[PF] Oradin Mini-Guide. Or, How to be a Healbot, minus the 'bot'

[Anarax]

I want to throw my two cents in here. This is a great build! I am going to be using this as one of my characters in PFS.

I found an item on the Pazio Thread that isn't mentioend at all in your thread.

Meditation Crystals (100 gp, 1lb) from Adventures Armory.

Its a Channel Focus.

Activating a focus is identical to channeling energy, but instead of directing the power outward, the cleric (or other appropriate character) directs it into the focus, expending one use of channel energy. This triggers the item’s ability

Meditation Crystal: Though this focus is usually a hand-sized crystal, the exact form (such as a wooden idol, an iron disk, and so on) may vary for some religions. A monk or paladin of the cleric’s faith may concentrate upon an activated meditation crystal, taking no actions for 1 minute, and regain 1 ki point or one use of lay on hands. Once activated, the crystal retains its energy until a monk or paladin uses it for this purpose or 24 hours pass.

Suggested use: buy a few of these up to the amount of Channels you have for the day. Channel into them at the beginning of the day (suggest that you save some channels however) and trade Channels for extra Lay on Hands on a 1:1 basis do this before Combat, or even refill uses of Lay on Hands After combat to have more available for the next combat.

Seems a cheap and great way to get multiple extra lay on hands during the day.

[grarrrg]

I want to throw my two cents in here. This is a great build! I am going to be using this as one of my characters in PFS.

I found an item on the Pazio Thread that isn't mentioend at all in your thread.

Meditation Crystals (100 gp, 1lb) from Adventures Armory.

Suggested use: buy a few of these up to the amount of Channels you have for the day. Channel into them at the beginning of the day (suggest that you save some channels however) and trade Channels for extra Lay on Hands on a 1:1 basis do this before Combat, or even refill uses of Lay on Hands After combat to have more available for the next combat.

Seems a cheap and great way to get multiple extra lay on hands during the day.

Into the guide it goes!

[TheLastSane1]

Ok I noticed it does not have as many specifics on a Cleric/Oracle build.

I am working on a character who is going to be the players mentor and healer during their early missions. He will be a gestalt of Oracle and one other class but not sure. I like the Paladin idea but the channeling surge is nice depending on the party size.

[grarrrg]

Ok I noticed it does not have as many specifics on a Cleric/Oracle build.

That's cause it's not a specific build.
More of a "these 2 abilities work pretty well together, what else can we do with that?"

I am working on a character who is going to be the players mentor and healer during their early missions. He will be a gestalt of Oracle and one other class but not sure. I like the Paladin idea but the channeling surge is nice depending on the party size.

Oracle/Cleric seems like too much of the same thing. If you do go this route, I'd stay VERY away from the Life Mystery. As thematically appropriate as it may be, it'd just be more of the same.

I could see an Oracle/Bard working pretty well though. Performance to give boosts, and Oracle to patch the up afterwards (and possibly during).

[Moadis]

"Wayfinder (Pathfinder Chronicles, Seekers of Secrets)
They require Ioun Stones to function, one of the possible bonuses is +1/day Lay on Hands, another possible bonus is +1/day Channel."

Hi.
I have done some extensive searching but can not find the wayfinder who would give any of this two bonuses. I am building an oradin for PFS. Could you provide the names of the wayfinders in question and the books they are from please.
Btw great guide.

[grarrrg]

"Wayfinder (Pathfinder Chronicles, Seekers of Secrets)
They require Ioun Stones to function, one of the possible bonuses is +1/day Lay on Hands, another possible bonus is +1/day Channel."

Hi.
I have done some extensive searching but can not find the wayfinder who would give any of this two bonuses. I am building an oradin for PFS. Could you provide the names of the wayfinders in question and the books they are from please.
Btw great guide.

Basic Wayfinder, nothing specific.
The book is right there in what you quoted
"Pathfinder Chronicles, Seekers of Secrets"
The Lay on Hands or Channel are two of the possible "resonant powers" on the table.

