Advice for new Paladin

[Affliction]

Hello,

I just finished the game on Normal difficulty, playing Warrior. I had great fun. My army consisted of Hunters, Knights, Horsemen, Guardsmen and Emerald Dragons. Overall, I didn't have much trouble defeating even "overpowering" armies. I found that I had enough runes to spend on almost all skills I wanted (everything but Dark Commander in Might tree, extra leadership, xp, reserves and some more in Mind, lvl 3 Order and Distortion + some more in Magic tree). I really enjoyed Spirits of Rage - at the end of game, Stone guy (forgot his name) was lvl 30 and my favorite, Death, was lvl 28.

Now I'm considering playing a Paladin on Hard and one thing that I really wanted was an undead army, especially considering Dark Commander seems like one of the most powerful talents. Now, I realize Skeleton Archers are lvl 1 units and as such, very prone easy to die. I also probably wouldn't use Bone Dragons, but some other (Emerald are really cool because of that mana drain spell). Ghosts seem an ok unit and Dark Knights even more so. So, would it be viable at all to invest into Dark Commander simply because of these few units?

If we neglect all that, what are generally good talents for paladin class?

Thank you for your time!

[Metathron]

In general, I think the Mind tree is pretty stinky, though the higher the difficulty, the more important all of those money perks and whatnot become.

I also had loads of fun with warrior on normal. After I finished that, I started a new game with a paladin, but his skill tree coupled with a wish to play the mage made me quit that, so now I'm a level 9 mage.

[kadrzys]

I also considered playing Paladin on Hard after my current Normal with Warrior but I think Mage would be more fun if lucky with +leadership items. I'm still considering playing Paladin with edited Hero.txt and Higher Magic skill avaible for him but I afraid he'll become overpowered in late game with this skill.

[Zhuangzi]

Well, the only challenge left for me is Impossible Paladin, so I might try that one soon.

Advantages of Paladin:

He gets Resurrection straight away (VERY useful)
Mind tree isn't that bad (especially the skill that gives Might and Magic runes).
If he gets Sprites/Lake Fairies after the tutorial, you can stash them in a castle until you pick up Sacrifice/Anga's Ruby.

Mage is definitely better (esp Higher Magic) but I think that Paladin is strong too. The Mind tree might seem crappy but the further the game goes, the better the Paladin will do.

[Metathron]

When could a paladin be expected to be able to learn Higher Magic? I'm asking because of the huge magic rune prerequisite for this skill (and others before it), and since the paladin mostly gets mind runes.

[Zhuangzi]

Higher Magic is a unique skill for Mages, so you won't be getting it unless you mod the game.

But I would think the Paladin would really struggle to get it even when modded. Depending on how much money you have, you could buy runes from the castle in Taron Mines.

[Affliction]

Btw, Paladin has their unique talent (Holy Anger) that gives additional Attack versus Undead and Demons, but it mentions something else. This talent doesn't give my own Undead and Demon troops a bonus against enemy demons and undead?