Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Character Builds & Optimization
'The Paladin as King': Cutting Through the Hype
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Logain08" data-source="post: 6752287" data-attributes="member: 6804227"><p>I have played an Oath of Vengeance paladin in homebrew setting and I loved that class so much, that I'm playing the same class again in a new campaign, this time set in Eberron. I can tell you a bit of my experience playing a paladin.</p><p></p><p>What you say is true, the paladin class is extremely MAD, since both strength/dexterity and charisma are extremely important for a paladin. But both my paladins are half-elves, not variant humans, since I like their extra skills and the bonuses to attributes they give. Darkvision is also pretty nice to have. So I don't think that variant humans are the only viable option for paladins, not even close.</p><p></p><p>In my experience, paladins offer a lot to an adventuring group. You have good AC and hit points, and when it counts you can hit like a truck. It's also a fun class to play, for me, in terms of resource management: how much LoH do I use at any given moment (based on what type and how many more encounters you expect), do I smite now or do I save my slots for a possible boss encounter, or do I want to cast a certain spell to give my team some advantages? I really like this aspect of playing a paladin. You can do a lot of stuff relatively well, and based on your chosen Oath you can provide some nice defensive benefits to your team or be quite possibly the best boss killer in the game.</p><p>My brother is my DM and he said he thought my character was the most difficult to deal with: good damage that trivializes his boss encounters, immunity to disease, lay on hands to counter poisons, and great saving throws that in his opinion made the paladin too strong. I disagree with him as I don't think the paladin as a class is overpowered, but it is very powerful and versatile.</p><p></p><p>That said, I do find that the class has some glaring weaknesses. Ranged combat is a struggle for me, always. Javelins are a sucky ranged option (I play a strength paladin) and the class itself offers nothing in terms of increased mobility or other options to deal with ranged threats. So I really have to rely on my team members to deal with those, or close the distance, but suck up the hits whilst doing so. </p><p></p><p>Another weakness, in my experience, is that the paladin itself is not really good in large encounters. You really shine against strong foes (bosses) and big threats. But if you're surrounded by a lot of enemies, a paladin doesn't really have any option but to take them down one by one. Destructive Wave is a very cool spell, but I doubt I will ever see it in actual play, since it comes so late in a paladin's career.</p><p></p><p>Turning now to feats: I completely agree with you. There are so many great feats for paladins and Resilient (constitution) seems nigh mandatory if you ever want to cast a concentration spell, such as bless (or haste as a higher level Oath of Vengeance paladin). Deciding on an attribute increase or a feat is extremely difficult and I'm currently doubting whether I should take GWM at level 4 or just increase my strength. Very difficult choices for a paladin... But yes, the MAD nature of paladins doesn't help, but maybe it helps balancing out the versatile strengths of the paladin class.</p><p></p><p>Sorry for the long post, I hope it was a little bit helpful.</p><p></p><p>TL;DR Paladins are awesome IMHO, but they do have their weaknesses. That's also what makes them so fun to play in my experience! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Logain08, post: 6752287, member: 6804227"] I have played an Oath of Vengeance paladin in homebrew setting and I loved that class so much, that I'm playing the same class again in a new campaign, this time set in Eberron. I can tell you a bit of my experience playing a paladin. What you say is true, the paladin class is extremely MAD, since both strength/dexterity and charisma are extremely important for a paladin. But both my paladins are half-elves, not variant humans, since I like their extra skills and the bonuses to attributes they give. Darkvision is also pretty nice to have. So I don't think that variant humans are the only viable option for paladins, not even close. In my experience, paladins offer a lot to an adventuring group. You have good AC and hit points, and when it counts you can hit like a truck. It's also a fun class to play, for me, in terms of resource management: how much LoH do I use at any given moment (based on what type and how many more encounters you expect), do I smite now or do I save my slots for a possible boss encounter, or do I want to cast a certain spell to give my team some advantages? I really like this aspect of playing a paladin. You can do a lot of stuff relatively well, and based on your chosen Oath you can provide some nice defensive benefits to your team or be quite possibly the best boss killer in the game. My brother is my DM and he said he thought my character was the most difficult to deal with: good damage that trivializes his boss encounters, immunity to disease, lay on hands to counter poisons, and great saving throws that in his opinion made the paladin too strong. I disagree with him as I don't think the paladin as a class is overpowered, but it is very powerful and versatile. That said, I do find that the class has some glaring weaknesses. Ranged combat is a struggle for me, always. Javelins are a sucky ranged option (I play a strength paladin) and the class itself offers nothing in terms of increased mobility or other options to deal with ranged threats. So I really have to rely on my team members to deal with those, or close the distance, but suck up the hits whilst doing so. Another weakness, in my experience, is that the paladin itself is not really good in large encounters. You really shine against strong foes (bosses) and big threats. But if you're surrounded by a lot of enemies, a paladin doesn't really have any option but to take them down one by one. Destructive Wave is a very cool spell, but I doubt I will ever see it in actual play, since it comes so late in a paladin's career. Turning now to feats: I completely agree with you. There are so many great feats for paladins and Resilient (constitution) seems nigh mandatory if you ever want to cast a concentration spell, such as bless (or haste as a higher level Oath of Vengeance paladin). Deciding on an attribute increase or a feat is extremely difficult and I'm currently doubting whether I should take GWM at level 4 or just increase my strength. Very difficult choices for a paladin... But yes, the MAD nature of paladins doesn't help, but maybe it helps balancing out the versatile strengths of the paladin class. Sorry for the long post, I hope it was a little bit helpful. TL;DR Paladins are awesome IMHO, but they do have their weaknesses. That's also what makes them so fun to play in my experience! :-) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Character Builds & Optimization
'The Paladin as King': Cutting Through the Hype
Top