D&D 5E level 4 question - how to help my party best

[Lord Zar]

Hi,

I had the fortune to roll amazingly for my half-elf paladin. Scores are

S - 16
D - 13
C - 17
I - 11
W - 13
CH - 19

He's in a party consisting of rouge, warlock & druid so he is typically wading straight into battle and dishing / absorbing lots of damage. Unfortunately I've been pretty bad a rolling HP so he's only got 25 at level 3. I have a fairly good AC (18) with Chain and Shield; hopefully upgrading soon as he's getting hit a lot.

So here is the question, how should I proceed at level 4 to best help my party in the role I'm filling? Increase Stats, most likely Con and Cha or maybe Dex to limit hits? Double up on Str to get 18 and deal more damage? Or take a feat of some kind - not even sure where to start w/ feats.

thanks

 

[Rhogar_Rarr]

It really depends on what you want to do. A feat like Inspiring Leader will grant you and your party temporary HP, which makes you all tougher. Taking straight Dex and Con will help you survive.

What does your party look like? What roles do you want to fill? Do you want to support them? Do you want to deal damage? You should focus on whatever you have fun doing and then we can give you more precise advise.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

 

[bid]

With stats like that, you are ahead of the ASI curve. Only Str18 and resilient (Con) have some value, depending on which concentration spell you use. You will want to even out Dex14 and Cha20 later.

I'll second the inspiring leader and add shield master since you are heavy+shield.

Finer details will depend on which oath you took.

 

[pdegan2814]

Resilient(Con), Str18 and Dex14/Cha20 are probably the three stat-boosts I'd take, and probably in that order. Con saves are NO fun, and if you're getting hit a lot I'd prioritize Con over Str. Your Cha already rocks, and Dex is less of a concern for you with heavy armor. With your Charisma already so high, taking Inspiring Leader at 4th level will be a nice little boost to the party after each Rest. 8 extra HP at 4th level is nothing to sneeze at, it'll probably save everyone one Hit Die of healing per Short Rest if not more, and could save the squishier members from being dropped by a nasty critical hit.

 

[mellored]

Fourth for inspiring leader. Assuming the warlock didn't take it.

Relislent Con can wait till your proficiency bonus is higher.

+2 str is good, but given you party, defense is needed more then damage. (though moon druids are pretty tanky as well).

 

[Kithas]

First thing first, unless your dm requires it never roll for hp, just take the average, trust me.

Some suggestions that haven't been said, the others are great suggestions too just my .02;
Defensive Duelist; It may take a weapon change but you have the min dex for it and switching to a rapier isn't too hard(you can still use your str). Being able to turn a hit into a miss up to once per turn is amazing for a tank and you likely don't have a good use for your reaction right now.

Tough; As you said your hp is looking pretty rough, this would help you out and set you up to have good hp in the future. Definitely recommended if your dm requires rolled hp, because that is really random and makes it hard to guarantee good hp as a tank.

Heavy Armor Master; During the early game lowering incoming BPS damage by 3 is amazing, and this scales well into the late game as hordes will start to be a big threat. As a little bonus it also gives you +1 str so later you can do a 1str/1cha asi and bump them both up to another +1.

Warcaster; Imo better than resilient con for concentration at early levels and if you get it early you don't need both. It lets you cast those pesky V.S. spells with both hands full. You likely won't have a single-target spell to smack someone with but you will later.

Personally inspiring leader isn't exciting to me but I'm sure that it is really good in practice.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

iirc heavy armor mastery can also give +1 con. So you get extra hp and damage resuction. That is what I would take.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I was wrong. It only increases STR. probably still a good choice. Tough is only 8 hp. So 3 hits and you are ahead of tough. And you are a lot more healing friendly.
And of course 25 hp is not objectively bad. Normally you would have been at 13+9+9 = 31 hp. 25 hp is not too bad because your hitdice are your real hp for the day. Taking tough only makes you harder to kill in a single fight.

 

[Kithas]

I was wrong. It only increases STR. probably still a good choice. Tough is only 8 hp. So 3 hits and you are ahead of tough. And you are a lot more healing friendly.
And of course 25 hp is not objectively bad. Normally you would have been at 13+9+9 = 31 hp. 25 hp is not too bad because your hitdice are your real hp for the day. Taking tough only makes you harder to kill in a single fight.

With tough there are 2 things to keep in mind. Firstly it's only 8 hp right now, but it is 40 hp over the course of a full game. Secondly I find it helps to look at it as a %, for him 8 health is a 32% health boost, that is a large amount. It also stays relevant for the whole course of the game while Heavy armor master's usefulness tapers off near midgame and really tapers by endgame.
Still a good choice but don't overlook your hp, healing is reactionary, its better to be proactive than reactive.

 

[Rhogar_Rarr]

Inspiring Leader can also essentially add 8 HP to himself, recharging every single rest, and oh yeah, he can add that 8 HP to the rest of his party as well (every single rest). In his party of 4, he can hand out up to 32 HP for free every single rest. If he's traveling with more companions or if they have an NPC they need to keep alive, Inspiring Leader only gets better. I played with an Inspiring Leader paladin in PotA and it saved others character's lives, and probably my own. Toughness, Heavy Armor Master, and Defensive Duelist certainly do help your tankiness, but not the rest of the party. Plus a monster may see your heavy armor and chose to attack the unarmored mages in back. Inspiring Leader can help in situations like these, where the others feats can't do a thing. It's the best option for the whole party... Unless another character (Warlock) already has it.