D&D 5E Dealing with a Heavily Armored Paladin?

[Yunru]

So I've never had a problem with heavy armor. Sure, it's high AC, but it normally means at least a subpar Dex save. Problem is, is the Paladin.

Meet Mr. Tank. He's got a +4 Charisma modifier, +2 plate mail, and a shield. Nothing I throw at him hits(/affects) him (90% of the time). Where a weakness in saving throws would be, it's covered by his aura. Where a weakness in output would be, it's covered by his smiting and/or channel divinity.

Asides from throwing Magic Missiles at him, how can I stop this juggernaut from being such a... juggernaut?

 

[benbatman]

I'd try difficult terrain, flying enemies, darkness and hordes of mobs.

Or a combination of these, and creatures with grapple/prone attacks.

 

[Plaguescarred]

A pack of rust monsters or some black pudding!

 

[Yunru]

Okay okay, without dicking over said player

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[Plaguescarred]

Anything causing blindness or heavily obscured area that will also help by imposing disadvantage to him while granting advantage to attackers that can still see it i.e with blindsight etc

 

[Shiroiken]

I've found their greatest weakness (besides something designed against them) is flyers. I'd use an occasional combat of flying creatures (dragons are great for this, btw) to keep the paladin on his toes. He probably won't be in lots of danger, but he will be fairly useless (which is worse for most players IME).

Is this the only character that seems problematic? If so, use a one or two higher CR creatures that focus on the paladin (since they will have better attack modifiers). You could also use a swarm of creatures (especially with Pack Tactics) to bring the paladin down, but this can also be very dangerous for the rest of the party. A rust monster to bring down that magic plate mail might not be that bad an idea either.

 

[Sadras]

A Mob/Horde that relies on grapples to bring him down to the ground (as it doesn't require you to make attacks against AC).
Use the Help Action to ensure you succeed, and you can follow it up with Trips and Disarms (his shield can be snatched from him).

Also as DM you are allowed/encouraged to be creative (remember anything you allow, may be used by the characters too)

• Cast Grease on his shield, or Light on his helmet (should he be wearing one) and decide what negative effect that will have on him during combat.
• Counterspell his Channel Divinity.
• Change-up the terrain (1) Unhallowed ground, possibly weakening auras or divine spells from "Lawful and/or Good" beings..etc (2) Fight in Water, where movement becomes difficult terrain and have the enemies cast Raise Water (things should become quite tricky for tin can).
• Flyby attacks always work.
• Use range against him from hidden foes, if the Paladin is predominantly melee.
• Use obscurement or invisible foes for the advantage.
• We have implemented the touch attach AC as a house rule from earlier editions (It made more sense to us. Of course this works both ways for PCs that use touch attack spells). This allows you to bypass the AC of Armour. Against creatures like shadows and wraiths not even the shield can save them.

Of course the Paladin shines at early-mid levels - especially if he has access to the betters armours, but once you start using stronger monsters at higher levels, the AC doesn't play that strong a role. Let him shine for now, and every once in a while surprise him with one of the above ideas.

 

[Arial Black]

Nothing I throw at him hits(/affects) him

There was something you threw at him which definitely had an effect: +2 plate armour!

Even access to non-magical plate is easily controlled. It costs 1500gp, and must be individually fitted by someone skilled enough to do that.

It's like saying, "Oh no, the PCs fly everywhere so they miss all the monsters. Do you think it might have something to do with the Carpet of Flying that I gave them?"

More on point, what would you do, as a player, if a baddy had such high AC while his mates didn't? Wouldn't you get him stuck in mud, or kill his mates and run away?

 

[Yunru]

There was something you threw at him which definitely had an effect: +2 plate armour!

Even access to non-magical plate is easily controlled. It costs 1500gp, and must be individually fitted by someone skilled enough to do that.

It's like saying, "Oh no, the PCs fly everywhere so they miss all the monsters. Do you think it might have something to do with the Carpet of Flying that I gave them?"

More on point, what would you do, as a player, if a baddy had such high AC while his mates didn't? Wouldn't you get him stuck in mud, or kill his mates and run away?

Yes because 1500gp definitely isn't almost chump change for mid-tier adventurers or anything :/

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[jodyjohnson]

+1 Plate is a Legendary item (17th+).
+2 Plate is fraction of a percentage chance on the Legendary table (.00133...). You are 18 times more likely to get a Holy Avenger than +2 Plate.

Plate armor by itself is the equivalent of a Rare magic item (500-5000gp, Level 5+).

Of course then they pass it out to a bunch of low level mobs.