[Edit: I wrote this original post quite sleep deprived; it was unclear and had a lot of typos, so I am rewriting now to make it more concise]
I think I have an interesting concept for a character and I would like to get the opinions of some more experienced players (I have only recently started actually playing D&D, though I read the entire Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide at age 11 and have always been a fan). This isn't for any particular campaign or party and is purely a theoretical character at this stage, though I think it is one I would love to play at some point.
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So, the character concept is a Tiefling who has heard whispers from some kind of deity or spirit, that has convinced them that their very existence is sinful; that the demonic taint coursing through their veins makes them inherently wrong. They become convinced that the only path to redemption is to become a Paladin and destroy other evil, especially of demonic origin, in the world. The character would have the Haunted One background.
The character would naturally choose the Oath of Vengeance. Now, this is where a tiny bit of homebrew/DM discretion would come into play. At level 5, an Oath of Vengeance Paladin gets access to Misty Step - I would like to swap this out for Spiritual Weapon, which is from Oath of Conquest.
Upon summoning their Spiritual Weapon for the first time, it would whisper to them in the same voice as the whispers that have always told the character that they are inherently sinful and wrong. [If this initial summoning occurred in combat, I would give my character disadvantage for at least a round due to the surprise of the weapon's whispers.] The weapon would urge the Paladin to summon it as frequently as possible so that they could converse, as it has much to tell them. I think the character would subsequently only summon the weapon in private, rather than in combat, in order to converse with it.
Because of the Tiefling's corrupted bloodline, when they summoned the Spiritual Weapon, the summoning itself would have been corrupted. Essentially, the "Spiritual" Weapon was summoned from the Shadowfell and is in fact a Hexblade. Over the course of the next level of RP, the Hexblade would attempt to corrupt the Paladin. At level 6, the character would multi-class into a Hexblade Warlock.
I see two potential paths for the character at this point, depending on the direction/alignment of the party/campaign:
Corrupted: The Hexblade succeeds in corrupting the character, and their existing levels of Paladin switch to Oathbreaker, and the character's arc takes a more evil/dark turn.
Righteous: The character manages to convince the Hexblade that they can be of mutual service to each other, and they retain their Oath of Vengeance while also becoming a Hexblade Warlock.
Regardless of which path they take, I would want the eventual level split to be at least 7 in Paladin - for Aura of Hate if Oathbreaker, or Restless Avenger if Oath of Vengeance - (or maybe up to 11 for Improved Smite) and the rest in Warlock (I think - I haven't figured out what the perfect level split would be, yet). Another option could be 6 in Paladin (for Aura of Protection) and 14 in Warlock (for full Hexblade abilities).
I think I have a preference for the Corrupted story arc, but again I think it would depend on the campaign/party which direction the character would need to take.
I would love to hear the opinions of some more experienced players on how viable you think this character/story arc is! Thanks in advance :)
Ok first an foremost trying to multiclass into a warlock from a Paladin and retaining your Paladin powers from a role playing perspective is nearly impossible to justify. Going from Warlock to Paladin is far easier to explain and justify.
If for some reason you can justify the reason for keeping you're powers in the initial multiclass if you choose option one two things could happen depending on the DM. You loose all you're Paladin powers and become a shitty fighter, or you're allowed to switch out Conquest for OathBreaker.
I also dont understand why people like to think that a Conquest Paladin combined with a Warlock is powerful. First your Channel Divinity Guided Strike is only useable once per a short rest. This means you get only one guarantee hit in a fight. Second Conquest Paladins are solely reliant on Fear in all their abilities. If a creature is immune to fear than none of your abilities work. Sadly there are a large amount of creatures in D&D that are immune to fear. This makes a Conquest Paladin virtually useless in these fights.
@KhaldoDraigo: My apologies, I wrote the initial post sleep deprived. It wasn't the most coherent or clear (and had a horrendous number of typos). I have now rewritten the original post for clarity.
