Please answer the poll above. In your response, please say what your favorite and least favorite paladin subclass is and why.
My favorite paladin subclass is the Oath of the Ancients. It gives you some pretty cool benefits, such as ensnaring foes, resistance to damage from spells, not being killed outright, and being able to assume the form of an Elder Champion. It also gives you useful spells such as Misty Step.
My least favorite paladin subclass is the Oath of the Crown. Any paladin can really say that they are a knight that works for a King or Queen, and they don't have to pick this oath. Even though it gets Spirit Guardians, its features aren't that great, and Champion Challenge? Just cast Compelled Duel.
I will take a look at your opinions. (Please do not criticize other people's responses).
Oath of the open sea is my favourite, despite it being homebrew. I absolutely love elemental themes. I'm really hoping that an elemental paladin or ranger subclass makes it in officially.
Oathbreaker is my least favourite, despite the idea being cool. The 5e subclass system just isn't set up to handle it. It's meant to be a take on a fallen or corrupted paladin, but completely misses the mark with its lay on hands and radiant damage divine smite, as it can't overwrite the paladin base features which don't suit at all.
Thematically speaking, I think Glory or Redemption have to be my all time faves.
Glory, despite being rooted in the Greek demi-god mythos, can easily suit a variety type of paladins that value action over words and honing one's physical self. A character like Shin, the linebacker from Eyeshield 21, could easily pass off as a glory paladin and he's just some football player! Or you can play it from a silly angle and be that nurturing buff guy that tells his party to remember to eat their five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and do at least an hour of physical activity.
Redemption speaks to me on a personal level. This type of paladin sees the best in everyone and tries their best to use violence as an absolute last resort. This paladin that may come from a dark, stained past themselves and wants to redeem not only others but themselves as well. That sort of thing is something that me wanna shake that paladin's hand and salute them as they go on their honorable mission. Reminds me a ton of Rurouni Kenshin.
Mechanically, on the other hand, devotion's pretty top tier if you learn how to use their channel divinity just prior to combat, or you're able to analyse that one turn spent buffing yourself with said CD is worth it because it may translate into hits that would have been misses otherwise. Just the fact that it makes your weapon count as magical for that whole minute means you get a way to easily beat those monsters that are resistant to non-magical bludgeoning piecing and slashing in tier 1, and having that mechanical leverage IS worth a whole turn of not attacking. Devotion's spell list is pretty neat too, it provides some out-of-combat utility with things like zone of truth, lesser restoration, and dispel magic that are always prepared.
Oath of Devotion holds up surprisingly well as a paladin subclass, and so I ultimately settled on this one as my all time favorite....though Oath of Conquest nearly had my vote, as it provides a more complex roleplay potentially.
I feel like Devotion provides a very natural levelling progression, a solid & classic theme, and useful features that never have a dull moment..."Sacred Weapon" is a great 3rd level ability, which increases the Paladin's chance to hit substantially, and provides a baked-in magic weapon with no concentration requirement. I also like that access to the "Sanctuary" spell...I often use that in tandem with Sacred Weapon on the same turn; providing protection to myself or an ally.
The immunity to "Charm" effects as an Aura pairs nicely with immunity to "Fear"...and really exemplifies that the Devotion Paladin is incorruptible.
At 15th Level...hooboy; an ALWAYS ON "Protection from Evil & Good"...that's just fantastic. Disadvantage from nearly every kind of extraplanar enemy for attack rolls.
The 20th Level ability is simple-yet-effective...you are a beacon of light, giving off radiant damage and being of particular annoyance to fiends or undead.
For my least favorite...I am a bit disappointed by the Oath of Glory.
I LOVE the CONCEPT of the Oath of Glory Paladin...achieving mighty deeds, physically conditioning themselves into the perfect warrior...but the changes from the original Unearthed Arcana into the final product left me a bit...dissatisfied.
To clarify: the original draft of the Oath of Glory made this paladin a battlefield presence to be feared or in awe of....built around getting critical hits more easily and finding that "moment" to be glorious, the original Glory Paladin would either instill fear in the enemy when they felled a target or got a critical, or gave nearby allies HP. This was on lieu of an Aura.
Now, we get the brief temporary HP as their Channel Divinity...and the ability to run a bit faster as an Aura.
This...was a tad underwhelming for low-level abilities.
The higher-level abilities are still quite good...an extra attack + defense buff, and the frankly SWEET capstone ability of Living Legend...but these abilities only come late in the game.
