I don't have any info on Paly stats, but I do suggest you think of the paths as Ability paths, not Weapons. If you follow the same ability type path, regardless of weapon, you will receive much stronger ability later on. At least this is how the path quest reward givers describe it ... and they say nothing about the weapon. As far as I know, no matter your path you will receive an Epic weapon at the end but it's the ability that changes on whether you stay on the path or veer from it. Me, I said ***** it with my Mage ... I had picked the wand/pet path in 20, but I don't want or like the wand epic weapon, so at 30 I swapped over to the staff/stone path so that I could get the Jedi-ish glow staff. I likely won't get a super-fly ability now. So, make your own choice ....

BUT ... I have heard that paladins stay on same ability path and that at one point the sword swaps with the hammer. At level 50, you're going to be pretty badass anyhow, so if you're more interested in the weapon than the end ability, and are considering looks over functionality, I suggest the hammer. The Epic hammer, Judgement I believe it's called, is huge and glows like a mother ... the sword isn't all that impressive looking and only glows if you're zoomed in looking at very closely. The people I've talked to said they really love their hammer, functionality wise, too.

So there you have it.

For a Pal. Sry.