aspect of a build. The koan is especially powerful for the Iroran Paladin, due to the combination of high charisma and a ki pool. The primary barrier is that it is Gnome only. You can be a gnome, but if you’re going for a generally melee build, your best bet is probably going to be a race that can take Racial Heritage (Gnome) as a feat. That would be Aasimar with the Scion of Humanity alternate racial pick, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, or Human.
I favor Half-Elf or Human myself, because you can pick up Skill Focus (Bluff) at 1st level. Human, in particular, picking the Focused Study alternate racial pick, can get Skill Focus (Bluff), and use his 8th level free skill focus to qualify for an Eldritch Heritage chain.
Note that you will not have Bluff as a class skill by default, so consider ways to gain it, either via a trait, or via a dip. Example build 6, in the example builds section at the end, shows a Iroran Paladin / Bard (Archaeologist) combo that makes good use of this.
Dex-Based Build - Not everyone agrees, but I think this is not a good choice for this archetype. Remember that your charisma bonus is adding to your dexterity bonus. So, for example, if you have an 18 charisma and an 18 dexterity, your effective dexterity bonus is +8, which is capped by armor, which means that either you’re not getting full use out of it, or you are wearing lighter armor than Mithral Kikko, and thus losing armor bonus that way. By the time Celestial Armor is affordable, your effective dexterity bonus will be something like +10, and it will only scale from there. The long and short of it is that you’re not going to get any more AC out of this (though your touch AC will be better), for the most part, than your strength-based counterpart, and you have to deal with all the hassle of dexterity feats / agile weapons.
The one way I can see this being potentially effective is by going naked, with no armor at all. By dumping intelligence and keeping your strength in the 12ish range, you can get a positive wisdom bonus, which along with your Sohei dip (heck, if you’re naked, you can investigate other monk possibilities as well), means you’ll be adding charisma, dexterity, and wisdom to AC. I don’t think it’s worth the hassle, myself, but there might be something there.
If you are going to try this, then the halfling suddenly becomes a much better choice than it otherwise would have been, along with the Azata-Booded Aasimar.
Mounted Combat - For the Sohei Hybrid only, this is a possibility; Sohei can use their bonus feats for Mounted Combat feats if they desire, and have the Monastic Mount feat. However, note that at higher levels your mount will have very limited survivability. You don’t have a Divine Bond for a mount, and the temporary hit points from Monastic Mount won’t get you that far. One good hit and the horse is dead. If you have access to some way to turn your mount into a full level animal companion, then this gets upgraded to Green.
That’s a tricky proposition, however; the only way I can see to do it without completely changing the build into something else is if your GM allows the Eldritch Heritage feat to be applied to the Sylvan Wildblooded Bloodline to grab the Animal Companion. It’s not clear whether that is allowed by RAW or not, but I would lean toward “no”, since Sylvan is an archetype, not a bloodline itself.
BIG - At some point you’re going to want to figure out some method to increase your size; this isn’t unique to this build, of course; most martials like being big. Methods to achieve this include:
Swift Action Management - Nothing to rate, here, but this is something to keep in mind. A lot of the things you’re going to do with different types of Iroran Paladins require swift actions. Personal Trial is a swift action to activate. Ki is a swift action to use, whether it’s to get an extra flurry attack, or to bypass DR, or to use Bewildering Koan, or most other things.
That’s not so bad with just that. However, swift actions are a serious consideration if you’re thinking of taking Arcane Strike feat, or the Archaeologist bard archetype (which uses swift actions to activate archaeologist's luck). I would definitely say you should not both take Archaeologist levels AND Arcane Strike; you simply won’t have enough swift actions to go around. This also makes the Lingering Performance feat more or less mandatory for the Archaeologist dip, so that you don’t need to activate it each round. Luckily, that mandatory feat is also really good for you.
There are a number of prestige classes to consider for this build. For now, I’m just going to list the ones that I think are going to be worth looking at, and a few notes about them. Prestige class names are hyperlinks, not ratings.
