Welcome to Gaia! ::

I grant you that the paladins have their flaws but they can be quite useful. I have heard somewhere that if you level up a unit as a paladin, it gets great stat boosts. Another helpful thing about them is the ability of "cover". I found that whenever I want my blue mage to learn certain skills, it's best to put him along another unit against the monsters and if he's not attacked, he should provide cover for the other unit and get to learn whatever gets thrown at it. I don't think this works against abilities like roulette, though.
According to a mag I've read, you can make a kick @$$ paladin if you start with a "thief" and make him learn about 4 abilities (steal: armor & steal: shield are easy to obtain and are useful). That way he will have a good "speed" stat boost. After this, change his job to a "soldier" and allow him to learn at least 3 good abilities. I recommend first aid, speedbreak & magicbreak. After that, change his job so he can be a "ninja" and get him to learn double sword (as soon as you can cuz that weapon is hard to find) and oblivion; as well as any other ability you like. After this, you can change his job one last time to a Paladin. The only paladin abilities I find useful are as follow:
Nurse: It may not heal a heck of a lot of HP but, it heals units adjacent to you as well as take away any nasty status effects. If yer ever left with a silenced red mage (or something alike) then this is your guy.
Cover: One of my favorite abilities as it allows you to protect a unit if you don't happen to be able to reach it in time to heal it. Or... what if an enemy unit gets to move after yer paladin but before a unit you have that is an attack away from death? (this can be especially true in a jagd)
Subdue: I always use this when I want to capture a monster or just when I want to buy time for when I want to use Parley. It's always handy for when you want a unit who may not be strong enough, to deal the final blow to get a judge point.
Parley: I don't like this ability much but it has a purpose. I only find it useful when you face a certain kind of opponent who may get revived if left on the battlefield. Like, a unit who has an angel ring equipped or one with the ability of dragonheart or... well, you get the picture. I'm sure you know that, even if you steal the ring, the effect won't go away so... you may want to drop his or her HP to as low as possible and then use parley. You will never see that unit again. To effectively use this ability however, you cannot allow yer human to ever KO an opponent. And I mean EVER! The more KOs he gets, the less effective "Parley" will become. That's why I always keep one of my humans in a "non-combat" state just to keep him as an effective paladin. Sure, I bring him in to battles but I don't make him deal the last blow on anyone. I keep him with reaction abilities that won't make him KO anyone either (like reflex). I know it's kind of a hastle but, sometimes it can be worth it. Especially when he is up against enemies who can deal more damage the more units he has KOd (like the Tonberries or Masterberries for example). He also makes a heck of a hunter if he knows the "oust" ability. This works in the same way as "Parley" does, only on monsters.
Holy Blade: This is the most useful attack a paladin can learn, as he can deal more damage with his weapon. I think this ability costs MP but not a lot.
Drop Weapon: It may not be as useful as other abilities but at least gets rid of both weapons the enemy unit might be carrying. It's mostly useful as long as you have a way of putting the target to sleep because of its low accuracy; but it is definitely useful if the enemy unit has "Maintenance" equipped (As you are not actually stealing or destroying anything).
And that's my view on Paladins. I hope it's useful to you. mrgreen

PS: Another ability that is very much like "Parley" and "Oust" is "Wyrmtamer". If you wanna try it, do something similar with a recently joined Bangaa and don't let him KO anyone either.

You are very welcome Emerald Charm. I know it's more than you asked for but I didn't want to be stingy to new friends. After all, I have come to love this awesome game and I felt like sharing all I know with everyone else too. That's why I posted here instead of sending you a PM. 3nodding I'm glad this helped you out...

It's ok, I know you weren't complaning. I just felt like explaining myself.
I don't know about anyone else but I happen to like how paladins look. Have you tried to make one of yer humans into a Hunter with Paladin abilities? The ability of drop weapon my not seem as useful but, if you strip others from their weapons from a distance, it gets to be a lot better. Especially if you don't have enough time to get to a certain unit in time before they can use a nasty ability they do not have mastered. For example, if you can't steal weapons yet, it might be a good idea to make an assassin or a ninja drop whatever they're holding. This can be specially true on a ninja who, if you steal his weapons you have to do so one at a time. With drop weapon you make him unequip both at the same time. wink My hunter has the Gastra bow cuz it has a longer reach than the Max's Oathbow and it's not an element bow.

Well thanx emerald charm. I do know something, but to say that I know all? I am not God, he-he.
But yeah, I love Vieras and I like to keep one with red mage/elementalist abilities and another one with red mage/summoner abilities. Not to mention a red mage with white mage abilities as well. I gotta say though, I didn't think that much when I was first starting.

Good idea! I think I managed to read something on gameFAQs about paladins not having great speed growth so...
And yeah, I love being eble to cast both sliprain and fire whip on an opponent. Cuz you know that if you leave a unit immobile or disabled it will just choose to "wait" and the condition will be removed shortly since its turns will come by quicker, right? Well, sliprain also makes them slower so it's always a neat combo.
As for that, no problem! I'm glad to be of some assistance.

Thanx! I thought you might like it...

XD
I thought that way about them too. Ah well. Let's pass the trophy to hypnocrown.
Hey! We should have debates! For example: each participant will chose a class that they think it the bast and support it in matches with different people. I suppose there would have to be judges to determine who won and such! But hey! That's a great idea! What do you guy's think?