D&D 5E 5e Paladin Oath of Vengeance

T

Tyrs13

First Post
My GM was nice enough to allow my paladin to take the Dual Wield Fighting Style, but I am a little torn if I should bother taking the feat or just a +2 str bump.

I am currently playing a human variant with the heavy armor mastery feat, and probably will pick up Resilience Con @ 4th.

I am only planning on reaching maybe 12th level, so I am debating stat bumps or feats for the 8th level and possibly 12th level.
 

log in or register to remove this ad


V

Vulf

First Post
If action economy becomes an issue, the feat will help out, but increasing your strength is just better all around. But it means if you find magic wepaons that aren't light, you'll be :):):):) out of luck.

You could have freed up a feat option and have higher AC if you started as 1 level of fighter for another fighting style and proficiency in constitution saving throws.

Two-weapon fighting is kind of a trap option.
 




Gladius Legis

Gladius Legis

Legend
Tyrs13 said:
What about taking defensive dualist? Or spending a bump on cha? How important is it to get 20 str by 12?
Click to expand...
Defensive Duelist is a good feat, but requires DEX 13 and works with finesse weapons only.

Which, to wit, if you're going to be a dual-wielding Paladin, it's better to advance DEX rather than STR as your attack stat, anyway. You give up no damage compared to a STR dual-wielder by doing so (since dual-wielding weapons are limited to light regardless). And DEX as an attack stat means higher initiative, better chance of success on a very common saving throw, better use of a longbow in case you're forced into a ranged combat, using Stealth becomes a viable option, and so forth.

As for how important it is to get 20 in STR (or DEX if you go that route instead), since Vengeance is pretty explicitly the damage-oriented subclass of Paladin, it really should be a priority. Helping that along is that Vengeance has fewer CHA-dependent abilities than the other Oaths (e.g. Vow of Enmity doesn't need CHA at all), so you can hold off on CHA bumps for a while.
 
Last edited:

V

Vulf

First Post
bid said:
With IDS you do 3d6+10+3d8, compared to a maul's 4d6+10+2d8.
Not to mention you have 3 chances to crit and get an opportune smite.


TWF is bad for fighters, mostly.
Click to expand...

That's only a net gain of 1 point of average damage per round, and not until level 11.

Polearms and Great Weapons will outstrip that even further with feats.

And then you have Sorcerer multiclassing which comes online before character level 10. A Quickened Booming Blade 2d6+d8+5, +2d8 if they move is going to beat out a d6 scimitar, and with your extra slots from Sorcerer levels, you'll be able to have enough points to use it several times in each fight. And it scales up at level 11 as well.

I would say that TWF is better for fighters, because they get access to the fighting style, get an extra feat at level 6, and can multiclass easier into Rogue for some extra damage potential from dual wielding finesse weapons. 5 levels into Rogue and it's like you are getting a free smite once per turn, and once per off-turn when an enemy triggers your Riposte+Sneak attack combo.
 
Last edited:

Gladius Legis

Gladius Legis

Legend
Vulf said:
That's only a net gain of 1 point of average damage per round, and not until level 11.

Polearms and Great Weapons will outstrip that even further with feats.
Click to expand...

That's the key there, isn't it? So it's not strictly an apples-to-apples comparison. Also, Paladins want both a high attack stat and a high CHA, so their feat opportunities are limited.

Moreover, dual-wielders can boost DEX instead and deal the same amount of damage (and get all the DEX advantages to go with it), while Polearms and Great Weapons require STR.

And then you have Sorcerer multiclassing which comes online before character level 10. A Quickened Booming Blade 2d6+d8+5, +2d8 if they move is going to beat out a d6 scimitar, and with your extra slots from Sorcerer levels, you'll be able to have enough points to use it several times in each fight. And it scales up at level 11 as well.
Click to expand...
Converting spell slots to Sorcery Points requires a bonus action, so you won't be using Quickened Booming Blade on those turns that you do.

And sure, burn all your spell slots on that one trick all day. Dual-wielding, on the other hand, is free, and I'll have plenty of spell slots left over to make up the damage in other ways or do other things.

I would say that TWF is better for fighters, because they get access to the fighting style, get an extra feat at level 6, and can multiclass easier into Rogue for some extra damage potential from dual wielding finesse weapons. 5 levels into Rogue and it's like you are getting a free smite once per turn, and once per off-turn when an enemy triggers your Riposte+Sneak attack combo.
Click to expand...
You claim TWF is better for Fighters specifically, but bring up the Rogue? That tells me nothing worthwhile about TWF Fighters specifically. It just tells me Fighter/Rogue MCs can dual-wield effectively, which I already knew.
 


Similar Threads

W
D&D 5E Vengeance Paladin with PAM, Spear & Shield, & Elven Accuracy
Replies
4
Views
6K
FrogReaver
FrogReaver
L
D&D 5E Need tips for my Paladin
Replies
3
Views
1K
Kobold Stew
Kobold Stew
rgoodbb
D&D 5E Advice Redemption Paladin 8th level ASI/Feat?
Replies
6
Views
2K
rgoodbb
rgoodbb
E
D&D 5E High DPR Paladin-Rogue-Bard Will it work?
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
52
Views
3K
FrogReaver
FrogReaver
Zardnaar
D&D 5E Stress Testing 5E In BG3
Replies
0
Views
536
Zardnaar
Zardnaar
Remove ads

Top