So, as the title says, what are some good ranged attack options for a paladin? I just started playing my first paladin, but i usually have the problem that i'm unable to do anything with my character, since, before i can even get in range, everyone else already killed all the enemies or they keep running out of my reach and all i can do is chase them without ever actually getting an attack in.
i guess javelins are a kind of a thing, but they don't really fit my character themetically, so isn't there anything else you can use? because, as far as i'm aware, crossbows and the likes don't really get the added bonues of smite attacks, which really sucks.
Paladins are built to be melee combatants, so your options are going to be limited. I'd try to address the real problem first, which is that your party and DM don't seem to be cooperating with you. That said, I don't understand how you find yourself in that situation so consistently. Are you using the Dash action? What's the rest of the party look like? Are you in the front rank while the party travels? Is your DM even using that rule? Do the other players know you're not having as much fun because of this?
Now for your ranged options. Divine Smite is out of the question, but Divine Favor, Bless and Magic Weapon work with any weapon attack. Oath of the Ancients gives you access to Ensnaring Strike, while Oath of Vengeance give you Bane and Hunter's Mark. All of these spells will give smart monsters a reason to come to you since they'll want to break your concentration. Branding Smite also works with ranged weapons, but it's not worth using just for the damage.
As for weapons, assuming you prioritized Strength, thrown melee weapons are going to work well at first, but once you get Extra Attack, they'll fall behind. You can only draw one weapon for free each turn, so you can't throw two weapons every round. On the other hand, ranged weapons use Dexterity, which isn't great since your second highest ability score should arguably be Charisma. So neither of those options are ideal in the long run. It's possible to make a DEX Paladin instead, but you already made your character.
If your DM allows feats, Mobile, Sentinel, Alert or Shield Master can all help you reach enemies or limit their movement options, though if you can get your friends to cooperate, I'd recommend War Caster over Mobile or Alert.
Can you tell us a bit about your Paladin thematically and mechanically? (In terms of stats+Oath) Might help to give suggestions =) Some idea of level range and campaign type might be good too so we know what end of the game to play with.
If I'm not mistaken I don't believe that there is any way to smite at a distance unfortunately. You could rule lawyer it that the Javelin is a melee weapon even if its thrown, but I don't think that's how the rule is intended. If your DM is flexible you could ask them to allow a homebrew ranged option (Maybe reduce the smite by 1d8/reduce the d8s to d6s if they think it's too powerful?) On the subject of the DM though, maybe you can discuss that you are feeling a little underutilized at the moment and ask if a couple of sturdier melee enemies can be added in. Sounds frustrating if everyone's running away
In addition to javelins there are also the options of hand axes, daggers, light hammers, spears and tridents but they are pretty similar to javelins in function so that might be a problem. As you mentioned, you've got the option for crossbows, but you do have longbows/shortbows too as an alternative (Though assuming you are a strength based Paladin, maybe not optimal). You could pack nets to try and restrain opponents, but it's kind of an odd choice and probably not thematically appropriate for your character I assume?
Going back to the oaths, a handful get options to control or attack at range. Redemption gets a somewhat situational Control Person or Sleep spell to allow you to pin a target down. Oath of the Ancients gets Moonbeam or Ice storm for distant targets, and can use Ensnaring Strike through a bow or blade to restrain a slippery opponent. Vengance can close the distance with Misty Step, Haste, and also gets Hold person to try and pin things down. Conquest gets Hold Person as well for control. Devotion eventually gets Flame Strike for ranged, but you'll be waiting a while for that unfortunately.
If you get creative with your spells you could take things like Compelled Duel, Shield of Faith, Aura of Vitality and so on to make yourself a more tempting target. There is also find steed to increase your mobility if you are fighting in the open field, but it's not great indoors.
Final suggestion would be to pick up a feat. With Magic initiate you could grab the clerics sacred flame or word of radiance for holy flavor. The Wood and High Elf feats could also be handy if appropriate to your Paladins race, but the teleportation is a little limited
That said, I don't understand how you find yourself in that situation so consistently. Are you using the Dash action? What's the rest of the party look like? Are you in the front rank while the party travels? Is your DM even using that rule? Do the other players know you're not having as much fun because of this?
