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

[Motorskills]

Starting 8, 14,15,10,10,16 with Inspiring Leader, Medium Armor and Stealth proficiency.
Maxing Charisma first, Then going for Resilient (Con) at lvl 12 (your proficiency bonus is high enough at that level so you can reap the benefits). Then maximising Con or Dex to your liking.

You may also decrease your INT to 8, increase STR to 15 and wear heavy armor. No Stealth option, but if your teammates are uncooperative you can always equip the lance and protect your mount.
Played very similar build (character was a Half-Elf though) and boy it was fun.

He's now 12th, courtesy of Winter Fantasy, and he is such a blast to play. Inspiring Leader, Resilient, and CHA 20. I won't bother increasing STR any more, will likely dunk the rest of the ASIs into CON or something.

He gives out a ludicrous amount of HP at the beginning. Usually I give ten 'permanent' HP from Aid, and then (now) another 17 temporary from Inspiring Leader. While I don't actually take ten minutes, I always roleplay that bit, either encouraging, celebrating, or blamestorming, depending on the situation!

I went with heavy armour (early decision), and play him as a roadblock. It works....okay, I guess....although I imagine there are other constructions that could be viable too (including some of DEX/medium-armour option that you describe above). But AC20, with protection FS, even before Shield of Faith, and magic armour/shield, is pretty strong. (Now that my CHA is max, I might have to take another look at Compelled Duel).

 

[Gladius Legis]

I'm a bit late to this, but, so, Oath of Redemption:

Overall rating, black. Flavorful for sure, has some effective moving parts, but power-wise probably the weakest Oath so far.

• Armor of Peace (Lv. 3): With only 10 DEX the AC is still equivalent to chain mail, so that's nice if you want to go unarmored for the style points. Incompatible with Defense Fighting Style or a shield. Optimizing around this is a bit tricky, for the reason right below.
• Warrior of Reconciliation (Lv. 3): Charm an enemy you knock to 0 hit points. This requires the use of a simple bludgeoning weapon, all of which require STR to use effectively. Now overlay that vs. Armor of Peace and its AC that increases with DEX, and you start to see the problem. A level of Monk to use certain simple bludgeoning weapons with DEX (via Martial Arts) is probably the easiest way to take care of this discrepancy (and thematically appropriate), if you don't mind giving up the capstone or don't mind being a level behind on Paladin features. If you'd rather not MC, then your best option is probably to wear plate and shield into battle and attack with STR, and consider your Armor of Peace a nice macguffin if you're caught without armor for whatever reason.
• Emissary of Peace (Lv. 3): +5 to a Persuasion check. OK.
• Rebuke the Violent (Lv. 3): Good against enemies with high-damage single melee hits. Situational, but battles with those types of enemies will probably come up often enough to at least justify its existence.
• Oath Spells: No complaints here, this list is top notch. Easily the highlight of this Oath. Shield, Sleep, Hold Person, Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern and Wall of Force are all amazing spells for Paladins (or anyone for that matter) to keep on tap.
• Aura of the Guardian (Lv. 7): Crown's Divine Allegiance with an extra 5 feet of range. Good.
• Protective Spirit (Lv. 15): It's the Champion Fighter's capstone ability 3 levels earlier and even slightly more powerful. Obviously very good.
• Emissary of Redemption (Lv. 20): An interesting capstone, mostly because it is theoretically a constant effect as opposed to the once/day powers of the other Oaths. The two benefits of resistance to all damage and reflecting half damage back on attackers end on individual creatures when you attack/damage/force a save from those creatures. That second benefit, by the way, is written in a way where you're not responsible for dealing that damage back to the creature. Seems to be the most effective in battles against several moderately powerful enemies at once, where you're attacking them one at a time.

 

[Dasem]

Thinking of doing a Treachery Paladin, but I'm curious as to how I should go about it. All books and UA are open (Except no races with At-Will Flight, or Yuan-Ti). No multiclassing, though.

Starting at lv5.

I'm starting with 2 magic items of the Uncommon rarity. Thinking Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Cloak of Protection. With Mariner fighting style, that sets me at AC 20 with Full Plate. Gauntlets lets me focus on Con and Charisma. So I'd have Str 19, Con 16, Charisma 16.

Doing that, I can be a VHuman with Resilient: Con and Greatweapon Master by lv5. So for things like Bless and Treachery's 'Invoke Duplicity' ability for bonuses to hit, letting me maintain Concentration and allowing me to decimate people reliably with GWM.

But some of the other races are damn tempting. Is it worth putting Resilient: Con off until lv8, and taking another race, like Volo's Aasimar?