Sentinel - Worth considering for any version of this build focused on unarmed strikes; not painful to qualify for. A 1 level dip will get you a flat +1 to attack and damage with unarmed strikes. A 3 level dip will get you +2 to attack and damage with unarmed strikes, and a bonus feat. Levels in the prestige class stack with fighter levels for feats, so 3 levels plus the one level fighter dip mentioned above for Dragon Ferocity qualifies you for Weapon Specialization. Something to consider. You can consider going farther, but only if you want to focus solely on doing as much Unarmed Strike damage as you can.
Living Monolith - This was already mentioned above as a potential one level dip. The requirements are kind of annoying, but it can’t be denied that having 3/day swift action enlarge person is nothing to sneeze at. If your GM is allowing a custom enlarge person item, though, as mentioned in the “Big” section above, don’t even consider this.
Chevalier - This is a fantastic prestige class to consider, but it is not PFS legal, so bear that in mind. It gives you back the Aura of Courage you lost, some other very nice boosts, and a smite evil 1/day at the third character level (as a Paladin of your character level). Significantly, it’s the only way you can qualify for:
Champion of Irori - This seems almost custom made for you; sad that you need to pass through another prestige class (Chevalier) to qualify. The real gem of this class comes at the second level, where you get the ability to spend ki to smite evil. Get a Ring of Ki Mastery, and you can spend a single ki to Smite. Which, by the way, stacks with your Personal Trial ability. (Though you won’t be able to activate them in the same round). The third level is worth considering if you’re an unarmed build, but I wouldn’t go any farther than that.
The real shame about this is that the earliest you can possibly get into it is character level 11.
Shadowdancer - This seems like an odd option to suggest, and indeed, it’s likely not optimal, but it has some great flavor if you want to make a shadowy paladin. A two level dip gets you Evasion (if you didn’t take a second level of Sohei), Uncanny Dodge, Darkvision 60 ft., and Hide in Plain Sight.
Stalwart Defender - There is a very specific, very particular path that might make this worthwhile for the Polearm Sohei after they have reached Paladin 4 / Monk 6.
Level 11, take Fighter (Unbreakable). Level 12, take Living Monolith. Level 13+, take Stalwart Defender. The level of Fighter gets us the Medium Armor Proficiency we need, as well as the Endurance feat (with Diehard thrown in for free). The level of Living Monolith, then, gets us the awesome enlarge ability, as well as a free Toughness feat, which we need. This leaves the Iron Will feat, which you need to take for Living Monolith, and the Dodge feat, which you can grab as one of your monk feats. The enlarged, polearm flurrying Stalwart Defender is a tempting image. And, don’t forget that you can flip off the fatigue of Stalwart Defender with your lay on hands.
Dragon Disciple - I haven’t analyzed this in depth, but it seems you could make a decent build out of this. The idea would be to skip the flurry, and instead combine the claw attacks with unarmed strikes (you can’t combine natural attacks with flurry of blows, note). Something like Paladin 4 / Sorcerer 1 / Dragon Disciple X. If your main motivation is to claw at things, though, you may be better off with the Abyssal Bloodrager build discussed in the dips section.
There are a few traits in particular I want to make note of; this is not an exhaustive list of good traits for this build. Note that since you are a worshipper of Irori, you do not qualify for traits that require worshipping other gods.
Armor Expert - This is an absolute requirement if you’re going for Mithral Breastplate and won’t get proficiency in some other way, because it reduces the armor check penalty of such a breastplate to 0. For most builds, however, you’re better off with Mithral Kikko (as mentioned in the Equipment section) unless you’re getting Medium Armor Proficiency otherwise. Overall, not a good use of a trait.
Magical Knack - This is a clear choice for any build that primarily consists of paladin levels, to keep your caster level closer to full. Not absolutely required, but I would not personally make such a build without it.
