Hope this is the right place for this, let me know if it isn't. I've never played DnD before, but always wanted to, so I'm finally getting around into really looking into it. Mostly I've just done some light googling, wikis, and joined this site yesterday, and this is my first post!
Anyway, the character I want to create is a tiefling paladin who wields two battleaxes in battle and very paladin-y fights the undead a lot. Very traditional lawful good type paladin, albeit with a bit of a grim and dark countenance.
Very much a work in progress, not really sure what the stat breakdown should be, but I'm not really interested in min-maxing him at all. Much more interested in what works best role-playing wise.
Still working out the background and all for him, but the idea I like is that for whatever reason unknown to him he was raised by a dracolich during his childhood. Understandably not a healthy environment, and is the main reason he hates the undead so vigorously now. Don't know if that actually works or not, just the idea I've been spitballing.
So yeah, all advice for paladin character creation for this character is much appreciated, I am very much a newbie. Thank you.
Welcome glad to see another pursuing the oaths. Nice concept and backstory. You will run into a couple mechanical issues with your dual battle-axe swinging.
Unlike Fighter the two weapon fighting style is not available for paladins. So most, that use axes, use one great axe, one battle-axe in two hands or an axe and shield combo. So you may want a 2 level dip into the fighter class for this.
Also to use an offhand weapon that is not light you would need a feat called Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.
You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
Welcome glad to see another pursuing the oaths. Nice concept and backstory. You will run into a couple mechanical issues with your dual battle-axe swinging.
Unlike Fighter the two weapon fighting style is not available for paladins. So most, that use axes, use one great axe, one battle-axe in two hands or an axe and shield combo. So you may want a 2 level dip into the fighter class for this.
Also to use an offhand weapon that is not light you would need a feat called Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.
You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
Darn. I wasn't aware of that. Which means when my Paladin starts at level 1 he can't do that, earliest would be level 3 if I multi-class, and that's if I immediately dip into fighter for it, as opposed to waiting at a higher level to multi-class. Plus multi-classing means I can't get whatever paladins get at levels 19 and 20, whatever those are (I only skimmed through the higher level descriptions since I don't imagine they'll come in use any time soon for a new player and character). Still might be worth it because I really am enamoured with the picture of him mowing down the undead hordes with two big axes...(again, I prefer the visuals and role-playing over what's technically more powerful).
Feats are optional abilities you can get at certain levels ( see the main table on the paladin page). At levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 19 you can: Raise one ability score by two, raise two ability scores by one or take one of the feats listed in the Player's Handbook. If you have purchased the PHB on this site you can find them on the right on the Game Rules tab up top. Sometimes your DM will give you an additional feat as a reward.
For the Axes maybe just combine them into the mother of all tree splitters. :)
Dual weapon fighting by default requires two light weapons, so two hand axes instead of two battle axes. There is, however, a feat, 'Dual Wielder', which allows you to fight with two one handed weapons that are not light, which would allow you to fight with two battle axes. The feat also grants +1 AC while dual wielding (basically half a shield), and lets you draw or stow two weapons for free on your turn instead of just one. The feat isn't really considered very optimal, the damage return you get for increased weapon size is relatively low. HOWEVER that doesn't mean you can't or even shouldn't take it. Sometimes a cool character concept isn't the best mechanically, and that's fine. You just make it the best it can be.
In general, dual wielding is considered a suboptimal way of fighting in 5th edition D&D, since it prevents you from using a shield and the increased damage from the Dual Wielder feat doesn't compare well to that offered by feats for other equipment types, including Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, or Sharp Shooter. The two weapon fighting combat style isn't very good either, but that doesn't matter since paladins can't take it anyway. Two weapon fighting in general, and the feats and styles associated with it, don't typically scale all that well either. AND you need twice as many magic weapons in order to fully bypass the damage resistance of some enemies. In my experience, most experienced DMs are aware of the shortcomings of two weapon fighting in 5e, and will take some extra steps to help you out, perhaps adding extra magic weapons to the treasure hordes you encounter, but not all DMs recognize the issue or believe it's their place to rectify it, so it can be a bit of a problem.
