I have possibly a terrible, terrible build idea. Uses 2014 classes and rules.
Starts with Oathbreaker (to 7+) then hits up a little bit of barbarian (at least 2) and a some extra Rogue (Swashbuckler) (maybe not strictly neccesary, but it adds some nice extra bits.)
Oathbreaker, gives baseline paladin abilities, plus aura of hate, hellish rebuke, darkness, animate dead.
Barbarian, at least to level 2 gives Reckless Attack (and I don't care about my enemies getting advantage to hit me back,) and at level 3, with Berserker, Frenzy (saves on having to take Polearm Master feat, with a bit more damage to boot.)
Rogue adds a bit of extra utility (important in the dnd sever I'm in,) but Swashbuckler has some nice bonuses that pair well with a front line cha tank, such as Fancy Footwork, - allowing me to slip away from one enemy and go after something that needs dealing with (casters, or laying hands on someone,) and Rakish Audacity, which includes a nice CHA bonus to Init. Rogue dip isn't strictly, but that extra utility - especially on Bonus Action has really shown up useful in other characters.
Pre Barb/Rogue levels, it's a basic Oathbreaker, hit things with Sword and Board, and smites. Once Reckless Attack and Frenzy get online, GWM Greatsword.
I could ditch the Rogue, and go another 4 levels in Zerker for Mindless Rage, and Feral Instinct. Or Into Oathbreaker for Supernatural Resistance and Cleansing Touch.
Server i am on, uses 75+ stat rolls, so overall stats should be good enough to support this build hitting both STR and CHA to 20 with GWM, and an ASI or two left over.
Barbarian Rage doesn't work well with spellcasters which means you can not use any Paladin spells (including smites) or concentrate on spells while using Rage, which actually limits Paladin quiet heavily. Barbarian Rage prohibits Heavy Armor, which is a Paladin's go-to, you'd be restricted to Medium Armor which means you can't dump Dexterity (normal for Paladin). But if you don't use Rage, you're losing out on some of Barbarian's Core Feature.
So from all of this you need Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma. In 2014 you could still Divine Smite while raging but in 2024 you can not even do that, which makes the Paladin/Barbarian multiclass a much harder sell. You are either losing out on most of your Paladin benefits or most of your Barbarian benefits.
This is before you then add Rogue into the mix, Sneak Attack, Rogue's main bonus, can't be used on a Greatsword, you already have Dexterity and Barbarian gives advantage on initiative, so what is Rogue actually adding here?
In all this, it would not be Rogue I recommend dropping, it'd be Barbarian. A paladin/swashbuckler can work, more so an Oath of Vengence Paladin with a Swashbuckler, since Vow of Enmity can be used for getting on sneak attacks you might else wise not be able to get, and then using a rapier with shield and the duelling fighting style. You would lose out on GWM from going down this route tho.
Another consideration might be the Paladin/Valor Bard multiclass, since Valor Bard's extra attack allows for an attack to be swapped with a cantrip, that cantrip could be True Strike, Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade. This will add far more damage than Barbarian, for a Paladin while also giving additional spell slots and additional spells. Valor Bard also gives Jack of all Trades and Expertise which gives it a lot of utility.
Ok, maybe scratch the rogue part and just go Oathbreaker / Zerker
And this is with 2014 classes and mechanics.
Berserker with 2014 mechanics is unusable as it gives a level of Exhaustion per use of Frenzy. From 2014, Zealot does a lot better.
The Exhaustion levels I'm not worried about, will have access to Greater Restoration, and I won't be doing a lot of ability checks post combat.
So another character will be casting Greater Restoration? because Paladin doesn't get Greater Restoration in 2014, that's new to 2024. And then, you're asking another player to sacrifice a 4th level slot or higher every time you frenzy, so it's adding quiet a burden on to the party.
It can work, but it's definitely not ideal, overall, I'm only advising on how well it'll work, you can play whatever your DM okies, I just think this is a very sub-optimum build. I'd definitely recommend Zealot over Berserker. The only benefit of Frenze is that it allows you to make an attack as a bonus action, but Rage costs a bonus action in the first place, so you can't use it the same turn you rage. More so, if you are going greatsword, you'll probably want to pick up Great Weapon Master at some point, and Great Weapon Master gives the occasional bonus action attack, which conflicts with Frenzy. Overall, Berserker is about the worst archetype/subclass in 2014 for barbarian, to the point I'd almost call it a trap option, whereas in 2024 it's actually pretty decent.