 

[Gladius Legis]

But some of the other races are damn tempting. Is it worth putting Resilient: Con off until lv8, and taking another race, like Volo's Aasimar?

Yeah, Lv. 8 is fine. That's probably the latest I'd want to take that feat, before you get to the really good stuff and you're 1 level away from +4 proficiency.

 

[Stevoid]

X. Builds and Combos



(Rework in progress)

I've been living in this thread for the last few days - very well written - and suddenly it's out of action! Hopefully its makes it death save soon!

I look forward to the revised builds (which I just came back to for one more look

I have a question - if your DM was giving you a bonus starting feat as the adventure was going to be run with just three characters, how much would that affect your choice for a Polearm Master build? I'm leaning towards HAM with variant Human also taking PAM. Thoughts?

Variant Human with bonus starting feat:

STR 16 CHA 16 CON 13 (take resilience later lvl 8 prob) DEX 12 WIS 10 INT 8; Soldier; HAM, PAM. Athletics, Intimidation, Persuasion, Insight, Perception.

Would HWM at 4 be a waste - leaning towards over SENT as want to as badass 1:1 with a dragon that killed his father in backstory...

 

[Gladius Legis]

Revised sample builds up. More accurately reflects how I build and advance Paladins lately.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I have a question - if your DM was giving you a bonus starting feat as the adventure was going to be run with just three characters, how much would that affect your choice for a Polearm Master build? I'm leaning towards HAM with variant Human also taking PAM. Thoughts?

Variant Human with bonus starting feat:

STR 16 CHA 16 CON 13 (take resilience later lvl 8 prob) DEX 12 WIS 10 INT 8; Soldier; HAM, PAM. Athletics, Intimidation, Persuasion, Insight, Perception.

Would HWM at 4 be a waste - leaning towards over SENT as want to as badass 1:1 with a dragon that killed his father in backstory...

HAM is good in that case, sure.

HWM ... did you mean Great Weapon Master by that? That is a great feat for polearms since it adds to the butt-end attack.

 

[Stevoid]

HAM is good in that case, sure.

HWM ... did you mean Great Weapon Master by that? That is a great feat for polearms since it adds to the butt-end attack.

Ah yes, GWM. Thank you. After much agonising I think I'm settled on a build (was always going to be a Pally).

One again, excellent article.

The more I get into 5E the more I'm impressed at how many viable choices and much colour there is across all classes and within classes - both from an effectiveness and a RP perspective. For me, 5E has re-captured the feel that 1st and 2nd ed had.

(Currently DMing PotA and about to play in first 5E campaign. )

 

[Gladius Legis]

Well, apparently while I wasn't looking, Jeremy Crawford settled the Improved Divine Smite debate a couple months back.

As it turns out, you DO double-dip the damage when you use Divine Smite. So it's +1d8 on all melee attacks, and then an EXTRA +1d8 when you Smite.

Excellent ...

 

[Gladius Legis]

Updated Paladin of Conquest analysis (from this month's UA):

Oath Spells: Even better than before. Replacing Blight (worthless when you have Smites) with Stoneskin at 4th level was a good move. The best entrants of the old list are still all there (Armor of Agathys, Command, Fear, and ESPECIALLY Spiritual f'in Weapon).

Conquering Presence: Much better than the previous Conquering Strike, being a mass fear ability now. It's slightly weaker than the Oathbreaker's Dreadful Presence, though, since the enemies can save to end this early regardless of how far they are. Honestly, I would've preferred a Conquering Strike that triggered a mass fear ability over this, but this will work.

Guided Strike: Still stealing the War Cleric's CD. It's OK, but I'd say Conquering Presence will get used a lot more often. As an offensive boost it still pales in comparison with Devotion's Sacred Weapon or Vengeance's Vow of Enmity.

Aura of Conquest: Much improved over its previous version. Between Wrathful Smite, Conquering Presence and Fear, you'll get to use this pretty often. If you're a Shield Master, knock them down after a Wrathful Smite and they won't ever get up thanks to 0 speed, and they'll take the auto-damage too.

Scornful Rebuke: Auto-damage against anyone who hits you. Even works at range. This is pretty awesome and can add up very quickly, particularly against a horde. Much better than the first draft's Lv. 15.

Invincible Conqueror: Same as before, a very solid capstone. 3 attacks/action, which is very strong with Improved Divine Smite atop it, improved crit range allows for better crit fishing for Divine Smite, and resistance to all damage is obviously great.

Overall rating, blue, maybe sky blue. Spiritual Weapon, Conquering Presence, a much-improved Aura of Conquest and Scornful Rebuke definitely make this Oath worth playing now.