The skills miss quite a lot. Also as a paladin when you make them drop their weapons, they tend to just run for the hills and it's not like you can chase and cranial. The -dex I think is more subtle and interesting. You could stack up to -16 dex with high spin, high slash, and mid cross.
I'd buff avengers: somehow they don't feel as offensive as Champions or Monks even though they are the worst dedication defensively. Maybe a passive lagging prog (like shield jab), or a way to initiate with reliable lag?
There's one thing they are best at: ganging enemies. Even better than champs, because mid slash is very accurate and you can perform it without tanking the victim. Get a good ally with trip lag + lag initiation (e.g. cranial warrior) and you can summon-cranial-midslash permalag people. Or cry of deliverance into ally and permalag.