Irrepressible - Your saves are already great, but this will make guarantee that you simply do not fail saves against charm or compulsion unless you roll a “1”. (Seriously; you just won’t fail them ever).
Fate’s Favored - This is an excellent choice. You’ll have access to divine favor, both as a spell and wand form, which will give you a nice +2/+2 boost for a minute. Also, you’re likely going to pick up a Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier at some point, so that’s another AC boost right there. If you take an Archaeologist dip, this becomes pretty much mandatory.
Various +2 Initiative Traits - I’m not so big on initiative boosts for this build, since you’re interested in full attacking, and in many variants you’ll have combat control via reach even when flat-footed. However, it’s a solid mechanical boost nonetheless.
Various +1 Save Boosts - I really wouldn’t. Your saves will be really good, and this is not a good use of a trait for you.
I will only discuss notable feats here that are not otherwise dealt with in the “Other Build Considerations” section.
Fey Foundling - This is amazing for paladin heavy builds, but so-so for the Sohei hybrid, or any build that is not primarily Paladin levels.
Power Attack - Any build that focuses on a two-hander should have this for sure, in my opinion. Less crucial for builds that are going to end up using fists or one-handed weapons, with only a two-hander for reach, or for single attacks. I would only consider not taking it myself, if my build didn’t use a two-handed weapon at all. Even then, it’s not an easy decision.
Deific Obedience - This is fantastic if you want to be able to do knowledge checks. An hour a day gets you +4 sacred bonus to ALL knowledge checks. The only part of the obedience that is potentially problematic would be the requirement that you spend 20 minutes a day reading something you’ve never read before. Not a big deal if you have time in town to pick up new books every months or so; just read slowly. Possibly a problem if your DM likes to steal your stuff. You can read the wizard’s spellbook in a pinch.
Only reaches its Green potential when combined with one of the ways to get knowledge skills as class skills, such as a Lore Oracle dip, a Cleric dip with Knowledge [Memory] domain, or a Archaeologist Bard dip, all of which are viable options. I wouldn’t do those dips for just the knowledge, but there is plenty of other stuff you get out of them.
Note that this feat is a requirement for the Sentinel prestige class mentioned above.
Breadth of Experience - This can be good, depending on circumstances, but the race and age present problems. You can qualify by being an “elf” if you’re a half-elf, or by being a gnome, or by taking Racial Heritage (Gnome), which you might do anyway for the Bewildering Koan ability mentioned in the other build variants section.
The 100+ age requirement may be a problem, depending on the game. If in PFS, maximum age modifiers do not apply, so you could pull this off with an old Half-Elf, or a venerable Human with Racial Heritage. If not in PFS, the age modifiers will not be worth taking to qualify for this.
Don’t even think about being a gnome just for this feat, though. It’s something to consider if you are going to be a half-elf, gnome, or take Racial Heritage ANYWAY. It’s also not as good as Deific Obedience (Irori), so I would only take this if you’ve already taken that, and want to boost knowledges even further.
Defiant Luck (Human Only) - This lets you re-roll a natural one saving throw, or force an enemy to re-roll a critical confirmation roll, once a day. This is especially good for you because natural 1’s are, in many cases, going to be the only way you’re failing saving throws. This does technically receive a benefit from your Aura of Perfection at level 11, but that’s unlikely to make a difference.
If you have other sources of re-rolls, such as playing in PFS with a t-shirt, this is much less attractive, and I probably wouldn’t pick it up.
Noble Scion (Scion of War) - This gives you +2 to Knowledge (nobility), and use your charisma modifier instead of your dexterity modifier for initiative. The problem is that you have to take it at first level, and you’re usually better off with something else (such as Power Attack or Fey Foundling).
You may be better off just taking Improved Initiative later, if you really want the boost. It’s going to be near the same bonus, (maybe one less if your dexterity is only 10), and you aren’t constrained to take it early. Personally, I don’t think initiative is worth investing in for this archetype; once you have Combat Reflexes and a reach weapon, you can do battlefield control even flat-footed. If you have a Sohei dip, Sohei lets you always act in the surprise round regardless, so that come the first round of regular combat, you won’t be flat-footed.
