D&D 5E Need Advice on a Figher/Mage Type of Character

[Dragonhelm]

I'm running Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle right now, and my son wants to switch characters. He was playing a paladin, but doesn't like the LG alignment. Do paladins have an alignment restriction in the latest iteration?

He is new to D&D, so all he is able to tell me is that he wants to play something that can fight and cast magic (offensive spells). He wants to blow stuff up.

Just wondering, what's the best way of tackling this? Fighter/mage multiclass? Or create a new class like a magus or spellsword? Or should I say he's a paladin of Mystra and let him use arcane spells instead of divine?

Thoughts?

 

[1of3]

Do paladins have an alignment restriction in the latest iteration?

No. It only mentions for Vengeance Paladins they are "typically lawful" in alignment. The Devoted are only compared to holy warriors and no mention to alignment is made.

Really, though, if that was the thing bothering you, you could just as well ignore any such restriction.

 

[koga305]

As for playing a more typical arcane "gish," I've found that the multiclassing system works just fine for it. Once you have proficiencies in armor and weapons (either from a race or a level of fighter/paladin/ranger/etc.) one can advance in Mage while still remaining a capable warrior, thanks to the scaling proficiency bonus.
I haven't tried it the other way (a few levels of a spellcasting class, many in a martial class), but I imagine it would work alright if you used fewer damaging spells and more self buffs/enemy debuffs (DCs scale with level, damage may not). The only problem is that you need pretty good ability scores to qualify for multiclassing and be capable in your other class.

 

[Herobizkit]

If you are able to go back two playtest revisions, the Cleric had an amazing "Thor"-themed set of abilities listed as Stormlord that was all bad-ass, all the time. It may have even been borderline broken... :3 Check it out, see if that's something your lad might like.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Druids have offensive magic and gain a second attack, and a level of fighter or barbarian can pick up the proficiencies.

 

[Jester David]

I'm running Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle right now, and my son wants to switch characters. He was playing a paladin, but doesn't like the LG alignment. Do paladins have an alignment restriction in the latest iteration?

He is new to D&D, so all he is able to tell me is that he wants to play something that can fight and cast magic (offensive spells). He wants to blow stuff up.

Just wondering, what's the best way of tackling this? Fighter/mage multiclass? Or create a new class like a magus or spellsword? Or should I say he's a paladin of Mystra and let him use arcane spells instead of divine?

Thoughts?

1) No alignment restructions

2) A mountain dwarf can use a battleaxe warhammer and wear medium armour. So you can be a wizard dwarf with a big axe and still do a decent job of hitting people.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Plus, as DM, you could just waive the alignment restrictions!

I've found in the past that changing around spell lists can give a very interesting flavour - there was one campaign where I allowed rangers to use the assassins spell list (in 3e) which provided an interesting flavour to them.