(all of this is written with the oath of redemption and roleplaying in mind.)
Hey guys! I've been working on a personal character of mine for quite some time now and I just have a few more questions to ask. Now that I have my ability scores and background all figured out, I have two last questions.
First off, are feats. I'm playing as a Vhuman and so I nabbed the crusher perk. This does a few things for me.
One, it bumps up my constitution to +2(14)
it buffs my maul (and I suppose a light hammer too!)
it allows me to support my team by weakening the enemy
and it may help by using more "non-lethal" ways of "persuading" the enemy to not fight back by pushing them around.
At level four I want to additionally take the slasher feat. I know It's strange and probably very sub-optimal to take both the slasher and crusher but I'm also the insane guy who wants to have a plus 2 or plus 3 in intelligence as paladin so take that as you will. The reasons for this are very similar to why I took the crusher perk.
It bumps my strength up to 15 which gives me the ability to wear plate armor without consequence
Also weakens the enemy to help support my team
allows me to injure (but not kill) my opponent which allows another way to "persuade" my enemies to adopt more peaceful ways.
Buffs slashing weapons I like to use (such as the hand axe, whip, and greatsword)
Additionally, mauls are cool and all but great-swords are bad ass to! I can feel like the Knights Templars from Kingdom rush frontiers! yeah I know they're really mediocre in a game that's very anti-barracks, but their voice and visual design is just sooooo perfect! "A sword Day, a red day!" "For light eternal!" "hoo-ahh!" they say as they drag around their over sized swords to chop up the nearest enemy.
I got about sidetracked there and I'm sorry, but I do feel like it's worth mentioning one last thing. My paladin equipment gives me Two martial weapons (A maul and A great sword, yes they are gonna way a lot but they look cool and they over compensate for my +2 in strength, at least emotionally), and five javelins. But I wanted to pick up a couple of extra weapons with the gold given to me by my background if that is possible (those being a whip, handaxe, and light hammer). I don't think they should weigh too much, right?
alright, with that crazy ramblings out of the way, I want to shift our focus towards fighting styles. Two of which I cannot decide which one I should get. Blessed fighter vs defense. Blessed fighter gives me extra cantrips which I think will really mesh well with my build, and defense gives me a +1 to AC. What should I choose?
Alright. I went a little crazy there, but I hope you have a good day!
Oh! That’s right. Can’t believe I forgot about that. At level 1 (which is where my character is at right now) my scores are 14 8 14 14 (or 16 int if my DM allows it for roleplaying and story purposes) 8 16
as for level four I want it to be 15 8 14 14(or 16) 8 16
for level 8 I plan on dumping my points into charisma.
for level 12 I’ll likely do the same unless I need tough for extra tankiness or something.
I get not wanting to optimize. But you really need a better str score. If you’re going heavy weapon, you’ll be in heavy armor, and as you know, plate will require a 15 or there’s movement penalties. But more importantly, the game math assumes a 16 in your primary attack stat to start. And probably an 18 by level 8. Not optimizing is one thing, I love the idea of a super smart pally. But there’s a point when you’re actively shooting yourself in the foot, and could become a drag on the party. I guess it’s only 1 point off to start, and it might not be too big a deal. But sitting on a 15 at level 12 will be a real drawback. Unless you find some gauntlets of ogre power of something, but you can’t really build around the expectation of a specific magic item. And a 16 cha for a pally is great, you don’t need another point there. Practically, everyone except wizards and artificers dumps int. So even if you have a 13 or 14, you’ll be really smart, and smarter than everyone except those wizards and artificers. Which frees you to boost str a bit, so you can do your job on the team. I'd say, if you do go with your plan, don’t take slasher at 4, just boost your str. I get your idea, but switching weapons doesn’t really happen, and slowing them down with slasher will often not matter. once you’re in melee, it’s unusual for them to try and walk away. And likely at some point, your DM will give you a magic weapon, then you really won’t want to switch. Or just take slasher. The point is pick one and be good at it, instead of two
Side note, if you do take crusher, I’d definitely take light hammers over javelins. Less damage and range, but being able to push someone with a thrown hammer from 20’ away is some nice battlefield control.
As far as weight, that’s going to be up to your DM. Many campaigns don’t worry about weight. But if you do, your carrying capacity is equal to 15xstr score. Don’t forget your armor is heavy, and there’s your other gear — rations, rope, etc. So figuring out how much is too much is pretty easy math. Don’t forget plate weighs even more than the chain you’ll start with, so build that in.
