I imagine this idea has been put forward before, but if you took a single level in Undead Warlock to get Form of Dread, it would pair super well with the Aura of Conquest that Conquest Paladins get. Basically, you would be able to potentially lock down any creature you hit with a weapon attack and deal psychic damage while your form of dread is active. Plus the transformation scales with proficiency bonus, so you don't miss out on getting more uses even if you only take one level in warlock.
The only apparent downside to this that I can tell is that you forgo the Paladin capstone, which is always fun.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
It’s definitely a strong combination...adding that fear effect amidst the Conquest Paladin’s regular attacks is useful for keeping their enemies firmly rooted in their Aura.
As most campaigns don’t go to a higher level...losing the Conquest Paladin’s capstone isn’t such a difficult thing to let happen.
Interesting roleplay, too...is your Conquest Paladin an enforcer for some undead lich, or vampire?
The “big armored, muscular dude” that stands next to the skeletal lich to make them seem more imposing?
...hmm...sounds like Darth Vader, actually.
That said, the “Wrathful Smite” 1st Level spell that Conquest Paladin’s get still provides a means to instill fear fairly reliably...I recently found out the enemy must make a Wisdom “check” rather than a “save”.
The target doesn’t get to add proficiency to the check; so the Conquest Paladin already has a baked-in method of casually adding a feat effect.
That said, the “Wrathful Smite” 1st Level spell that Conquest Paladin’s get still provides a means to instill fear fairly reliably...I recently found out the enemy must make a Wisdom “check” rather than a “save”.
The target doesn’t get to add proficiency to the check; so the Conquest Paladin already has a baked-in method of casually adding a feat effect.
Wrathful Smite is fantastic, especially since the target has to use their action to undo the fear effect, rather than getting a free save at the end of each of its turns. The only downside is it cost spell slots, and if the creature makes the initial save all you get out of it is 1d6 psychic damage. The benefit of the form of dread is it isnt a big deal if the creature makes its saving throw, since it really didnt cost you anything in the first place
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
It’s definitely a strong combination...adding that fear effect amidst the Conquest Paladin’s regular attacks is useful for keeping their enemies firmly rooted in their Aura.
As most campaigns don’t go to a higher level...losing the Conquest Paladin’s capstone isn’t such a difficult thing to let happen.
Interesting roleplay, too...is your Conquest Paladin an enforcer for some undead lich, or vampire?
The “big armored, muscular dude” that stands next to the skeletal lich to make them seem more imposing?
...hmm...sounds like Darth Vader, actually.
That said, the “Wrathful Smite” 1st Level spell that Conquest Paladin’s get still provides a means to instill fear fairly reliably...I recently found out the enemy must make a Wisdom “check” rather than a “save”.
The target doesn’t get to add proficiency to the check; so the Conquest Paladin already has a baked-in method of casually adding a feat effect.
It’s definitely a strong combination...adding that fear effect amidst the Conquest Paladin’s regular attacks is useful for keeping their enemies firmly rooted in their Aura.
As most campaigns don’t go to a higher level...losing the Conquest Paladin’s capstone isn’t such a difficult thing to let happen.
Interesting roleplay, too...is your Conquest Paladin an enforcer for some undead lich, or vampire?
The “big armored, muscular dude” that stands next to the skeletal lich to make them seem more imposing?
...hmm...sounds like Darth Vader, actually.
That said, the “Wrathful Smite” 1st Level spell that Conquest Paladin’s get still provides a means to instill fear fairly reliably...I recently found out the enemy must make a Wisdom “check” rather than a “save”.
The target doesn’t get to add proficiency to the check; so the Conquest Paladin already has a baked-in method of casually adding a feat effect.
That also bypasses Legendary Resistance.
True, but the initial frightening effect still starts with a Wisdom save, so LR would still prevent the baddie from being frightened.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
So, the conquest aura reduces movement to zero right? It takes five feet of movement to get up and eldritch smite knocks an enemy prone... So as long as they remain frightened they can't get up. It might be worth it just for that. Also, double smiting one guy to ruin his day.
Looks like this combo should still work with the official version printed in VRGtR
Yep! Time to go make a level 11 Conquest Paladin/Level 9 Undead Pact of the Blade Warlock and put the "Dread" in "Domains of Dread"!
Who do you think is the most fitting patron for a conquest paladin?
Probably either a Death Knight (duh) or Dracolich (due to Dragons having Frightening Presence, which fits the theme here. Bonus points for if you're a Dragonborn).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Dracolich is a solid patron as dragon's are also lord's of conquest. And yeah. Dragonborn is a really solid choice. Dragon Fear with the new Dragonborn's new breath attacks means you can create an AoE fear effect and then make an attack on anyone who passed the first save.
Not really, just a potentially different build. Paladin/Warlock is strong regardless.