I dunno...I don't hate the subclass, but I reflect on what it could have been...and I am left wanting more than what it became.
I don’t know why so many people like oath of the ancients so much. It’s amazing, but it has its downfalls.
Most people choose it because of its spell list and 7th level ability.
The spell list is good, and has some great spells I would use, but half of them are super situational.
Now lets talk about the 7th level feature: Aura of Warding. I get it, resistance to spell damage is amazing, but damage is the least scary thing a spellcaster can do. What would you rather do, take damage from fireball or flame strike, or get banished to a Demiplane or polymorphed into a slug, effectively taking you out of the fight while the rest of the party has to continue without you. If it was magic resistance, it would be way better, giving you and your allies advantage on saving throws against spells. Most people think that this feature is magic resistance, but its not. It would be the best Paladin Oath if it was, but I’ll have to give that to the Oath of Vengeance.
Oath of Devotion holds up surprisingly well as a paladin subclass, and so I ultimately settled on this one as my all time favorite....though Oath of Conquest nearly had my vote, as it provides a more complex roleplay potentially.
I feel like Devotion provides a very natural levelling progression, a solid & classic theme, and useful features that never have a dull moment..."Sacred Weapon" is a great 3rd level ability, which increases the Paladin's chance to hit substantially, and provides a baked-in magic weapon with no concentration requirement. I also like that access to the "Sanctuary" spell...I often use that in tandem with Sacred Weapon on the same turn; providing protection to myself or an ally.
The immunity to "Charm" effects as an Aura pairs nicely with immunity to "Fear"...and really exemplifies that the Devotion Paladin is incorruptible.
At 15th Level...hooboy; an ALWAYS ON "Protection from Evil & Good"...that's just fantastic. Disadvantage from nearly every kind of extraplanar enemy for attack rolls.
The 20th Level ability is simple-yet-effective...you are a beacon of light, giving off radiant damage and being of particular annoyance to fiends or undead.
I get where you’re coming from, but as a Paladin, you want to get into the thick of melee right at the start of combat. Not using your action to buff your weapon. Oath of Vengeance does this quite well and as a bonus action.
Aura of Devotion is great, but it’s super situational. Charmed isn’t an effect that comes up a lot, when it does, this feature is good to have, but you wont be using it every session. Or even every-other session.
Purity of Spirit is amazing, just flat out great. So many types of creatures with disadvantage.
Though not a lot of campaigns go up to level 20, so Holy Nimbus won’t be getting used. And even if the campaign does reach or go past level 20, you’ll only have one or two game sessions to use it.
I don’t know why so many people like oath of the ancients so much. It’s amazing, but it has its downfalls.
Most people choose it because of its spell list and 7th level ability.
The spell list is good, and has some great spells I would use, but half of them are super situational.
Now lets talk about the 7th level feature: Aura of Warding. I get it, resistance to spell damage is amazing, but damage is the least scary thing a spellcaster can do. What would you rather do, take damage from fireball or flame strike, or get banished to a Demiplane or polymorphed into a slug, effectively taking you out of the fight while the rest of the party has to continue without you. If it was magic resistance, it would be way better, giving you and your allies advantage on saving throws against spells. Most people think that this feature is magic resistance, but its not. It would be the best Paladin Oath if it was, but I’ll have to give that to the Oath of Vengeance.
Paladins don't fail saves. The basic class aura covers the other half of spell resistance.
Oath of Devotion holds up surprisingly well as a paladin subclass, and so I ultimately settled on this one as my all time favorite....though Oath of Conquest nearly had my vote, as it provides a more complex roleplay potentially.
I feel like Devotion provides a very natural levelling progression, a solid & classic theme, and useful features that never have a dull moment..."Sacred Weapon" is a great 3rd level ability, which increases the Paladin's chance to hit substantially, and provides a baked-in magic weapon with no concentration requirement. I also like that access to the "Sanctuary" spell...I often use that in tandem with Sacred Weapon on the same turn; providing protection to myself or an ally.
The immunity to "Charm" effects as an Aura pairs nicely with immunity to "Fear"...and really exemplifies that the Devotion Paladin is incorruptible.
At 15th Level...hooboy; an ALWAYS ON "Protection from Evil & Good"...that's just fantastic. Disadvantage from nearly every kind of extraplanar enemy for attack rolls.
The 20th Level ability is simple-yet-effective...you are a beacon of light, giving off radiant damage and being of particular annoyance to fiends or undead.