For fighting, also just generally, what’s the party composition like? Are there other melee types? Is there a cleric in the party? What cantrips would you want to take?
Yeah, I think you are right. I'll see if I can work with my DM to figure something out. If not, I can always just lower my int score. to 14 and raise it to 16. The intelligence is there so I can role play as a smart paladin who tries to work towards more nonviolent ways through charisma and logic/intelligence. My DM might allow it because like you said, most classes dump int so I don't think it will matter to much. So with that in mind my revised stat set up will probably look like this:
at level 1 my scores will probably look like this: 15 8 14 13 8 16 or 15 8 14 16 8 16.
At level 4 I choose not to take the slasher perk, but now what should I do? Take a different feat to increase my strength, tankiness, or something like GWM? Or Do I raise my strength score to 16 and my charisma score to 17.
At level 8 I put both my points into strength raising it to 18. because I would assume that would be a good idea. Edit: or should I go for charisma to boost my redemption speed and my cantrips if I choose to take blessed warrior.
But at level 12 what should I do? Get a new feat? Raise My charisma? Or do something else like boost the constitution?
As for my party, we are still planning that out. Our campaign hasn't quite started yet, but we have a general idea on what some of our party will look like. We plan to have a dedicated spell caster (such as a wizard, sorcerer, or a warlock- probably a warlock if I had to guess) and a rouge of some sort. And of course, me as the oath of redemption paladin (I don't know what their subclasses will be). We might have a cleric but I'm not sure. So because of that I'm thinking taking defense would help me defend and tank for my part. On the other hand, blessed fighter would thematically mesh well with an oath of redemption paladin. So far I'm leaning towards defense because I plan on using two handed melee weapons. Edit: but having cantrips as a paladin is very interesting to me. It sounds like a lot of fun using cantrips as a paladin. Especially for a high charisma build.
As for feats, I'm definitely taking crusher because I think it's cool. So I'll swap out my javelins with a light hammer and my long sword for a whip (for the reach).
update: I’ve decided to take the defense fighting style because it gives me extra armor class and blessed fighter, while seemingly fun doesn’t seem as helpful as the extra armor. I’ve also decided to bump down my strength by one down to 14 at level one. At level 4 I will either bump up my strength to 16 OR take the great weapon master feat. I’m thinking of getting my strength up to 16 at level 8 because I think GWM seems like a lot of fun (though it would go against the theme of character I’m trying to build. Maybe just put the points in strength OR find a charisma based feat that works as a bonus action or something.)
i think that’s a decent compromise. It’s all up to what my dm says and how my team mates feel, though. With all that said and done I’m really proud of my character. I want to explore a more intelligent and more peaceful paladin with the path of redemption. I might have to bump down my int depending what my DM says, though.
edit: at level 8 I might maybe look into multiclassing. Pally bard seems like an interesting combination, maybe with valor glamor or swords college. But that’s a a big maybe though
edit 2: since I have lower constitution than some other martial builds, I think defense would be best, but it still makes me wonder how blessed warrior could be. I have very little idea how it works and how I can use it to its fullest potential.
(all of this is written with the oath of redemption and roleplaying in mind.)
Hey guys! I've been working on a personal character of mine for quite some time now and I just have a few more questions to ask. Now that I have my ability scores and background all figured out, I have two last questions.
First off, are feats. I'm playing as a Vhuman and so I nabbed the crusher perk. This does a few things for me.
At level four I want to additionally take the slasher feat. I know It's strange and probably very sub-optimal to take both the slasher and crusher but I'm also the insane guy who wants to have a plus 2 or plus 3 in intelligence as paladin so take that as you will. The reasons for this are very similar to why I took the crusher perk.
I got about sidetracked there and I'm sorry, but I do feel like it's worth mentioning one last thing. My paladin equipment gives me Two martial weapons (A maul and A great sword, yes they are gonna way a lot but they look cool and they over compensate for my +2 in strength, at least emotionally), and five javelins. But I wanted to pick up a couple of extra weapons with the gold given to me by my background if that is possible (those being a whip, handaxe, and light hammer). I don't think they should weigh too much, right?
alright, with that crazy ramblings out of the way, I want to shift our focus towards fighting styles. Two of which I cannot decide which one I should get. Blessed fighter vs defense. Blessed fighter gives me extra cantrips which I think will really mesh well with my build, and defense gives me a +1 to AC. What should I choose?
Alright. I went a little crazy there, but I hope you have a good day!
What are your ability scores?