[Moadis]

Found it, thx.
The problem is its on the random roll table. Its a 2% chance on d100 to get one of the two desirable effects per ion stone used. Not sure how that work on PFS but based on what is said on the book unless you are really lucky with your roll it can get very expensive quickly if you keep trying. You only have one roll per Ion Stone.

[grarrrg]

Found it, thx.
The problem is its on the random roll table. Its a 2% chance on d100 to get one of the two desirable effects per ion stone used. Not sure how that work on PFS but based on what is said on the book unless you are really lucky with your roll it can get very expensive quickly if you keep trying. You only have one roll per Ion Stone.

I agree, if played entirely as written, it is a poor option.
But it is a potential bonus (sake of completeness), some DM's may be more lenient and let you re-roll (because most of those abilities are pointless for any random class).
You may even be able to work out a "swap meet" type thing in a bigger city, trading/buying for the exact bonus you want.

[mevans7]

Loving this build. Just got to 7 in our campaign and picked up Greater Mercy which really helps with the whole "quality of life" during combat. I breathe a bit easier, that's for sure.

One small question about the build from the 1st post, and its minor, where does the extra +3 healing come from for lay on hands? I see at level10 you've got 4d8+11 (3d8 paladin + 1d8 greater mercy and +8 from fay foundling) but I can't account for the other +3. Are you adding Cha to the healing done? Did I miss that rule somewhere?

[Starbin]

Are they the favored class bonus for 6 lvls of Paladin (for elves)?

[mevans7]

That's exactly what it is. Thanks!

[Rylar]

What mythic options do you like for taking this build? Right now I'm a 2paly/2oracle. Going to be a 2paly/4oracle shortly and becoming mythic. I'm planning to go strait paladin (hospitaler) after this, but nothing is set in stone.

[grarrrg]

What mythic options do you like for taking this build?

I haven't delved into Mythic all that much.
Perhaps someone else more familiar with it can chime in on good selections?

[Rylar]

So far a few things have stood out:

Divine Vessel (Ex): At 10th tier, whenever you cast a spell that targets one or more non-mythic creatures, those creatures must roll twice for any saving throws associated with the spell and take the lower result. Whenever you are healed of hit point damage by a spell or effect, you are healed for the maximum possible amount. You also gain DR 10/epic. Once per round when you take more than 20 points of damage (after damage reduction is applied), you regain one use of mythic power.

Healing for max every time I LoH seems pretty strong. This is the hierophant capstone and out of the capstones it seems the one to fit the character the best.

Faith's Reach (Su): Whenever you cast a divine spell with a range of touch, you can instead cast the spell with a range of 30 feet. If the spell normally requires a melee touch attack, it instead requires a ranged touch attack.

While I will have a very limited spell pool, I find this to be quite strong. With this I will be able to cast shield at range or buff an allies weapon easier.

Overflowing Grace (Su): When you heal a creature with positive energy (such as by channeling positive energy to heal the living, using cure spells, or using lay on hands), any affected creature at full hit points (whether already at full hit points or healed to full hit points by your channeled energy) gains a +1 sacred bonus on attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws for 1 minute. If you channel negative energy to heal undead, this is a profane bonus rather than a sacred bonus.

Seems like a nice perk to add to my channeling ability.

[CubeB]

So, I'm doing an experimental variation on this build: The Vitapriest. It's a potentially good Low CHA Option for this style of build (though you'll probably want some Charisma anyway). Here's how it works.


One Level of Vitalist: All you really need from this is the Collective.
As Many Levels of Warpriest as you like

You already know about the Vitalist, the important part of this whole experiment is the Warpriest part. Here's a quick run down of the Pros and Cons.


