That's it. I'm sick of all this "not the best defender" bullshit that's going on in the 4th Edition system right now. Half-elf paladins deserve much better than that. Much, much better than that.
I should know what I'm talking about. I myself commissioned a genuine half-elf paladin build in CharOp after bumping the thread for sixty hours (that's about three days of my life gone) and have been practicing with it for almost 2 years now. I can even break 150 DPR with my half-elf paladin.
Half-elf paladins spend years choosing a single Dilettante power and spam it up to a million times to produce the finest defender/striker/controller/leaders known to mankind.
Half-elf paladins are thrice as damaging as fighters and thrice as sticky for that matter too. Anything a fighter can mark, a half-elf paladin can mark better. I'm pretty sure a half-elf paladin could easily bisect an equal level solo monster with a simple White Lotus Master Riposte.
Ever wonder why rangers and warlords never bothered conquering CharOp? That's right, they were too scared to fight the disciplined half-elf paladins and their radiant damage of destruction. Even in encounters where the paladins never mark anything, the DM's monsters target the half-elf paladins first because their killing power is feared and respected.
So what am I saying? Half-elf paladins are simply the best characters that the game has ever seen, and thus, require better stats in the 4th Edition system. Here are the stat block I propose for Dilettante and Divine Challenge:
Dilettante: At 1st level, you choose a 1st-level at-will attack power from your class or another class. You gain that power as an at-will power. When you use it, you use your highest ability modifier in place of any ability modifier called for by the power, you can use any weapon you are proficient with as an implement for the power, it deals cold and radiant damage in addition to its normal damage types, it gains the arcane keyword, and it can score a critical hit on a roll of natural 18-20.
In addition, after you have rolled initiative, you can make a Bluff check and an Insight check as a free action. If both checks meet or exceed an easy DC for your level (see page 80 of the Dungeon Master's Guide 2), you can act during the surprise round, and no enemies can act during the surprise round.
Divine Challenge, Paladin At-Will Feature
You boldly confront all enemies before you, disintegrating them with divine light if they ignore your challenge.
At-Will ✦ Cold, Divine, Radiant
Minor Action, Close burst 20
Target: Each enemy in burst
Effect: You mark the target until the end of the encounter. While the target is marked, whenever it makes an attack against one of your allies, before the attack is resolved, it takes cold and radiant damage equal to your bloodied value and is weakened until the end of its next turn.
Now that seems a lot more representative of the defending power of half-elf paladins in real life, don't you think?