This is a better choice if you’re doing an AC Oracle dip to get your charisma to AC twice, and are truly dumping dexterity as a result.
Monastic Legacy - Whether this feat is any good for your Flurry Paladin depends on your DM. By a strict RAW reading, it does nothing for you, and should be ignored. However, if your GM allows you to apply half of your non-monk levels (that is, half of your Paladin levels) to your effective monk level (which is, itself, half of your Paladin level), then this essentially gives you the full unarmed monk damage progression.
Which is good, but not as unbelievably amazing as it might seem: If you do the math, it's giving you +1 average damage at Paladin 4-11, +2.5 damage at Paladin 12-15, +3.5 damage at Paladin 16-19. The damage differentials are better if you are enlarged. Good for a later pick, but not overpowered. Obviously only something to consider if you are doing an unarmed build.
Osyluth Guile - While the name is ominous, the actual flavor and text of this do not imply anything nefarious. Gets upgraded to green if you are maxing bluff ranks for Bewildering Koan anyway. The main problem with using this effectively is the requirement that you be fighting defensively/using combat reflexes. Consider getting the Crane Style (though not the later feats) in order to make your defensive fighting -2/+4 instead of -4/+3. Be careful, though; you will already be constrained for swift actions.
Eldritch Heritage Chain - Given that you have the high charisma anyway, this is an obvious choice to consider, along with its two follow up feats If you’re planning on taking this feat, then Half-Elf becomes a stronger race choice, as you use the free skill focus to qualify. Human, too, can take Focused Study in place of a generic bonus feat. Some Bloodline Options:
Improved Eldritch Heritage gets you Dragon Resistances, for some natural armor and elemental resistances. Greater Eldritch Heritage is the real reason you would consider this chain for a longer game, for Wings and a 60 ft. permanent fly speed.
Improved Eldritch Heritage gets you Nanite Resurgence, an excellent lifesaver. It’s less amazing for you than it might be for other classes, since you already have Lay on Hands going on, but still good. Greater Eldritch Heritage gets you a 25% fortification ability, but since such abilities don’t stack, and you’ll probably get it on your armor, likely not worth it.
Armor
Most versions will start with a chain shirt, and transition to Mithral Kikko (+5 armor, +6 max dex, 0 ACP) when you can. Note that unless you’re picking it up somewhere else, you do not have Medium Armor Proficiency, and so cannot wear Mithral Breastplate without suffering the -1 ACP to your attack rolls; this can be mitigated with the Armor Expert trait, or the Comfort armor property, but it’s generally not worth it, since you’ll be hitting the max dex anyway.
Eventually you’ll likely want Celestial Armor, though the transition may never be worth it in lower level games, such as PFS. In terms of home games, I have yet to meet the GM who will not allow players to further enchant Celestial Armor, regardless of their views on custom items in general, so you can continue to scale that armor until the end of the game.
Besides enhancement bonuses, brawling is mandatory for builds leaning on unarmed strikes as soon as you can get it. Besides that, fortification is always good. You can tack on shadow later on if you’re doing a stealth build. Vigilant (or Righteous) is a good ability to add in late middle levels if you don’t have other enlarging options available to you. Pricey, though, so do consider other possibilities.
Weapons
Weapons will vary a lot based on which version you are doing, of course. Besides unarmed strike, which is enhanced by various items:
Your best two-handed reach weapon is probably the Bardiche, but it’s not like you’ll ruin the character if you want to use a Glaive, or another two-handed reach weapon. Fauchard is mechanically the best, but requires an Exotic Weapon Proficiency which, in my opinion, is generally not worth it.
For a two-handed flurrier, Sansetsukon is the “optimal” choice. While you can’t get 1.5 times your strength bonus from flurrying, the extra boost from Power Attack does still apply.
