So im trying to make a big ol hammer weilding paladin and a big ol axe weilding barb with reasons down below.. I know there are probably better races to optimize the class... but damn if i don't love dwarves...tldr down below
I'll start with the barbarian request... I tried making a berserker barb and i didn't care for it (got to 5) and my dm is allowing essentially a respec for a lack of better terms with the catch being we start from 1 and do all our hit point rolls again. So what is kind the best way to go? Im kind of a class purist and trying to figure out the best damage build for him. All the books are viable like xanthars and such. I dont really need him to go tanky to much, he will have a bit of a death wish lol
The next is a dwarf paladin. Ive never played one and i really want to try a giant two handed mace wielding type. Again I'm a class purist(and to noobish to multiclass) and expect him to hit 5 relatively soon but honestly don't know what to do with him spell and stat wise and I've read a lot of material on them with way too much conflicting material. So I'm calling on the help of the forum.
Reason im asking for these two is because rp wise they are brothers that will end up meeting up after a long and grueling quest in a few days. And i want to have a holy smashing paladin back to back with his raged up black sheep of a brother for great action and rp. Axe and Hammer....They will be at odds with each other and I am looking forward to the RP conflict with the group.
Tldr: can someone help me make two dwarves up to lvl 5, one a paladin and one a barbarian for damage dealing purposes.
You could go totem barb with GWM feat at level 4 with a great axe. Damage should be great especially using reckless attack to counter act the -5 to hit from GWM. For the pally go vengeance pally with GWM or PAM feat. Gives you really good burst damage and I think fits your concept well.
A damage dealing barbarian with a death wish? go Path of the Zealot. Your team will thank you when they can revive you without paying the 300g diamond every time. In addition, while raging you get an extra 1d6+half barb level of radiant or necrotic (you chose the type, but have to stick with it) damage on the first attack that hits each turn. Not too shabby for a little extra damage output. Also, with the theme of the characters being brothers, having a Zealot barb (a warrior chosen by a god to rush into battle) meet up with his Paladin brother, who has devoted himself to a god and fights in their name. Could make for some fun. Bonus points if its the same god, :P
For the paladin, obviously stat wise you want to favor STR, CON and CHA (Damage, Durability and Spells). Paladins prepare from a list, so it's not super critical which spells you choose as you can change them the following day. Just read up and pick some favorites, then change them as mileage varies. For what oaths are good, it kind of depends on what you intend this brother do personality wise. Read through the different Tenets and determine which would be the best fit. I did some uber summarizing below, but they should not be taken as the 100% gospel of what each oath involves.
Oath of Conquest - Basically conquer through absolute strength and fear
Oath of Devotion - Be honest, fair, and compassionate
Oath of Redemption - Words are better than Weapons, Violence is a last resort.
Oath of the Ancients - Kindness and Charity rules, look out for the little guy.
Oath of the Crown - Obey the law, Do what needs to be done, be responsible for what you do.
Oath of Vengeance - Punish wrongdoers by any means.
As a note to the advice given above me, Polearm Master won't do anything for a two-handed mace, so not really worth grabbing on your Paladin.
Thanks for the insight! So when it comes to the paladin, and its stats, should I dump all I possibly can in this order? STR > CON >CHA? And when the level comes abouts to dump 2 points (or 1 point into 2 stats) should I just dump 2 into str? Or do you think its more worth while to spread it between STR and CON and get whatever I can in CHA through other means?
And I am assuming with the barb the same deal, kinda put 2 into str? Or try to load more into CON for the boost in unarmored AC bonus?
The zealot barb is the type of barb I feel my dwarf would be, death wish and all, crazy in the head, black sheep of the family where his brother paladin would be more of the "maintaining order, and punishing the wicked" type. I did not even think of doing the same god type thing...that...just opened a whole new world to me haha. Id love the idea of the barb going absolutely nuts in attacking in the name of the god where the paladin is trying to balance that all out and having the occasional face palm events that will ensue. Most of the characters in my campaign are more serious, and these two are kind of ment to break up the always serious tension and I think this woul db an amazing way to do it so thanks for that
I didnt even think as a dwarf I was able to get those feats...i thought at level 4 i was forced into taking an ability score improvement...I guess I read that wrong! But then it begs the question, is it more important to get the feat or the ability score?
Heavy. Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon's size and bulk make it too large for a Small creature to use effectively.
A Dwarf is considered a Medium creature, so the disadvantage imposed by the heavy property on the weapons you'd use under GWM or PAM dont apply to them. Overall the decision to go feat over ASI or vice versa depends on your gameplay style. There's arguments that having GWM at early levels isn't worth it because the -5 penalty outweighs the risk, but if you're a barbarian who is going to roll with advantage anyway, why not risk it?