Can you tell us a bit about your Paladin thematically and mechanically? (In terms of stats+Oath) Might help to give suggestions =) Some idea of level range and campaign type might be good too so we know what end of the game to play with.
It's a heavily hombrewed setting. In our party we have a tiefling wild surge sorcerer, a sharpshooter fighter, a wizard dwarf variant thingy; a complete hombrew guy (think of him as wizard/druid), an half-elf beast master ranger with an op dog at his side and me, a good old human redemption paladin.
As you can see, a lot of these guys have fairly decent ranged options. Doesn't help that the human enemies we fought so far have all been cultists, who have a certain fondness for pistols, so they don't really like melee combat too well either. Don't get me wrong, i do enjoy myself, and the fights against none cultist are fun, but it can get a bit tedious if you can't really get to the enemy before they are dead. Last session (our 4th one) was basically just me running over to a group of enemeies, before "oh nope, wait the sorcerer and the ranger just killed those. okay, then i run over to the other group instead. oh no wait, the fighter, wizard and hybrid guy just killed those. nevermind then." These type of situations can get a bit tedious and even though it only happened once so far (well more like twice, but the first one was just a quick end of session skirmish so i don't really count it), i don't want this to become a trend, so i was simply thinking about doing some pre-emptive considerations about it, before things can turn sour.
Oh don't get me wrong, i trust the DM to not make it an issue and there already have been talks about some homebrew equipment i can use instead, basically weapons that slow down or trip enemies, but wat if i want to play in the future and my next DM won't be as considerate? So i was just wondering wether or not there were some canon options to circumvent that potential issue in the future.
Get between your enemies and your allies. This will give your enemies half cover from your allies, making it more likely that they will survive until you kill them. Your allies will be shouting “get out of my line of fire” but just insist that you are protecting your allies since they get half cover too.
I’m joking of course but you will be drawing a lot of fire so your friends shouldn’t be too upset. They call you a meat-shield for a reason. Also, you are the reason that your enemies can’t just drop prone to give your allies disadvantage on their ranged attacks.
Your job on this team isn’t showy but it is important. Your ranged attacker allies would be a lot less effective if you weren’t there. You are like an offensive lineman in American football. The quarterbacks, running backs and receivers get all the glory but they wouldn’t get anywhere without someone blocking for them.
Your DM should be mixing it up with the types of combat encounters. Skirmishes like you describe are just one type. Enemies can use terrain and cover to close with ranged attackers. Enemies with ranged weapons can move out from behind total cover, attack and then move back the cover. Your allies could use the Ready action to attack them when they step out but unless the Ready action triggers are carefully worded, they may end up all shooting at the same target resulting In overkill. In these situations, the threat you pose with melee becomes more important and it’s more likely you’ll get to hack away at some enemies. I think even your ranged friends would want to see variety in the tactics your enemies use.
You can pick up any bow or crossbow as paladins have proficiency in all simple or martial weapons, but as you observed they are not really effective weapons for you.
Talk to your DM about having enemies use cover and setting encounters in close quarters where missile weapons aren't a good option so you have a chance to use your melee abilities. Combat should be fun for you too.
I assume you have a better cha than dex, you could grab magic initiate feat in sorcereror warlock for a ranged cantrip and something utility like hex (always fun to give disadvantage on an opposed shove roll) then you have a strong range option and a new utility. My paladin dealt with range by being the tiefling varient that gets Ray of frost, little late for that for you.
Get between your enemies and your allies. This will give your enemies half cover from your allies, making it more likely that they will survive until you kill them. Your allies will be shouting “get out of my line of fire” but just insist that you are protecting your allies since they get half cover too.
I’m joking of course but you will be drawing a lot of fire so your friends shouldn’t be too upset. They call you a meat-shield for a reason. Also, you are the reason that your enemies can’t just drop prone to give your allies disadvantage on their ranged attacks.
