Please choose. And for my party's composition, check this thread (http://www.sorcerers.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=003096#000006).

For details on each kit, check the following links:

Paladin (http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/classes/paladin.php) (no kit)
Cavalier (http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/classes/cavalier.php)
Inquisitor (http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/classes/inquisitor.php)
Undead Hunter (http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/classes/undeadhunter.php)

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 58 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Paladins: Which is most Powerful? (58 votes.)

Paladins: Which is most Powerful? (Choose 1)
* Paladin (no kit) - 5% (3)
* Cavalier - 33% (19)
* Inquisitor - 40% (23)
* Undead Hunter - 22% (13)

normally i would have voted for the inquisitor but the holy avenger sword covers many of his features. therefore i pick the undead hunter because you need a anti-vampire tank anyway.

IIRC, the inquisitor casts True Sight at twice his level. He's also immune to charm and hold, which makes him by far the most powerful IMHO. Think about how often you run into disappearing spellcasters who turn your party members against one another. You might want to take the Undead Hunter and substitute Keldorn for Minsc.

Keldorn--Don't leave home without him.

Undead hunter have always been my favourite :)

I've always preferred Cavaliers. get bonuses against demons and dragons (+3 dmg), remove fear and immune to fear himself, Resistance to certain damage, and the only drawback is no ranged weapons? whee!

Inquisitors have dispel magic, true sight and immunities to charm and holding but no spells turning or LoH? I tend to use them a lot.

Undead Hunters get +3 dmg against undead and are immune to hold and lvl which is quite cool, but there are items and spells which do the same, and again - no LoH.

There are items that do things which are in the class already - but cavaliers have resistances and dmg bonuses that can stack better. And it fits my character better ;) so I like Cavaliers :p

Inquisitor without question.
Cavalier is second.
I cannot imagine why to take an Undead Hunter.

Re loss of spells, turning and loh....inconsequential.

I like the inquisitor because he can return the state of an encounter back to a clean slate. One dispel magic and it's your six guys against a shriveled old man who just lost all of his protections.

Heck, why not take Keldorn and have two Paladins? You need two tanks anyway. If you take Keldorn, I'd definitely go for the Undead Hunter, although my current PC is a Cavalier.

IMO, the best thing about the paladin class is there really isn't a "wrong" choice when deciding on the kits.

Iquisitors have true sight and dispel at twice their actual level (therefore they are the better at dispelling than any other class in the game), and can take down spellcasters fast.

Undead Hunters are also immune to hold, as well as disease and level drain - pretty much all the particularly nasty undead stuff. They get a bonus to hit undead, and there are massive numbers of them throughout the game. Heck, just think of how many shadows you run into.

Cavaliers do get bonuses to hit and damage against dragons, and their remove fear also means other party members stay in the fight. The best thing however (since there aren't many dragons in the game) is their natural immunity to a lot of elemental damage. That's a big help later on. 20% might not sound like much, but every little bit helps.

I've played every one of them, and never had a bad experience. I'd say Undead Hunter is the most useful, but I can't say which is best.

My favourite would easily be Undead Hunter because i have a strong hatred for vampires and they can kick some serious vampire butt, they are kinda like van helsing :p

When I was completing BG2 and ToB, I always took the Undead Hunter. Try your Level Drain now, scum! With Crom Faeyr and Large Shield he was going nicely.

But seriously, Level Drain is extremely powerful and irritating. Does it even have a saving throw?

By the time you get to ToB, level drain isn't much of a problem anymore. There aren't even that many enemies that use it in the game, and when you have about 20-30 levels, it isn't really a significant threat to your PC's life. Thus I would go with Inquisitor, as mages are quite a big deal in ToB, and the Inquisitor's dispel magic is much better then Carsomyr's, plus the True Sight is great as well. Paladins are hopeless spellcasters, and you should have one of Anomen, Aerie, or Viconia to turn undead anyway, so the Inquisitor's drawbacks are negligible.

Haven't ever used a Cavalier before. There isn't actually any real drawback, as I never use ranged weapons with a paladin anyway, but there aren't many real benefits, as you don't fight that many demons/dragons in the game. Immunity to fear is no better then immunity to charm, hold, level drain, etc.

Actually Cavaliers are just improvements over the common Paladin. But I think they are quite powerful. Many rezistances and immunitys. Great fighters... They are my choice :) ...

Personally I found the cavalier most atractive and immensely powerful. Especially at lower (and then again in ToB) levels remove fear is extremely useful and later the bonuses vs dragons and demons, plus resistances are quite handy too.

I always felt that the inquisitor's dispel magic, though handy, wouldn't copmpensate for that, and then, why play one with Keldorn around? Compared to a main char cavalier Keldorn necessarily is weaker.

Paladin spells aren't maybe massive, but they're surely helpful. Especially if you know how to handle them. Inquisitor loses them all. He also loses the ability to turn undead and lay hands. Those are the two features most easily associated with paladinhood. Actually, healing touch is the classic one. Inquisitor dispel owns any caster, right. But nearly the same effect is achieved with a successful Carsomyr hit. True Sight is effective, but paladins can cast Detect Invisible as a priestly spell.

