Shield & +1 Lance for mounted combat. Mounted Combatant earned as extra feat in downtime. +1 Splint Armor. (AC 21)
Attunement items: +1 Amulet of Devout; Shield that increases Auras to 20 ft; Ring that reduces cold dmg by 2d8 (reaction). Soon to purchase a helm that has Sentinel Shield properties, helping shore up weaknesses in Initiative & Perception. Considering Guardian Emblem to replace cold ring. Beyond that, not sure what items I'll have access to.
Have found great value to party just staying up for Auras & Bless coverage, hence the slightly more defensive approach. We have Barb/Monk that is pretty hardy & hard-hitting. Mounted Combatant is a decent source of Advantage for medium creatures and smaller, but I know I should count on that less moving forward and seek to buff my hit rate. I lean hard on Bless. I am also very curious to find a good use my Bonus Action.
For future ASI/feats, I'm considering: War Caster (to protect Bless), Telekinetic (for regular use of BA for friend or foe and +1 to CHA), Fey Touched (for spell, extra Misty Step and +1 to CHA), or just ASIs to STR or CHA. The latter seem so plainly useful on a MAD Paladin, but the half feats seem pretty tempting. It's just 4 levels between getting to round off the stat.
What are you using for a weapon when you’re not mounted? Or are you just not using a shield then? (Lances have that thing where you can only use them with one hand while mounted.) I ask because if you are using that weapon a lot, slasher or crusher might be something to look at.
The easiest way to boost your hit rate is to put asi into str — or find a magic weapon, of course. Another common option in ‘14 is to dip 1 level into hexblade warlock so you can use cha as your attack stat. (And get eldritch blast to give you a good ranged option.) Then you could do something like telekinetic and fey touched to get cha to 20 and give you lots of utility.
’14 paladins don’t get a lot of use from BA, except for smite spells. Most of those, of course, range from crappy to situationally very good, but usually you’re better off just using the base divine smite with no action economy issues for the higher damage. But misty step is a great BA, especially since if you’re mounted on your find steed, you can bring your mount with you.
Yeah I have not been wowed by Paladin spell options that can are BA, other than Misty Step, which is solid. Most of the rest are concentration but only one-time spells (Smite spells), which all compete with Bless or Spirit Shroud, which provide ongoing benefits.
Multi-classing into Warlock I know is popular. Just not the path for my Pally tho. :)
The other question is what level you’re going to. You don’t really have room to get two scores up another 2 each unless you just asi. But an 18 cha is fantastic, I’d not bother raising it. So just go with the str asi. Or find gauntlets of ogre power, or some other str boosting item. If you can get that kind of thing, then I’d focus on cha.
Would love an item like Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Our DM seems keen to limit items that they think would unbalance things. Not sure if/when that may come. So I may want to just raise STR at level 12. Always attacking, so it’s always useful.
I raised CHA to 18 at level 8 because it seemed our party ended up on the ropes when saves were failed. And raising CHA helps all 6 saves for all allies within 20 feet, including my concentration saves. Tough call.
As for using my Bonus Action, I’ve tried to look up some items that could help, but haven’t seen anything too special.
If you're going for being a buffer than 20 Charisma is a must. The two feats, Telekinetic and Fey Touched, do they do that much for you?
Telekinetic, the BA shove is nice but to get that, you need to use an action to cast Mage Hand and Mage Hand only lasts a minute, will you be using a full turn just to get a few shoves when you could be making two attacks instead?
Fey Touched, Paladin is a half-caster so past the 1/LR casts, it's going to be burning valuable slots. Misty Step should be usable with a Mount from the Find Steed spell at least. Thematically at least, Fey Touched does fit an Oath of Ancients paladin.
A consideration here might be to switch for an ASI +2 Charisma, and taking inspiring leader, this goes deeper into the buffer side of things and the temporary HP can also be applied to your mount.
I would probably recommend having either Warcaster or Resilent (Constitution), I assume Warcaster is also freeing up S components for you
Telekinetic, the BA shove is nice but to get that, you need to use an action to cast Mage Hand and Mage Hand only lasts a minute, will you be using a full turn just to get a few shoves when you could be making two attacks instead?
Where do you see you need mage hand active to shove? They are two separate things. You get mage hand, and you can BA shove people. I don’t see any language about “while mage hand is active” or anything to that effect.
