That's pretty funny guys - the paladin that's all "please don't hurt me!". Well no-one said it was going to be easy to be a Paladin, in fact I don't think I've ever played one. I am going to be playing a cleric and I will be hiding behind my shield too, probably right behind you
This stuff (survival) has been on my mind too - you look at the numbers for how much damage and what the to-hit numbers are for a fourth or fifth level powergame-oriented fighter and it's downright scary! considering there will not be a lot of magic armor/shields available in Argyle I'll be trying to get some plate and a good shield ASAP, but if I see anyone that looks like a pure class fighter coming at me, I'm going to be making like a banana and getting the hell out of there
But then you look at it - that fighter will have similar numbers for their longbow, and a dedicated archer PKer.....<shudder>.... if it's a player you can't rely on the cheesy BGII AI where the enemies will just target the nearest hunk of meat, they can and will target whoever they want!