I get where you’re coming from, but as a Paladin, you want to get into the thick of melee right at the start of combat. Not using your action to buff your weapon. Oath of Vengeance does this quite well and as a bonus action.
Aura of Devotion is great, but it’s super situational. Charmed isn’t an effect that comes up a lot, when it does, this feature is good to have, but you wont be using it every session. Or even every-other session.
Purity of Spirit is amazing, just flat out great. So many types of creatures with disadvantage.
Though not a lot of campaigns go up to level 20, so Holy Nimbus won’t be getting used. And even if the campaign does reach or go past level 20, you’ll only have one or two game sessions to use it.
Vow of enmity is overrated. Only useful on one target, and once that target's gone, you're no better than anybody else. It forces you to either hold off on using it sooner because you're waiting for the big bad to appear, or you never use it at all. Devotion? Useful in any combat. If you miss on average about a third of the time, devotion bumps that up easily to hitting 80% of the time. I've had my won fair share of turns where I attack and miss, consecutively and it feels awful. It makes me think I would've been better off using that action to buff myself, and doing so prevents as frequent misses.
Oath of Vengeance. Specifically because you get wings at level 20. One hour of flying every day. As a retired RCAF pilot and current personal transport pilot (I pilot a custom 737 owned by a large business, shuttling their VIP's across the world), being able to fly without a steel framed beast around me. The closest I get to that my own single engine stunt plane.
I like Conquest for no other reason than their Aura of Conquest. The mental image of a Paladin in full plate approaching a creature who is too frightened of them to move, so frightened of them that it causes them mental harm, is just really cool
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I like Conquest for no other reason than their Aura of Conquest. The mental image of a Paladin in full plate approaching a creature who is too frightened of them to move, so frightened of them that it causes them mental harm, is just really cool
Conquest is definitely one of my favorite paladin oaths...
A friend of mine made an absolutely LEGENDARY Conquest Paladin...in not one, but two campaigns...who started out as a troubled hero, and eventually succumbed to villainy.
I made a Conquest Paladin who was a former slave, who overcame the brainwashing of their master. Their oath involved gaining power to overcome their enemies; to never again be forced to submit.
Not "evil"...more like: "If you're a tyrant; I will grind you into dust".
Honestly Glory Paladin is my favourite subclass out out of the other Paladin subclasses, it matches with my playstyle it's feels like i'm playing 2 classes at once Bard & Barbarian at once in my honest opinion even though there a lot of backlash concerning it subclass and saying the UA version is way better and saying the aura is laughable. I think the aura is alright and I feel pretty powerful with my movement speed of 40ft since i can chase the backlines. played it till level 8 in a oneshot and i would say it's alright and noting trashy about this subclass i just happen to play the strengths of the abilities of this subclass.
My least favourite is Vengeances, the subclass is powerful and all but i feel like there something lacking about this subclass, like this class is all about damage and it all it can do honestly, i kind of wish Vengeances have some sort of utility to help both in and out of combat or a slight support abilities to their allies. "Vow of enmity" feel like a one time nuke for those bigger baddy either you use it or don't unless there a big boss coming up from the scene.
My favorite oath is Conquest. Fear is the mindkiller...the little death that brings totally obliteration. Also stun-locking 8-10 enemies out of 15 with the Aura of Conquest is awesome. And for things that can't be scared that easy, well, that is what you have other smites for. Plus you can go full Sinestro Corp with the Conquest paladins. LOL
Not a fan of Vengenance paladins. I don't think they do a whole lot outside of turning your character basically into a Revenant minus the undead part. Fixation on target that you hit really hard, yep that is Revenant 101. Not for me.
Also, I was kind of surprised to see Glory getting a so much hate. I am playing in a game with a Glory paladin and she is awesome.
Honestly Glory Paladin is my favourite subclass out out of the other Paladin subclasses, it matches with my playstyle it's feels like i'm playing 2 classes at once Bard & Barbarian at once in my honest opinion even though there a lot of backlash concerning it subclass and saying the UA version is way better and saying the aura is laughable. I think the aura is alright and I feel pretty powerful with my movement speed of 40ft since i can chase the backlines. played it till level 8 in a oneshot and i would say it's alright and noting trashy about this subclass i just happen to play the strengths of the abilities of this subclass.
My least favourite is Vengeances, the subclass is powerful and all but i feel like there something lacking about this subclass, like this class is all about damage and it all it can do honestly, i kind of wish Vengeances have some sort of utility to help both in and out of combat or a slight support abilities to their allies. "Vow of enmity" feel like a one time nuke for those bigger baddy either you use it or don't unless there a big boss coming up from the scene.