In all my years of playing, I've only see someone use GWM's BA cleave attack twice, and it was when a DM put a bunch of goblins against the high level party as part of a larger encounter.
I forgot to put it above, but yes, GWM will be used.
In all my years of playing, I've only see someone use GWM's BA cleave attack twice, and it was when a DM put a bunch of goblins against the high level party as part of a larger encounter.
I forgot to put it above, but yes, GWM will be used.
Hew should be kicking in far more often than that, with extra attack, you have a 9.75% chance to activate it via a critical hit with a normal attack, that goes too a 18.5% chance with advantage. so it should effectively be triggering around 1 in 10 rounds with normal attacks and 1 in 5 rounds with advantage with extra attack. Then add on reducing a creature to 0HP, it should be occurring even more often than that. Realistically, it should be occurring about once, an encounter, with Rage, it'd probably be more like three times every four encounters since rage is using a bonus action itself.
With a cleave weapon in 2024, you can actually make the chance even higher of getting Hew, since cleaves gives an extra attack which can both critical hit and can also potentially be the hit that knocks a creature to 0HP.
In all my years of playing, I've only see someone use GWM's BA cleave attack twice, and it was when a DM put a bunch of goblins against the high level party as part of a larger encounter.
I forgot to put it above, but yes, GWM will be used.
Hew should be kicking in far more often than that, with extra attack, you have a 9.75% chance to activate it via a critical hit with a normal attack, that goes too a 18.5% chance with advantage. so it should effectively be triggering around 1 in 10 rounds with normal attacks and 1 in 5 rounds with advantage with extra attack. Then add on reducing a creature to 0HP, it should be occurring even more often than that. Realistically, it should be occurring about once, an encounter, with Rage, it'd probably be more like three times every four encounters since rage is using a bonus action itself.
With a cleave weapon in 2024, you can actually make the chance even higher of getting Hew, since cleaves gives an extra attack which can both critical hit and can also potentially be the hit that knocks a creature to 0HP.
In all my years of playing, I've only see someone use GWM's BA cleave attack twice, and it was when a DM put a bunch of goblins against the high level party as part of a larger encounter.
I forgot to put it above, but yes, GWM will be used.
Hew should be kicking in far more often than that, with extra attack, you have a 9.75% chance to activate it via a critical hit with a normal attack, that goes too a 18.5% chance with advantage. so it should effectively be triggering around 1 in 10 rounds with normal attacks and 1 in 5 rounds with advantage with extra attack. Then add on reducing a creature to 0HP, it should be occurring even more often than that. Realistically, it should be occurring about once, an encounter, with Rage, it'd probably be more like three times every four encounters since rage is using a bonus action itself.
With a cleave weapon in 2024, you can actually make the chance even higher of getting Hew, since cleaves gives an extra attack which can both critical hit and can also potentially be the hit that knocks a creature to 0HP.
2014 rules.
yes, other than the one line that specifies 2024, the rest would be true in 2014 still.
I have possibly a terrible, terrible build idea. Uses 2014 classes and rules.
Starts with Oathbreaker (to 7+) then hits up a little bit of barbarian (at least 2) and a some extra Rogue (Swashbuckler) (maybe not strictly neccesary, but it adds some nice extra bits.)
Oathbreaker, gives baseline paladin abilities, plus aura of hate, hellish rebuke, darkness, animate dead.
Barbarian, at least to level 2 gives Reckless Attack (and I don't care about my enemies getting advantage to hit me back,) and at level 3, with Berserker, Frenzy (saves on having to take Polearm Master feat, with a bit more damage to boot.)
Rogue adds a bit of extra utility (important in the dnd sever I'm in,) but Swashbuckler has some nice bonuses that pair well with a front line cha tank, such as Fancy Footwork, - allowing me to slip away from one enemy and go after something that needs dealing with (casters, or laying hands on someone,) and Rakish Audacity, which includes a nice CHA bonus to Init. Rogue dip isn't strictly, but that extra utility - especially on Bonus Action has really shown up useful in other characters.
Pre Barb/Rogue levels, it's a basic Oathbreaker, hit things with Sword and Board, and smites. Once Reckless Attack and Frenzy get online, GWM Greatsword.
