D&D 5E (2014) level 4 question - how to help my party best

[bid]

Tough is best to save low-health classes like sorcerer/wizard where it makes a difference. You already get something like 9 hp per level, an extra 2 won't do much.

Paladinhave no need for warcaster, their holy symbol already covers most of it.

 

[mellored]

iirc heavy armor mastery can also give +1 con. So you get extra hp and damage resuction. That is what I would take.

It gives +1 Str.

Still a solid option though. As he can take +1 Str/+1 Cha at level 8, and resilient Con at level 12.

 

[mellored]

Tough is best to save low-health classes like sorcerer/wizard where it makes a difference. You already get something like 9 hp per level, an extra 2 won't do much.

Paladinhave no need for warcaster, their holy symbol already covers most of it.

Tough is roughly the same as +2 Con. Which also gives +1 HP / level, and +1 HP per hit die spent (= +2 HP on most days). But it also boost your saving throw, which is especially important for keeping bless up.

Tough really only beats +2 Con if your DM avoids short rests and you don't use Concentration spells. Or after you have 20 Con.


Also inspiring leader will give him +4+4 (=8, same as tough) THP each short rest... AND to the rest of the party. It's flat out better then tough.

 

[Kithas]

Tough is best to save low-health classes like sorcerer/wizard where it makes a difference. You already get something like 9 hp per level, an extra 2 won't do much.

Paladinhave no need for warcaster, their holy symbol already covers most of it.

It is still useful for high health classes as you want more health. even if you get 9hp per turn, 11 would be a 20+% increase. It does get you more health faster so in that respect I like it more than +2 con but honestly it's a almost a tie imo.

If you are a paladin with a sword/shield that is your holy symbol you cannot cast V.S. spells with your hands like that. That is why warcaster is useful. There are quite a few spells that are V.S.
If you have enough short rests yeah inspiring leader is great, but as it's been mentioned a ton I wanted to highlight other options, in my first post I said the suggestions before mine were great I just wanted to add more.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

In the playtest the life cleric with tough was really annoying. Healing got nerfed since then...

With fewer healing it is tough to keep up the extra hp from tough over the course of the day. CON +2 gives half of those hp now and half of them later. With all other benefits maybe the better choice... In this case durable may even be better than tough and most certainly resilent constitution.

I do however like the inspirational leader idea. Seems to fit best with a paladin.

 

[bid]

CON +2 gives half of those hp now and half of them later.

Nicely put. Con+2 beats tough hands down.

 

[pdegan2814]

After reading through all of this, definitely take Inspiring Leader. The only other character in your party who's definitely going to have a high Charisma score is the Warlock. Let him use his early ASI/Feat slots to max his Charisma or for something like Spell Sniper, Crossbow Expert, War Caster etc. to make his blasting more effective. Your starting scores are kinda nuts, you can afford to go with a feat right off the bat. And as a Paladin tank, taking something that boosts the survivability of your whole party is very much in character. Sure, it won't be quite as powerful at higher levels, but bonus hit points are still bonus hit points. Someone refresh my memory, temporary HP still count as yours for purposes of being required to make a Con save to maintain concentration, yes? They aren't like the HP of an Abjurer's Arcane Ward?

 

[crashtestdummy]

Someone refresh my memory, temporary HP still count as yours for purposes of being required to make a Con save to maintain concentration, yes? They aren't like the HP of an Abjurer's Arcane Ward?

Con save to maintain concentration is driven by damage, not hitpoints. Losing temporary hitpoints is taking damage, so the concentration check is still required. The temporary hitpoints don't count towards things like sleep spells, however, as the text clearly states that they are not hitpoints.

Given those stats, I'll agree with others on Inspiring Leader (my bard has it and it's making a big difference to the party), and +2 STR or Resilient(Con) at level 8, depending on whether you want offence or defence at that point in time.