If you're going for the aura/lockdown effect then Paladin levels probably help just because of the extra HP, but going for a mix will improve your burst damage via smite nova. I would probably have done 11 warlock/9 paladin because I value class spells over an ASI, but at level 20 it's kind of moot.
I wanted to do this build for our next campaign, but we're starting at lvl 1 and my DM is not a fan of jumping back and forth for mutli classing. So that means if I wanted to only have 1 or 2 lvls of Undead Warlock and the rest Paladin i'd have to start Warlock meaning no heavy armor and is it really worth being a Paladin with no heavy armor? I mean yes I could take a feat, but because I took 1 lvl lock, when everyone hits lvl 5 and gets extra attack i'll be just getting heavy armor, so feel like the build doesn't really come online until lvl 6. Not sure how far our campaign will go but i'd guess only to 8 or 9. So only because of that it doesn't work out for me.
But if you're starting lvl 5 or lvl 6 in a campaign, should be a great build!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I imagine this idea has been put forward before, but if you took a single level in Undead Warlock to get Form of Dread, it would pair super well with the Aura of Conquest that Conquest Paladins get. Basically, you would be able to potentially lock down any creature you hit with a weapon attack and deal psychic damage while your form of dread is active. Plus the transformation scales with proficiency bonus, so you don't miss out on getting more uses even if you only take one level in warlock.
The only apparent downside to this that I can tell is that you forgo the Paladin capstone, which is always fun.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
That seams fun
:)
I went with 2 levels of warlock and a fallen aasimar
:)
It’s definitely a strong combination...adding that fear effect amidst the Conquest Paladin’s regular attacks is useful for keeping their enemies firmly rooted in their Aura.
As most campaigns don’t go to a higher level...losing the Conquest Paladin’s capstone isn’t such a difficult thing to let happen.
Interesting roleplay, too...is your Conquest Paladin an enforcer for some undead lich, or vampire?
The “big armored, muscular dude” that stands next to the skeletal lich to make them seem more imposing?
...hmm...sounds like Darth Vader, actually.
That said, the “Wrathful Smite” 1st Level spell that Conquest Paladin’s get still provides a means to instill fear fairly reliably...I recently found out the enemy must make a Wisdom “check” rather than a “save”.
The target doesn’t get to add proficiency to the check; so the Conquest Paladin already has a baked-in method of casually adding a feat effect.
Wrathful Smite is fantastic, especially since the target has to use their action to undo the fear effect, rather than getting a free save at the end of each of its turns. The only downside is it cost spell slots, and if the creature makes the initial save all you get out of it is 1d6 psychic damage. The benefit of the form of dread is it isnt a big deal if the creature makes its saving throw, since it really didnt cost you anything in the first place
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
That also bypasses Legendary Resistance.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
True, but the initial frightening effect still starts with a Wisdom save, so LR would still prevent the baddie from being frightened.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
So, the conquest aura reduces movement to zero right? It takes five feet of movement to get up and eldritch smite knocks an enemy prone... So as long as they remain frightened they can't get up. It might be worth it just for that. Also, double smiting one guy to ruin his day.
Looks like this combo should still work with the official version printed in VRGtR
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
Yep! Time to go make a level 11 Conquest Paladin/Level 9 Undead Pact of the Blade Warlock and put the "Dread" in "Domains of Dread"!
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Who do you think is the most fitting patron for a conquest paladin?
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
Probably either a Death Knight (duh) or Dracolich (due to Dragons having Frightening Presence, which fits the theme here. Bonus points for if you're a Dragonborn).
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Dracolich is a solid patron as dragon's are also lord's of conquest. And yeah. Dragonborn is a really solid choice. Dragon Fear with the new Dragonborn's new breath attacks means you can create an AoE fear effect and then make an attack on anyone who passed the first save.
i used a leonin and have 12 levels in warlock and 8 in paladin. was that dumb?
Not really, just a potentially different build. Paladin/Warlock is strong regardless.
If you're going for the aura/lockdown effect then Paladin levels probably help just because of the extra HP, but going for a mix will improve your burst damage via smite nova. I would probably have done 11 warlock/9 paladin because I value class spells over an ASI, but at level 20 it's kind of moot.
I wanted to do this build for our next campaign, but we're starting at lvl 1 and my DM is not a fan of jumping back and forth for mutli classing. So that means if I wanted to only have 1 or 2 lvls of Undead Warlock and the rest Paladin i'd have to start Warlock meaning no heavy armor and is it really worth being a Paladin with no heavy armor? I mean yes I could take a feat, but because I took 1 lvl lock, when everyone hits lvl 5 and gets extra attack i'll be just getting heavy armor, so feel like the build doesn't really come online until lvl 6. Not sure how far our campaign will go but i'd guess only to 8 or 9. So only because of that it doesn't work out for me.
But if you're starting lvl 5 or lvl 6 in a campaign, should be a great build!