Gladius Legis
Legend
Some of my most recent edits got reverted due to the EnWorld crash, so I'll be slowly correcting this over the next week or so.
D&D 5E [GUIDE] My Word Is My Sword: The Paladin Guide
I was wondering what the more knowledgeable D&D (paladin) experts think about the new Aasimar race and subraces.
Do they make good options for paladins? From what I can tell, the protector Aasimar would be thematically a very cool fit for a paladin, but the stats are a bit awkward, especially with point-buy (+2 cha and +1 wis). But I would love to hear the thoughts of the resident experts!
Do they make good options for paladins? From what I can tell, the protector Aasimar would be thematically a very cool fit for a paladin, but the stats are a bit awkward, especially with point-buy (+2 cha and +1 wis). But I would love to hear the thoughts of the resident experts!
+Level radiant damage for one minute once per turn. Yes. Yes, they are good for pretty much ANY Charisma-using class. Warlock (Especially Undying Light from UA) and Sorcerer especially. Wow, they're crazy. Their racial ability is arguably better than most class and archetype capstones for crying out loud.
I'll be perfectly honest, I think nearly all the races in Volo's dwarf (pun intended) the power of the races in the PHB, Elemental Evil handbook, etc. They're by far the most powerful. I mean, Yuan-Ti start with MAGIC RESISTANCE. That's ridiculous!
I'll be perfectly honest, I think nearly all the races in Volo's dwarf (pun intended) the power of the races in the PHB, Elemental Evil handbook, etc. They're by far the most powerful. I mean, Yuan-Ti start with MAGIC RESISTANCE. That's ridiculous!
For Paladin VGTM has
Aasimar: +2 Charisma, Darkvision, Necro/Radiant Resistance, Healing Hands (heal level damage with a touch once a day, touch action), Lightbringer (light cantrip), celestial language, at 3rd level a subrace power that transforms you, boosting damage and some other effect, +1 attribute based on subrace.
The race itself is basically being a Paladin, and its all goes well with the Paladin class, reinforcing the Paladins themes.
Firbolg: +1 strength, +2 Wisdom. Firbolg magic (cast either detect magic or disguise self once per short rest), hidden step (1 turn invisiblity once per short rest), leaf and beast speech (can talk to animals and plants), Powerful Build, speaks Elvish and Giant. Strength bonus is nice. You can share Detect Magic and Disguise Self with your mount. Powerful Build and high strength is go for moving and lifting stuff, congrats on beingbthe parties mule.
Goliaths: Same as before
Lizardfolk: +2 Con, +1 Wisdom. Swim Speed 30', hold beath 15 minutes, can build primative weapons and shields using dead bodies during a short rest, natural armour, bite attack, natural weapon and unarmed attack, can do a special bite attack as a bonus action that grants temp hp for eating your target language Draconic. Can one use smite with a bite attack?
Kenku, +2 Dex, +1 Wisdom, advantage on crafting rolls to copy something, choice two roguish skills from a list of four, mimicry. Can read and write and understand Common and Auran, but not speak it. No reason it chose it, the class is straight up skill money.
Kobold- Darkvision, a once a short rest ability to great advantage to your allies as an action, pack tactics (this ability rocks), -2 strength, +2 Dex, Draconic Language. At first glance it sucks, -2 strength. In practice pack tactics makes up for that. Great for a Dexaldin, but even for a strength build, its possible to get 20 strength by high levels, with Pack Tactics, your going to be extremely accurate. Small Size is to your advantage, go with a Mastiff Mount and use a lance and shield, its medium so it can go anywhere and it will allow you to use pack tactics basically at will. Reward for most counter intuitively awesome Paladin Race.
Hobgoblin +2 Con, +1 Wisdom, +1 for every ally that witnesses your screw up on one roll every short rest, 2 martial weapon profs and light armour prof, Darkvision, Goblin Language. Hobgoblin is like a multiclass into fighter. That con is useful, but the weapon/armour profs are a waste, but its other ability is still good. Okay choice, but uninspired.
Goblin: +2 dex, +1 con, nimble escape, furry of the small, darkvision, goblin language. A Paladin with a Talent for striking from Shadows.
Bugbear: +2 Strength, +1 Dex, Surpise attack (2D6 damage), long limbs +5 reach on attack action, sneaky (stealth prof), darkvision, goblin language. One of the Best races for Paladin, if you get good at Surprising enemies. Incredible reach.
Tritons: +1 strength, +1 Con, and +1 Charisma, Triton magic which is Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind, and Water Wall once per day, the ability to take to any creature that can breath water, cold resistance and depth pressure immunity. Can breath both air and water, swim speed of 30', and speaks Primordial. If your DM will allow, I'd suggest an mount that can breath both air and water if the DM allows it. Great stats for a Paladin.
Tabaxi: +2 Dex, +1 Charisma, can double speed for a turn, but can use it again, until you use zero movement for a turn, has claws which count as natural weapons and unarmed attacks, and gives you a climb speed of 20', stealth and Perception prof, Darkvision, knows common & one language of your choice. +1 Charisma is nice, but does Smite work with natural weapons?