Now that you mention it, the paladin of glory I play in my one game with, she does play the bard or bard-like characters so it makes sense why she would have so much fun with the Paladin that plays like a Barbarian and Bard. A mixture of strength and chaos is perfect for her.
Honestly Glory Paladin is my favourite subclass out out of the other Paladin subclasses, it matches with my playstyle it's feels like i'm playing 2 classes at once Bard & Barbarian at once in my honest opinion even though there a lot of backlash concerning it subclass and saying the UA version is way better and saying the aura is laughable. I think the aura is alright and I feel pretty powerful with my movement speed of 40ft since i can chase the backlines. played it till level 8 in a oneshot and i would say it's alright and noting trashy about this subclass i just happen to play the strengths of the abilities of this subclass.
My least favourite is Vengeances, the subclass is powerful and all but i feel like there something lacking about this subclass, like this class is all about damage and it all it can do honestly, i kind of wish Vengeances have some sort of utility to help both in and out of combat or a slight support abilities to their allies. "Vow of enmity" feel like a one time nuke for those bigger baddy either you use it or don't unless there a big boss coming up from the scene.
Now that you mention it, the paladin of glory I play in my one game with, she does play the bard or bard-like characters so it makes sense why she would have so much fun with the Paladin that plays like a Barbarian and Bard. A mixture of strength and chaos is perfect for her.
People get very salty with the Oath of Glory Changes, I feel like Heroism is stepping toes with Conquest+Vengeances in my honest opinion and people want BIG DAMAGE NUMBERS for their characters. Glory Paladin is that one champion/hero/character that is off meta and very weak in the eyes of pro players with their very niche abilities that they have that dose much worst. but in the hands of a very particular good player they make what they do.
Peerless Athlete: Makes your paladin a decent grappler but as a paladin you don't wanna do that unless, you have a certain playstyle you want to achieve, I believe this class can at least reach flying creatures through high jump but i don't see many dms uses movement as part of the combat encounter.
Inspiring Smite: is a alright ability, 2d8 + Paladin Levels is alright, it mostly use for yourself or a ally that is within melee range. i so happen to get like 15 THP and divine it to my melee fighter.
Honestly Glory Paladin is my favourite subclass out out of the other Paladin subclasses, it matches with my playstyle it's feels like i'm playing 2 classes at once Bard & Barbarian at once in my honest opinion even though there a lot of backlash concerning it subclass and saying the UA version is way better and saying the aura is laughable. I think the aura is alright and I feel pretty powerful with my movement speed of 40ft since i can chase the backlines. played it till level 8 in a oneshot and i would say it's alright and noting trashy about this subclass i just happen to play the strengths of the abilities of this subclass.
My least favourite is Vengeances, the subclass is powerful and all but i feel like there something lacking about this subclass, like this class is all about damage and it all it can do honestly, i kind of wish Vengeances have some sort of utility to help both in and out of combat or a slight support abilities to their allies. "Vow of enmity" feel like a one time nuke for those bigger baddy either you use it or don't unless there a big boss coming up from the scene.
Now that you mention it, the paladin of glory I play in my one game with, she does play the bard or bard-like characters so it makes sense why she would have so much fun with the Paladin that plays like a Barbarian and Bard. A mixture of strength and chaos is perfect for her.
People get very salty with the Oath of Glory Changes, I feel like Heroism is stepping toes with Conquest+Vengeances in my honest opinion and people want BIG DAMAGE NUMBERS for their characters. Glory Paladin is that one champion/hero/character that is off meta and very weak in the eyes of pro players with their very niche abilities that they have that dose much worst. but in the hands of a very particular good player they make what they do.
Peerless Athlete: Makes your paladin a decent grappler but as a paladin you don't wanna do that unless, you have a certain playstyle you want to achieve, I believe this class can at least reach flying creatures through high jump but i don't see many dms uses movement as part of the combat encounter.
Inspiring Smite: is a alright ability, 2d8 + Paladin Levels is alright, it mostly use for yourself or a ally that is within melee range. i so happen to get like 15 THP and divine it to my melee fighter.