Undead Slayer loses only healing touch (Lay on Hands) in exchange for bonuses effective against undead. This includes immunity to any and all undead domination, paralysation or any other inhibiting effect. Also, immunity to draining. It is very, very convenient, but perfectly achievable with an amulet, specific weapon (that you will use against undead enemies anyway) or spell. On higher levels, paladins can cast Protection from Negative Energy.

Cavalier loses absolutely no paladin features. In fact, he only loses the ability to use missile weapons. He can use darts, throwing weapons and returning weapons if you really want ranged attacks. In exchange, he is granted total immunity to poison and fear, massive resistance to fire and bonuses against daemons and dragons. It's not like dragons or daemons are your most common enemies, but they are the generic enemies of a paladin. It is also a great feature from the point of view of the roleplaying aspect. Protecting party members from fear and dispelling fear from them is very practical.

Also, paladins arent't really intended to be ranged attackers. Paladins are line holders and storm troopers. Protect from death, bless, call upon holy might, grab Carsomyr and stomp on them.

A good idea might be to take two weapon style proficiency. Since it de facto blocks you from archery (switching to distance weapons requires you to go through the inventory screen, which is tiring), it goes together well with non-ranged classes such as kensais, berserkers and cavaliers.

Ultimately, vanilla pally. No bonuses, no penalties. Able to cast spells, lay hands, turn undead and fire arrows. Classic D&D paladin. If you don't plan on using missile weapons excessively, you should really consider cavalier kit.

Inquisitor...easily. It'd be the same as soloing a really cool fighter, only with superhuman saves, and he would be heaps more effective in the final battle, as would be the case in any other mage battle, which tend to be some of the harder ones in the game.

Also, they get True Sight!! It takes care of the most ANNOYING problem in the game!

Inquisitors are easily the most powerful Paladin Kit.

Cavalier I think.

But I also like the Undead Hunter :D .

For SoA Undead Hunter, particularly with the Azuredge axe.

I've played all Paladin kits, and I love the Undead Hunter! His bonuses are my favorite, including Immune to Hold and Energy Drain. Also, his weakness is pretty much the lowest of the three kits.

Inquisitor came in second for me. But why play it when you can always pick up Keldorn? :rolling:

Well...the poll was for the most powerful kit for a Paladin wasn't it? As such, I'd think and Inquisitor is a valid choice then. Now if you said, Keldorn's there for the picking up, so who is the most powerful Paladin kit? Then I think people would pick Undead Hunter or maybe Cavalier.

Haven't played through with any other kit, but I found the Cavalier to be perfect and immune to almost everything, with the right items. I played one all the way through and he was a god.

Very good melee fighter, is restistant to poison, and mind affecting spells, he is far the best paladin.

Cavalier's taken the lead! I wanna be a paladin when I'm older!

Cavaliers rock!
Though some perfectionists may say otherwise... screw it....

I think I'm going to go with an Inquisitor over the Cavaleir. My reasoning is that True Sight is a 6th level spell, and that having the protagonist ready to cast that, and a more powerful Dispel Magic than anybody will really do the trick.

The Cavalier is really nice, though, as he has Remove Fear (a spell my cleric/mages must memorize now), and the added resistances and bonuses he has make him even more powerful. The Cav's ability to cast Draw Upon Holy Might and Armor of Faith made the decision a tough one, I'll tell ya!

For SoA, I'd say Undead Hunter, but Inquisitors are best for ToB, and Cavaliers second. But ToB Vampies are not that big of threat anymore. They all are good, even the vanilla class, so you can't go wrong.

It was a hard choice. And it was Inquisitor. Because of his ability to cast the best Dispel Magic in the entire game (I love that spell!), and also True Sight (I love that spell, too; there is no illusion that cannot be dispeled by this one). Plus the immunity to hold (I hate being held!)... I know, Undead Hunter is also immune to that, and also Level Drain. What I think is that vampires are overapreciated. They do very low damage, and they are feared only because the level drain. There some ways to avoid that (Amulet of Power, Negative Plane Protection spell, Protection from Magical Weapons, high AC) and some ways to cure it (Lesser and Greater Restoration, temples). And most of them only drain two level per hit. It is not that much. And it is also a great way to kill a large group of them: Death Spell (there are some exceptions to that: the 'uniques', I mean those who have a name). Anyway... the only drawback for the Inquisitor is that he cannot cast spells. The amount of spells he gains is somewhat laughable compared to a cleric. You just need a tank. I never used a Paladin's spell book, because I've never needed it. That's why I have Viconia with me. For me a spellcaster is more dangerous than an undead (except liches, of course...). But the Undead Hunter is the next to choose. The Cavalier sucks big time. I'm sorry to say that, but he does. There are only a few demonic that you encounter (like those from the Planar Sphere), the rest are gated. And if you are good enough, you can prevent that (by killing the summoner in advance). And Dragons... HA! In SoA you encounter only 5 dragons and you don't have to fight with any of them. In ToB there are only 2 that you have to kill, but at that moment it doesn't matter anymore. So, excuse me, but the bonuses received by the Cavalier are very rarely used. Don't bother!

Ok, who voted "no kit" (besides me, I didn't want to upset the poll, but I still wanted to view it)?

Good choice for good reasons Hyperion