Orc: +2 Stength, +1 Con, -2 Intelligence, Powerful Build, Aggressive (as a bonus action you can move towards an enemy), menacing (intimadation prof), Darkvision, Orc Language. Avenger Paladin, hands down.
Yuan Ti Pureblood: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence. Poison Cantrip, At will Animal Friendship (snakes only), at 3rd level Suggestion once a day, poison immunity, Darkvision, Magic Resistance, Abyssal and Draconic languages. +2 Charisma is useful. Basically a Paladin with a more spellcaster focus. An Pureblood Paladin of the Ancients Oath is bane of mages, magic resistance in spades, Poison and Disease Immunity, ect...,
Aasimar: +2 Charisma, Darkvision, Necro/Radiant Resistance, Healing Hands (heal level damage with a touch once a day, touch action), Lightbringer (light cantrip), celestial language, at 3rd level a subrace power that transforms you, boosting damage and some other effect, +1 attribute based on subrace.
The race itself is basically being a Paladin, and its all goes well with the Paladin class, reinforcing the Paladins themes.
Firbolg: +1 strength, +2 Wisdom. Firbolg magic (cast either detect magic or disguise self once per short rest), hidden step (1 turn invisiblity once per short rest), leaf and beast speech (can talk to animals and plants), Powerful Build, speaks Elvish and Giant. Strength bonus is nice. You can share Detect Magic and Disguise Self with your mount. Powerful Build and high strength is go for moving and lifting stuff, congrats on beingbthe parties mule.
Goliaths: Same as before
Lizardfolk: +2 Con, +1 Wisdom. Swim Speed 30', hold beath 15 minutes, can build primative weapons and shields using dead bodies during a short rest, natural armour, bite attack, natural weapon and unarmed attack, can do a special bite attack as a bonus action that grants temp hp for eating your target language Draconic. Can one use smite with a bite attack?
Kenku, +2 Dex, +1 Wisdom, advantage on crafting rolls to copy something, choice two roguish skills from a list of four, mimicry. Can read and write and understand Common and Auran, but not speak it. No reason it chose it, the class is straight up skill money.
Kobold- Darkvision, a once a short rest ability to great advantage to your allies as an action, pack tactics (this ability rocks), -2 strength, +2 Dex, Draconic Language. At first glance it sucks, -2 strength. In practice pack tactics makes up for that. Great for a Dexaldin, but even for a strength build, its possible to get 20 strength by high levels, with Pack Tactics, your going to be extremely accurate. Small Size is to your advantage, go with a Mastiff Mount and use a lance and shield, its medium so it can go anywhere and it will allow you to use pack tactics basically at will. Reward for most counter intuitively awesome Paladin Race.
Hobgoblin +2 Con, +1 Wisdom, +1 for every ally that witnesses your screw up on one roll every short rest, 2 martial weapon profs and light armour prof, Darkvision, Goblin Language. Hobgoblin is like a multiclass into fighter. That con is useful, but the weapon/armour profs are a waste, but its other ability is still good. Okay choice, but uninspired.
Goblin: +2 dex, +1 con, nimble escape, furry of the small, darkvision, goblin language. A Paladin with a Talent for striking from Shadows.
Bugbear: +2 Strength, +1 Dex, Surpise attack (2D6 damage), long limbs +5 reach on attack action, sneaky (stealth prof), darkvision, goblin language. One of the Best races for Paladin, if you get good at Surprising enemies. Incredible reach.
Tritons: +1 strength, +1 Con, and +1 Charisma, Triton magic which is Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind, and Water Wall once per day, the ability to take to any creature that can breath water, cold resistance and depth pressure immunity. Can breath both air and water, swim speed of 30', and speaks Primordial. If your DM will allow, I'd suggest an mount that can breath both air and water if the DM allows it. Great stats for a Paladin.
Tabaxi: +2 Dex, +1 Charisma, can double speed for a turn, but can use it again, until you use zero movement for a turn, has claws which count as natural weapons and unarmed attacks, and gives you a climb speed of 20', stealth and Perception prof, Darkvision, knows common & one language of your choice. +1 Charisma is nice, but does Smite work with natural weapons?
Orc: +2 Stength, +1 Con, -2 Intelligence, Powerful Build, Aggressive (as a bonus action you can move towards an enemy), menacing (intimadation prof), Darkvision, Orc Language. Avenger Paladin, hands down.
Yuan Ti Pureblood: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence. Poison Cantrip, At will Animal Friendship (snakes only), at 3rd level Suggestion once a day, poison immunity, Darkvision, Magic Resistance, Abyssal and Draconic languages. +2 Charisma is useful. Basically a Paladin with a more spellcaster focus. An Pureblood Paladin of the Ancients Oath is bane of mages, magic resistance in spades, Poison and Disease Immunity, ect...,
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Although I'm by no means an expert, I would just like to give my opinion on the new Aasimar options, since they really fascinate me.