Maybe it is because I did not see the UA version of the Glory Paladin. So I am ignorant to the changes that were made to it. I think it is an interesting paladin and the player that plays that character in my group as her lead the charge most of the time. I understand the big numbers. That is why I like the Berserker Barbarian, but that is another forum. Also, I can appreciate temporary HP being the wizard of the group with my glory paladin. LOL
As for the Conquest paladin (my favorite), it is more like how many opponents can I stop and how long. I don't care about the damage really, I have a monk and fighter to contend with. I want those weird stats that tank players look for, like 15 stun-locked goblins, or like the Glory Paladin, 3 Griffins snatched out the sky. LOL
Honestly Glory Paladin is my favourite subclass out out of the other Paladin subclasses, it matches with my playstyle it's feels like i'm playing 2 classes at once Bard & Barbarian at once in my honest opinion even though there a lot of backlash concerning it subclass and saying the UA version is way better and saying the aura is laughable. I think the aura is alright and I feel pretty powerful with my movement speed of 40ft since i can chase the backlines. played it till level 8 in a oneshot and i would say it's alright and noting trashy about this subclass i just happen to play the strengths of the abilities of this subclass.
My least favourite is Vengeances, the subclass is powerful and all but i feel like there something lacking about this subclass, like this class is all about damage and it all it can do honestly, i kind of wish Vengeances have some sort of utility to help both in and out of combat or a slight support abilities to their allies. "Vow of enmity" feel like a one time nuke for those bigger baddy either you use it or don't unless there a big boss coming up from the scene.
Now that you mention it, the paladin of glory I play in my one game with, she does play the bard or bard-like characters so it makes sense why she would have so much fun with the Paladin that plays like a Barbarian and Bard. A mixture of strength and chaos is perfect for her.
People get very salty with the Oath of Glory Changes, I feel like Heroism is stepping toes with Conquest+Vengeances in my honest opinion and people want BIG DAMAGE NUMBERS for their characters. Glory Paladin is that one champion/hero/character that is off meta and very weak in the eyes of pro players with their very niche abilities that they have that dose much worst. but in the hands of a very particular good player they make what they do.
Peerless Athlete: Makes your paladin a decent grappler but as a paladin you don't wanna do that unless, you have a certain playstyle you want to achieve, I believe this class can at least reach flying creatures through high jump but i don't see many dms uses movement as part of the combat encounter.
Inspiring Smite: is a alright ability, 2d8 + Paladin Levels is alright, it mostly use for yourself or a ally that is within melee range. i so happen to get like 15 THP and divine it to my melee fighter.
I did enjoy the old Heroism Paladin’s “Mighty Deeds” feature.
Getting a critical hit on either a 19 or 20 has always been a useful feature…but it was only appealing to me because then you trigger the crowd “Fear” effect, or the Temporary HP.
Getting that choice was pretty sweet.
It also “looked” cool from a role playing perspective…your Paladin achieves what would be considered a brief instant of physical perfection…striking fear into the enemy, demoralizing them…or rallying your comrades.
Vow of enmity is overrated. Only useful on one target, and once that target's gone, you're no better than anybody else. It forces you to either hold off on using it sooner because you're waiting for the big bad to appear, or you never use it at all.
Hey guys, we're over here fighting a dragon but having on-demand guaranteed advantage on every single last attack against it is super not going to be helpful.
When is having on-demand advantage not helpful? Never use it at all??? How? Are you specifically trying to not attack your enemies?
Devotion? Useful in any combat. If you miss on average about a third of the time, devotion bumps that up easily to hitting 80% of the time. I've had my won fair share of turns where I attack and miss, consecutively and it feels awful. It makes me think I would've been better off using that action to buff myself, and doing so prevents as frequent misses.
You waste the first turn of every combat on this?
Let's do some hard number comparisons.
+3 attack by spending an action. Or. Advantage on attack from spending a bonus action.
You want average miss of a third? How about 35%? You have a +5 to hit but the target AC is 13. You need to roll a 8 or higher to hit, so 1-7 misses. 35%
Round 1: You spend your turn making your weapon +3 to hit with and glow. Neat. Vs Attacking with advantage 87.75% chance to hit. Vengeance wins here.
Round 2: Devotion finally gets to attack, now with +3, now only a 1-4 misses on the raw d20! That's a ...wait, that's only 80%. Huh. Vengeance is attacking with advantage and still has a 87.75% chance to hit. Winner: Still very much Vengeance.
Round 3+. Yeah it's the same. Vengeance won already.
Okay okay. Yeah, we all know vengeance is better. Fine I won't keep driving that point home. But you know what else? Nothing is actually better than devotion. Yeah, that's right. Not using it is actually better than using it.