The Warpriest
The Warpriest is an Alternate Class of the Cleric and the Fighter from the Advanced Class Guide, which is still only in Playtest form. The proper guide is set to be released in August. It's somewhere between the Paladin and the Cleric in terms of play, in that it has a lot of features of both. Warpriests are Wisdom Focused, meaning that unlike a Vitadin build, you don't have to pump up a stat you wouldn't normally use to have a decently sized collective. They're also Proficient in Heavy Armor, Martial Weapons, and most importantly The Favored Weapon of their Deity. This opens up a lot of options depending on what deity you worship, especially because a Warpriest Gets Free Weapon Focus with his Chosen Weapon, and The Damage of Said Weapon Scales With the Warpriest's Level. You could have a Kukri wielding Vitadin, an Unarmed Vitadin, a Gunslinging Vitadin... The major downside, however, is that You Only Have Full BAB With Weapons you have the Weapon Focus feat for. You get the feat for free at level 1, but this "fake BAB" slows your access to various feats. Furthermore, You Can Never Multiclass With Fighter or Cleric due to how the alternate class rules work. Your HD is also a d8, which is lower than a Paladin, and You Don't Gain Access to Divine Grace or Other Paladin Immunities.

Here's what you do get.


Fervor: Fervor is the Warpriest version of Lay On Hands, and functions almost identically to it. It Scales Off Charisma, which sucks, and the Warpriest doesn't have an equivalent to the Mercy class feature, meaning It Can't Heal Status Effects, Or Benefit from Greater Mercy. What you can do is Burn a Use of Fervor to Cast A Quickened, Stilled Spell On Yourself Without Provoking An Attack Of Opportunity. This is extremely useful, at it allows you to rapidly buff yourself and opens up things like True Strike Shenanigans.

Also, Evil Warpriests Don't Get the Healing Aspect Of Fervor, it's negative energy for them. This isn't so bad if you've got Negative Energy Affinity, but see below.

Blessings: The Warpriest version of Domains and Inquisitions. Blessings are much more limited than either of those, in that they share a single pool (3+1/2 Level), and have two powers a piece. You get your first at level 1, and your second at level 10. The one of note here is the Healing Blessing, which is essentially a second stack of Fervor solely for Quickening Cure Spells On Yourself. In other words, you can have a maximum of 13 quickened cures of various sizes, in addition to your stack of Fervor heals. The downside is that You Can Only Quicken Prepared Cures, not Spontaneous Ones, which means that They'd Be Competing For Your Spell Slots. Still, it's a nice buffer. Unfortunately, No Equivalent Exists for Evil Warpriests, so unless you're an undead Warpriest with a Pallid Crystal who worships a God of Healing, you'd be out of luck.

Spells: The good news is, Warpriests Have Access To the Cleric/Oracle Spell List!, the bad news is Warpriests Have Bard/Inquisitor Spell Progression, Locking You Out Of 9th Level Spells. Not only do you get fewer spell levels than a Cleric or Oracle, you get them later than a cleric of an equivalent level would, with Spell Level Jumps ever 3 levels. This still opens up a lot of fun options for you, and since You Prepare Spells Like A Cleric, you've got a lot of versatility. Since you can cast spells over your Collective, this creates a lot of support options that the more offensively oriented Inquisitor and Paladin simply don't have. You'll be tight on spell slots though.

Channeling: Warpriest Channeling Works Like Paladin Channeling, but there is No Hospitaler Equivalent. Sucks. Worse, this (combined with the weird "fake BAB" thing), means that Holy Vindicator isn't as strong an option.

Warpriest suffers a bit from a lack of Feat and Splatbook support, since it hasn't really been released yet. Archetypes and Feats would really help. I'm confident, though, that the Vitapriest will be a viable (if perhaps less powerful) version of the Oradin build.

[PsyBomb]

Although it's still in Playtest as well, the Akashic system (DSP's Incarnum port)is working out VERY well with this build. There is a STR/CHA/-wis race (that also has a native bite attack), and a feat that allows you to up your effective character level for Lay On Hands. I used it for a Glaivedin Oradin build to awesome effect.

[grarrrg]

Once the Warpriest and such are "official" I'll add what's relevant to the guide.

3rd party stuff is still iffy, and a case-by-case basis (although DSP-Psionics have a better chance than not).