For the one-handed flurrier, Nine Ring Broadsword is best, but there are other options that are fine if you prefer other flavor. I do not recommend making a one-handed flurrier for this class, however.
The cestus and siangham are both flurriable piercing weapons, if you want to dip into Swashbuckler, but otherwise not great choices.
The whip has potential for the Archaeologist dip build, which you can combine with a Nine Ring Broadsword if you dipped into Sohei for flurrying, or a rapier/longsword if you did not.
In terms of enchantments, Dueling (PSFG verison) (strong, and benefits additionally from Fate’s Favored trait) is a good choice, especially if you’re going to be doing a lot of maneuvers. Courageous is especially amazing if you did either the Bloodrager dip (due to the morale bonus from bloodrage), or 4 levels of Archaeologist (due to the heroism spell).
Rings
There are no “must have” rings. Ring of Ki Focus does nothing for you, since none of your abilities take more than 1 ki. Ring of Deflection is a standard, but powerful, choice, especially since unlike the normal paladin, your Personal Trial ability gives insight bonuses, not deflection to AC, so it stacks.
Rods
Lesser Metamagic Rods of Extend are valuable for builds consisting primarily of paladin levels in mid and later levels, but not at all crucial. For builds with at least 4 levels in Archaeologist, they jump in value for the ability to extend heroism, if nothing else.
Belt
Belt of Strength, of course. If your GM allows mixing and matching of bonus levels (which is not allowed in PFS), you’ll want to scale a constitution bonus behind the strength bonus, and likely eventually add a +2 dex (though that will depend on the build). Eg: STR +2 > STR +4 > STR +4 & CON +2 > STR +6 & CON +2 > STR +6 & CON +2 & DEX +2 > STR +6 & CON +4 & DEX +2 > ….
If such mixing and matching isn’t allowed, just stick to the strength belt, and rely on +2 Ioun Stones (8,000gp a pop) for Con and dex. At very high levels, you can make it a +6 STR & CON belt.
Body
If you’re unarmed focused, you’re going to want a Body Wrap of Mighty Strikes, as discussed in the Flurry Paladin section, at least until you can reliably have Greater Magic Weapon cast on you (either yourself, as a 3rd level paladin spell, or one of your buddies). Living Garments are not bad at later levels if you’re the party face, but not great. Monk’s Robes are mostly a trap; you don’t get the AC bonus in armor, and the unarmed damage increase is very minor for the cost; an unarmed focused build can maybe consider it at very high levels when Greater Magic Weapon has made the Body Wrap obsolete. Robes of Arcane Heritage are worth looking at IF you are using the Eldritch Heritage feats, AND your GM lets the robes apply to bloodlines gained in this way; by RAW it is unclear. For builds with significant spellcasting, Otherworldly Kimono is worth looking at at late levels, largely because it frees up your shoulder slot for something other than Cloak of Resistance.
Chest
Quick Runner’s Shirt is an excellent early game shirt, especially to set up for flurries for flurry builds, but not PFS legal. If your GM allows it, given the price tag, you should very seriously consider getting more than one once you have the cash, and switching them out between combats. This is the closest you’re going to get to “pounce” with this archetype, though watch out for the fact that it takes a swift action to use, so you won’t be able to spend ki, for example, in the same turn.
Unfettered Shirt is nice, but keep in mind that it takes a standard action to activate, so you can’t use it in response to being paralyzed, or the like; not as amazing as it seems at first. Spectral Shroud in an excellent mid to late game option worth mentioning.
Eyes
Eyes of the Eagle are always a solid choice, and you can keep Goggles of Minute Seeing in your pack for a switch out. Pirate’s Eye Patch may take precedence for seafaring heavy campaigns. Lenses of Detection trump Eyes of the Eagle if you are the tracker for the party (which you may be for some build variants). A bit later, Goggles of Night are a very strong choice for those who can’t gain darkvision otherwise; less important if you have someone who can cast darkvision on you. Darklands Goggles are a powerful mid to late game choice.