Because you give up an action, you are giving up a whole attack. That 100% not a hit. You could have used that action for your 65% to hit attack and at least might have .. you know... hit. So instead you gave up a whole possibility of hitting for... a 15% extra chance per successive hit. So, to make up for your lost chance to hit you'll need to attack at minimum 5 times to make up for the loss of the attack you didn't make at all. That's Round 6. If you're not getting to round 6 you're decreasing your average damage output by using this ability. This is assuming you have at least a +3 Cha. if it is only a +2 for whatever reason you'd need to attack 7+ times to make up for the lost action.
Using Devotion's ability is actively worse than not having the ability in some cases. That is pretty special.
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Please answer the poll above. In your response, please say what your favorite and least favorite paladin subclass is and why.
My favorite paladin subclass is the Oath of the Ancients. It gives you some pretty cool benefits, such as ensnaring foes, resistance to damage from spells, not being killed outright, and being able to assume the form of an Elder Champion. It also gives you useful spells such as Misty Step.
My least favorite paladin subclass is the Oath of the Crown. Any paladin can really say that they are a knight that works for a King or Queen, and they don't have to pick this oath. Even though it gets Spirit Guardians, its features aren't that great, and Champion Challenge? Just cast Compelled Duel.
I will take a look at your opinions.
(Please do not criticize other people's responses).
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Oathbreaker is an intriguing blend of Necromancer and Paladin. I'd like to play one sometime.
Oath of Redemption tries to make a Paladin play as a pacifist, which is not why people play Paladins.
Oath of the open sea is my favourite, despite it being homebrew. I absolutely love elemental themes. I'm really hoping that an elemental paladin or ranger subclass makes it in officially.
Oathbreaker is my least favourite, despite the idea being cool. The 5e subclass system just isn't set up to handle it. It's meant to be a take on a fallen or corrupted paladin, but completely misses the mark with its lay on hands and radiant damage divine smite, as it can't overwrite the paladin base features which don't suit at all.
Thematically speaking, I think Glory or Redemption have to be my all time faves.
Glory, despite being rooted in the Greek demi-god mythos, can easily suit a variety type of paladins that value action over words and honing one's physical self. A character like Shin, the linebacker from Eyeshield 21, could easily pass off as a glory paladin and he's just some football player! Or you can play it from a silly angle and be that nurturing buff guy that tells his party to remember to eat their five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and do at least an hour of physical activity.
Redemption speaks to me on a personal level. This type of paladin sees the best in everyone and tries their best to use violence as an absolute last resort. This paladin that may come from a dark, stained past themselves and wants to redeem not only others but themselves as well. That sort of thing is something that me wanna shake that paladin's hand and salute them as they go on their honorable mission. Reminds me a ton of Rurouni Kenshin.
Mechanically, on the other hand, devotion's pretty top tier if you learn how to use their channel divinity just prior to combat, or you're able to analyse that one turn spent buffing yourself with said CD is worth it because it may translate into hits that would have been misses otherwise. Just the fact that it makes your weapon count as magical for that whole minute means you get a way to easily beat those monsters that are resistant to non-magical bludgeoning piecing and slashing in tier 1, and having that mechanical leverage IS worth a whole turn of not attacking. Devotion's spell list is pretty neat too, it provides some out-of-combat utility with things like zone of truth, lesser restoration, and dispel magic that are always prepared.
Oath of Devotion holds up surprisingly well as a paladin subclass, and so I ultimately settled on this one as my all time favorite....though Oath of Conquest nearly had my vote, as it provides a more complex roleplay potentially.
I feel like Devotion provides a very natural levelling progression, a solid & classic theme, and useful features that never have a dull moment..."Sacred Weapon" is a great 3rd level ability, which increases the Paladin's chance to hit substantially, and provides a baked-in magic weapon with no concentration requirement. I also like that access to the "Sanctuary" spell...I often use that in tandem with Sacred Weapon on the same turn; providing protection to myself or an ally.
The immunity to "Charm" effects as an Aura pairs nicely with immunity to "Fear"...and really exemplifies that the Devotion Paladin is incorruptible.
At 15th Level...hooboy; an ALWAYS ON "Protection from Evil & Good"...that's just fantastic. Disadvantage from nearly every kind of extraplanar enemy for attack rolls.
The 20th Level ability is simple-yet-effective...you are a beacon of light, giving off radiant damage and being of particular annoyance to fiends or undead.
For my least favorite...I am a bit disappointed by the Oath of Glory.
I LOVE the CONCEPT of the Oath of Glory Paladin...achieving mighty deeds, physically conditioning themselves into the perfect warrior...but the changes from the original Unearthed Arcana into the final product left me a bit...dissatisfied.
To clarify: the original draft of the Oath of Glory made this paladin a battlefield presence to be feared or in awe of....built around getting critical hits more easily and finding that "moment" to be glorious, the original Glory Paladin would either instill fear in the enemy when they felled a target or got a critical, or gave nearby allies HP. This was on lieu of an Aura.
Now, we get the brief temporary HP as their Channel Divinity...and the ability to run a bit faster as an Aura.
This...was a tad underwhelming for low-level abilities.
The higher-level abilities are still quite good...an extra attack + defense buff, and the frankly SWEET capstone ability of Living Legend...but these abilities only come late in the game.
I dunno...I don't hate the subclass, but I reflect on what it could have been...and I am left wanting more than what it became.
The spell list is great, at least.
I don’t know why so many people like oath of the ancients so much. It’s amazing, but it has its downfalls.
Most people choose it because of its spell list and 7th level ability.
The spell list is good, and has some great spells I would use, but half of them are super situational.
Now lets talk about the 7th level feature: Aura of Warding. I get it, resistance to spell damage is amazing, but damage is the least scary thing a spellcaster can do. What would you rather do, take damage from fireball or flame strike, or get banished to a Demiplane or polymorphed into a slug, effectively taking you out of the fight while the rest of the party has to continue without you. If it was magic resistance, it would be way better, giving you and your allies advantage on saving throws against spells. Most people think that this feature is magic resistance, but its not. It would be the best Paladin Oath if it was, but I’ll have to give that to the Oath of Vengeance.
I get where you’re coming from, but as a Paladin, you want to get into the thick of melee right at the start of combat. Not using your action to buff your weapon. Oath of Vengeance does this quite well and as a bonus action.
Aura of Devotion is great, but it’s super situational. Charmed isn’t an effect that comes up a lot, when it does, this feature is good to have, but you wont be using it every session. Or even every-other session.
Purity of Spirit is amazing, just flat out great. So many types of creatures with disadvantage.
Though not a lot of campaigns go up to level 20, so Holy Nimbus won’t be getting used. And even if the campaign does reach or go past level 20, you’ll only have one or two game sessions to use it.
Paladins don't fail saves. The basic class aura covers the other half of spell resistance.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Vow of enmity is overrated. Only useful on one target, and once that target's gone, you're no better than anybody else. It forces you to either hold off on using it sooner because you're waiting for the big bad to appear, or you never use it at all. Devotion? Useful in any combat. If you miss on average about a third of the time, devotion bumps that up easily to hitting 80% of the time. I've had my won fair share of turns where I attack and miss, consecutively and it feels awful. It makes me think I would've been better off using that action to buff myself, and doing so prevents as frequent misses.
Oath of Vengeance. Specifically because you get wings at level 20. One hour of flying every day. As a retired RCAF pilot and current personal transport pilot (I pilot a custom 737 owned by a large business, shuttling their VIP's across the world), being able to fly without a steel framed beast around me. The closest I get to that my own single engine stunt plane.
I like chaotic.
so Open Sea for me
I don't like law
so Crown and Conquest are nooo
Glory is haughty
currently playing Kis the cleric in DM Training Ground: You Are In A Room(reboot, reboot)
I like Conquest for no other reason than their Aura of Conquest. The mental image of a Paladin in full plate approaching a creature who is too frightened of them to move, so frightened of them that it causes them mental harm, is just really cool
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Conquest is definitely one of my favorite paladin oaths...
A friend of mine made an absolutely LEGENDARY Conquest Paladin...in not one, but two campaigns...who started out as a troubled hero, and eventually succumbed to villainy.
I made a Conquest Paladin who was a former slave, who overcame the brainwashing of their master. Their oath involved gaining power to overcome their enemies; to never again be forced to submit.
Not "evil"...more like: "If you're a tyrant; I will grind you into dust".
Honestly Glory Paladin is my favourite subclass out out of the other Paladin subclasses, it matches with my playstyle it's feels like i'm playing 2 classes at once Bard & Barbarian at once in my honest opinion even though there a lot of backlash concerning it subclass and saying the UA version is way better and saying the aura is laughable. I think the aura is alright and I feel pretty powerful with my movement speed of 40ft since i can chase the backlines. played it till level 8 in a oneshot and i would say it's alright and noting trashy about this subclass i just happen to play the strengths of the abilities of this subclass.
My least favourite is Vengeances, the subclass is powerful and all but i feel like there something lacking about this subclass, like this class is all about damage and it all it can do honestly, i kind of wish Vengeances have some sort of utility to help both in and out of combat or a slight support abilities to their allies. "Vow of enmity" feel like a one time nuke for those bigger baddy either you use it or don't unless there a big boss coming up from the scene.
My favorite oath is Conquest. Fear is the mindkiller...the little death that brings totally obliteration. Also stun-locking 8-10 enemies out of 15 with the Aura of Conquest is awesome. And for things that can't be scared that easy, well, that is what you have other smites for. Plus you can go full Sinestro Corp with the Conquest paladins. LOL
Not a fan of Vengenance paladins. I don't think they do a whole lot outside of turning your character basically into a Revenant minus the undead part. Fixation on target that you hit really hard, yep that is Revenant 101. Not for me.
Also, I was kind of surprised to see Glory getting a so much hate. I am playing in a game with a Glory paladin and she is awesome.
Now that you mention it, the paladin of glory I play in my one game with, she does play the bard or bard-like characters so it makes sense why she would have so much fun with the Paladin that plays like a Barbarian and Bard. A mixture of strength and chaos is perfect for her.
People get very salty with the Oath of Glory Changes, I feel like Heroism is stepping toes with Conquest+Vengeances in my honest opinion and people want BIG DAMAGE NUMBERS for their characters. Glory Paladin is that one champion/hero/character that is off meta and very weak in the eyes of pro players with their very niche abilities that they have that dose much worst. but in the hands of a very particular good player they make what they do.
Peerless Athlete: Makes your paladin a decent grappler but as a paladin you don't wanna do that unless, you have a certain playstyle you want to achieve, I believe this class can at least reach flying creatures through high jump but i don't see many dms uses movement as part of the combat encounter.
Inspiring Smite: is a alright ability, 2d8 + Paladin Levels is alright, it mostly use for yourself or a ally that is within melee range. i so happen to get like 15 THP and divine it to my melee fighter.
Maybe it is because I did not see the UA version of the Glory Paladin. So I am ignorant to the changes that were made to it. I think it is an interesting paladin and the player that plays that character in my group as her lead the charge most of the time. I understand the big numbers. That is why I like the Berserker Barbarian, but that is another forum. Also, I can appreciate temporary HP being the wizard of the group with my glory paladin. LOL
As for the Conquest paladin (my favorite), it is more like how many opponents can I stop and how long. I don't care about the damage really, I have a monk and fighter to contend with. I want those weird stats that tank players look for, like 15 stun-locked goblins, or like the Glory Paladin, 3 Griffins snatched out the sky. LOL
I did enjoy the old Heroism Paladin’s “Mighty Deeds” feature.
Getting a critical hit on either a 19 or 20 has always been a useful feature…but it was only appealing to me because then you trigger the crowd “Fear” effect, or the Temporary HP.
Getting that choice was pretty sweet.
It also “looked” cool from a role playing perspective…your Paladin achieves what would be considered a brief instant of physical perfection…striking fear into the enemy, demoralizing them…or rallying your comrades.
It was very on-theme.
Hey guys, we're over here fighting a dragon but having on-demand guaranteed advantage on every single last attack against it is super not going to be helpful.
When is having on-demand advantage not helpful? Never use it at all??? How? Are you specifically trying to not attack your enemies?
You waste the first turn of every combat on this?
Let's do some hard number comparisons.
+3 attack by spending an action. Or. Advantage on attack from spending a bonus action.
You want average miss of a third? How about 35%? You have a +5 to hit but the target AC is 13. You need to roll a 8 or higher to hit, so 1-7 misses. 35%
Okay okay. Yeah, we all know vengeance is better. Fine I won't keep driving that point home. But you know what else? Nothing is actually better than devotion. Yeah, that's right. Not using it is actually better than using it.
Because you give up an action, you are giving up a whole attack. That 100% not a hit. You could have used that action for your 65% to hit attack and at least might have .. you know... hit. So instead you gave up a whole possibility of hitting for... a 15% extra chance per successive hit. So, to make up for your lost chance to hit you'll need to attack at minimum 5 times to make up for the loss of the attack you didn't make at all. That's Round 6. If you're not getting to round 6 you're decreasing your average damage output by using this ability. This is assuming you have at least a +3 Cha. if it is only a +2 for whatever reason you'd need to attack 7+ times to make up for the lost action.
Using Devotion's ability is actively worse than not having the ability in some cases. That is pretty special.
I got quotes!