Paladin's can now Smite with a thrown weapon (unless I am very much mistakes), which when combined with the Trident with Topple mastery (they can knock flying enemies prone, causing them to fall), makes ranged combat much less of a problem even without a ranged cantrip or weapon. But you would have to choose between Bonus Actions...
This brings us to the Warlock 1-3 level dip, that is less attractive now despite Warlocks getting more powerful. However, staying pure Paladin and keeping Str at 15 whilst focussing on Charisma would allow the player to take Eldritch Adept (Pact of the Blade) to fix the MAD issue :-) You also gain a Bonus Action to return a bonded thrown weapon to hand.
As long as they don't shove a prerequisite on the pacts (like 1st level warlock), then it should work.
Assuming background feats are remaining from UA then Paladin already has a solution for ranged combat, that is taking magic initiate as a background feat to pick up a ranged cantrip or two, there is also the blessed warrior fighting style but I'd rather take magic initiate and go with an alternative fighting style (magic initiative gives more than Blessed Warrior and Paladin can't pick up a fighting style using background feat). Of course there are other background feats to consider, Alert, Lucky and Musician (from UA1) were all great options.
I'll note one major issue with Eldritch Adept(Pact of the Blade), is that while it gives a SAD option, it's not going to work as well with the new half-feat design that has been seen throughout the UA since things like GWM, PAM, etc, don't give Charisma (but Warcaster does). As such your damage output using this method is just going to do less damage than a STR based paladin when you look to invest into other feats, it's still plenty viable but a consideration for people going into polearms and heavy weapons. I think for a Devotion Paladin however it gets quiet OP, Sacred Weapon+Pact of the Blade should give insane attack rolls.
If you know you are going for one or two of those new half feats though, you could make your stats better using point buy and pick up the 15 strength for plate through a half feat… which could then benefit your character more overall.
That could work, but it may also leave a Paladin incapable of properly using plate armour until level 8/12 if taking Eldritch Adept at 4. If Eldritch Adept gets lowered to level 1, then it won't be as much of an issue tho.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Paladin Weaknesses: Flying Enemies, MAD
Paladin's can now Smite with a thrown weapon (unless I am very much mistakes), which when combined with the Trident with Topple mastery (they can knock flying enemies prone, causing them to fall), makes ranged combat much less of a problem even without a ranged cantrip or weapon. But you would have to choose between Bonus Actions...
This brings us to the Warlock 1-3 level dip, that is less attractive now despite Warlocks getting more powerful. However, staying pure Paladin and keeping Str at 15 whilst focussing on Charisma would allow the player to take Eldritch Adept (Pact of the Blade) to fix the MAD issue :-) You also gain a Bonus Action to return a bonded thrown weapon to hand.
As long as they don't shove a prerequisite on the pacts (like 1st level warlock), then it should work.
Assuming background feats are remaining from UA then Paladin already has a solution for ranged combat, that is taking magic initiate as a background feat to pick up a ranged cantrip or two, there is also the blessed warrior fighting style but I'd rather take magic initiate and go with an alternative fighting style (magic initiative gives more than Blessed Warrior and Paladin can't pick up a fighting style using background feat). Of course there are other background feats to consider, Alert, Lucky and Musician (from UA1) were all great options.
I'll note one major issue with Eldritch Adept(Pact of the Blade), is that while it gives a SAD option, it's not going to work as well with the new half-feat design that has been seen throughout the UA since things like GWM, PAM, etc, don't give Charisma (but Warcaster does). As such your damage output using this method is just going to do less damage than a STR based paladin when you look to invest into other feats, it's still plenty viable but a consideration for people going into polearms and heavy weapons. I think for a Devotion Paladin however it gets quiet OP, Sacred Weapon+Pact of the Blade should give insane attack rolls.
If you know you are going for one or two of those new half feats though, you could make your stats better using point buy and pick up the 15 strength for plate through a half feat… which could then benefit your character more overall.
Something like: 14 strength, 8 dexterity, 16 (+1) constitution, 8 intellegence, 10 wisdom, 17 (+2) charisma
That could work, but it may also leave a Paladin incapable of properly using plate armour until level 8/12 if taking Eldritch Adept at 4. If Eldritch Adept gets lowered to level 1, then it won't be as much of an issue tho.