Feet
Nothing in particular to note for this archetype, beyond standard choices.
Hands
If you are building a Sohei Flurry variant, then you’re eventually going to want Gloves of Dueling, no question. Other than that, nothing is essential. Deliquescent Gloves are worth mentioning for Unarmed Strike builds, but note that the acid damage would only apply to unarmed strikes made with that hand, not with your knees or whatever, so not as good as it seems at first; excellent choice for the Abyssal Bloodrager dip build, though, as the acid damage would be for both your claw attacks, and all of your unarmed strikes. Stonefist Gloves are a good damage boost for Unarmed Strike builds.
Head
You potentially have a difficult choice here, between Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier, and the Circlet of Persuasion. Generally the former wins, but the latter gets a boost if you are using Bewildering Koan and do not otherwise have a competence bonus for bluff, or if you took the Noble Scion feat. Jingasa gets a boost if you have the Fate’s Favored trait, so that it actually gives +2 luck bonus to AC.
Once you have the money, if you are the party face, consider having one of each, and slipping on the Circlet for talkin’ to people.
Headband
Headband of Charisma. If your GM allows mixing and matching of bonus levels (which is not allowed in PFS), you may want to eventually add an intelligence bonus, and maybe even a wisdom bonus, onto the headband.
If such mixing and matching isn’t allowed, charisma headband, and rely on +2 Ioun Stones (8,000gp a pop) for intelligence and wisdom.
Neck
If you’re unarmed focused, you’re going to want an Amulet of Mighty Fists for sure, as discussed in the Flurry Paladin section. Otherwise, no must-haves; go for the plain Amulet of Natural Armor if nothing else pops out at you.
Shoulders
As usual, Cloak of Resistance dominates this slot, which is a shame. If you’ve got an Otherworldly Kimono, then you can consider other choices. The fact that Cloak of Resistance dominates this slot is one of the strongest reasons to allow custom items as a GM; if such is allowed, you can investigate the other cloak options on display.
Wrists
No “must haves”; I’ll mention some good options. Sleeves of Many Garments should be in any adventurer’s haversack, even if you don’t always need them. Bracers of Falcon’s Aim are great if you find yourself needing to use a bow more than you’d like (something this archetype does not excel at); they are not PFS legal, though, so be warned. Longarm Bracers are a potentially good choice for unarmed builds, since they extend reach without penalizing unarmed strikes; as a downside they take a swift action, which is bad in an already swift-constrained build. Merciful Vambraces are a great choice for any build with enough Paladin levels, and later Bracers of the Merciful Knight.
Slotless
If you’re not allowed custom items, you’ll probably end up getting +2 enhancement Ioun stones to Con & Int, and possibly Dex & Wis, as you proceed into mid to high levels. There are several other good ioun stones, especially in combination with Wayfinder resonance, but that’s not particular to this archetype, so I’m not going to go into detail.
Stone of Good Luck is a high level must-have IF you have Fate’s Favored trait, but DON’T have Archaeologist levels (which it would not stack with). If not, it’s probably not worth it. Other than that, no slotless wondrous items jump out as being must haves, beyond the standard Haversack, Anytool, etc.
Wands/Consumables
In progress.
Notes: divine favor wand, enlarge person wand
These builds are in various states of completion; some are very detailed, some are simply a level progression list. Names link to documents for each build.
Example Build 1: “Rock” (PFS Legal)
Rock, as his friends call him, is an extraordinarily simple soul. Found abandoned as a child by an Iroran Monk, Rock continues the path that his adoptive father painstakingly taught him: to seek perfection in himself. Though… he’s not always sure what that means.
He packs serious flurrying punch, along with nearly full Paladin progression and a hell of a self lay on hands, steadily building to an 18/day, 9d6+36 (avg. 77.5) at 20th.