Another thing to consider is what subrace are you picking. if you want to make your life easy, Mountain Dwarf is a huge benefit to you, giving a +2 STR and +2 CON bonus.
Assuming you go this route, picking your stats is fairly simple if you go point buy:
For Barbarian, you could go STR 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wisdom 12, Cha 8. Racial bonuses will bump STR and Con to 16, making your unarmored AC 15 (10+2dex+3con), but at level 4/5 you wont have many other options (If you somehow found a breastplate your armor would be 16). He wont be too great in social situations, but with a base int of 10 he wont be a dummy, and has a little bit of street smarts with the wisdom of 12.
For Paladin, this depends on where your priorities lie:
Effective Spells: you could go Str 14 Dex 12 Con 13 Int 8 Wisdom 10 Cha 15. Racial bonuses will bump you to Str 16 and Con 15, and with an ASI down the line (or at level 4, your choice) you can bump CON and CHA up to 16 each. He just wont be the brightest in the bunch.
If you dont care about spellcasting, you could go Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 8, Wisdom 10, Cha 13. If your dont care about spellcasting, your charisma doesnt really matter since you're solo-classing, but it is nice to have your paladin have some presence in the social world. This stat line as a Mountain Dwarf would bump you to Str 17, Con 16 and with an ASI you could easily get Str to 18 and Cha to 14 for the even modifiers. I keep dex at 12 because while Dex doesnt really matter for your AC (most of the time you'll be wearing heavy armor which gains no benefit from your dex) it's nice to have a positive modifier for one of the more used saving throws.
(these are no where near the most optimal choices, just a few quick examples I threw together).
Ultimately it's up to you and how you feel your character will play. To circle back on the ASI vs Feat, in the paladin options above, both I would favor an early ASI over taking an early Feat to round out some of those stats for the bigger modifiers. It just takes a little internal reflection on how you think game is going and where your character needs a little tightening up.
I really appreciate the insight on all of this and taking the time to break it down. Im thinking of trying the feat for the barbarian, and i would like some spellcasting with the paladin, but im still playing with that character sheet cause i like the thought of infusing smite with his attacks but dont know if I want to risk the -5 penalty. The paladin is intended to be a bit more wise then the barb for this rp, but the barb isnt really ment to be a dumb raged out idiot, just...when he gets damaged in some fashion haha.
Usually we play via point buy system when creating the level one so I should be able to decide these things tonight (our game is tomorrow night) so im theory crafting like crazy how its all gonna work out. But really thanks for all the help!
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So im trying to make a big ol hammer weilding paladin and a big ol axe weilding barb with reasons down below.. I know there are probably better races to optimize the class... but damn if i don't love dwarves...tldr down below
I'll start with the barbarian request... I tried making a berserker barb and i didn't care for it (got to 5) and my dm is allowing essentially a respec for a lack of better terms with the catch being we start from 1 and do all our hit point rolls again. So what is kind the best way to go? Im kind of a class purist and trying to figure out the best damage build for him. All the books are viable like xanthars and such. I dont really need him to go tanky to much, he will have a bit of a death wish lol
The next is a dwarf paladin. Ive never played one and i really want to try a giant two handed mace wielding type. Again I'm a class purist(and to noobish to multiclass) and expect him to hit 5 relatively soon but honestly don't know what to do with him spell and stat wise and I've read a lot of material on them with way too much conflicting material. So I'm calling on the help of the forum.
Reason im asking for these two is because rp wise they are brothers that will end up meeting up after a long and grueling quest in a few days. And i want to have a holy smashing paladin back to back with his raged up black sheep of a brother for great action and rp. Axe and Hammer....They will be at odds with each other and I am looking forward to the RP conflict with the group.
Tldr: can someone help me make two dwarves up to lvl 5, one a paladin and one a barbarian for damage dealing purposes.
Thanks in advance!
You could go totem barb with GWM feat at level 4 with a great axe. Damage should be great especially using reckless attack to counter act the -5 to hit from GWM. For the pally go vengeance pally with GWM or PAM feat. Gives you really good burst damage and I think fits your concept well.
A damage dealing barbarian with a death wish? go Path of the Zealot. Your team will thank you when they can revive you without paying the 300g diamond every time. In addition, while raging you get an extra 1d6+half barb level of radiant or necrotic (you chose the type, but have to stick with it) damage on the first attack that hits each turn. Not too shabby for a little extra damage output. Also, with the theme of the characters being brothers, having a Zealot barb (a warrior chosen by a god to rush into battle) meet up with his Paladin brother, who has devoted himself to a god and fights in their name. Could make for some fun. Bonus points if its the same god, :P
For the paladin, obviously stat wise you want to favor STR, CON and CHA (Damage, Durability and Spells). Paladins prepare from a list, so it's not super critical which spells you choose as you can change them the following day. Just read up and pick some favorites, then change them as mileage varies. For what oaths are good, it kind of depends on what you intend this brother do personality wise. Read through the different Tenets and determine which would be the best fit. I did some uber summarizing below, but they should not be taken as the 100% gospel of what each oath involves.