[Rylar]

Items of interest:
Bracers of the Merciful Knight 15.6k - opposed to bracelet of Mercy 15k. Same book (ult equipment)

These golden bracers are engraved with images of celestial creatures. When worn by a paladin, he is considered four levels higher for the purposes of determining the uses per day and healing provided by his lay on hands class feature. Additionally, once per day, the wearer can infuse a use of lay on hands with additional power, providing relief as a lesser restoration spell.

4 levels higher means extra 2 LoH and 2d6 more healing. vs 1 extra use of the bracelets. I also think lesser restoration is better than removal of a disease.

Also Inheritor's Light from gods of the inner sea:

This +1 longsword sheds light a s a torch and when drawn emits a shining starburst around the hilt, similar to Iomedae’s holy symbol. Any cure spells or lay on hands effects used to heal the wielder of this blade heal an additional 1 point of damage per die, up to the effect’s normal maximum healing amount. Once per day, the wielder can use inheritor’s smite*.

[grarrrg]

Items of interest:
Bracers of the Merciful Knight 15.6k - opposed to bracelet of Mercy 15k. Same book (ult equipment)

4 levels higher means extra 2 LoH and 2d6 more healing. vs 1 extra use of the bracelets. I also think lesser restoration is better than removal of a disease.

Good finds.
[rummaging]...Ah, that explains things. The Bracelets were originally printed in Advanced Player's Guide.
When they made Ultimate Equipment they threw them in, and then made them virtually obsolete at the same time.
Nice.

[Teatime42]

Made an account just to share a few things, as well as thank you for this guide. :D

Asked here about the meditation crystals:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2r3a8?It...ation-crystals

And got an answer that makes sense to me, though I am pretty new, and he could have been wrong.

The second thing, is that while looking for Oracle curses (Coulda sworn there was a mute one...(There was, two in fact, all third party)) I found a large list including several third party curses.

From: http://paizo.com/products/btpy8mus?Oracle-Curses
Text is from: https://crimson-skies.obsidianportal...-oracle-curses

Feeble:
Your bones are brittle and your blood thin. Successful attacks against you deal bleed (1d6) damage in addition to any other damage. You have fast healing 1.
At 5th level, you gain fast healing 2.
At 10th level, you gain fast healing 4.
At 15th level, your fast healing becomes regeneration 3 (acid, fire).

I think you said that you weren't using third party material, I mention it only because it may be something that others can use, and because it also lead me to look harder at:

Fast Healer
You benefit greatly from your healing, be it from spells or natural healing.
Prerequisites: Con 13, Diehard, Endurance.
Benefit: When you regain hit points by resting or through magical healing, you recover additional hit points equal to half your Constitution modifier (minimum +1).

Looks like crap, but the "Magical Healing" part leapt out at me, would this count off of fast heal? Regeneration?

I googled a bit, and found (Only thing I found, it was about Bleed damage and magical healing):

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mej3?Do...eal-stop-bleed

Specifically:

James Jacobs
My vote: both of them should stop bleed.
But if you're only gonna pick one of them... it seems silly to let regeneration restore lost body parts but not stop bleed.

But also was noted by another (Diego Rossi) later, that by RAW, it DOESN'T work, though he would let them stop bleeding himself.

So, it could be argued (I think) that that same magical healing that stops the Bleed, would also apply to Fast Healer for Fast heal and Regeneration.

Making that Ring of Regeneration ever better, or however you manage to gain Fast Heal, even more awesome.

Suddenly with a sub 18 con, you're fast heal 1 is acting like fast heal 2, with more than 18, it's a fast heal 3. Same with the Ring, regening 2-3 hp depending on your con. With a Fast heal 4 (Max from that curse) and an 18 con, you're healing 6 hp every round, that's a free bond right there. Though, to get more than +2, you would need a Con of 22, and to get a +4, a con of 26. So, scaling is expensive, but if you're gaining con from items (And since Con is so valuable here, it makes sense too), it would mostly be icing on the cake.

