D&D 5E *New Player* Paladin(Ancient)/Warlock(Archfey) Tank/Smite Battery 5e

Hey guys, just trying out 5e (and writing this for the second time because my computer hates me , sadly means due to time constraints I'll have to paraphrase alot more.) and I'm frustrated/confused by some new rules and could use some help with my build

Build Concept: Simple Farmer or something similar (gatherer?) from a remote village who manages to save the nearby forest which he's loved since a child from an attack of some sort and because reasons (currently discussing with friends) Emmantiensien empowers/recruits my character as a Paladin to protect the balance between civilization and nature (Emerald Faction of course)

This is where canonically I get all my starting equipment (fluff wise it's made of of wood,leaves, vines,etc., mechanically it's an Arcane Foci which I wield as a Q-staff, Chain Mail armor worn below my robes and a shield w/ Emm's Holy Symbol) and by a fun suggestion (our group always discusses and builds character concepts together, even if it's for Society, Encounters or Adventurer League where Roleplay is a bit ignored in my experience) I'm given a mysterious book with a Bark cover and leaves for pages, binded/sealed by vines (or other artifact) written in Sylvan, I am to translate/study it to gain further favor/power from Emm'. (basically how I start gaining Lock levels)

Originally I thought Wizard but thier Int based and Sorcs use their magics innately so after some thought/discussion it was decided that Archfey Warlock fit pretty well (fluff wise mechanically some of the archfey abilities are almost counter intuitive to a tank)

Oh and this is my WIP progress "motto" type thing...trust me I know it's kind of lame at the moment "Despite the fact that I'm Quick to a joke and slow to raise my weapon you would be wise not to judge me by my appearance for you shall be judged and if you are deemed a threat my blows hit the with weight of the forest and nature itself"



Issues:
1. Extremely limited amount of feats at only 5 (3rd = 7, PF = 10) exasperated by the fact that you have to sacrifice your stat boosts for them and you max starting stat is 16 (technically 17 with the right race but its a waste since stat increases are +2 and max is 20)

2. Said feats come at every 4 CLASS levels not character meaning all multi-classes pretty much NEED to be multiples of 4 per class (iow Pally 5/Lock3 would only get one feat when Pally8 would get 2 despite both being Lvl 8, or in my case I need to go Lock12/Paladin8 instead of 13/7 or maybe 12/7/1 depending on how the story goes) this forces me to plan ahead alot more instead of just going with the flow of the story (ie. when i get time to read the book)

3. Arbitrary stat requirements for multi-classing...original character was an old man, with only average str, dex and int (8 is average right?) but very wise and charismatic using the spell shillelagh but that stat requirement basically killed this forcing me to crank Str and dump Wisdom. It even forced me to go Half-elf instead of human since I would of had to reduce Charisma as well (the extra +1 cha and +1 to two other stats fixed that) I lose the "mundane" race (which i almost never play since im always a human the rest of my life) but gain "fey ancestry" which could explain my fascination with the forest

Anyways here's my build as it stands currently (open to suggestion...just remember focus is Tanking, improving my allies and fueling that smite for a punishing OA. (Lock is mainly for regenerating spell slots for smite usage/spell level mechanically)

Goal: Tank w/ Punishing OAs through Smites and EB+Warcaster.
Background: Folk Hero? Hermit?
Stats: Str 13/Dex 10/Con 16/Int 8/Wis 10/Cha 16
Race: Half-elf

1 Pally 1: Fairly weak level, only level actually reliant on Str for attack (no eldritch blast or shillelagh)
2 Lock 1: Gain eldritch blast, if human I'd have chosen War Caster so I could apply EB to my OAs
3 Pally 2: Smites mainly, would have done this at Char Lvl 2 but I'd be unlikely to hit anything anyways
4 Lock 2: Gain Up to 2 spells (aka smites) an encounter but irrelevant until
5 Lock 3: Gain my Tome for Shillelagh and other cantrips (thinking Booming Blade, Thorn Whip and/or Green-Flame Blade but still looking, a friend also suggest shift wind & earth for thematic reasons.)
6 Lock 4: Feat Mainly: Warcaster if I'm reading the rules for Arcane Foci wrong, if I'm reading them right I'd likely bump up Sentinel/PoleArm
7 Pally 3: Pretty weak level again, disease immunity is nice but unless they upped it's danger in this edition, rarely used. Chose Ancient Oath
8 Pally 4: Again Just for Feat: Choose Sentinel if Warcaster was chosen otherwise likely Polearm here and Sentinel at Lvl 6
9+ Not sure, Lock increase the power of smite but paladin gains two powerful auras at 6&7 not to mention the extra attack @ 5 for doubling up on smites.

Remaining Feats/ASI: Next Either Warcaster or Polemaster if not chosen yet, after that Shield Master and likely +2 Cha.

Possible Invocations: Ancient Secrets (Not sure how rituals work, but gotta be some good ones and its tome specific), Angonizing Blast (My cha is high, cha to damage is good), Beast Speech (Mainly for fluff reasons, wish it included plants too), Eldritch Spear (EB is my only ranged attack may as well improve it), Repelling Blast (Ranged control helps wen I can't be there directly)

Anyways thanks in advance for reading through this and for any help you offer...oh one more note Adventure Leagues rules state that I can only use the PHB and one other "NON-playtest" book of my choice (ie. the M:TG Zenikar and Unearthed Arcana books are considered playtest material)


Oh and here's an image to represent my general visual idea of the character (remember the armor is UNDER the robes, trick some enemies into thinking im a squishy caster)...not sure what I'm doing appearance-wise with the 13 Str, tempted to just ignore it. Show my 13 for arbitrary requirement that act like it's an 8 fluff wise.