Add to that the dodge action and the fact that it's much easier for allies close to you to move for an open shot, take it, then move back than it is for enemies far away to do the same.
Paladins are generally bad at range unless you are Dex based. Since you likely have high Charisma, the easiest solution is magic initiate with Warlock. You pick up Hex and Eldritch Blast and do pretty good damage that scales with level. If you want to increase the damage you take a 2(or 3) level dip into Warlock instead and get Agonizing Blast.
Buy a horse / elephant / mechanical Vunderkangapanzer mit UberKannon. The last one is perhaps not available in your homebrewed game, roughly translated its a wonder-kangaroo-tank with Overcannons - you sit in the pouch turret observation port as you bound along, the kinetic pistons reloading the semi automatic cannon.
The steed will allow you to travel over to your opponents faster. If you allow the steed (horse) to act (have its own initiative score) It can attack and you can use half your movement to dismount / mount on your turn. for an extra jog. Alternatively your steed can dash rather than attack and 120' of distance can be covered, you may then dismount move a further 15' on your turn and rebuke the reprobates for making you have to buy a horse. No missile weapon needed.
My GM let me go on a quest to obtain Sunforger, which is a great option for a shield-using Paladin. Gives you a ranged attack and it’s AoE to boot (two places Paladins normally lag behind the pack.)
It depends what your dexterity is and what you use as your main melee weapon.
Smite only works with melee, picking up misty step through Fey touched is an option that can help with this problem. A mount can also help and a if you play a small Paladin you can get a dog or a wolf as a mount.
First off, redemption paladins aren't exactly made for damage. They tend not to actually want to kill people themselves, but they make good support casters. You can also come up with creative ways to catch the enemies.
Here's my advice: Use your spell slots to cast support spells instead of just smiting, try and improve your speed (talk to your DM about magic item shopping), use a polearm for the extra range, and maybe multiclass for some ranged options? A 2-level dip into warlock can pick up Eldritch Blast and the Agonizing Blast invocation, in addition to some exciting new spell options you can cast with your paladin spell slots! Alternately, you can try and find a magic item that gives you a ranged option while you're shopping for that speed-boosting thing.
Finally, talk to your DM about not always starting encounters at a distance. Ask for encounters that have monsters ambush in melee, or fight in a compact dungeon, or find cover from ranged attacks. If every encounter is a volley of ranged attacks, you won't be able to shine as a damage character.
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Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
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So, as the title says, what are some good ranged attack options for a paladin? I just started playing my first paladin, but i usually have the problem that i'm unable to do anything with my character, since, before i can even get in range, everyone else already killed all the enemies or they keep running out of my reach and all i can do is chase them without ever actually getting an attack in.
i guess javelins are a kind of a thing, but they don't really fit my character themetically, so isn't there anything else you can use? because, as far as i'm aware, crossbows and the likes don't really get the added bonues of smite attacks, which really sucks.
Paladins are built to be melee combatants, so your options are going to be limited. I'd try to address the real problem first, which is that your party and DM don't seem to be cooperating with you. That said, I don't understand how you find yourself in that situation so consistently. Are you using the Dash action? What's the rest of the party look like? Are you in the front rank while the party travels? Is your DM even using that rule? Do the other players know you're not having as much fun because of this?
Now for your ranged options. Divine Smite is out of the question, but Divine Favor, Bless and Magic Weapon work with any weapon attack. Oath of the Ancients gives you access to Ensnaring Strike, while Oath of Vengeance give you Bane and Hunter's Mark. All of these spells will give smart monsters a reason to come to you since they'll want to break your concentration. Branding Smite also works with ranged weapons, but it's not worth using just for the damage.
As for weapons, assuming you prioritized Strength, thrown melee weapons are going to work well at first, but once you get Extra Attack, they'll fall behind. You can only draw one weapon for free each turn, so you can't throw two weapons every round. On the other hand, ranged weapons use Dexterity, which isn't great since your second highest ability score should arguably be Charisma. So neither of those options are ideal in the long run. It's possible to make a DEX Paladin instead, but you already made your character.