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Hi folks,
[Edit: I wrote this original post quite sleep deprived; it was unclear and had a lot of typos, so I am rewriting now to make it more concise]
I think I have an interesting concept for a character and I would like to get the opinions of some more experienced players (I have only recently started actually playing D&D, though I read the entire Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide at age 11 and have always been a fan). This isn't for any particular campaign or party and is purely a theoretical character at this stage, though I think it is one I would love to play at some point.
------
So, the character concept is a Tiefling who has heard whispers from some kind of deity or spirit, that has convinced them that their very existence is sinful; that the demonic taint coursing through their veins makes them inherently wrong. They become convinced that the only path to redemption is to become a Paladin and destroy other evil, especially of demonic origin, in the world. The character would have the Haunted One background.
The character would naturally choose the Oath of Vengeance. Now, this is where a tiny bit of homebrew/DM discretion would come into play. At level 5, an Oath of Vengeance Paladin gets access to Misty Step - I would like to swap this out for Spiritual Weapon, which is from Oath of Conquest.
Upon summoning their Spiritual Weapon for the first time, it would whisper to them in the same voice as the whispers that have always told the character that they are inherently sinful and wrong. [If this initial summoning occurred in combat, I would give my character disadvantage for at least a round due to the surprise of the weapon's whispers.] The weapon would urge the Paladin to summon it as frequently as possible so that they could converse, as it has much to tell them. I think the character would subsequently only summon the weapon in private, rather than in combat, in order to converse with it.
Because of the Tiefling's corrupted bloodline, when they summoned the Spiritual Weapon, the summoning itself would have been corrupted. Essentially, the "Spiritual" Weapon was summoned from the Shadowfell and is in fact a Hexblade. Over the course of the next level of RP, the Hexblade would attempt to corrupt the Paladin. At level 6, the character would multi-class into a Hexblade Warlock.
I see two potential paths for the character at this point, depending on the direction/alignment of the party/campaign:
Corrupted: The Hexblade succeeds in corrupting the character, and their existing levels of Paladin switch to Oathbreaker, and the character's arc takes a more evil/dark turn.
Righteous: The character manages to convince the Hexblade that they can be of mutual service to each other, and they retain their Oath of Vengeance while also becoming a Hexblade Warlock.
Regardless of which path they take, I would want the eventual level split to be at least 7 in Paladin - for Aura of Hate if Oathbreaker, or Restless Avenger if Oath of Vengeance - (or maybe up to 11 for Improved Smite) and the rest in Warlock (I think - I haven't figured out what the perfect level split would be, yet). Another option could be 6 in Paladin (for Aura of Protection) and 14 in Warlock (for full Hexblade abilities).
I think I have a preference for the Corrupted story arc, but again I think it would depend on the campaign/party which direction the character would need to take.
I would love to hear the opinions of some more experienced players on how viable you think this character/story arc is! Thanks in advance :)
Ok first an foremost trying to multiclass into a warlock from a Paladin and retaining your Paladin powers from a role playing perspective is nearly impossible to justify. Going from Warlock to Paladin is far easier to explain and justify.
If for some reason you can justify the reason for keeping you're powers in the initial multiclass if you choose option one two things could happen depending on the DM. You loose all you're Paladin powers and become a shitty fighter, or you're allowed to switch out Conquest for OathBreaker.
I also dont understand why people like to think that a Conquest Paladin combined with a Warlock is powerful. First your Channel Divinity Guided Strike is only useable once per a short rest. This means you get only one guarantee hit in a fight. Second Conquest Paladins are solely reliant on Fear in all their abilities. If a creature is immune to fear than none of your abilities work. Sadly there are a large amount of creatures in D&D that are immune to fear. This makes a Conquest Paladin virtually useless in these fights.
@KhaldoDraigo: My apologies, I wrote the initial post sleep deprived. It wasn't the most coherent or clear (and had a horrendous number of typos). I have now rewritten the original post for clarity.