Oh! That’s right. Can’t believe I forgot about that. At level 1 (which is where my character is at right now) my scores are 14 8 14 14 (or 16 int if my DM allows it for roleplaying and story purposes) 8 16
as for level four I want it to be 15 8 14 14(or 16) 8 16
for level 8 I plan on dumping my points into charisma.
for level 12 I’ll likely do the same unless I need tough for extra tankiness or something.
I get not wanting to optimize. But you really need a better str score. If you’re going heavy weapon, you’ll be in heavy armor, and as you know, plate will require a 15 or there’s movement penalties. But more importantly, the game math assumes a 16 in your primary attack stat to start. And probably an 18 by level 8. Not optimizing is one thing, I love the idea of a super smart pally. But there’s a point when you’re actively shooting yourself in the foot, and could become a drag on the party. I guess it’s only 1 point off to start, and it might not be too big a deal. But sitting on a 15 at level 12 will be a real drawback. Unless you find some gauntlets of ogre power of something, but you can’t really build around the expectation of a specific magic item. And a 16 cha for a pally is great, you don’t need another point there.
Practically, everyone except wizards and artificers dumps int. So even if you have a 13 or 14, you’ll be really smart, and smarter than everyone except those wizards and artificers. Which frees you to boost str a bit, so you can do your job on the team.
I'd say, if you do go with your plan, don’t take slasher at 4, just boost your str. I get your idea, but switching weapons doesn’t really happen, and slowing them down with slasher will often not matter. once you’re in melee, it’s unusual for them to try and walk away. And likely at some point, your DM will give you a magic weapon, then you really won’t want to switch. Or just take slasher. The point is pick one and be good at it, instead of two
Side note, if you do take crusher, I’d definitely take light hammers over javelins. Less damage and range, but being able to push someone with a thrown hammer from 20’ away is some nice battlefield control.
As far as weight, that’s going to be up to your DM. Many campaigns don’t worry about weight. But if you do, your carrying capacity is equal to 15xstr score. Don’t forget your armor is heavy, and there’s your other gear — rations, rope, etc. So figuring out how much is too much is pretty easy math. Don’t forget plate weighs even more than the chain you’ll start with, so build that in.
For fighting, also just generally, what’s the party composition like? Are there other melee types? Is there a cleric in the party? What cantrips would you want to take?
Yeah, I think you are right. I'll see if I can work with my DM to figure something out. If not, I can always just lower my int score. to 14 and raise it to 16. The intelligence is there so I can role play as a smart paladin who tries to work towards more nonviolent ways through charisma and logic/intelligence. My DM might allow it because like you said, most classes dump int so I don't think it will matter to much. So with that in mind my revised stat set up will probably look like this:
As for my party, we are still planning that out. Our campaign hasn't quite started yet, but we have a general idea on what some of our party will look like. We plan to have a dedicated spell caster (such as a wizard, sorcerer, or a warlock- probably a warlock if I had to guess) and a rouge of some sort. And of course, me as the oath of redemption paladin (I don't know what their subclasses will be). We might have a cleric but I'm not sure. So because of that I'm thinking taking defense would help me defend and tank for my part. On the other hand, blessed fighter would thematically mesh well with an oath of redemption paladin. So far I'm leaning towards defense because I plan on using two handed melee weapons. Edit: but having cantrips as a paladin is very interesting to me. It sounds like a lot of fun using cantrips as a paladin. Especially for a high charisma build.
As for feats, I'm definitely taking crusher because I think it's cool. So I'll swap out my javelins with a light hammer and my long sword for a whip (for the reach).
update: I’ve decided to take the defense fighting style because it gives me extra armor class and blessed fighter, while seemingly fun doesn’t seem as helpful as the extra armor. I’ve also decided to bump down my strength by one down to 14 at level one. At level 4 I will either bump up my strength to 16 OR take the great weapon master feat. I’m thinking of getting my strength up to 16 at level 8 because I think GWM seems like a lot of fun (though it would go against the theme of character I’m trying to build. Maybe just put the points in strength OR find a charisma based feat that works as a bonus action or something.)
i think that’s a decent compromise. It’s all up to what my dm says and how my team mates feel, though. With all that said and done I’m really proud of my character. I want to explore a more intelligent and more peaceful paladin with the path of redemption. I might have to bump down my int depending what my DM says, though.
edit: at level 8 I might maybe look into multiclassing. Pally bard seems like an interesting combination, maybe with valor glamor or swords college. But that’s a a big maybe though
edit 2: since I have lower constitution than some other martial builds, I think defense would be best, but it still makes me wonder how blessed warrior could be. I have very little idea how it works and how I can use it to its fullest potential.