Hi! I am fairly new to D&D and I am looking for advice on a Mountain Dwarf Vengeance Paladin I am planning to create for an upcoming campaign. Here is what I have so far, together with some notes explaining my decisions. Note that I do not know the composition of the party I'll be playing with, and there are no restrictions on which books we can pull from.
Quick Elevator Pitch:
A grizzled veteran of many battles, he took a blow to the head when a massive orc horde overran his clanhold, awakening later to learn that the battle had been lost and that everyone else was dead. As he lay there contemplating a suicidal charge, he received a vision from the Father of Battles in which he saw himself marching on the orcs at the head of a mighty army. He swore a battlefield oath right there and then to become an instrument of Clangeddin Silverbeard’s vengeance, never resting until the enemies of his people were dead and the clanhold was restored. He knew that he would need a lot of gold to raise the army he had seen in the vision, and he determined that the best way to gather this much coin was to become an adventurer.
Ability scores after racial adjustments:
STR 17 DEX 8* CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 15
* I know that this is sub-optimal, and that I would be better off dumping INT, but I just don't want to play this guy as an 80 IQ idiot. A low Dexterity makes a lot more sense to me from an RP perspective.
Background: Soldier (Infantry)
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion
Tools: Smith's Tools, Dice Set, Vehicles (Land)
Proposed Progression:
I plan to start off as a Fighter wielding a warhammer and shield in order to maximize survivability through the lowest levels of play. Fighter also seems justifiable from a role-playing perspective given that he spent years as a low-ranked soldier before becoming a paladin. From a mechanical perspective, it gives him the Defense fighting style and Second Wind for added survivability, and most importantly, it enables him to pick up proficiency with Constitution saves without burning a feat. The ability to maintain Concentration while still being a focal point for enemy attacks seems particularly important to me. Without it, I would have to write off several spells that seem quite useful to me, including Bless, Hunter's Mark, Haste, etc. If I were to burn a feat at level 4 for Great Weapon Master, and then another one at 8 for Resilient (Con), I'd be pushing off improvements to my main stats until level 12, which seems quite late to me.
I thought strongly about picking up a second Fighter level for Action Surge, but decided that I did not want to give up one ASI and delay the other ASIs for it.
Once my character obtains the Great Weapon Master feat at level 5, he should have enough survivability to make the switch from a defensive combat style to a more offensive combat style, wielding a two-handed maul.
Level 1 - Fighter 1: Fighting Style (Defense), Second Wind
Level 2 - Paladin 1: Divine Sense, Lay on Hands
Level 3 - Paladin 2: Fighting Style (Great Weapon Fighting), Divine Smite
Level 4 - Paladin 3: Divine Health, Sacred Oath (Vengeance)
Level 5 - Paladin 4: Feat (Great Weapon Master)
For the remaining levels I plan to stick with Paladin, using the rest of my ASIs as follows:
Level 9: +1 STR, +1 CHA
Level 13: +2 STR
Level 17: +2 CHA
Level 20: +2 CHA
So, am I missing anything important? Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance!
Quick Elevator Pitch:
A grizzled veteran of many battles, he took a blow to the head when a massive orc horde overran his clanhold, awakening later to learn that the battle had been lost and that everyone else was dead. As he lay there contemplating a suicidal charge, he received a vision from the Father of Battles in which he saw himself marching on the orcs at the head of a mighty army. He swore a battlefield oath right there and then to become an instrument of Clangeddin Silverbeard’s vengeance, never resting until the enemies of his people were dead and the clanhold was restored. He knew that he would need a lot of gold to raise the army he had seen in the vision, and he determined that the best way to gather this much coin was to become an adventurer.
Ability scores after racial adjustments:
STR 17 DEX 8* CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 15
* I know that this is sub-optimal, and that I would be better off dumping INT, but I just don't want to play this guy as an 80 IQ idiot. A low Dexterity makes a lot more sense to me from an RP perspective.
Background: Soldier (Infantry)
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion
Tools: Smith's Tools, Dice Set, Vehicles (Land)
Proposed Progression:
I plan to start off as a Fighter wielding a warhammer and shield in order to maximize survivability through the lowest levels of play. Fighter also seems justifiable from a role-playing perspective given that he spent years as a low-ranked soldier before becoming a paladin. From a mechanical perspective, it gives him the Defense fighting style and Second Wind for added survivability, and most importantly, it enables him to pick up proficiency with Constitution saves without burning a feat. The ability to maintain Concentration while still being a focal point for enemy attacks seems particularly important to me. Without it, I would have to write off several spells that seem quite useful to me, including Bless, Hunter's Mark, Haste, etc. If I were to burn a feat at level 4 for Great Weapon Master, and then another one at 8 for Resilient (Con), I'd be pushing off improvements to my main stats until level 12, which seems quite late to me.
I thought strongly about picking up a second Fighter level for Action Surge, but decided that I did not want to give up one ASI and delay the other ASIs for it.
Once my character obtains the Great Weapon Master feat at level 5, he should have enough survivability to make the switch from a defensive combat style to a more offensive combat style, wielding a two-handed maul.
Level 1 - Fighter 1: Fighting Style (Defense), Second Wind
Level 2 - Paladin 1: Divine Sense, Lay on Hands
Level 3 - Paladin 2: Fighting Style (Great Weapon Fighting), Divine Smite
Level 4 - Paladin 3: Divine Health, Sacred Oath (Vengeance)
Level 5 - Paladin 4: Feat (Great Weapon Master)
For the remaining levels I plan to stick with Paladin, using the rest of my ASIs as follows:
Level 9: +1 STR, +1 CHA
Level 13: +2 STR
Level 17: +2 CHA
Level 20: +2 CHA
So, am I missing anything important? Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance!
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