As a note to the advice given above me, Polearm Master won't do anything for a two-handed mace, so not really worth grabbing on your Paladin.
Thanks for the insight! So when it comes to the paladin, and its stats, should I dump all I possibly can in this order? STR > CON >CHA? And when the level comes abouts to dump 2 points (or 1 point into 2 stats) should I just dump 2 into str? Or do you think its more worth while to spread it between STR and CON and get whatever I can in CHA through other means?
And I am assuming with the barb the same deal, kinda put 2 into str? Or try to load more into CON for the boost in unarmored AC bonus?
The zealot barb is the type of barb I feel my dwarf would be, death wish and all, crazy in the head, black sheep of the family where his brother paladin would be more of the "maintaining order, and punishing the wicked" type. I did not even think of doing the same god type thing...that...just opened a whole new world to me haha. Id love the idea of the barb going absolutely nuts in attacking in the name of the god where the paladin is trying to balance that all out and having the occasional face palm events that will ensue. Most of the characters in my campaign are more serious, and these two are kind of ment to break up the always serious tension and I think this woul db an amazing way to do it so thanks for that
I didnt even think as a dwarf I was able to get those feats...i thought at level 4 i was forced into taking an ability score improvement...I guess I read that wrong! But then it begs the question, is it more important to get the feat or the ability score?
A Dwarf is considered a Medium creature, so the disadvantage imposed by the heavy property on the weapons you'd use under GWM or PAM dont apply to them. Overall the decision to go feat over ASI or vice versa depends on your gameplay style. There's arguments that having GWM at early levels isn't worth it because the -5 penalty outweighs the risk, but if you're a barbarian who is going to roll with advantage anyway, why not risk it?
Another thing to consider is what subrace are you picking. if you want to make your life easy, Mountain Dwarf is a huge benefit to you, giving a +2 STR and +2 CON bonus.
Assuming you go this route, picking your stats is fairly simple if you go point buy:
For Barbarian, you could go STR 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wisdom 12, Cha 8. Racial bonuses will bump STR and Con to 16, making your unarmored AC 15 (10+2dex+3con), but at level 4/5 you wont have many other options (If you somehow found a breastplate your armor would be 16). He wont be too great in social situations, but with a base int of 10 he wont be a dummy, and has a little bit of street smarts with the wisdom of 12.
For Paladin, this depends on where your priorities lie:
Effective Spells: you could go Str 14 Dex 12 Con 13 Int 8 Wisdom 10 Cha 15. Racial bonuses will bump you to Str 16 and Con 15, and with an ASI down the line (or at level 4, your choice) you can bump CON and CHA up to 16 each. He just wont be the brightest in the bunch.
If you dont care about spellcasting, you could go Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 8, Wisdom 10, Cha 13. If your dont care about spellcasting, your charisma doesnt really matter since you're solo-classing, but it is nice to have your paladin have some presence in the social world. This stat line as a Mountain Dwarf would bump you to Str 17, Con 16 and with an ASI you could easily get Str to 18 and Cha to 14 for the even modifiers. I keep dex at 12 because while Dex doesnt really matter for your AC (most of the time you'll be wearing heavy armor which gains no benefit from your dex) it's nice to have a positive modifier for one of the more used saving throws.
(these are no where near the most optimal choices, just a few quick examples I threw together).
Ultimately it's up to you and how you feel your character will play. To circle back on the ASI vs Feat, in the paladin options above, both I would favor an early ASI over taking an early Feat to round out some of those stats for the bigger modifiers. It just takes a little internal reflection on how you think game is going and where your character needs a little tightening up.
I really appreciate the insight on all of this and taking the time to break it down. Im thinking of trying the feat for the barbarian, and i would like some spellcasting with the paladin, but im still playing with that character sheet cause i like the thought of infusing smite with his attacks but dont know if I want to risk the -5 penalty. The paladin is intended to be a bit more wise then the barb for this rp, but the barb isnt really ment to be a dumb raged out idiot, just...when he gets damaged in some fashion haha.
Usually we play via point buy system when creating the level one so I should be able to decide these things tonight (our game is tomorrow night) so im theory crafting like crazy how its all gonna work out. But really thanks for all the help!