Dessert Nomad
Adventurer
This is a character who returned home to find his family dead at the hands of undead, and swore vengeance. He sought guidance, and his prayers were answered by a Celestial who used to be a follower of Tyr but became disillusioned and singleminded after Tyr's death and now acts independently to purge the world of evil. He made a pact with the celestial, and sought out paladin training to be able to truly fight. He now considers it his mission to deliver the searing light that drives out darkness, in a rather literal sense. Mechanically he's a paladin who's good at melee combat and being a 'face', and also capable of effective magic ranged attacks, backup healing, and general utility with spells. His general fighting style will be heavy armor, quarterstaff (with shillelagh), and shield, backed by eldritch blast when at range.
What I'm looking for advice on: Anything I might tweak in the early progression to be more effective, anything I might have missed. Ideas on what to do from level 13 on - I had originally considered just sticking to paladin, but celestial warlock also looks attractive to me now. I'm going to be playing him in AL so am limited to PHB and Xanathar's guide for options.
Things I've considered and rejected: I could do just one level of hexblade to get the CHA to attacks and focus more on paladin, but that's not the concept I'm going for. Standard wisdom is to go to level 6 Paladin before multiclassing to get the multiattack and the aura, but I don't want to wait that long to get my concept going. Hold Person, Misty Step, and lesser restoration are warlock spells that I'd find useful, but I will get two of them as oath spells and the other as a paladin spell at 8th level. Conceivably I could skip Hex as a warlock spell and just use hunter's mark to get the same damage, but I really like 'disadvantage on one ability' feature of hex, especially as a melee character. Odd stats are deliberate, STR is 15 for heavy armor, CON is 15 expecting to get a +1 from reslience down the road.
Level 1 stats:
Race: Human Class: Paladin Background: Sailor
Skills: Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion
AC 18 (Chain and Shield), HP 12
STR: 15
Dex: 8
CON: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 16
Expected progression:
2: Paladin 2
3-5: Warlock 1-3
6-9: Paladin 3-6
10: Warlock 4
11-12 Paladin 7-8
Levels 13-20 undecided
Feats and ASI: Human: Polearm mastery, 4 Paladin (7) +2 CHA, 4 Warlock (10) +2 CHA, 8 Paladin (12) Resilience
Class progression:
Paladin:
Dueling fighting style, Oath of vengeance
Adds spells:
Bane, Hunter's Mark
(5th/8th) Hold person, misty step
Warlock 1-3:
Patron: The Celestial
Pact of the Tome
Invocations: Agonizing Blast, Book of Secrets
Spells:
Cantrips: Sacred Flame, Light (Pact) Eldritch Blast, Prestidigitation (Normal) Shillelagh, Thorn Whip, Guidance (Tome)
Warlock Spells (3rd)
1st: Hex, Cause Fear
2nd: Spider Climb, Invisibility
Ritual spells base: Find Familiar, Unseen Servant
Self Adds: Detect Magic, Detect Poison/disease, Purify Food/Drink
Likely scroll: Alarm, Comprehend Languages, Augury
Possibly scroll: Speak with animals, Tensor's disk, Water Walk
What I'm looking for advice on: Anything I might tweak in the early progression to be more effective, anything I might have missed. Ideas on what to do from level 13 on - I had originally considered just sticking to paladin, but celestial warlock also looks attractive to me now. I'm going to be playing him in AL so am limited to PHB and Xanathar's guide for options.
Things I've considered and rejected: I could do just one level of hexblade to get the CHA to attacks and focus more on paladin, but that's not the concept I'm going for. Standard wisdom is to go to level 6 Paladin before multiclassing to get the multiattack and the aura, but I don't want to wait that long to get my concept going. Hold Person, Misty Step, and lesser restoration are warlock spells that I'd find useful, but I will get two of them as oath spells and the other as a paladin spell at 8th level. Conceivably I could skip Hex as a warlock spell and just use hunter's mark to get the same damage, but I really like 'disadvantage on one ability' feature of hex, especially as a melee character. Odd stats are deliberate, STR is 15 for heavy armor, CON is 15 expecting to get a +1 from reslience down the road.
Level 1 stats:
Race: Human Class: Paladin Background: Sailor
Skills: Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion
AC 18 (Chain and Shield), HP 12
STR: 15
Dex: 8
CON: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 16
Expected progression:
2: Paladin 2
3-5: Warlock 1-3
6-9: Paladin 3-6
10: Warlock 4
11-12 Paladin 7-8
Levels 13-20 undecided
Feats and ASI: Human: Polearm mastery, 4 Paladin (7) +2 CHA, 4 Warlock (10) +2 CHA, 8 Paladin (12) Resilience
Class progression:
Paladin:
Dueling fighting style, Oath of vengeance
Adds spells:
Bane, Hunter's Mark
(5th/8th) Hold person, misty step
Warlock 1-3:
Patron: The Celestial
Pact of the Tome
Invocations: Agonizing Blast, Book of Secrets
Spells:
Cantrips: Sacred Flame, Light (Pact) Eldritch Blast, Prestidigitation (Normal) Shillelagh, Thorn Whip, Guidance (Tome)
Warlock Spells (3rd)
1st: Hex, Cause Fear
2nd: Spider Climb, Invisibility
Ritual spells base: Find Familiar, Unseen Servant
Self Adds: Detect Magic, Detect Poison/disease, Purify Food/Drink
Likely scroll: Alarm, Comprehend Languages, Augury
Possibly scroll: Speak with animals, Tensor's disk, Water Walk