(Though it is worth noting that by the time you receive this feat, it may not be worth the feat slot for an extra 1-3 hp a turn)

I went to my own GM for approval (Not that it matters to anyone reading this what he said XD), and when I laid it out for him, he okayed me for use in his game. Especially since the Fast Heal I was receiving was from my Curse, and he argued that it was then of a magical/divine/profane source.

Something to note, I am a complete Novice when it comes to Pathfinder topics, so please, feel free to check these, I would prefer it. XD

Thank you for this great guide, enjoyed making a character using it. It was nice to make a character that was literally giving of it's own life to aid others. I went full on and grabbed anything I could to mediate damage to allies, including a Tiefling only Trait called "Suicidal", allowing you to 1/day as an immediate action, take a hit for someone in an adjacent square. :)

Woo, Tiefling Paladin of Seranrae! XD

(Speaking of which, the Sarenrae, Desna and Urgathoa Deific Obedience's (Appears to be Exalted only, so Evangelist isn't a good bet, which since you were losing 20 HP taking Evangelist anyway, already hurt quite a bit) apparently have various effects that buffs Channeling, unsure what exactly (Only have this guide to go off of, and it's vague, probably intentionally: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qyjz?Wa...fic-Obediences), I don't have the book myself. :/)

[Teatime42]

Meh, tried to edit, phone said no...

Anyways, this wayfinder is also kinda interesting, cure spells only, so not as good as I first thought.

34) Cure spells heal the bearer an additional 2 hit points per die.

[grarrrg]

Made an account just to share a few things, as well as thank you for this guide. :D

*rubs hands together menacingly* Good, good, the subliminal messages are working, good...

Asked here about the meditation crystals:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2r3a8?It...ation-crystals

And got an answer that makes sense to me, though I am pretty new, and he could have been wrong.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure 1-each is the intended, but they are extremely cheap for what they do.

Feeble:
Your bones are brittle and your blood thin. Successful attacks against you deal bleed (1d6) damage in addition to any other damage. You have fast healing 1.
At 5th level, you gain fast healing 2.
At 10th level, you gain fast healing 4.
At 15th level, your fast healing becomes regeneration 3 (acid, fire).

This is the problem with most 3rd party stuff. Excluding "Fast Heal stops Bleed" for the moment, once you hit level 10 the Healing is FASTER than the Bleed damage (Bleed doesn't stack), making the "penalty" completely pointless. Of course, once you hit level 15, then the Bleed is slightly worse than the Regen amount...yeah...

Fast Healer
You benefit greatly from your healing, be it from spells or natural healing.
Prerequisites: Con 13, Diehard, Endurance.
Benefit: When you regain hit points by resting or through magical healing, you recover additional hit points equal to half your Constitution modifier (minimum +1).

Looks like crap, but the "Magical Healing" part leapt out at me, would this count off of fast heal? Regeneration?

Technically it doesn't work.
Fast Healing and Regeneration are (EX), which are explicitly not Magical. Fast Healer Feat specifies "resting" or "magical healing".
There is some possible RAI to make it work, but as written it does not.
If it did though it would make Fast Healer MUCH more useful, as half-CON-mod is pretty pathetic.

[Teatime42]

*rubs hands together menacingly* Good, good, the subliminal messages are working, good...

Praise him... praise him... praise him...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure 1-each is the intended, but they are extremely cheap for what they do.

Yeah, when I showed it to my GM, he got this weird gleam in his eye, and started building an entire gemcrafting system for it. XD

Heck, my character is ending up with a profession and crafting out of it. XD

That's why I love the guy, we may end up using too much Homebrew in my opinion, but it always ends up being fun and adding to the groups experience.

This is the problem with most 3rd party stuff. Excluding "Fast Heal stops Bleed" for the moment, once you hit level 10 the Healing is FASTER than the Bleed damage (Bleed doesn't stack), making the "penalty" completely pointless. Of course, once you hit level 15, then the Bleed is slightly worse than the Regen amount...yeah...

