D&D 5E [GUIDE] My Word Is My Sword: The Paladin Guide

Dasem · Dec 19, 2016

Gladius Legis said:
Updated to current (life got in the way), along with the Volo's Guide races.

And just a day before the Paladin UA comes out too ...

And you're gonna be busy! http://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UAPaladin_SO_20161219_1.pdf

Love the new Blackguard (Oath of Treachery). I think its among the best Oaths in the game. Sure, its CD damage is poison, but 20 + Paladin level damage? Couple that with a Volo's Aasimar! Sure, it takes a little setup, but damn does it take things down quickly. Half-Drow is another race that synergizes incredibly well with it.

Gladius Legis · Dec 19, 2016

Well I don't actually add UA material to the guide anymore since it's considered playtest, but feel free to discuss it in the thread.

Anyway, at overall glance I'd say both Oaths are certainly effective power- and crunch-wise, regardless of how I feel about their flavor/fluff.

Conquest

Oath Spells: Armor of Agathys, Spiritual Weapon, Fear and Insect Plague are all top-tier additions.
Conquering Strike: You can do much the same with Wrathful Smite already, although no Concentration and being able to save a spell slot are plusses.
Guided Strike: Stolen from the War Cleric, +10 to an attack. It's OK, but underwhelming compared to Sacred Weapon or Oath of Vengeance.
Aura of Conquest: Very good synergy with Wrathful Smite, Conquering Strike, and Fear which you get as an Oath spell.
Implacable Spirit: Immunity to charm is great, but unlike Devotion you don't spread this to your allies.
Invincible Conquerer: Resistance to all damage, one more attack/round and 19-20 crit make for a very strong capstone in a Paladin's hands.

Treachery

Oath Spells: Another great list. Charm Person, Expeditious Retreat, Mirror Image, Haste, Greater Invisibility. You want Resilient (CON) for sure to maintain Haste.
Conjure Duplicate: Image is immune to damage, and you can get really easy advantage on all melee attacks. Uses up bonus actions to move it. Also takes concentration, so another reason to take Resilient (CON).
Poison Strike: Extra poison damage that scales with Paladin level, can stack with a Divine Smite and gets maximized with advantage. Pretty nice. Poison resistance/immunity is pretty common though, or it'd rank higher.
Aura of Treachery: Advantage on attacks galore for a lot of battles. Plus Treacherous Strike useable 3x/short rest where you redirect an enemy miss against another enemy.
Blackguard's Escape: Short-rest recharge teleport + invisibility. Good.
Icon of Deceit: Greater Invisibility + potential mass domination + a lot of extra damage if you have advantage on attacks. Pretty good capstone.

Dasem · Dec 19, 2016

Crawford just clarified for me on Twitter: The "Useable 3X" part of Aura of Treachery applies only to Treacherous Strike.

Gladius Legis · Dec 19, 2016

Ah, I see the tweet. That makes Aura of Treachery a lot better, then. Probably bumps that Oath to sky blue, too.

mellored · Dec 19, 2016

Gladius Legis said:
[*]Icon of Deceit: Greater Invisibility + potential mass domination + a lot of extra damage if you have advantage on attacks. Pretty good capstone.
[/LIST]

Being invisible means you have advantage on your attacks, which means you get that 20 extra damage each attack. And can stacks with haste and TWF for +80 damage per turn that's highly likely to land. At least as long as enemies don't have special senses.
Definitely better than conquerer's 1 extra attack and crit range. And that's before the action free dominate (though invisibility has negative synergy with taking damage).
I also works on spells, so if you got eldrich blast... Is there any good way to get scoring ray from a wand or something?

Also I don't think immunity to charm is too big of a deal. Nice to have when you need it, but there aren't many charming enemies.

On the plus side, conquests disavantage to fear works for ally spells too.

I agree with the rest.

Dasem · Dec 20, 2016

Circlet of Blasting bets you Scorching Ray, right?

Gladius Legis · Dec 20, 2016

Dasem said:
Circlet of Blasting bets you Scorching Ray, right?

Yes, though the attack bonus is fixed at only +5. Not really worth it at Lv. 20.

Ermengildo · Dec 21, 2016

What is the best moment to get Warlock lvl when starting as a Pal (i'm planning 3lvl dip)?
Right now i'm thinking about Pal2\Warlock1 (to get a ranged attack and other features ASAP) -> Pal6\Warlock1 -> Pal6\Warlock3
Is it viable or totally not worth it delaying 2nd attack for one lvl?

Blue · Dec 21, 2016

mellored said:
Being invisible means you have advantage on your attacks, which means you get that 20 extra damage each attack. And can stacks with haste and TWF for +80 damage per turn that's highly likely to land.

The 20 extra damage is a bonus action to put on and lasts for one attack. At best you can get it twice if you carry it over from a previous round, but that means you didn't apply it then. And it's limited by the number of Channel Divinities you have.

As a side note, Poison Strike can be used as a ranged damage boost, a rarity for the paladin.

mellored · Dec 21, 2016

Blue said:
The 20 extra damage is a bonus action to put on and lasts for one attack. At best you can get it twice if you carry it over from a previous round, but that means you didn't apply it then. And it's limited by the number of Channel Divinities you have.

As a side note, Poison Strike can be used as a ranged damage boost, a rarity for the paladin.

I was speaking of icon of deceit, not posion strike. Icon is 20 damage each if you attack with advantage, which you also get (most of the time).