I could ditch the Rogue, and go another 4 levels in Zerker for Mindless Rage, and Feral Instinct. Or Into Oathbreaker for Supernatural Resistance and Cleansing Touch.
Server i am on, uses 75+ stat rolls, so overall stats should be good enough to support this build hitting both STR and CHA to 20 with GWM, and an ASI or two left over.
Honestly, It's not a good build.
Barbarian Rage doesn't work well with spellcasters which means you can not use any Paladin spells (including smites) or concentrate on spells while using Rage, which actually limits Paladin quiet heavily. Barbarian Rage prohibits Heavy Armor, which is a Paladin's go-to, you'd be restricted to Medium Armor which means you can't dump Dexterity (normal for Paladin). But if you don't use Rage, you're losing out on some of Barbarian's Core Feature.
So from all of this you need Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma. In 2014 you could still Divine Smite while raging but in 2024 you can not even do that, which makes the Paladin/Barbarian multiclass a much harder sell. You are either losing out on most of your Paladin benefits or most of your Barbarian benefits.
This is before you then add Rogue into the mix, Sneak Attack, Rogue's main bonus, can't be used on a Greatsword, you already have Dexterity and Barbarian gives advantage on initiative, so what is Rogue actually adding here?
In all this, it would not be Rogue I recommend dropping, it'd be Barbarian. A paladin/swashbuckler can work, more so an Oath of Vengence Paladin with a Swashbuckler, since Vow of Enmity can be used for getting on sneak attacks you might else wise not be able to get, and then using a rapier with shield and the duelling fighting style. You would lose out on GWM from going down this route tho.
Another consideration might be the Paladin/Valor Bard multiclass, since Valor Bard's extra attack allows for an attack to be swapped with a cantrip, that cantrip could be True Strike, Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade. This will add far more damage than Barbarian, for a Paladin while also giving additional spell slots and additional spells. Valor Bard also gives Jack of all Trades and Expertise which gives it a lot of utility.
Ok, maybe scratch the rogue part and just go Oathbreaker / Zerker
And this is with 2014 classes and mechanics.
Berserker with 2014 mechanics is unusable as it gives a level of Exhaustion per use of Frenzy. From 2014, Zealot does a lot better.
The Exhaustion levels I'm not worried about, will have access to Greater Restoration, and I won't be doing a lot of ability checks post combat.
So another character will be casting Greater Restoration? because Paladin doesn't get Greater Restoration in 2014, that's new to 2024. And then, you're asking another player to sacrifice a 4th level slot or higher every time you frenzy, so it's adding quiet a burden on to the party.
It can work, but it's definitely not ideal, overall, I'm only advising on how well it'll work, you can play whatever your DM okies, I just think this is a very sub-optimum build. I'd definitely recommend Zealot over Berserker. The only benefit of Frenze is that it allows you to make an attack as a bonus action, but Rage costs a bonus action in the first place, so you can't use it the same turn you rage. More so, if you are going greatsword, you'll probably want to pick up Great Weapon Master at some point, and Great Weapon Master gives the occasional bonus action attack, which conflicts with Frenzy. Overall, Berserker is about the worst archetype/subclass in 2014 for barbarian, to the point I'd almost call it a trap option, whereas in 2024 it's actually pretty decent.
In all my years of playing, I've only see someone use GWM's BA cleave attack twice, and it was when a DM put a bunch of goblins against the high level party as part of a larger encounter.
I forgot to put it above, but yes, GWM will be used.
Hew should be kicking in far more often than that, with extra attack, you have a 9.75% chance to activate it via a critical hit with a normal attack, that goes too a 18.5% chance with advantage. so it should effectively be triggering around 1 in 10 rounds with normal attacks and 1 in 5 rounds with advantage with extra attack. Then add on reducing a creature to 0HP, it should be occurring even more often than that. Realistically, it should be occurring about once, an encounter, with Rage, it'd probably be more like three times every four encounters since rage is using a bonus action itself.
With a cleave weapon in 2024, you can actually make the chance even higher of getting Hew, since cleaves gives an extra attack which can both critical hit and can also potentially be the hit that knocks a creature to 0HP.
2014 rules.
yes, other than the one line that specifies 2024, the rest would be true in 2014 still.
Yea, I think after many years of playing this game, I can be confident in saying - the BA attack on GWM isn't a consideration at all.