Thoughts on a Cantrip fo r Half-Elf Variant Paladin

[Cap'n Kobold]

Hi Folks,
I was just trying to pick a cantrip for my 1st lvl Half-Elf paladin. What are people's thoughts as to a good one that would synergize with an Oath of the Ancients vow. There's the old stand by Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade but I was trying to see if there was anything else (though my intelligence is only 9 so I'm assuming that's going to limit me fairly severely). Any thoughts of something effective beyond the two mentioned? Thanks!!

What are you after when you say "effective"?
In combat, you're generally always going to be better off making weapon attacks.
So the cantrip is best used for utility out of combat. It then boils down to what sort of character your Paladin is, and what sort of thing you want to be able to do.
Some options may be thematic, some not, depending upon personality.

Some thoughts:

Booming Blade: Generally you'll often be better off making extra attacks instead, but this cantrip has a reasonable synergy with Thunderous smite. You can deliver the smite with your Booming Blade attack to knock your target away and punish them if they move back towards you.

Mold Earth: This is excellent for a utility-minded character. Other than preparing terrain for combats, it has a lot of out-of-combat use. You're not going to be able to undermine a castle build on bedrock, but given a couple of minutes, you can probably excavate down to a house's foundations to get into their cellar, or create a ramp to get over a wall for example. You can create graves to bury bodies easily or raise a mound to give yourself the high ground.

Shape water: Another cantrip with a lot of utility. You can shape a source of water and then freeze it solid to create objects. Wedge doors for example by pouring a waterskin into it and then freezing the edges and lock solid. Create bridges or rafts to cross rivers or lakes.
And so on.

 

[Eltab]

Thaumaturgy. The gods - or the very earth itself - are On Your Side. You should have good Intimidate or Deception or Persuasion to start with; use this cantrip to enhance the flavor.

I also recommend Message if your group has a sneaky scout who needs to report back, or if the lot of you are prone to split the party.

 

[Eltab]

Mold Earth: yippee! Finally you can ... umm ...

Out of combat, you can:
- build a ramp to get higher up a wall
- if you know it's there, anything buried can be unburied without getting your hands dirty: treasure chest, old graves, mudslide victims, animal lairs
- landscaping; pull the rocks out of a farm field, or create rough / rugged terrain for your enemies to get bogged down in.
- with a little help from an Actor (or a Disguise Kit), create a number of "stone golems" to guard someplace.
- fill in pit traps, clear caltrops, insulate heat plates, permanently mess up mundane sensor / triggers on traps
- mess with land levels near an existing river and create a lake or a swamp

 

[Oofta]

Out of combat, you can:
- build a ramp to get higher up a wall
- if you know it's there, anything buried can be unburied without getting your hands dirty: treasure chest, old graves, mudslide victims, animal lairs
- landscaping; pull the rocks out of a farm field, or create rough / rugged terrain for your enemies to get bogged down in.
- with a little help from an Actor (or a Disguise Kit), create a number of "stone golems" to guard someplace.
- fill in pit traps, clear caltrops, insulate heat plates, permanently mess up mundane sensor / triggers on traps
- mess with land levels near an existing river and create a lake or a swamp

I was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but all it does is move dirt around. It's a magic shovel that doesn't transform the dirt in any way. So yes it's a bit quicker than digging which can be situationally useful, but I just think other cantrips are more useful. Well, unless you need to shovel a ditch.

A lot of it's going to depend on your game, what you find fun, play what you want yada, yada, yada.*

*BTW just being sarcastic again, it's shaping up to be one of those weeks. There is no right answer to this question other than pick what you think will be fun.

 

[Yaarel]

Depending on the cantrip selection available to you, I recommend.

• Vicious Mockery − versus evil doers? Totally paladin!

• Guidance − inspire others to succeed.

• Resistance − save others.

• Prestidigitation − less useful for paladin, but flavorful − be clean and shiny, with triumphant music in the background.

 

[jaelis]

Has to be from the wizard spell list, it is like the high elf trait.

 

[jaelis]

Blade Ward is mathematically unsound and a direct trap option.

Blade ward can be useful outside combat. Cast it right before you open a door or cross an area that might be trapped.

 

[77IM]

minor illusion is super useful and very fey-ish so it should go well with Oath of the Ancients