Example Build 2: Eldritch Heritage: Orc Polearm Flurrying Sohei Hybrid (PFS Legal)
This guy follows the Sohei Hybrid path, starting with a Sansetsukon, then building to flurrying with a Polearm. The Eldritch Heritage feats give him incredible strength, and the ability to enlarge himself in a powerful way at late levels.
Example Build 3: Stalwart Defender Polearm Flurrier (PFS Legal)
This guy follows the Sohei Hybrid path for the first ten levels, then branches into a Living Monolith/Stalwart Defender bit, becoming an enlarged, polearm flurrying stalwart defender who can use his lay on hands to remove the fatigue from Defensive Stance when needed.
Example Build 4: The Holy Brawler (PFS Legal)
This build is intended to maximize unarmed attacks/damage, while using the Iroran Paladin to enhance both AC and saves to a great, great deal, along with getting the ki pool, Personal Trial, and other goodies. The stats are not entirely min-maxed for damage, but we don’t want to dump wisdom as much here due to the lower will save of the Sentinel class, and we make good use of the skill points we get from the 12 intelligence plus human bonus.
At level 8, we’ll gain the ability to tack on free intimidate checks to Unarmed Strikes, usable against anything not immune to nonlethal damage. A familiar is acquired via Eldritch Heritage, and at level 11 “upgraded” to an Improved Familiar. This will be our method in the mid to late game of getting enlarge person, divine favor and other nice 1st level spell goodies through the familiar action economy.
Example Build 5: The Champion of Irori ( NOT PFS Legal - Chevalier prestige class is not approved for PFS )
This build uses the Chevalier prestige class to gain access to the Champion of Irori, which gives ridiculous shennanigans like spending 1 ki to gain a Smite Evil as a paladin of your character level, which stacks with the Personal Trial ability of the Iroran Paladin.
Example Build 6: The Bewildering Archaeologist (PFS Legal)
This build uses four levels in Iroran Paladin, combined with the remaining levels in a Bard of the Archaeologist type, to combine an effective Bewildering Koan with strong melee capabilities (Two-hander plus archaeologist’s luck, later heroism, etc), knowledge skills (bardic knowledge plus Deific Obedience (Irori) makes him very effective at knowledges with just 1 rank), and trapfinding.
This gives a general overview of the power progression of the three paladin builds featured in a previous section.
Level 2:
At level 2, the Sohei Hybrid is the strongest of the options, because he’ll have taken Power Attack at level 1, not needing to bother with Fey Foundling. The exception to this is for a Human Flurry Paladin, who can take both Fey Foundling and Power Attack at level 1; in this case, the two are more or less indistinguishable. A Non-Human Flurry Paladin lags here in damage due to not having Power Attack yet, though this problem will fix itself at level 3. The Reach Variant is strong even without Power Attack, as his added battlefield control is a boon this early on; Reach Variant also has the edge on saving throws here, because he is the first to get to Divine Grace.
None of the options are blue at this level, because they have not reached the potential of their Confident Defense Ability, which is capped by their class level. Thus, at this level, they are behind a standard paladin in AC.
Level 4:
At level 4, the Sohei Hybrid and the Flurry Paladin are close to indistinguishable. The Flurry Paladin will have the marginally better healing capability, due to Fey Foundling, whereas the Sohei Hybrid will have a combat feat of some sort in its place, likely giving it the edge for now. The Reach Variant still has strong damage capability, but is hurting slightly due to a lack of flurrying. He’s the first to reach a ki pool, but he can’t use it for extra attacks.
Level 6:
At level 6, the Sohei Hybrid is very strong, at Paladin 4 / Monk 2. He’s reached what is likely the maximum potential from his charisma bonus to AC, and has two monk bonus feats, evasion, and some other nice goodies to boot. The Flurry Paladin at Paladin 5 / Monk 1 is marginally weaker here, mainly because the fifth level of Paladin does nothing of real use at this point. Both have their ki pool now, and at least 5 ki points (possibly 6), which they can use for extra attacks with a flurry of their Sansetsukon Sword. Both have a +2 Personal trial 2/day.
