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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nephilm X" data-source="post: 7552450" data-attributes="member: 6983866">There's a little bit of apples vs oranges here, jumping between Human and Half-Elf analysis.For a VHuman STR 2h build, indeed you can splash warlock (not necessarily hexblade, but hexblade is the best for various reasons) in somewhere and get the 1st level benefits, War Caster not warranted. It's just a Warlock dip late in an otherwise standard 'pure' paladin build. Comparing it with a STR 1h PAM wielder, the better option for the latter I'd say is to not deviate from their Paladin progression, in which case at the point the 2h PAM paladin is obtaining their Hexblade benefits, the 1h PAM guy is getting 4th level spells (Greater Find Steed, Death Ward) and is on a faster track towards Soul of Vengeance.Additionally, if we're going by same item availability, the GWF 2h Hexadin above is 19 AC with 24 AC conditional at the cost of their reaction. A 1h PAM wielder would be 22 AC flat (18 plate with +2 shield), and their reaction is always free to be used for additional attacks every round (significant in large battles, as we approach Soul of Vengeance, or if you took Sentinel). There's pros and cons to each set up.That said, reiterating the point from my previous post, if the DM allows GWF to apply to every damage die then that's a lot of damage of higher levels. I can certainly see the appeal.Now, a Half-Elf Hexadin is kind of a different a different animal - the core idea of the build is to exploit the CHA synergy and Elven Accuracy, and it's a multi-class through and through, not really coming into its own until late in the character progression. Compared to the Human builds above, by 13 it's going to end up with overall better racials, saves, DCs, better ranged attack, and conditional AC (as per the rarity example, 22+5). To maximize it the stat array is somewhat different too, and results in worse early levels, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. You can make compelling cases for either maxing CHA at 12 or grabbing War Caster, but nevertheless CHA Hexadin requires War Caster to get the most juice out of the multiclass.About dancing with Sentinel and Relentless Avenger, that's what I was referring to with lockdown. As FR said it'll not always apply, though rather than just on bosses, it also works in more general combat when an enemy moves into you out of reach of your allies. And a Half-Elf (through racial cantrip) or Hexadin can do something similar with War Caster and Booming Blade rather than with Sentinel.Sentinel in general though is a good source of extra attacks, which in many real-world cases will result in higher overall damage delivered over a fight than a +MOD ASI.Similar sentiments here, but I feel Paladin too feat-starved to take Inspiring Leader.My personal set up would be:VHuman16 10 13 8 10 161. PAM4. RES (CON)Going Vengeance and Dueling FS, then what to do after depends on the game. If I want to have fun and the DM is running battle maps, and the party comp lends itself towards it, I'd grab Sentinel at 8. After that (or otherwise), it depends on whether I feel it's more important for this party to burn down enemies quickly, or to pass cancer saves. You know, what's giving us more headaches. If I want more damage STR, else CHA first - or also if I'm confident I can get Gauntlets or Belts, in which case there's no reason to spend on STR at all.Overall, though, passing saves is really important when you're running into nasty incapacitating effects, so it's hard to overvalue it, and consequently I find it hard to justify other picks.HAM is cool early on but it loses its luster later as you start running into attacks that chunk you for 20+ damage each and magical effects; the best defense there is to avoid the damage altogether, and as benny89 mentioned, it requires an uneven STR stat to be really worth it even then.Mounted Combatant I really want to like but a) it's to a degree campaign dependent, and more importantly b) the vast majority of scary enemies are Large or larger. Evasion on mount is nice, but attack substitution is dubious when a mount should be Disengaging or Dodging every turn anyways. Weighting all that, I'd rather have more Charisma.I think that's the breadth of Paladin opportunity cost analysis in a nutshell. "Do I want more Damage, or do I want to pass Saves?"</blockquote>

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