If your DM allows feats, Mobile, Sentinel, Alert or Shield Master can all help you reach enemies or limit their movement options, though if you can get your friends to cooperate, I'd recommend War Caster over Mobile or Alert.
Can you tell us a bit about your Paladin thematically and mechanically? (In terms of stats+Oath) Might help to give suggestions =) Some idea of level range and campaign type might be good too so we know what end of the game to play with.
If I'm not mistaken I don't believe that there is any way to smite at a distance unfortunately. You could rule lawyer it that the Javelin is a melee weapon even if its thrown, but I don't think that's how the rule is intended. If your DM is flexible you could ask them to allow a homebrew ranged option (Maybe reduce the smite by 1d8/reduce the d8s to d6s if they think it's too powerful?) On the subject of the DM though, maybe you can discuss that you are feeling a little underutilized at the moment and ask if a couple of sturdier melee enemies can be added in. Sounds frustrating if everyone's running away
In addition to javelins there are also the options of hand axes, daggers, light hammers, spears and tridents but they are pretty similar to javelins in function so that might be a problem. As you mentioned, you've got the option for crossbows, but you do have longbows/shortbows too as an alternative (Though assuming you are a strength based Paladin, maybe not optimal). You could pack nets to try and restrain opponents, but it's kind of an odd choice and probably not thematically appropriate for your character I assume?
Going back to the oaths, a handful get options to control or attack at range. Redemption gets a somewhat situational Control Person or Sleep spell to allow you to pin a target down. Oath of the Ancients gets Moonbeam or Ice storm for distant targets, and can use Ensnaring Strike through a bow or blade to restrain a slippery opponent. Vengance can close the distance with Misty Step, Haste, and also gets Hold person to try and pin things down. Conquest gets Hold Person as well for control. Devotion eventually gets Flame Strike for ranged, but you'll be waiting a while for that unfortunately.
If you get creative with your spells you could take things like Compelled Duel, Shield of Faith, Aura of Vitality and so on to make yourself a more tempting target. There is also find steed to increase your mobility if you are fighting in the open field, but it's not great indoors.
Final suggestion would be to pick up a feat. With Magic initiate you could grab the clerics sacred flame or word of radiance for holy flavor. The Wood and High Elf feats could also be handy if appropriate to your Paladins race, but the teleportation is a little limited
It's a heavily hombrewed setting. In our party we have a tiefling wild surge sorcerer, a sharpshooter fighter, a wizard dwarf variant thingy; a complete hombrew guy (think of him as wizard/druid), an half-elf beast master ranger with an op dog at his side and me, a good old human redemption paladin.
As you can see, a lot of these guys have fairly decent ranged options. Doesn't help that the human enemies we fought so far have all been cultists, who have a certain fondness for pistols, so they don't really like melee combat too well either. Don't get me wrong, i do enjoy myself, and the fights against none cultist are fun, but it can get a bit tedious if you can't really get to the enemy before they are dead. Last session (our 4th one) was basically just me running over to a group of enemeies, before "oh nope, wait the sorcerer and the ranger just killed those. okay, then i run over to the other group instead. oh no wait, the fighter, wizard and hybrid guy just killed those. nevermind then." These type of situations can get a bit tedious and even though it only happened once so far (well more like twice, but the first one was just a quick end of session skirmish so i don't really count it), i don't want this to become a trend, so i was simply thinking about doing some pre-emptive considerations about it, before things can turn sour.
Oh don't get me wrong, i trust the DM to not make it an issue and there already have been talks about some homebrew equipment i can use instead, basically weapons that slow down or trip enemies, but wat if i want to play in the future and my next DM won't be as considerate? So i was just wondering wether or not there were some canon options to circumvent that potential issue in the future.
Get between your enemies and your allies. This will give your enemies half cover from your allies, making it more likely that they will survive until you kill them. Your allies will be shouting “get out of my line of fire” but just insist that you are protecting your allies since they get half cover too.
