Paladin spell and feat progression

This is the last version of the detailed spell and feat progression that used to be on the Paladin new player guide, created by Isharon and expanded on by other players.
The order takes into account spell slot costs and expected (minimum) magic ranks for each circle, indicated in the far-right column. You may be able to use spells and feats earlier than listed here. If you have the magic ranks to cast Divine Armor, Rutilor's Edge, Holy Warrior, or Truffenyi's Rally earlier than indicated I would learn those spells sooner. (See this table for rank requirements.) Similarly, I would learn the feats of Deep Attunement and Efficient Channeling as soon as possible

General Progression for Training and PvE

This is a general-use setup for Paladins who primarily enjoy PvE. If you enjoy PvP, your choices may vary. For training purposes, this choice gives you access to all five magic skills as early as possible.

How you spend your final slots is really a matter of personal preference. The mastery feats are useful, because they let you channel more mana into spells than your skill would otherwise allow, and when you outgrow them, you can unlearn them and re-allocate those spell slots. If you are nosy, you may like the Basic Preparation Recognition and Advanced Spell Knowledge feats. These reveal what spells people are preparing around you.

The research feats at the end of the list let you add a single stat or skill buff to any of your standard spells, greatly increasing the challenge of casting. (This is good for training at high levels.)

If you want to practice Sorcery, you will need the Magic Theorist feat, and you may also want to invest in Sorcerous Patterns to reduce sorcerous backlash. (Without this feat, if you follow the progression below, you can only use other holy mana spells.)

Circle	Spell	Effect/Comment	Cost	Prerequisites	Magic.Ranks
1	Heroic Strength	+Strength [stat]	1	N/A	1
2	Aspirant's Aegis	-physical damage [casting on others drains caster]	1	N/A	2
4	Stun Foe	stuns target	1	N/A	4
6	Footman's Strike	physical damage type determined by held weapon	1	Stun Foe	6
8					8
10	Vessel of Salvation*	creates vitality "battery" that others can use	2	Aspirant's Aegis	10
12	Courage	+Stamina [stat]	1	Heroic Strength	14
14					18
16	Righteous Wrath	+held melee weapon skill	2	Heroic Strength	22
18					26
20	Sentinel's Resolve	+Defending skill, +Shield Usage skill	2	Heroic Strength	30
22	Veteran Insight	+Reflex [stat], added to Sentinel's Resolve	1	Sentinel's Resolve	34
24	Strange Arrow	puncture/electrical damage (single target)	1	N/A	38
26					42
28	Manifest Force	ablative physical damage barrier	2	Gauge Flow/Ease Burden/Strange Arrow	46
30					50
32	Halt	immobilizes target	2	Stun Foe	54
34	Lay Ward	potency barrier against spells	1	Gauge Flow/Ease Burden/Strange Arrow	58
35	Gauge Flow* (unlearn Vessel of Salvation)	allows magical research	0*	N/A	60
36	Divine Guidance	+Wisdom [stat]	1	Heroic Strength	62
38					66
40	Marshal Order	+Discipline [stat], +lead	2	Divine Guidance	70
42					74
44	Anti-Stun	+stun resistance/recovery	2	Courage/Righteous Wrath	78
46					82
48					86
50	Divine Armor	+protection/absorption for armor and shield	3	Aspirant's Aegis and Veteran Insight	90
52					94
54	Rutilor's Edge	+primary damage type/balance/power of held weapon	2	Footman's Strike and Heroic Strength	98
56	Deep Attunement	+attunement regeneration	1	100 Attunement, 100 Arcana	102
58	Efficient Harnessing	-attunement cost for powering spells	1	100 Attunement, 100 Arcana	106
60					110
62	Bond Armaments	bonds weapon/shield to hand	2	Rutilor's Edge or Divine Armor	114
64	Soldier's Prayer	-magic damage	1	Sentinel's Resolve	118
66					122
68	Rebuke	multi-strike damage; knockdown	2	Footman's Strike	126
70					130
72	Banner of Truce	prevents combat in room	2	circle 20, Courage and Halt	136
74	Clarity	+Intelligence [stat], +sixth sense	1	Hands of Justice/Divine Guidance	142
76	Augmentation Mastery	+Augmentation spells	1	100 Augmentation/100 Arcana	148
78	Utility Mastery	+Utility spells	1	100 Utility/100 Arcana	154
80	Warding Mastery	+Warding spells	1	100 Warding/100 Arcana	160
82	Targeted Mastery	+Targeted spells	1	100 Targeted Magic/100 Arcana	166
84	Group Supporter	+potency of casting beneficial spells on groups	1	Augmentation Mastery	172
86	Area Casting	unlocks "cast area" syntax for beneficial spells	1	Augmentation Mastery	178
88	Faster Targeting	-targeting time	1	100 Primary Magic/100 Arcana	184
90	Faster Battle Preparations	-battle spell prep time	1	100 Primary Magic/100 Arcana	190
92	Faster Matrices	-group spell prep time	1	100 Primary Magic/100 Arcana	196
94	Improved Memory	allows memorization of 2 spell scrolls	1	100 Scholarship/100 Arcana	202
96	Raw Channeling	allows cyclic spells to be powered from attunement	1	100 Attunement/100 Arcana	208
98	Efficient Channeling	-mana cost for cyclics	1	100 Attunement/100 Arcana	214
100					220
102	Holy Warrior	blesses held weapon, sometimes stuns attacker	2	circle 30, Stun Foe and Divine Armor	226
105					235
108	Truffenyi's Rally	+balance, dispels negative effects	2	circle 50, Anti-Stun and Marshal Order	244
111					253
114	Smite Horde	slice/impact damage [multistrike AoE]	2	circle 40, Rebuke	262
117					271
120	Crusader's Challenge	+Tactics skill, TAUNT prevents retreating/fleeing	2	circle 30, Courage and Aspirant's Aegis	280
123	Hands of Justice	+theft detection/protection	1	Stun Foe and Heroic Strength	289
126					298
129	Shatter	-Shield Usage skill, possibly disable shield defense entirely	2	circle 10, Halt	307
132	Basic Preparation Recognition	recognize introductory and basic spells	1	50 Perception/50 Arcana	316
135	Advanced Spell Knowledge	recognize advanced and esoteric spells	1	Basic Preparation Recognition/100 Perception/100 Arcana	325
138	Symbiotic Research	unlocks Activate, Cast, and Harness symbioses	1		334
141	Physical Matrices	unlocks Avoid, Endure, Spring, and Strengthen symbioses	1	Symbiotic Research	343
144	Mental Matrices	unlocks Discern, Impress, Remember, and Resolve symbioses	1	Symbiotic Research	352
147	Survivalist	unlocks Explore, Harvest, Heal, and Watch symbioses	1	Symbiotic Research	361
150	Scholar	unlocks Examine, Learn, and Perform symbioses	1	Symbiotic Research	370

• Vessel of Salvation is recommended only as a utility trainer. Once you have access to other training options, you may safely forget this spell unless you really like the effect. (Some soloist Paladins don't find the vitality battery to be useful enough to warrant two spell slots.) If you choose to keep this spell, you will need to forego two slots' worth of other spells or feats listed here.)
• Gauge Flow is required to access the Magical research system. This is intended as an alternative training method for non-combat magic skills, particularly at high levels. Gauge Flow appears earlier than you really need it, because Paladins trained to those circle requirements will lack the magic skills to complete some of the more useful projects. Since you will eventually want to use magical research, I put it here rather than wasting spell slots on other choices.