D&D 5E [GUIDE] My Word Is My Sword: The Paladin Guide

[Benny89]

What are y’all wanting the concentration save for. For the most part you are better off just divine smiting IMO. Even when you aren’t it’s not like just divine smiting is that far behind.

Many of your best buffs are level 1 spells and it’s no big deal if concentration has a chance to end early on them IMO.

So why worry about the resilient con feat at all?

Haste mostly. Albo recasting buff takeś usually bonus Action that could be just spend on more damage. But my Second proposed build mosty take warcaster just for booming blade. Hence why 14 con is Second build.

 

[FrogReaver]

Haste mostly. Albo recasting buff takeś usually bonus Action that could be just spend on more damage. But my Second proposed build mosty take warcaster just for booming blade. Hence why 14 con is Second build.

So 1 feat for a spell that you shouldn’t even be always casting because it’s only situationally better than divine smiting. Divine smite is comparable or better in many situations. In the situations where it isn’t the biggest bonus haste provides is closing long distances which still benefits you even if haste concentration is broken early.

I just don’t get spending a feat to make a buff that is already fairly difficult to break to make it even harder to break. (Given cha bonus to saving throws)

If you want to use booming blade with warcaster I at least get that. I don’t think it’s a particularly great but it does make you sticky as can be and if that’s important to you then have at it.

 

[Benny89]

So 1 feat for a spell that you shouldn’t even be always casting because it’s only situationally better than divine smiting. Divine smite is comparable or better in many situations. In the situations where it isn’t the biggest bonus haste provides is closing long distances which still benefits you even if haste concentration is broken early.

I just don’t get spending a feat to make a buff that is already fairly difficult to break to make it even harder to break. (Given cha bonus to saving throws)

If you want to use booming blade with warcaster I at least get that. I don’t think it’s a particularly great but it does make you sticky as can be and if that’s important to you then have at it.

I still think additional Attack and hence additional crit Chance and additional smite and additional +2 AC is worth it. After all we all agree PAM is Great feat because of additional attack and shields are awesome because +2 AC. Haste is basicelly applying to your self another PAM, another Shield, enchanced mobile feat and advantages on dex saves. All for one cast. Imo it worth to at least increase your Chance to uphold it. Plus warcaster or res (con) will always help with buffs. It not like it will help only with haste.


Also 3rd level smite is 4k8. Average 14 dmg. One extra Attack with 1st level Smite is 1k6 +2 + 5 + 1k8 +2k8. Average 21 dmg. Its also 2 more d20 rolls so if we crit that goes to 37 dmg. Od course if we crit with another Attack and we used 3rd level slot for smite with crit that is 8k8 dmg so extra 36 dmg vs 2nd levem slot for crit for 6k8 which is 27 dmg. So 9 dmg difference. But weapon alone does with IDS 15 dmg average. And extra Ac, dex adv and speed is also factor.

And booming blade on PAM with war caster and relentless avenger is great. On 12 level that is 1d6 + 2 + 5 + 1k8 + 2k8 and if target moves extra 2d8. Its like free lvl 3 Smite. Even if target does not move we made it lose its turn on standing. And we can still apply Smite to that attack.

Btw how booming blade extra dmg works on crit?

 

[FrogReaver]

Most Paladin buffs aren’t worth casting in a fight compared to divine smite except under very specific circumstances. Most are worth prebuffing but in my experience I don’t typically get a chance to prebuff. Maybe your experience or campaigns are different.

If you find many opportunities to prebuff then by all means buff and take concentration helping spells. If not divine smite is usually better or very comparable to the buff in question. In this case it’s not worth spending a feat on such a situational benefit That you’d till have a decent chance of getting full use of even without the feat.

I mean Egan it’s not like paladins have bad con saves

 

[Gladius Legis]

Most Paladin buffs aren’t worth casting in a fight compared to divine smite except under very specific circumstances. Most are worth prebuffing but in my experience I don’t typically get a chance to prebuff. Maybe your experience or campaigns are different.

If you find many opportunities to prebuff then by all means buff and take concentration helping spells. If not divine smite is usually better or very comparable to the buff in question. In this case it’s not worth spending a feat on such a situational benefit That you’d till have a decent chance of getting full use of even without the feat.

I mean Egan it’s not like paladins have bad con saves

Many battles IMX start with the enemy more than 30 feet away, so in those cases prebuffing is great. And Haste especially so, since that allows you to get in a first-round melee attack you wouldn't have gotten, otherwise.

 

[Benny89]

Most Paladin buffs aren’t worth casting in a fight compared to divine smite except under very specific circumstances. Most are worth prebuffing but in my experience I don’t typically get a chance to prebuff. Maybe your experience or campaigns are different.

If you find many opportunities to prebuff then by all means buff and take concentration helping spells. If not divine smite is usually better or very comparable to the buff in question. In this case it’s not worth spending a feat on such a situational benefit That you’d till have a decent chance of getting full use of even without the feat.

I mean Egan it’s not like paladins have bad con saves

I agree it depends, but it's not like RES (CON) or Warcaster doesn't help. RES (CON) for example not only bump CONC save but all Condition save throws. Some nasty Poison can have DC in 18s. RES (CON) helps here. Warcaster helps mostly on Conc saves, but it also allows Hexadin (even with 1 level dip) with PAM to make a really good combinations: like casting booming blade on reaction, casting Eldricht Blast on reaction instead of action, Lighting Lure, Green-Flame, Cause Fear, Chill Touch (on strong undead it's nice to give his disadvantage if it's his turn before you). There are options and advantage on CONC save even with +7 to it will help vs DC 18+ as on higher tire you can get easly git by 30+ dmg from enemies.

Both are imo safe feats and worth taking on Hexadin.

 

[FrogReaver]

Many battles IMX start with the enemy more than 30 feet away, so in those cases prebuffing is great. And Haste especially so, since that allows you to get in a first-round melee attack you wouldn't have gotten, otherwise.

Yep that is one of the situations where haste is good to buff in combat. In my games that’s fairly rare. If it’s not in your games that’s good. In that case your getting the best benefit of haste even before you have a chance at losing concentration on it, the speed to get you to the enemy. You also have a decent chance of keeping it up all battle even without resilient con due to charisma bonus to saves.

The point isnt that there’s no situation haste is good. It’s that the number of situations where it is better than divine smite doesnt provide a good justification for taking resilient con Over something more universally beneficial.

 

[Gladius Legis]

It’s that the number of situations where it is better than divine smite doesnt provide a good justification for taking resilient con Over something more universally beneficial.

Putting your CON saves in auto-save territory vs. DC 10 is pretty good, in general. Want to break my Paladin's concentration? Better do more than 21 damage in a single hit to me.

And CON saves aren't just about concentration, either. Some pretty nasty spells and monster effects attack your CON save frequently.

 

[FrogReaver]

Putting your CON saves in auto-save territory vs. DC 10 is pretty good, in general. Want to break my Paladin's concentration? Better do more than 21 damage in a single hit to me.

And CON saves aren't just about concentration, either. Some pretty nasty spells and monster effects attack your CON save frequently.

I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m saying it’s not as good as other options.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m saying it’s not as good as other options.

*shrugs* I think it's better than Heavy Armor Master except for the very earliest levels. Especially if it gets your CON to the next modifier.

Inspiring Leader is great, but when you pick Vengeance, you're picking it to do damage, and Resilient (CON) helps you deal a lot more of it in boss fights. Inspiring Leader is a feat I'd gladly take on a less purely offensive Oath, such as Devotion or Ancients. On Vengeance, Resilient (CON) is a higher priority.