Seems fine. Though I would look at the retraining rules. If you can do level 1-3 with higher Str, then change over to more Cha when you get shillelagh, I would.

I would also avoid taking both shield master and polearm master. You only get one bonus action, and feats are valuable.

Failedlegend said:

9+ Not sure, Lock increase the power of smite but paladin gains two powerful auras at 6&7 not to mention the extra attack @ 5 for doubling up on smites.

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I'll go for Pally 6 for sure. That magical resistence aura it's too good to pass. After that, it's up to you: either levelling Pally or Warlock is fine -- personally I'll go for Feylock because it gives more slots to burn with Smites and access to powerful Magic level earlier (with Pally 6/Feylock 14, you'll have access to 7th level spells through the Warlock Mystic Arcanum class feature).

mellored said:

Seems fine. Though I would look at the retraining rules. If you can do level 1-3 with higher Str, then change over to more Cha when you get shillelagh, I would.

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Hmmm, never thought of that, good call I vagurely remember something about AL allowing rebuilds up to lvl 4 or 5, thanks

mellored said:

I would also avoid taking both shield master and polearm master. You only get one bonus action, and feats are valuable.

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Noted although polearm master is more about the OAs proccing when you threat range is entered and shield master is mostly about the Dex Bonus & Pseudo Evasion. but it does weaken those feats a bit so it's a consideration, thanks for pointing it out.

Bishop_ said:

I'll go for Pally 6 for sure. That magical resistence aura it's too good to pass. After that, it's up to you: either levelling Pally or Warlock is fine -- personally I'll go for Feylock because it gives more slots to burn with Smites and access to powerful Magic level earlier (with Pally 6/Feylock 14, you'll have access to 7th level spells through the Warlock Mystic Arcanum class feature).

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My Plan is Lock12/Pally8 due to the way feats/ASIs are granted, now you said you'd go "Feylock" since its gives more slots...did you mean you would mainline Lock in general or that Feylock specifically grants extra spell slots at some point (just checking if I missed a patron feature somewhere)

I'm not sure of the armor plans, but remember that heavier armor does require a certain Strength or you get a movement penalty.

WarpedAcorn said:

I'm not sure of the armor plans, but remember that heavier armor does require a certain Strength or you get a movement penalty.

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Chain mail requires 13 Str than I presume I can get +2 str from a magic item for plate armor, if there's someway around the "13 Str Multi-classing requirement" for Paladins I'd dump Str & heavy armor than wear medium armor and bump Dex up a bit to compensate (so Half-Elf = Str 8/Dex14/Con14/Int10/Wis14/Cha16, Human = Str 9/Dex 14/Con 14/Int12/Wis14/Cha16, Variant Human w/ Res Con Feat = Str 8/Dex14/Con14/Int8/Wis14/Cha16) Half-Elf vs. Human is pretty much 10 Int vs. 8 Int proficiency in Con Saves. I think the latter wins out mechanically and fluff wise is more "mundane" which works for me (normally I prefer the exotic races but "humble beginnings" is important to this character) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sidenote: 14 dex is not required if "magic items" are pretty obtainable in 5e to get +2 Dex since max dex bonus for medium is 2 thus be able to increase con (so Half-Elf = Str 8/Dex12/Con16/Int10/Wis14/Cha16, Human = Str 9/Dex 12/Con 16/Int 10/Wis14/Cha16, Variant Human w/ Res Con Feat = Str 8/Dex12/Con16/Int8/Wis14/Cha16) Sat wise there technically Reg Human wins out but ony by +1 Str so mainly irrelevant so it's shifted to Human vs. Variant Human but still 10 int vs Con Save Proficiency. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sidenote 2: Why can't I sperate my paragraphs with Enter?

I wouldn't depend on magic items. They are pretty rare in 5e.

Though you can still walk around in heavy armor without Str. You just move slower.

mellored said:

I wouldn't depend on magic items. They are pretty rare in 5e.

Though you can still walk around in heavy armor without Str. You just move slower.

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This. If this was 3.0/3.5 then no worries on the magical Stat enhancement, but unfortunately you will be hard pressed to find magical Stat boosts in 5th. So I would also second Mellored and suggest that you not plan on getting any item with Stat boosts.

Thanks for the clarification guys

Failedlegend said:

My Plan is Lock12/Pally8 due to the way feats/ASIs are granted, now you said you'd go "Feylock" since its gives more slots...did you mean you would mainline Lock in general or that Feylock specifically grants extra spell slots at some point (just checking if I missed a patron feature somewhere)

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Mainline Warlock in general (I was thinking about the Warlock vs. Paladin).

Regarding your idea (Lock12/Pally 8), I think that 8 levels in Paladin won't give you as many benefits than Pally 7/FeyLock 13. Yes, you'll miss a feat/ASI. OTOH, you'll have magic resistance (Ancient's oath 7th level feature) and 7th level Warlock spells (Mystic Arcanum Warlock feature). IMHO, it's a good trade.