Technically it doesn't work.
Fast Healing and Regeneration are (EX), which are explicitly not Magical. Fast Healer Feat specifies "resting" or "magical healing".
There is some possible RAI to make it work, but as written it does not.
If it did though it would make Fast Healer MUCH more useful, as half-CON-mod is pretty pathetic.

Oof, I hadn't made the mental connection between what I was trying to figure out, and the Bleed damage of the curse itself. We talked a bit, and neither of us was cool with the bleed being healed away EVERY turn. So, while it doesn't matter for your purposes (Like I said, the guy did say it was against RAW in that thread, definitely didn't dispute that, mostly just trying to show possible, alternative and useful things, sorry they weren't so useful or helpful :( ) , just to let you know how we fixed it for us, we went with what one of the other posters said.

Totally Homebrew now, ignoreignoreignore. XD
That when your fast healing is MORE than the bleed's damage, it heals. Regen does it after one turn. Bleed does 6 damage, you fast heal 2, bleed continues. You bleed for 1, you fast heal 2, the bleed heals. Even with fast heal 4, the bleed is an average of 3.5, that would give the bleed a good chance of staying. Tempted to ask him to make it so that you need 1 point above the bleed, so, bleed for 3, heal for 4, good. Bleed for 4, heal for 4, bleed stays.

Again, just saying that for information purposes, and thank you for pointing out that crucial thing I had missed. XD

Oh man, that would have sucked, invalidating the curse like that.

Did you get any information on the Obedience channel bits? I figure it's going to be a few weeks before they're available commonly online. Friend has the book, trying to get a hold of it.

Thank you again. :)

[Dragon-Rider]

This is a fantastic resource. Grarrrg, thank you very much for compiling this. And thank you to everyone who contributed ideas.

I really like the typical Oradin build, but there are a couple things I don't quite understand:

1) The race of the typical build is a Half-Elf. The Half-Elf favored class option for Oracles is +1 spell known (but must be at least 1 level lower than the highest spell leve the Oracle is able to cast). However, the typical build somehow selects the Elf Oracle Favored Class bonus for 2 levels of Oracle. How is it possible for a Half-Elf to select an Elven favored class option? Is there a rule, feat or trait that I'm not aware of that allows this? If so, can you point me to it?

2) How does the typical build's Lay On Hands ability heal 6d6+15 (self) or 6d6+3 (others)? I think I understand the 6d6 part (3d6 for a 6th level Paladin, +2d6 for the Bracers of the Merciful Knight, +1d6 for the Greater Mercy feat). I also understand that Fey Foundling would give a +12 bonus when using Lay On Hands to self heal. But I don't understand where the remaining +3 for self healing and the +3 for healing others comes from. I'd really appreciate it if someone could explain that to me.

Thank you!
~Dragon-Rider

[VexingFool]

1) The race of the typical build is a Half-Elf. The Half-Elf favored class option for Oracles is +1 spell known (but must be at least 1 level lower than the highest spell leve the Oracle is able to cast). However, the typical build somehow selects the Elf Oracle Favored Class bonus for 2 levels of Oracle. How is it possible for a Half-Elf to select an Elven favored class option? Is there a rule, feat or trait that I'm not aware of that allows this? If so, can you point me to it?

Can a half-elf select human racial favored class options?

Yes. Half-elves and half-orcs may select racial favored class options, archetypes, traits, and so on, as if they were a full member of both races (a half-elf can select elf and human rules elements, a half-orc can select human and orc rules elements).

I'd post a link but I can't get to the Paizo site from work.

[grarrrg]

1) The race of the typical build is a Half-Elf....However, the typical build somehow selects the Elf Oracle Favored Class bonus for 2 levels of Oracle. How is it possible for a Half-Elf to select an Elven favored class option?...If so, can you point me to it?

Here's the FAQ that VexingFool mentioned.

So when it comes to Favored Class bonuses Half-Elves can choose:
Paladin>Human> +1 Energy Resist
Paladin>Half-Elf> +1ft. to Auras
Paladin>Elf> +1/2 to Lay on hands
Oracle>Human or Half-Elf> +1 Spell Known (not highest)
Oracle>Elf> +1/2 level towards Revelation
[any]>[any]> +1 HP or +1 Skill point.