The basic frame of the race strikes me as flavorful and also useful. Darkvision is solid, healing hands once per long rest is like Lay on Hands lite, en resistance to radiant and necrotic damage could be useful if you fight some very specific foes. Light cantrip is nothing earth shattering, but it's nice to have, I guess.
Protector Aasimar gives you a fly speed of 30 feet and once per turn radiant damage on a hit with an attack or a spell that deals damage. I don't see a whole lot of people talking about the fly speed, but to me, this seems awesome and pretty useful. One of the paladin's weaknesses is ranged combat and tackling flying enemies. Having an option to fly seems like a great way to offset this weakness. I remember a fight where my party had to fight a hovering beholder and my paladin couldn't reach it, relegating me to more defensive work (boosting saves by standing close to other party members and concentrating on bless). If I had a way to fly, I could have contributed more actively in such encounters.
The extra damage seems really nice, although it hurts a bit that to activate this transformation, you have to use an action. I think I would copy GladiusLegis' advice regarding Haste here: best to activate this before an encounter that you know is coming up.
Statwise, the Protector is a bit lacking for a paladin. +2 Charisma is nice, but +1 wisdom does not really offer a whole lot. If you use point buy, then you are basically forced to start with a 15 in either strength or dexterity. Not a deal breaker, but something to take into account.
Scourge Aasimar get an AoE effect with their transformation, dealing free damage to every creature within 10 feet equal to half their level (rounded up). In my opinion, this also somewhat mitigates a weakness of the paladin class, namely dealing with hordes of enemies. But the AoE is not friendly, so compared to the Protector, you need to be careful with your positioning and basically have to isolate yourself from your party members lest you also damage them.
+1 Constitution seems more useful than +1 wisdom though.
Fallen Aasimar get an AoE fear effect when they activate their transformation, but like the Scourge Aasimar, this is not party friendly. So again, being careful about your position before you activate this is definitely important. You don't want to cripple your party members by frightening them. (No longer an issue after level 10, since Aura of Courage makes your allies immune to the frightened condition if they stand in reach of this ability)
+1 Strength is definitely more useful for most paladins, except for those using dexterity as their attacking stat.
I really like the aasimar and have asked my DM if I can change the race of my current paladin into an aasimar. I think they offer extra flavor to any paladin and you get a nice once per long rest ability regardless of your subrace.
This guide currently rates the DMG aasimar as a blue option, but I think the VGTM aasimar warrants a sky blue rating, but I would love to hear some more opinions on the matter.
The basic frame of the race strikes me as flavorful and also useful. Darkvision is solid, healing hands once per long rest is like Lay on Hands lite, en resistance to radiant and necrotic damage could be useful if you fight some very specific foes. Light cantrip is nothing earth shattering, but it's nice to have, I guess.
Protector Aasimar gives you a fly speed of 30 feet and once per turn radiant damage on a hit with an attack or a spell that deals damage. I don't see a whole lot of people talking about the fly speed, but to me, this seems awesome and pretty useful. One of the paladin's weaknesses is ranged combat and tackling flying enemies. Having an option to fly seems like a great way to offset this weakness. I remember a fight where my party had to fight a hovering beholder and my paladin couldn't reach it, relegating me to more defensive work (boosting saves by standing close to other party members and concentrating on bless). If I had a way to fly, I could have contributed more actively in such encounters.
The extra damage seems really nice, although it hurts a bit that to activate this transformation, you have to use an action. I think I would copy GladiusLegis' advice regarding Haste here: best to activate this before an encounter that you know is coming up.
Statwise, the Protector is a bit lacking for a paladin. +2 Charisma is nice, but +1 wisdom does not really offer a whole lot. If you use point buy, then you are basically forced to start with a 15 in either strength or dexterity. Not a deal breaker, but something to take into account.
Scourge Aasimar get an AoE effect with their transformation, dealing free damage to every creature within 10 feet equal to half their level (rounded up). In my opinion, this also somewhat mitigates a weakness of the paladin class, namely dealing with hordes of enemies. But the AoE is not friendly, so compared to the Protector, you need to be careful with your positioning and basically have to isolate yourself from your party members lest you also damage them.
+1 Constitution seems more useful than +1 wisdom though.
Fallen Aasimar get an AoE fear effect when they activate their transformation, but like the Scourge Aasimar, this is not party friendly. So again, being careful about your position before you activate this is definitely important. You don't want to cripple your party members by frightening them. (No longer an issue after level 10, since Aura of Courage makes your allies immune to the frightened condition if they stand in reach of this ability)
+1 Strength is definitely more useful for most paladins, except for those using dexterity as their attacking stat.
I really like the aasimar and have asked my DM if I can change the race of my current paladin into an aasimar. I think they offer extra flavor to any paladin and you get a nice once per long rest ability regardless of your subrace.
This guide currently rates the DMG aasimar as a blue option, but I think the VGTM aasimar warrants a sky blue rating, but I would love to hear some more opinions on the matter.
Gladius Legis
Legend
Updated to current (life got in the way), along with the Volo's Guide races.
And just a day before the Paladin UA comes out too ...
And just a day before the Paladin UA comes out too ...
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