I’m joking of course but you will be drawing a lot of fire so your friends shouldn’t be too upset. They call you a meat-shield for a reason. Also, you are the reason that your enemies can’t just drop prone to give your allies disadvantage on their ranged attacks.
Your job on this team isn’t showy but it is important. Your ranged attacker allies would be a lot less effective if you weren’t there. You are like an offensive lineman in American football. The quarterbacks, running backs and receivers get all the glory but they wouldn’t get anywhere without someone blocking for them.
Your DM should be mixing it up with the types of combat encounters. Skirmishes like you describe are just one type. Enemies can use terrain and cover to close with ranged attackers. Enemies with ranged weapons can move out from behind total cover, attack and then move back the cover. Your allies could use the Ready action to attack them when they step out but unless the Ready action triggers are carefully worded, they may end up all shooting at the same target resulting In overkill. In these situations, the threat you pose with melee becomes more important and it’s more likely you’ll get to hack away at some enemies. I think even your ranged friends would want to see variety in the tactics your enemies use.
You can pick up any bow or crossbow as paladins have proficiency in all simple or martial weapons, but as you observed they are not really effective weapons for you.
Talk to your DM about having enemies use cover and setting encounters in close quarters where missile weapons aren't a good option so you have a chance to use your melee abilities. Combat should be fun for you too.
I assume you have a better cha than dex, you could grab magic initiate feat in sorcereror warlock for a ranged cantrip and something utility like hex (always fun to give disadvantage on an opposed shove roll) then you have a strong range option and a new utility. My paladin dealt with range by being the tiefling varient that gets Ray of frost, little late for that for you.
Add to that the dodge action and the fact that it's much easier for allies close to you to move for an open shot, take it, then move back than it is for enemies far away to do the same.
Paladins are generally bad at range unless you are Dex based. Since you likely have high Charisma, the easiest solution is magic initiate with Warlock. You pick up Hex and Eldritch Blast and do pretty good damage that scales with level. If you want to increase the damage you take a 2(or 3) level dip into Warlock instead and get Agonizing Blast.
Buy a horse / elephant / mechanical Vunderkangapanzer mit UberKannon. The last one is perhaps not available in your homebrewed game, roughly translated its a wonder-kangaroo-tank with Overcannons - you sit in the pouch turret observation port as you bound along, the kinetic pistons reloading the semi automatic cannon.
The steed will allow you to travel over to your opponents faster. If you allow the steed (horse) to act (have its own initiative score) It can attack and you can use half your movement to dismount / mount on your turn. for an extra jog. Alternatively your steed can dash rather than attack and 120' of distance can be covered, you may then dismount move a further 15' on your turn and rebuke the reprobates for making you have to buy a horse. No missile weapon needed.
My GM let me go on a quest to obtain Sunforger, which is a great option for a shield-using Paladin. Gives you a ranged attack and it’s AoE to boot (two places Paladins normally lag behind the pack.)
It depends what your dexterity is and what you use as your main melee weapon.
Smite only works with melee, picking up misty step through Fey touched is an option that can help with this problem. A mount can also help and a if you play a small Paladin you can get a dog or a wolf as a mount.
First off, redemption paladins aren't exactly made for damage. They tend not to actually want to kill people themselves, but they make good support casters. You can also come up with creative ways to catch the enemies.
Here's my advice: Use your spell slots to cast support spells instead of just smiting, try and improve your speed (talk to your DM about magic item shopping), use a polearm for the extra range, and maybe multiclass for some ranged options? A 2-level dip into warlock can pick up Eldritch Blast and the Agonizing Blast invocation, in addition to some exciting new spell options you can cast with your paladin spell slots! Alternately, you can try and find a magic item that gives you a ranged option while you're shopping for that speed-boosting thing.
Finally, talk to your DM about not always starting encounters at a distance. Ask for encounters that have monsters ambush in melee, or fight in a compact dungeon, or find cover from ranged attacks. If every encounter is a volley of ranged attacks, you won't be able to shine as a damage character.
Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair