D&D 5E Building a Paladin

[Enrico Poli1]

Oath of Devotion.
Variant Human.
High stat to Cha, then Str and Con. ASAP, get Gauntlets of Ogre Power, while maximizing Cha.
Feats: 1) Shield Master, 4) ASI, 8) War Caster, 12) Inspiring Leader, 16) Resilient (Con)
Skills: Athletics, Persuasion, Perception
Fighting Style: Defense

You have a tank (even shoving prone enemies and resisting breath weapons with Shield Master) that can nova Dmg, while supporting the party with auras, Inspiring Leader, spells.
Out of combat, face of the party.

 

[Shiroiken]

The paladin is probably one of the strongest classes in the game, normally only suffering against fliers/ranged attacks. If you want to be a tank, I'd go sword and board with the Defense fighting style for an amazing AC. If you want to defend allies I'd suggest the Protection style, but talk with your DM about it (a lot of DMs have enemies work around the fact that you have the ability, thus making the ability worthless). Heavy Armor Master is solid at lower levels, but weakens over time (I've houseruled it to equal Proficiency Modifier to level it out). Others to consider: Inspiring Leader, Sentinel, and Toughness.

 

[humble minion]

I'm heading into tier 2 with a dragonborn Devotion paladin now. Went the heavy armour route, 10 Dex, max Str, second max score in Cha.

I went Defence combat style, and using a great weapon for rp purposes. I might take GWM at 8th level, but don't have it yet, after deciding that a Str increase for the +1 to hit was a bigger deal at level 4. Though as a variant human, you can of course have your cake and eat it too. You're going to be heavily dependant on smites for damage output, so use them carefully, and try to save one for if/when you roll a 20.

Consider what you want to use your spells for, and the composition of your party. My PC gets beaten down fairly easily (no shield, no dex bonus to AC, only moderate armour up until finally getting full plate recently). At low levels, you probably want either Bless running all the time (especially if you have a monk or dual weapon fighter in the party who gets the most benefit) or else shield of faith/protection from evil (depending on what you're facing) to add staying power if you want to be the primary frontliner in a group full of casters and ranged fighters. If you're playing weapon + shield then you have a bit of flexibility, But they're both concentration, so you have to choose. Shield of faith makes you very hard to hit when it stacks with your shield, or else you can just save more spell slots to save for smites.

I don't use the smite spells much, your concentration is almost always better used elsewhere (SO many of the best paladin spells require concentration, it's pretty frustrating really), but something like Wrathful Smite can be useful if you absolutely must stack as much damage on at once as you possibly can. Command is really handy, keep it prepared, it'll often get you out of a jam at low levels against giant-type enemies with mediocre Wis saves but big melee damage output.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Devotion Paladin, standard human, even spread of ability scores, Str16 and a lot of 14's. Boosted Str18 & Cha16 by level 10, eschewed feats. All round warrior, has won with archery (w Magic weapon) vs manticores. High AC + cover and half-decent missile ability does that.

Went Dueling for sword & board and lance. Check with your DM, RAW looks like it can used on thrown melee weapons, but there are doubts regarding RAI.

Haven't used spells extensively, mainly smites. Background-wise my PC needs to prep Detect Poison & Disease, which matches good level 2 'Prot. from Poison'. I like to run spell themes, selecting similar effects across the levels.
- Not having a bonus attack, I've used Sanctuary often enough, on badly wounded front-liners or on self when blocking a doorway.
- Divine favor is good against CR1/2 foes, it can bump average damage up to one hit one kill. Also it's visible, maybe I draw attacks and that's good. With good AC & HP but only fair unbuffed damage output, attacks on a S&B paladin are often suboptimal for defeating the party.
- Crusader's mantle does Divine Favor but the whole party. Concentration checks become an issue, so I play defense with this up.

Modified noble background with acolyte to model a religious knight chapter. Removed history training and together with lowest stat on Int, feeds into flaw of excessive loyalty to state monarch.

Tell you what, Mindflayers and Intellect Devourers will wreck a D.Pal. Aura of protection and devotion help against their spells, but AoP doesn't really make up for no Int save and poor Int. Had one encounter with the above and was KO'd. Luckily saved by Cleric's Guardian of Faith and timely arrival of frenzied bzkr.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Heavy Armor Master is still pretty great as you level. All those 3 point bumps add up. And if the DM throws hordes of mooks at you it’s a blast.

 

[FrogReaver]

Heavy Armor Master is still pretty great as you level. All those 3 point bumps add up. And if the DM throws hordes of mooks at you it’s a blast.

Damage tends to scale by more attacks even for many enemies. It’s often just as good in tier 2 as tier 1.