Telekinetic, the BA shove is nice but to get that, you need to use an action to cast Mage Hand and Mage Hand only lasts a minute, will you be using a full turn just to get a few shoves when you could be making two attacks instead?
Where do you see you need mage hand active to shove? They are two separate things. You get mage hand, and you can BA shove people. I don’t see any language about “while mage hand is active” or anything to that effect.
Whoops on my part here, yea, it's not dependent on the hand.
As for using my Bonus Action, I’ve tried to look up some items that could help, but haven’t seen anything too special.
Every thrown weapon is now smite bait; skip telekinetic for Thunderous/Shining Smite spam.
Telekinetic runs into the brickwall of an overcrowded BA where the most interesting thing a Paladin can be doing is their smites, and by 5th level, arguably the best thing you could be doing.
For future ASI/feats, I'm considering: War Caster (to protect Bless), Telekinetic (for regular use of BA for friend or foe and +1 to CHA), Fey Touched (for spell, extra Misty Step and +1 to CHA), or just ASIs to STR or CHA. The latter seem so plainly useful on a MAD Paladin, but the half feats seem pretty tempting. It's just 4 levels between getting to round off the stat.
Anyhow, thoughts?
Find Steed has a build in Fey Teleport to eat the value of a Fey Touched option.
I like Resilient (Con) more than Warcaster (the value this has is low; your bless' mileage is low past level 5, and your Con gets silly good with Resilient).
As for using my Bonus Action, I’ve tried to look up some items that could help, but haven’t seen anything too special.
Every thrown weapon is now smite bait; skip telekinetic for Thunderous/Shining Smite spam.
Telekinetic runs into the brickwall of an overcrowded BA where the most interesting thing a Paladin can be doing is their smites, and by 5th level, arguably the best thing you could be doing.
For future ASI/feats, I'm considering: War Caster (to protect Bless), Telekinetic (for regular use of BA for friend or foe and +1 to CHA), Fey Touched (for spell, extra Misty Step and +1 to CHA), or just ASIs to STR or CHA. The latter seem so plainly useful on a MAD Paladin, but the half feats seem pretty tempting. It's just 4 levels between getting to round off the stat.
Anyhow, thoughts?
Find Steed has a build in Fey Teleport to eat the value of a Fey Touched option.
I like Resilient (Con) more than Warcaster (the value this has is low; your bless' mileage is low past level 5, and your Con gets silly good with Resilient).
They specified 2014.
Warcaster enables casting these spells while holding lance and shield, Spirit Shroud and Holy Weapon are most notable in the list. Altho they can not be cast while Bless is up, they are still good options too have. For a support build just having access too Cure Wounds, Dispel Magic, Lesser Restoration and Remove Curse are probably more of the draw. Resilient Constitution is going to be slightly better for holding concentration but this is already a high CHA, high CON build and primarily uses Bless and doesn't fulfil the somatic component for spells with the somatic component like warcaster does.
Additionally there is a few things that can be done with the reaction. If a particularly strong creature leaves your range, you could use Warcaster to try and cast command on them and order them to flee. So overall, I think for this build, Warcaster is just better.
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Curious for input on general directions for my Ancients Paladin (2014 rules) - feats, items, and other ways to improve:
Level 9: 16, 12, 16, 10, 14, 18 -- Species: Cervan -- Defense Fighting Style
Shield & +1 Lance for mounted combat. Mounted Combatant earned as extra feat in downtime. +1 Splint Armor. (AC 21)
Attunement items: +1 Amulet of Devout; Shield that increases Auras to 20 ft; Ring that reduces cold dmg by 2d8 (reaction). Soon to purchase a helm that has Sentinel Shield properties, helping shore up weaknesses in Initiative & Perception. Considering Guardian Emblem to replace cold ring. Beyond that, not sure what items I'll have access to.
Have found great value to party just staying up for Auras & Bless coverage, hence the slightly more defensive approach. We have Barb/Monk that is pretty hardy & hard-hitting. Mounted Combatant is a decent source of Advantage for medium creatures and smaller, but I know I should count on that less moving forward and seek to buff my hit rate. I lean hard on Bless. I am also very curious to find a good use my Bonus Action.
For future ASI/feats, I'm considering: War Caster (to protect Bless), Telekinetic (for regular use of BA for friend or foe and +1 to CHA), Fey Touched (for spell, extra Misty Step and +1 to CHA), or just ASIs to STR or CHA. The latter seem so plainly useful on a MAD Paladin, but the half feats seem pretty tempting. It's just 4 levels between getting to round off the stat.