AND they can have 2 favored Classes.
Half-Elves are sweet like that (no so much Half-Orc Oradins though )

2) How does the typical build's Lay On Hands ability heal 6d6+15 (self) or 6d6+3 (others)? I think I understand the 6d6 part...But I don't understand where the remaining +3 for self healing and the +3 for healing others comes from. I'd really appreciate it if someone could explain that to me.

I finally realized that I forgot to point out that the Half-Elf is also taking the Elf Favored Class Paladin bonus of +1/2 to Lay on Hands per level.
6 levels * +1/2 bonus = +3 to Lay on Hands.
TO THE EDITS!

[Dragon-Rider]

@VexingFool & Grarrrg:

Thank you both very much for clearing that up for me and for linking to the FAQ.

~Dragon-Rider

[Zan Thrax]

The half-elf's multitalented ability is nice, but for any Paladin-centric Oradin that merely dips Oracle, the Tiefling's Paladin FCB is incredibly good. +1 point per level for laying hands on self is much more useful for an Oradin than the elf FCB.

I'm not sure that it's as strong a candidate as the Hospitalier for mentioning in a general guide, but I'm really happy with the Oradin I've just built around the new Iroran Paladin archetype. Getting claws from being a Tiefling, and a bite from Wolfscarred curse (in-combat casting should be minimized as an Oradin anyhow; someone slightly less cheese-adverse could do Deaf/Wolfscarred Dual Cursed) meets the prerequisites to take Multiattack at level 3, so that he can follow up his regular unarmed strike with a claw/claw/bite routine at BAB-2 each. Brawling Armour boosts the unarmed strikes, Deliquescent Gloves boost the claws (optional), and an amulet of mighty fists boosts everything. The ki pool isn't as useful as channels would be, but at least DR is pretty much irrelevant to him and he can boost his speed or AC on rounds where he won't need to lay hands on. (It'd be really nice if there was an item that could be used to turn ki into channels, or directly into lay on hands uses, but the only way I know to do that is the Champion of Irori, which the Iroran Paladin can't qualify for.)

[grarrrg]

The half-elf's multitalented ability is nice, but for any Paladin-centric Oradin that merely dips Oracle, the Tiefling's Paladin FCB is incredibly good. +1 point per level for laying hands on self is much more useful for an Oradin than the elf FCB.

And that's exactly why the little "Best. Race. Possible." is attached to the Tiefling under the Races section.
But some people prefer a more Oracle-heavy build, making Half-Elf that much better.
Some DM's frown upon Alt-Tieflings, and being stuck with -2 CHA, and generally unhelpful +2 DEX/+2 INT isn't all that great.
And even other DM's just won't allow Tieflings at all.

So Half-Elf is a good solid all around choice.

Champion of Irori, which the Iroran Paladin can't qualify for

It actually can.
Chevalier PrC gets Smite Evil at 3rd level.
It requires 6 Bab, and Champion requires Still Mind as a Monk feature, so for a full 10 levels of Champion you're looking at Paladin 4/Monk 3/Chevalier 3 or Paladin 3/Monk 4/Chevalier 3
As for how exactly Chevalier Smite Evil stacks with Champion Smite Evil...you'll have to work that out with your DM.

In fact, we had a short discussion on this just last month.

[Zan Thrax]

Oops. Didn't notice that on the tiefling. Gets a little confusing with all the collapsible sections.

On an unrelated note; I was looking at magic items in the 5K range last night for my Oradin, and noticed the new Boots of the Earth from Inner Sea Gods. 5K for what's essentially as-needed fast healing 1. Not quite a ring of regeneration, but ridiculously cheap.

A one level dip in Unbreakable Fighter gives the prerequisites for Fast Healer and a bonus feat to replace the one that Fast Healer uses up and those boots are now fast healing 3 for 5,000 gp.