Paladin/Warlock character

[lazerfish]

This is a class combination that's intrigued me since 3.5, and I'm just looking for a bit of feedback on what I've got right now.

Half Elf Paladin/Infernal Warlock

Str 10, Con 18, Dex 8, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 18

At-wills:
Bolstering Strike
Enfeebling Strike

Encounters:
Shielding Smite
Hellish Rebuke (multiclass)
Dire Radiance (half-elf)

Daily:
Radiant Delirium

Longsword, Plate, Heavy Shield, Javelins

The whole idea is to use the warlock powers to augment the defender role.

Just some feedback would be nice.

 

[RyvenCedrylle]

I'm intrigued by this combination as well, though I haven't had the chance to play it. Dire Radiance strikes me as a bad concept for a Defender. As a Defender, I want the bad guy near me and away from my friends. Dire Radiance encourages the foe to go somewhere else. Hellish Rebuke, however, is a great idea. The Defenders are supposed to absorb damage and so a power that plays off of that is win. In place of Dire Radiance, perhaps try reskinning Spiteful Glamour from the FRPG (a simple d8 at range 10 - nice for keeping your Challenge up) or, if you want to get really fancy and stay in theme, look up Adamant Entertainment's 'Pact of the Angelic Choirs' PDF and use their 'Radiant Fire' power.

 

[lazerfish]

I considered Spiteful Glamour, but I like the idea of the enemy taking damage even if they move to engage you. It's almost as if the secondary Dire Radiance damage is automatically triggered, as when the target advances it takes 1d8+4 damage and when it retreats it takes 8 damage from Divine Challenge.

I know that I do want to keep the enemies close, but consider the fact that a good DM, in order to keep the game interesting, will not always play monsters according to marks. Let's face it, if you were a big healthy brute, who would you go for, the holy knight in plate or the bloodied wizard two squares away.

This way, the damage gets in anyways.

I haven't seen the Pact of the Divine Angels, and I unfortunately am not in a position to pay for it on a whim right now. What's the general feel of it? I want to keep the infernal pact for flavor reasons, but it might provide a nice complement.

 

[Don Incognito]

I'd go either dwarf or eladrin to make use of the pact longsword / pact hammer, since a rod isn't gonna do you much good without the ability to curse. If neither of those, I'd suggest a small race, since they tend to have better racials to make up for the fact that they need to use small weapons (and you're going to be using a pact blade anyway). Haflling is a good choice, but your probably better off with goblin or kobold.

 

[lazerfish]

The dwarf is probably the only other route I'd take, as the eladrin stat boosts really don't help, and while fey step is nice, I really enjoy having that other warlock encounter power.

I may try and see if my DM will house-rule my character as a half-eladrin instead of elf. That would be ideal, I think.

Eventually, though, I may drop the shield for an implement or just go with a standard pact blade.

 

[grickherder]

Eventually, though, I may drop the shield for an implement or just go with a standard pact blade.

Nothing wrong with a pact blade in your off hand and two weapon fighting and two weapon defense. Especially if the pact blade is a parrying dagger.

I'd recommend sticking with the half elf (or half eladrin by way of background fiction). Dire radiance will actually work quite well with divine challenge. It'll put the monsters in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't type of situation where you challenge them at range and if they come after you, they get hurt and if they go after someone else, they get hurt.

 

[WalterKovacs]

I especially like the combination of Eyebite with the paladin.

Also, in addition to the parying dagger idea, it's also possible to go with a spiked shield as a pact blade.

The DM could potentially allow you to use a longsword pactblade (supposed to be eladrin only). Considering that a paladin multi'd into warlock would not be able to ue the daily power of the item, it wouldn't be too nasty. [then again, one feat gets a rapier which does the same damage as a longsword while you have a heavy shield, and gets you pact blade as well]. As a CHA paladin you are already dealing with needing a weapon and a holy symbol, so any combinations you can get to merge weapon with holy symbol or warlock implement will save some money.

 

[grickherder]

I especially like the combination of Eyebite with the paladin.

Also, in addition to the parying dagger idea, it's also possible to go with a spiked shield as a pact blade.

Both are good options. I like the spiked shield as a pact blade idea. The extra +1 reflex defense doesn't hurt and the idea of shooting magic out of a shield is kind of neat.

 

[lazerfish]

Nothing wrong with a pact blade in your off hand and two weapon fighting and two weapon defense. Especially if the pact blade is a parrying dagger.

There is something inherently awesome about the duality of this... I hadn't even thought of the parrying dagger. I mean, it would eat up feats and keep me from taking Action Surge any time soon, but still...