Anyhow, thoughts?
What are you using for a weapon when you’re not mounted? Or are you just not using a shield then? (Lances have that thing where you can only use them with one hand while mounted.) I ask because if you are using that weapon a lot, slasher or crusher might be something to look at.
The easiest way to boost your hit rate is to put asi into str — or find a magic weapon, of course. Another common option in ‘14 is to dip 1 level into hexblade warlock so you can use cha as your attack stat. (And get eldritch blast to give you a good ranged option.) Then you could do something like telekinetic and fey touched to get cha to 20 and give you lots of utility.
’14 paladins don’t get a lot of use from BA, except for smite spells. Most of those, of course, range from crappy to situationally very good, but usually you’re better off just using the base divine smite with no action economy issues for the higher damage. But misty step is a great BA, especially since if you’re mounted on your find steed, you can bring your mount with you.
Good input, thx.
+1 Warhammer & Shield when not mounted.
Yeah I have not been wowed by Paladin spell options that can are BA, other than Misty Step, which is solid. Most of the rest are concentration but only one-time spells (Smite spells), which all compete with Bless or Spirit Shroud, which provide ongoing benefits.
Multi-classing into Warlock I know is popular. Just not the path for my Pally tho. :)
The other question is what level you’re going to. You don’t really have room to get two scores up another 2 each unless you just asi. But an 18 cha is fantastic, I’d not bother raising it. So just go with the str asi.
Or find gauntlets of ogre power, or some other str boosting item. If you can get that kind of thing, then I’d focus on cha.
Okay cool. Yeah we aim to play to 20.
Would love an item like Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Our DM seems keen to limit items that they think would unbalance things. Not sure if/when that may come. So I may want to just raise STR at level 12. Always attacking, so it’s always useful.
I raised CHA to 18 at level 8 because it seemed our party ended up on the ropes when saves were failed. And raising CHA helps all 6 saves for all allies within 20 feet, including my concentration saves. Tough call.
As for using my Bonus Action, I’ve tried to look up some items that could help, but haven’t seen anything too special.
If you're going for being a buffer than 20 Charisma is a must. The two feats, Telekinetic and Fey Touched, do they do that much for you?
Telekinetic, the BA shove is nice but to get that, you need to use an action to cast Mage Hand and Mage Hand only lasts a minute, will you be using a full turn just to get a few shoves when you could be making two attacks instead?
Fey Touched, Paladin is a half-caster so past the 1/LR casts, it's going to be burning valuable slots. Misty Step should be usable with a Mount from the Find Steed spell at least. Thematically at least, Fey Touched does fit an Oath of Ancients paladin.
A consideration here might be to switch for an ASI +2 Charisma, and taking inspiring leader, this goes deeper into the buffer side of things and the temporary HP can also be applied to your mount.
I would probably recommend having either Warcaster or Resilent (Constitution), I assume Warcaster is also freeing up S components for you
Where do you see you need mage hand active to shove? They are two separate things. You get mage hand, and you can BA shove people. I don’t see any language about “while mage hand is active” or anything to that effect.
Whoops on my part here, yea, it's not dependent on the hand.
Every thrown weapon is now smite bait; skip telekinetic for Thunderous/Shining Smite spam.
Telekinetic runs into the brickwall of an overcrowded BA where the most interesting thing a Paladin can be doing is their smites, and by 5th level, arguably the best thing you could be doing.
Find Steed has a build in Fey Teleport to eat the value of a Fey Touched option.
I like Resilient (Con) more than Warcaster (the value this has is low; your bless' mileage is low past level 5, and your Con gets silly good with Resilient).
They specified 2014.
Warcaster enables casting these spells while holding lance and shield, Spirit Shroud and Holy Weapon are most notable in the list. Altho they can not be cast while Bless is up, they are still good options too have. For a support build just having access too Cure Wounds, Dispel Magic, Lesser Restoration and Remove Curse are probably more of the draw. Resilient Constitution is going to be slightly better for holding concentration but this is already a high CHA, high CON build and primarily uses Bless and doesn't fulfil the somatic component for spells with the somatic component like warcaster does.
Additionally there is a few things that can be done with the reaction. If a particularly strong creature leaves your range, you could use Warcaster to try and cast command on them and order them to flee. So overall, I think for this build, Warcaster is just better.