D&D 5E Paladin: Why Are They Often Considered Highly Powerful?

Mistwell · Nov 8, 2017

I've seen it claimed an awful lot on this board that people consider the Paladin class to be either the most powerful of the fighter-type classes, or one of the most powerful classes overall, or even "overpowered".

I'm curious why some people think this?

Is there some particular combination people have in mind (and if so, please post it) or is it a more general issue? Is it a theoretical issue or have you encountered it in actual play often? Is it only relative to a fighter or barbarian or ranger, or is it really overall relative to other classes?

Help me out on this. Why is the Paladin considered to be so darn good (as in the "effective" sense) by so many people?

lowkey13 · Nov 8, 2017

*Deleted by user*

Warmaster Horus · Nov 8, 2017

Smite does a bucket-load of damage on a crit. Take few levels of fighter and you crit on 19-20. Then take a couple levels of barbarian and you attack with advantage all the time. Then take the rest of your levels as sorcerer and you have lots of spell slots to use for smiting. While this is happening take the Defense fighting style, put on some plate armor and sling a shield and you have a decent armor class. And if you play your cards right you have a nice Charisma bonus that provides one of the best buffs in the game.

Mistwell · Nov 8, 2017

Warmaster Horus said:
Smite does a bucket-load of damage on a crit. Take few levels of fighter and you crit on 19-20. Then take a couple levels of barbarian and you attack with advantage all the time. Then take the rest of your levels as sorcerer and you have lots of spell slots to use for smiting. While this is happening take the Defense fighting style, put on some plate armor and sling a shield and you have a decent armor class. And if you play your cards right you have a nice Charisma bonus that provides one of the best buffs in the game.

How is that "Paladin"? You've just described a primary sorcerer with levels in three other classes, which doesn't even "come on line" until mid-levels. Surely that can't be why people say "Paladins" are so effective.

ppaladin123 · Nov 8, 2017

They can buff away the drawbacks of the great-weapon fighter feat; they can smite on opportunity attacks; they have very high defenses and self-healing meaning they can consistently pump out melee damage round.
after round. An OoV vengeance paladin with haste up and using channel divinity to get advantage on all attacks is particularly brutal.

But paladins in general don't have many tools for dealing with hordes of enemies...they are best going one-on-one against a big baddie.

Mistwell · Nov 8, 2017

ppaladin123 said:
They can buff away the drawbacks of the great-weapon fighter feat

How? Is this the channel divinity thing? Is that really an issue generic to all paladins?

An OoV vengeance paladin with haste up

Is haste a Paladin spell? I don't recall that...

Warmaster Horus · Nov 8, 2017

Mistwell said:
How is that "Paladin"? You've just described a primary sorcerer with levels in three other classes, which doesn't even "come on line" until mid-levels. Surely that can't be why people say "Paladins" are so effective.

Because everything in that build is hinged on the Paladin and smiting.

The paladin on their own are pretty self contained from the get go - they can heal, cure wounds or disease, get good armor, have good hit points, receive a nice number of spells with good utility, and have excellent offensive capabilities. Fighters are okay but need Feats to be in the same class. Rangers are, well, rangers. The paladin's only weakness is their saves but they get nifty auras that help out a lot in that regard.

Warmaster Horus · Nov 8, 2017

Mistwell said:
Is haste a Paladin spell? I don't recall that...

Yeah, at 9th level.

The Crimson Binome · Nov 8, 2017

The short answer is that few games manage to sustain 6-8 challenging encounters per day, and paladins benefit more than any other class as you reduce the number of encounters.

Paladins can spend 2-3 spell slots per round on smiting (compared to the 1-2 spell slots that a wizard or cleric might spend, counting their reaction), but they are balanced around not having very many spell slots in total. Since many tables experience only 1-2 challenging encounters per day, the paladin is able to go all-out and easily overshadow everyone else. (The problem can be exacerbated further through multi-classing, but it's hard to fault the paladin class for that.)

MechaTarrasque · Nov 8, 2017

You can divine smite on every swing of the sword (including the one used to OA) as long as you have slots (and you can chose not to smite if you miss). Save a slot for magic/elemental weapon (and don't get hit) for a little extra. A paladin may be the most efficient class at using up class resources. That is great if there is only one fight a day, but fight #2 can easily see the paladin who was the MVP of fight #1 being the weakest link. I make this sound like a bad thing, but it is not--there are a couple of (sub)classes that I call "big fight (sub)classes" that seem to be built around the notion of spending your wad on the biggest fight of the day: Let the druid solo that horde of goblins, I have to save my smites for Tiamat.....[and She is just going to divine word away the druid's swarm o' pixies anyway].

Regardless, there is only one fight a day in the white room, so the paladin looks "too good" to white roomers who want to justify "more power" for some other class. In parties where the 5MWD is the exception instead of the rule, I suspect the paladin has a more down to earth reputation.