Possible Paladin Rework...

[Shurrikhan]

> Shield Moves on Separate GCD. Shield Oath shares a GCD with sword moves and Sword Oath with shield moves (it takes longer to swap to Sword Oath and stun and longer to swap to Shield Oath and dps).
Activation time will be limited only by animation locks. (RoH can still be a stun-killer, but a little less so than before). Shield Swipe can be a larger source of MT dps, as, assuming constant blocks, you'd have a roughly 50% increased rate of fire (the total animation time of most melee moves + Shield Swipe would probably bring you to just short of or a bit more than (RoH) half way through the next GCD.

- Bulwark will now provide a guaranteed block against cleaves around you, though a percentage of your bonus block rating will be consumed in proportion to how low your health drops from these cleaves and the amount of bonus block percentage had to be granted to guarantee the block. This mitigation is applied to the cleaves directly, and will effectively mitigate for all allies cleaved with it. Still applies only to physical attacks. (Effect is similar to Holy Passive, the Shield Oath alteration of Shield Bash, below, except that Holy Passive affects all damage types.)

>>> Oaths Revamped.

>> Both Oaths will generate stacks, to a maximum of 10. These stacks become harder to generate and have greater effect with each stack. There is only one type of stacks, shared by both oaths. Effects and generation method vary with oath. Both provide slight passive bonuses and can be consumed for burst effect.
- Shield Oath generates stacks through stunning, pacifying, and especially blocking (both from the block itself and the amount of damage blocked).
- Sword Oath generates stacks through dealing damage.

>> Each Oath will alter certain abilities.

> While in Shield Oath, pressing Shield Oath again grant additional effects to your next shield ability. You may channel additional stacks to be consumed either while holding down Shield Oath or by holding after using either shield move. The max channeling time is 3 seconds, stack-consuming/loading speed increased by the Skill/Spell Speed stat.
Stacks to be consumed that are channeled before using the abilities will add block chance, block strength, and flat damage reduction (the last in proportion to your attack power) immediately, lasting up to 3 seconds from the time the channel stops and doubled (quadrupled for Shield Bash) from when the skill animation begins to 1 second after it ends. In this form it is essentially an active mitigation tool that takes a while to regenerate but is not quite a CD.
- If the channel is instead done during the animation of the shield abilities:
-- Shield Bash will create a Holy Passive on the ground, protecting a conal area behind it, which will absorb damage that passes through its zone. Health is dependent on the number of stacks given to it, your health, defense, and attack power. Max of 8 stacks consumed over up to 1 GCD.
-- Shield Swipe will have a knock-back effect and will provide the Chastise effect on the enemy, which will slow and heavy the enemy while dealing holy damage for the duration of the channel. Max of 6 stacks consumed over up to 2 GCDs. The slow and heavy durations, though channeled, will not be reduced by speed.

> Sword Oath alters the effects of Spirits Within, Riot Blade, and Circle of Scorn.
> Simply Channeling Sword Oath allows you to consume mana in order to increase your Strength for a short duration, and adds half of the combo bonus of each ability done in combo since starting this buff as magic damage. Every odd stack channeled will generate 5/6/7/8/9% strength [max: 35%], effect increasing per stack. Every even stack will increase the duration of the effect by 1/1/1.33/1.66/2 GCDs [7 total]. Each stack consumed will spend 7% of base mana. Channeling is broken by and begins its duration when using another ability.

[Usage note: Going for larger consumptions tends to allow you to use the Strength to benefit a block if you were to swap Oaths, or it can allow for a full combo, where a Rage of Halone can potentially hit for as much as a Maim-Berserk Butcher's Block when including both the strength buff and the added combo bonus damage (as magic damage). Keep in mind that only half of the bonus effects here will affect oGCD moves, and that a RoH and Fast Blade on their own will not benefit from the combo bonus either. {RoH, FB, SB, RoH, FB, SB, RoH} is probably your best bet for using all 7 GCDs; {FB, RB, FB RB} or {RoH, FB, SB, RoH} after that, etc.. There is enough mana to swap Oaths after a 10-stack consume if you are at nearly full mana beforehand.]

- Circle of Scorn: Consuming stacks in combination in channel during/following Circle of Scorn will deal a second set of damage in small AoEs around you (each a separate, larger sword) from 10 o'clock, clockwise around you, firing 1 each third of a second at 2 stacks per second each to a max of 8 stacks. Each deals 10 potency and applies a DoT lasting 9 seconds, dealing 40 potency per tick. You can attack while the effect is still going, and simply click off the channel whenever, or continue holding it. (Yes you can cause enemies to be re-hit to get a little more duration out of this, or ensure that they all fall on the same enemy...)

- Spirits Within... [haven't thought this up yet. meh]


...I should really get back to work. Will finish this later if this isn't already a complete bust. I plan to work in an immense damage bonus or damage reflect to the shield stuff as well, since MT dps is where PLD is really lacking.