I want to make a semi-pacifist (doesn't kill humanoids) paladin who has traded in their sword for a wooden sword (quarterstaff), and use the Pole Arm Master feat so that he is a really good swordsman even with just a stick.
Im not sure if its really meant to work with a shield, dueling fighting style, Paladin abilities, etc. But it seems strong.
Specifically going Devotion paladin to use their Sacred Weapon channel divinity to make it a +3 weapon at level 3, and stacking that with the divine favor spell. It feels really strong, even if it gives up a turn to activate (later it can be partially done in a toned down way with the magic weapon spell).
So I guess my question is if this would be annoyingly strong, like a power gaming kind of move that goes a little too far in outshining less minmaxed players in combat, or if its just different.
It would seem that if you were to replace the sword with something similar, a club would be more similar in function than a quarterstaff.
You wouldn't be able to capitalize on PAM but you could add Crusher or Shield Master to make it more interesting. You could still use Sentinel for control.
It is very effective but not overly powerful. A Barbarian for example can pretty easily achieve similar or greater damage with Rage and Reckless Attacks.
One thing to note is that the Sacred Weapon use of your Channel Divinity only adds to your attack rolls, not your damage rolls. And with a +3 you have either heavily invested in your Charisma or got some good rolls when generating stats.
And finally, if you feel that using a quarterstaff one handed with a shield is weird you could switch to a spear and do the same thing.
It is very effective but not overly powerful. A Barbarian for example can pretty easily achieve similar or greater damage with Rage and Reckless Attacks.
One thing to note is that the Sacred Weapon use of your Channel Divinity only adds to your attack rolls, not your damage rolls. And with a +3 you have either heavily invested in your Charisma or got some good rolls when generating stats.
And finally, if you feel that using a quarterstaff one handed with a shield is weird you could switch to a spear and do the same thing.
Good point about the bonus not being to damage rolls.
I don't know that +3 is a huge investment, you can get that with point buy and +1 to Charisma while still focusing strength and having a 14 in con.
And I guess spear does demonstrate it should functionally work.
The shield is usable with Duelist Fighting Style and the quarterstaff with Polearm Master so all is finely working as intended! While a good combo, its not game breaking.
It's not game-breaking, but it IS min-maxed for lvl 2-3. You're essentially going to perform double the damage other martials do . I don't wanna calculate accurate damage to hit but since we're making constant comparisons, let's say a greatsword fighter does 11.3 damage a round with great weapon fighting at lvl 2. This paladin would do 16 DPR, while having a better AC than the greatsword fighter that took a fighting style to specialize with the weapon.
Min-maxing is fine if you don't sacrifice big parts of the character concept for it imo. Everyone wants their character to be good at the thing they build them for. ^^
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I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
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I want to make a semi-pacifist (doesn't kill humanoids) paladin who has traded in their sword for a wooden sword (quarterstaff), and use the Pole Arm Master feat so that he is a really good swordsman even with just a stick.
Im not sure if its really meant to work with a shield, dueling fighting style, Paladin abilities, etc. But it seems strong.
Specifically going Devotion paladin to use their Sacred Weapon channel divinity to make it a +3 weapon at level 3, and stacking that with the divine favor spell. It feels really strong, even if it gives up a turn to activate (later it can be partially done in a toned down way with the magic weapon spell).
So I guess my question is if this would be annoyingly strong, like a power gaming kind of move that goes a little too far in outshining less minmaxed players in combat, or if its just different.
It would seem that if you were to replace the sword with something similar, a club would be more similar in function than a quarterstaff.
You wouldn't be able to capitalize on PAM but you could add Crusher or Shield Master to make it more interesting. You could still use Sentinel for control.
It is very effective but not overly powerful. A Barbarian for example can pretty easily achieve similar or greater damage with Rage and Reckless Attacks.
One thing to note is that the Sacred Weapon use of your Channel Divinity only adds to your attack rolls, not your damage rolls. And with a +3 you have either heavily invested in your Charisma or got some good rolls when generating stats.
And finally, if you feel that using a quarterstaff one handed with a shield is weird you could switch to a spear and do the same thing.
Good point about the bonus not being to damage rolls.
I don't know that +3 is a huge investment, you can get that with point buy and +1 to Charisma while still focusing strength and having a 14 in con.
And I guess spear does demonstrate it should functionally work.
Thanks for the comment!
The shield is usable with Duelist Fighting Style and the quarterstaff with Polearm Master so all is finely working as intended! While a good combo, its not game breaking.
It's not game-breaking, but it IS min-maxed for lvl 2-3. You're essentially going to perform double the damage other martials do . I don't wanna calculate accurate damage to hit but since we're making constant comparisons, let's say a greatsword fighter does 11.3 damage a round with great weapon fighting at lvl 2. This paladin would do 16 DPR, while having a better AC than the greatsword fighter that took a fighting style to specialize with the weapon.
Its minmaxing Indeed but in a legit way :)
Min-maxing is fine if you don't sacrifice big parts of the character concept for it imo. Everyone wants their character to be good at the thing they build them for. ^^
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...