Gnome Bard/Paladin/Dirgesinger.. what did I do?

[Imdv]

I hadn't played dnd for a few years when my friends organized a new party. One of the players suggested it would be cool to go with a Gnome Bard/Paladin (Paladin of Freedom). I liked the idea, but had long forgotten how everything worked together. I went with this setup anyway. Before I continue a bit more about my party:

- Spirit Shaman
- Dread Necromancer
- Fighter
- Bard (3) Paladin (3) Dirgesinger (1) STR 14, DEX 14, CON 16, WIS 12, INT 10, CHA 16

Basically, we play as 2 melee and 2 ranged (me - archery and spells). And the Dread necros' summons are melee as well.

We have been playing for a while now. I think about 8 sessions and I'm level 7 now. In the meantime, I've Fallen as a paladin because my character started believing in the Dread Necro as a God. Which is one of the reasons I took a level of Dirgesinger: to affect the dead (allies) too.

I really like my character and the Bard class. I am feeling a bit lost about the paladin bit though, which is why I'm posting this. I thought of a few options;

- paying penance to become a Paladin again and continue with my current levels
- dying and rerolling a character (so I can rearrange my stats to fit better)
- persuade my gm to take the Paladin levels and restore them with Bard and some kind of penalty..

I would like to stress it's not about optimization for me, I like being a Bard and roleplaying it. I also like the role in my group as the diplomat and persuader.

Does anyone have a good idea how I could either utilize my current choices or a way to rearrange them?

I look forward to hearing your replies and thoughts.

Felix

[Falontani]

I hadn't played dnd for a few years when my friends organized a new party. One of the players suggested it would be cool to go with a Gnome Bard/Paladin (Paladin of Freedom). I liked the idea, but had long forgotten how everything worked together. I went with this setup anyway. Before I continue a bit more about my party:

- Spirit Shaman
- Dread Necromancer
- Fighter
- Bard (3) Paladin (3) Dirgesinger (1) STR 14, DEX 14, CON 16, WIS 12, INT 10, CHA 16

Basically, we play as 2 melee and 2 ranged (me - archery and spells). And the Dread necros' summons are melee as well.

We have been playing for a while now. I think about 8 sessions and I'm level 7 now. In the meantime, I've Fallen as a paladin because my character started believing in the Dread Necro as a God. Which is one of the reasons I took a level of Dirgesinger: to affect the dead (allies) too.

I really like my character and the Bard class. I am feeling a bit lost about the paladin bit though, which is why I'm posting this. I thought of a few options;

- paying penance to become a Paladin again and continue with my current levels
- dying and rerolling a character (so I can rearrange my stats to fit better)
- persuade my gm to take the Paladin levels and restore them with Bard and some kind of penalty..

I would like to stress it's not about optimization for me, I like being a Bard and roleplaying it. I also like the role in my group as the diplomat and persuader.

Does anyone have a good idea how I could either utilize my current choices or a way to rearrange them?

I look forward to hearing your replies and thoughts.

Felix

You could take a level of Blackguard, which makes your paladin levels not entirely worthless.
You might be able to convince your DM to allow you to fall further to CE and become a Paladin of Slaughter.

A final suggestion would be using Retraining rules from PHB2, to turn into a Chaotic Crusader, or perhaps a Hexblade.

__

If you wish to reroll your character but like the theme I would suggest a Paladin of the Song (combines pally levels with bard levels for inspire courage) or use Paladin as a base and enter into Prestigious Bard (from unearthed arcana)

Classes that replace paladin:
4 pinnacle alignments have the paladins. (paladin, freedom, slaughter, and tyranny)
Crusader easily replaces paladin in all aspects.
From magic of Incarnum you have the Soulborn (not as powerful but very thematic, and you keep your stuff when your alignment shifts to another pinnacle)
Binder, psychic warrior, duskblade, and hexblade are all good fits with a minor amount of tweaking the flavor of the classes