Well, I have decided to go the way of Redemption/Charge/Sacrifice/Vigor/Fanaticism. However, as I am learning, this build does not flesh out until it gets into the 30s, and I have gotten my hands on some life leech! I'd like a little help please on what skills/strategy I should use as a low-level paladin (L15.5 now and ready to begin Act 2).

Sacrifice works great... But I cannot take the 8% penalty damage it gives out. I don't have any life leech. I am using Might as my aura. When I encounter a swarm of monsters/uniques, I am obligated to either chug potions (wasting my valuable rejuv. pots.. otherwise, I don't mind chugging, I have plenty of TP scrolls), or run away and use a defensive Charge strategy.. (isolate/kill one monster, next, etc etc until only unique is left, and then Sacrifice on him). However, this strategy does not work very well in closed-quarters/dungeon fighting - simply put, I don't have the space to run, and also get blocked by my would-be victims. Also, I have a small mana pool of.. 55 maybe? And the 9 pt mana cost from Charge is far too expensive to rely on it for any degree of consistency. I've only spent 6 out of my 15 skill points (Charge, Smite, Zeal, Sacrifice, Might, Blessed Aim). Zeal is good when I am surrounded by many smaller monsters, but I have a dilemma: if I train higher, I take away valuable skill points, but really Zeal helps me so much at this point (since I have a SP character, I made a back-up and tested with Slvl 4 of Zeal, and it's much more effective than Sacrifice). It almost makes me want to make a Frost Zealot, but I am willing to endure for the carrot at the end of the rope.

So as you can see, I'm stuck in a quandary. If my character continues like this, I'm fairly certain I won't be able to finish Act 2 without severe difficulties. Gaining conviction at L18 will help me a lot, but not enough I fear to help this Martyrdin to finish Act 2, let alone 3 or 4. Please, make some suggestions as to what I can do (without deviating from my build).

Okay well I screwed around with a back-up as safety and I figured out that, get me a better weapon and train me up fully in Sac/Charge, I don't suck at all... But I just need to chug potions and play very defensively. I wish there was a delete option...

I'm still open to tips, mind you :)

i used to have a martyrdin. It's a nice char to play with, but kinda gear dependent, as you'll need LL. You can easily fix this by getting a cathan's ring, which gives 6%LL and, if you can't find one, a 3%LL magic ring, which drop quite often in act1/2 normal. Also be sure to put some points into vitality. Don't boost sacrifice to much at the start. When you're lvl35/40, sacrifice should be maxed. In the mean time, use aura's (concentration/fana) to boost your dmg, as long as your life pool allows.
Divide your stat points 3/2 to str/vit and every 2 lvls put some in dex to keep +85% hit ratio.
You should be abled to stay alive this way. I made it into the lvl 50's pretty easily, until i got killed by IM in act4 nm. (i played hardcore with a martyr :P)

I also made a stat points schema for lvl1-40. When I get home today, I'll look for it. Maybe I still got it. If i do, I'll post it.

Get some dmg reduced by x, not %, for example cathans ring or sol-rune slater on. My paladin took 0 dmg from sacrifice thanks to dmg reduced from 2 cathans rings when he leveled up. And no it wasnt because of the life leech since my lfie didnt go down when attacking skellies.

All these items sound nice, but I only have one unique... Some nice boots, but they aren't special or anything. Gorefoot, I think it is. Should I camp Andariel to try and get better loot?

Thanks for the help, too. I'd really appreciated if you told me where to put my stats, since I have no clue at all.

One of my favorite remedies to the damage to self problem is to use Sigons set with gloves and belt giving 30% IAS as well as 10% life leech. Granted this will only give you 2% usable life leech, but if you pair that with a manald heal ring, cathans ring, and eye of etlich you are looking at nearly 10-12 life leech after all is said and done. A great weapon to use on a martyrdin is rixots keen for early levels, and isenharts sword for early teens. If you can catch a rare gladius you can use that post lvl 18 depending on the mods and clvl req. Another solution would be to use deaths sash and gloves for 30% ias and 8% ll and also the base modifier cannot be frozen from the belt. If you really wanted to tweak this char, you could also use a 6 socket crystal sword and put in 6 ith runes, pumping your max dmg on the weapon as well as the dmg that your martyrdin does and as long as you hit the minimum 8% ll, and possibly another 5% ll for usable purposes, you should be able to attack without taking any damage and keeping your life orb full. :drink: