If it helps, said paladin will be a variant tiefling (probably winged) and taking the Oath of the Ancients in a Tomb of Annihilation game. Dueling is a tempting fighting style, but would Defense be a wiser choice since AC won't be as high with a strength-based paladin?
I'm just curious what other people have used that works well with such a build.
The thing that bothers me with Dex Based Paladins in Wizard's required 13 Str to Multiclass a Paladin. This makes it Many Attribute Dependent with point buy if you want to go Dex Based. I really want to make a Rogue(Scout)/Paladin(Ancients) multiclass, but the Strength requirement knee caps the build in point buy) Sadly they did everything they could to keep away Dex based Paladins (you can't get Two Weapon Fighting without multiclass)
AC wise you actually give up very little, probably in reality nothing. Chainmail gives you 16 AC +2 with Shield. Scale mail with a 14 Dex gives you 16 AC +2 with Shield. The only armor where you lose anything is vs Plate Mail and honestly, platemail is effectively magical gear in 5e. Especially in Chult! You can sacrifice 1 more AC for chain shirt with 14 Dex to get 15 AC +2 with Shield and normal Stealth checks, if that's important to you.
The exception is IF you want to use Light armor and be competitive then Studded Leather armor needs 16 Dex to get a 15, and 18 Dex to match chain or scale. On the positive if you have 20 Dex, then it's only 1 point less then full plate.
So giving up heavy armor isn't really a big hit your AC. Defense will increase your AC another point or Dueling will gives you +2 damage (effective +1 die size, but I argue better because it's increased minimum damage)
Since you're taking the Variant with Wings, then you don't have Infernal Legacy and so taking a shield won't "give up" the use of Hellish Rebuke. As a note, check with your DM, but I'm pretty sure you ignore a lot of the effect of the Hot Weather in Chult because you have Fire Resistance. Check out the section on Extreme Heat in the DMG under "Weather". I'd recommend confirming with your GM that they agree with that assessment since it would mean you would drink less water (a valuable resource in Chult) and wouldn't suffer ill effects from wearing medium/heavy armor in Chult)
Yeah, the multiclassing requirement is a bit annoying, but I'm prepared to just stick with Paladin if I can't roll a high Strength. As far as I know, we're going with point buy but we have a few weeks, so the DM might change their mind before then. At the moment, the important stats are Dex 16, Cha 15 and Con 14.
Stealth isn't terribly important to me for a paladin build, but I have considered studded leather if that would help me avoid the hot weather effect in chult. (Getting a Dex of 20 is definitely a priority, too.) I'll double-check on that, since fire resistance helping out there could impact my choice of armor.
I would check with your group about how they feel about Stealth. Stealth often feels like an all or nothing thing thing.
I'm currently running a party through Tomb of Annihilation and the entire party is trained in Stealth and have chain shirt or lighter.
One thing I do dislike about the adventure in Tomb of Annihilation is they do not cover the Ranger's ability Natural Explorer in the rule set. It says if you're in Favored Terrain "Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel." But there is no section on p38 of Tomb of Annihilation for "Travel Distance" to cover how this rule effects the overland travel of a party. This bothers me because I feel that Ranger rarely get to shine in overland travel and this is a campaign setting designed to let the party Ranger really feel they are using all their bells and whistles.
The Basic Rules for overland travel assumes a party can make 24 miles a day and half that through Difficult Terrain (ie: jungle) so 12 miles. Tomb of Annihilation seems to round this figure off to 1 Hex by land at normal for 10 miles, which I feel is a reasonable mathematical compromise. As I currently have a Ranger in my party I decided that in Favored Terrain the party can elect to move at Fast or Slow speed without the 50% chance of failure, because of the Ranger's ability to have the party move without issue in Difficult Terrain. I do require the Ranger to be the one doing the Navigation check for this.
Due to the dangers of Chult, my party is electing to always move at Slow Pace when in Favored Terrain to have Stealth, while still making it 1 hex by land and 2 hexs by canoe.
with those stats, consider medium armour master. and use splint mail unless you can get half plate (ac 15 + 3 dex)
dueling or defense are both decent, I think I like dueling best.
I understand 20 Dex is attractive but I always preferred feats, so much flavour!
now, I don't see exactly what you have in mind for your character but I am picturing a "muskateer" inspired character. and as such, I think sentinel, crossbow expert, mobile and martial adept all make sense a for feat choices whether you took medium armour master or not.
good luck!
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If it helps, said paladin will be a variant tiefling (probably winged) and taking the Oath of the Ancients in a Tomb of Annihilation game. Dueling is a tempting fighting style, but would Defense be a wiser choice since AC won't be as high with a strength-based paladin?
I'm just curious what other people have used that works well with such a build.
The thing that bothers me with Dex Based Paladins in Wizard's required 13 Str to Multiclass a Paladin. This makes it Many Attribute Dependent with point buy if you want to go Dex Based. I really want to make a Rogue(Scout)/Paladin(Ancients) multiclass, but the Strength requirement knee caps the build in point buy)
Sadly they did everything they could to keep away Dex based Paladins (you can't get Two Weapon Fighting without multiclass)
AC wise you actually give up very little, probably in reality nothing.
Chainmail gives you 16 AC +2 with Shield.
Scale mail with a 14 Dex gives you 16 AC +2 with Shield.
The only armor where you lose anything is vs Plate Mail and honestly, platemail is effectively magical gear in 5e. Especially in Chult!
You can sacrifice 1 more AC for chain shirt with 14 Dex to get 15 AC +2 with Shield and normal Stealth checks, if that's important to you.
The exception is IF you want to use Light armor and be competitive then Studded Leather armor needs 16 Dex to get a 15, and 18 Dex to match chain or scale. On the positive if you have 20 Dex, then it's only 1 point less then full plate.
So giving up heavy armor isn't really a big hit your AC.
Defense will increase your AC another point or Dueling will gives you +2 damage (effective +1 die size, but I argue better because it's increased minimum damage)
Since you're taking the Variant with Wings, then you don't have Infernal Legacy and so taking a shield won't "give up" the use of Hellish Rebuke.
As a note, check with your DM, but I'm pretty sure you ignore a lot of the effect of the Hot Weather in Chult because you have Fire Resistance. Check out the section on Extreme Heat in the DMG under "Weather". I'd recommend confirming with your GM that they agree with that assessment since it would mean you would drink less water (a valuable resource in Chult) and wouldn't suffer ill effects from wearing medium/heavy armor in Chult)
Yeah, the multiclassing requirement is a bit annoying, but I'm prepared to just stick with Paladin if I can't roll a high Strength. As far as I know, we're going with point buy but we have a few weeks, so the DM might change their mind before then. At the moment, the important stats are Dex 16, Cha 15 and Con 14.
Stealth isn't terribly important to me for a paladin build, but I have considered studded leather if that would help me avoid the hot weather effect in chult. (Getting a Dex of 20 is definitely a priority, too.) I'll double-check on that, since fire resistance helping out there could impact my choice of armor.
I would check with your group about how they feel about Stealth. Stealth often feels like an all or nothing thing thing.
I'm currently running a party through Tomb of Annihilation and the entire party is trained in Stealth and have chain shirt or lighter.
One thing I do dislike about the adventure in Tomb of Annihilation is they do not cover the Ranger's ability Natural Explorer in the rule set. It says if you're in Favored Terrain "Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel."
But there is no section on p38 of Tomb of Annihilation for "Travel Distance" to cover how this rule effects the overland travel of a party.
This bothers me because I feel that Ranger rarely get to shine in overland travel and this is a campaign setting designed to let the party Ranger really feel they are using all their bells and whistles.
The Basic Rules for overland travel assumes a party can make 24 miles a day and half that through Difficult Terrain (ie: jungle) so 12 miles.
Tomb of Annihilation seems to round this figure off to 1 Hex by land at normal for 10 miles, which I feel is a reasonable mathematical compromise.
As I currently have a Ranger in my party I decided that in Favored Terrain the party can elect to move at Fast or Slow speed without the 50% chance of failure, because of the Ranger's ability to have the party move without issue in Difficult Terrain. I do require the Ranger to be the one doing the Navigation check for this.
Due to the dangers of Chult, my party is electing to always move at Slow Pace when in Favored Terrain to have Stealth, while still making it 1 hex by land and 2 hexs by canoe.
Dueling style, MAXED DEX, studded leather armor.
i like linguistics and, well, d&d, obviously. this bio hadn't been updated for 3 years so i figured i'd do that.
Also for feats I’m not sure, I haven’t looked much into feats.
i like linguistics and, well, d&d, obviously. this bio hadn't been updated for 3 years so i figured i'd do that.
with those stats, consider medium armour master. and use splint mail unless you can get half plate (ac 15 + 3 dex)
dueling or defense are both decent, I think I like dueling best.
I understand 20 Dex is attractive but I always preferred feats, so much flavour!
now, I don't see exactly what you have in mind for your character but I am picturing a "muskateer" inspired character. and as such, I think sentinel, crossbow expert, mobile and martial adept all make sense a for feat choices whether you took medium armour master or not.
good luck!
Jesus Saves!... Everyone else takes damage.