The Reach Variant, at Paladin 6, is just keeping up still. He’s one or two attacks behind the others on a full attack (depending on whether they spend ki), and his battlefield control doesn’t quite make up for that. He is ahead in casting, and in Lay on Hands, but that can only go so far.
Level 8:
The Sohei Hybrid, at Monk 4 / Paladin 4, lags slightly here, not having gotten much of extreme interest in the last two levels. Flurry Paladin, at Monk 1 / Paladin 7, is still plugging along, enjoying his increased Paladin abilities. Reach Variant, either Paladin 8 or Paladin 7/Sohei 1, is definitely struggling here, in comparison with a standard reach Paladin build. If you really want to use this archetype with a standard reach weapon in later levels, you really ought to be going with the Sohei Hybrid
Level 10:
The Sohei Hybrid, now Monk 6 / Paladin 4, has just gotten a major boost from his Weapon Training feature. He can now pick up a polearm and flurry with it, while using his Unarmed Strike to punch the heck out of people who get too close. Alternately, he can focus all his abilities on Unarmed Strikes, and just use the Weapon Training feature (and Gloves of Dueling) to boost that further; note, however, that his base Unarmed Damage will forever be stuck at 1d6. Flurry Paladin, Monk 1 / Paladin 9, is now transitioning to Unarmed Strike as his primary damage dealing feature. He’ll be behind the Sohei in damage (especially if the Sohei has Gloves of Dueling), but not by too much, and his Paladin features are significantly better.
The Reach Variant gets a slight boost here, assuming they took the Oath Against Fiends archetype, by the fact that they can now apply their Divine Boon boosts to their armor, so that it is not “wasted”.
Level 12+:
The Sohei Hybrid, in a sense, peaked at level 10, but they still remain a formidable character for a long time. Recommended progression from here is to proceed to Monk 8 (to get the second flurry attack), and then go to Paladin 6 (because you can easily get a +6 charisma bonus by now), and then put any remaining levels in Paladin or Fighter, to taste. By not proceeding beyond Monk 8, they only lose 2 BAB, which means they can, for example, take Staggering Critical at level 15.
In Very High Levels, they will fall behind, as is they way with most martial builds.
The Flurry Paladin only gets stronger into late middle levels. Due to their unique ability to combine bonuses from three different sources, they can achieve an effective +10 weapon bonus significantly before other characters. Once their caster level reaches 12 (which should be at Paladin 13 if they took Magical Knack as a trait), they should ditch the Body Wrap of Mighty strikes, and rely on Metamagic Rod of Extend and Greater Magic Weapon for all day +3.
For example, at level 14, Monk 1 / Paladin 13, the Flurry Paladin can have a +3 enhancement bonus from Greater Magic Weapon, +3 in special weapon properties of choice from an amulet of mighty fists (36,000 gp), and +4 in bonuses from their Divine Body ability, now usable 3/day for 13 minutes. So, that’s, say, +5 holy corrosive courageous heartseeker fists (or other abilities of choice) on the super cheap.
At Very High Levels, this will no longer be quite such an advantage, as they cannot exceed the +10 effective weapon cap, but their casting ability and other Paladin features will keep them from being left in the dust.
The Reach Variant is just sad into late levels. You’re not able to boost your attacks with Divine Bond, which is a major loss at this point, and you’re not flurrying. If you expect to get into these levels, don’t go this route. Either do a more standard Paladin, or the Sohei Hybrid if you want reach.
As a Paladin of Irori, you do not have a pre-made code, instead you are to write your own code. While there are no explicit RAW restrictions on what this code should be, there are several things you should keep in mind, whether your motivation is roleplaying (in which case, I applaud you), or just not pissing off your GM. This is essentially just a list of things to keep in mind when designing your code.