D&D 5E Paladin Archetypes... *meh*

[Hexmage-EN]

I had a player run an Oath of Vengeance Paladin up to level 20. He was a literal holy terror that critted left and right and demolished everything in his path to wind up as the new Archduke of Stygia. The Oath of Vengeance features and special spells made him an overwhelming threat who carved swathes through fiendish hordes. He even defeated Geryon in one-on-one combat before the devil could even attack!

As for the flavor, as a Paladin of Vengeance he would seek revenge on behalf of others, including aiding Glasya in getting revenge on Levistus for (supposedly) killing her mother.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

The issue for me would be that each of the Oaths seems to want to take part of what I have always felt paladins to be (since 1E) and says, "Well no, we want paladins to have specialists among them, so only SOME paladins care a lot about these aspects of being paladins, and here's cool powers to make them interesting now that we've cut them off from other aspects of who they should be anyway." But that's just me. I have a HIGHLY old-fashioned, old-school, and rather inflexible attitude about how paladins have been treated since 1E.

 

[Blue]

I feel that the primary difference in the Oaths is more role-play than mechanical. The difference in benefits is fairly minimal, unless playing a specific kind of game (although I know the Oath of Vengence Vow of Enmity ability is popular with Great Weapon Master users). My group has a fondness for Oath of Conquest, playing a LN or LE bringer of order.

I disagree, I find the pacts have a significant mechanical impact on your build.

Two-weapon wielder with Great Weapon Mastery - I've seen this many times,and it's always been Oath of Vengeance. You mentioned this, but at the AL leagues run at my FLGS it was Every. Single. One. If it was going GWM, it was OoV.

Oath of Ancients, with it's anti-magic aura, seems to attract those who are are building more protective paladins. This often affects choice of fighting style (a base class choice) as well as usually either going weapon and shield or polearm (and then feats like Sentiniel or Polearm Mastery).

 

[DND_Reborn]

He even defeated Geryon in one-on-one combat before the devil could even attack!

So, what the character was dual-wielding holy avengers while hasted with maxed out ability scores and novaed divine strikes, getting at least one critical hit? That's about the only way that would happen. Oh, and they won initiative. LOL!

 

[Mort]

I disagree, I find the pacts have a significant mechanical impact on your build.

Two-weapon wielder with Great Weapon Mastery - I've seen this many times,and it's always been Oath of Vengeance. You mentioned this, but at the AL leagues run at my FLGS it was Every. Single. One. If it was going GWM, it was OoV.

Since you generally can't pick your party in AL, I can see that.

But when you can, oath of devotion (with GWM) coupled with a wolf barbarian teammate is amazing synergy. Advantage on attacks and +Cha to attack is really nasty.

As for differential on oaths - I've done a devotion paladin and a vengeance paladin. They play very different.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I disagree, I find the pacts have a significant mechanical impact on your build.

Two-weapon wielder with Great Weapon Mastery - I've seen this many times,and it's always been Oath of Vengeance. You mentioned this, but at the AL leagues run at my FLGS it was Every. Single. One. If it was going GWM, it was OoV.

Oath of Ancients, with it's anti-magic aura, seems to attract those who are are building more protective paladins. This often affects choice of fighting style (a base class choice) as well as usually either going weapon and shield or polearm (and then feats like Sentiniel or Polearm Mastery).

Please remove me from your quote in post #33. That was not one of my posts or anything I wrote, it was
Shiroiken.

Thank you.

 

[Blue]

Since you generally can't pick your party in AL, I can see that.

But when you can, oath of devotion (with GWM) coupled with a wolf barbarian teammate is amazing synergy. Advantage on attacks and +Cha to attack is really nasty.

As for differential on oaths - I've done a devotion paladin and a vengeance paladin. They play very different.

I agree that they play very differently - that was my point.

 

[Blue]

Please remove me from your quote in post #33. That was not one of my posts or anything I wrote, it was
Shiroiken.

Thank you.

Many apologies, and corrected. I had accidentally deleted the QUOTE block header while editing and I thought I grabbed the right one. I was mistaken.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I had a player run an Oath of Vengeance Paladin up to level 20. He was a literal holy terror that critted left and right and demolished everything in his path to wind up as the new Archduke of Stygia. The Oath of Vengeance features and special spells made him an overwhelming threat who carved swathes through fiendish hordes. He even defeated Geryon in one-on-one combat before the devil could even attack!

As for the flavor, as a Paladin of Vengeance he would seek revenge on behalf of others, including aiding Glasya in getting revenge on Levistus for (supposedly) killing her mother.

Uh how. Geryon can has legendary actions and stuff, so how did the Paladin deal 300 damage in one round.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Uh how. Geryon can has legendary actions and stuff, so how did the Paladin deal 300 damage in one round.

The damage is possible, sadly, but some luck is involved (winning Initiative) and prep-time is required (as I see it, at least two rounds before the fight). With a maximum of 4 attacks (2 with extra attack, TWF, and prepared haste) and nova divine smite, two holy avengers, etc. damage per hit can average over 60 or so, with criticals over 100. Three normal hits and one critical and it is game over. Of course, that is only about a 1-in-3 chance of getting at least 1 critical out of the four (assuming advantage on the attacks from Vow of Enmity, also prepped).

So, like I said, luck and prep. I don't know, my numbers might be off a bit, but it is within the realm of possibility given either a generous DM or very well-thought-out plan (or both!).