Even with all that said, while two weapon fighting may be a bit suboptimal in 5th edition D&D, it really isn't outright bad, especially for a paladin. Paladins can use divine smite with their off hand attacks as well as their primary attacks, and the improved divine smite feature at paladin level 11 adds d8 damage to all their melee attacks, including your bonus action off hand attack. Paladins also tend to lack strong bonus action options of their own, so at the very least the bonus action attack from dual wielding isn't competing with better options the way it does for some other classes.
Lets look at how we might build such a character:
For your race, look at the Zariel Bloodline variant of Tiefling from Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes. Zariel Tieflings have different racial bonuses from the regular kind, in particular gaining +1 strength instead of +1 intelligence, and that will be a lot more helpful for your character. They also have different racial spells that might work better for you, or might not since the 'smite' spells, unlike the divine smite class feature of a paladin, use bonus actions to cast.
For this character I would suggest using the 'point buy' rules for determining your attributes. Using those rules, you can start with something like the following array:
The gives you +3 modifiers, the highest normally available at level 1 using point buy, for your two primary stats of Strength, which governs your weapon attacks, and charisma, which affects your paladin spellcasting and other special class features. You also get a reasonable +2 modifier in Constitution, which is important for your hit points and saving throws to maintain concentration spells when you take damage, and avoid penalties to Dexterity and Wisdom, both of which have important saving throws tied to them. Your intelligence is low and will suffer a -1 penalty, but as a paladin that shouldn't negatively impact you too much. You can move around the scores in dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom a bit to better fit your personal vision for your character, but try not to lower your strength, constitution, or charisma if you can help it.
For your background, I recommend Sailor. Perhaps in your youth you lived at sea, maybe even lived as a pirate for a while, before a paladin found you and took you on as a pupil. Sailor is good for you since it grants proficiency in the Athletics and Perception skills, both of which will be useful to you. If you'd rather take another background, though, feel free.
For a dual wielding paladin I might normally suggest multiclassing fighter, for the two weapon style at level one, action surge at level two, maybe even the increased critical hit range at level 3. However, as this is your first character in the system, multiclassing adds a lot of complexity that you're probably better off saving for later characters, and it absolutely isn't needed to make this character work. As such, you should go right ahead and start with Paladin at level one.
At first level you won't have the feat to dual wield battle axes, so you're going to dual wield hand axes instead. Remember the off hand axe doesn't gain your strength bonus to damage, just the weapon's damage roll. It also requires a bonus action to attack with it, and you can only make that bonus action attack after you've used your regular attack action to attack with your main weapon, so you can't attack with your off hand weapon if you use your regular action to do something else.
As a first level paladin you'll have some healing from lay on hands, this is best used in two circumstances, either an ally is unconscious and you need to get them back to at least one hit point so they don't lose their turn, or after other healing methods after a fight to top off allies who are a few points away from full HP.
Hand axes deal less damage than battle axes or great axes, but at first level the extra off hand attack is decent on its own.
You also get to pick two skill proficiencies. For a traditional, goody two shoes lawful good & devoted to the gods type paladin I'd recommend persuasion and religion, in addition to the Athletics and Perception from the sailor background. If you picked another background just be sure that your character has the athletics and persuasion skills, taking them both with your paladin skill proficiencies if need be. Ideally you'd also like to be proficient in perception - remember that if your background grants a skill proficiency that you already have from your class then you can take any other skill instead. If you can't fit perception proficiency in, though, don't worry about it.
....
At second level you'll gain a fighting style. Two Weapon Style isn't available to paladins, but that's fine. Defense style works just fine for you. The extra point of AC is particularly nice since you won't be wearing a shield.
You also gain spellcasting and divine smite, and both are good ways to improve your fighting ability. Against enemies that are hard to hit (your DM describes them as wearing a lot of armor, or as monsters with hard shells, or as particularly agile and dodgy types), you may want to spend your first round casting the Bless spell. This spell gives yourself and two of your friends a +1d4 bonus to all of their attack rolls and saving throws for as long as you maintain concentration, up to a maximum of 10 rounds. Since that applies to all attack rolls, it will improve your off hand attacks as well. This is especially good in long fights where you'll be making lots of attacks. If you take damage, however, you will have to make a concentration saving throw and the spell will end if you fail. Your DM will explain how that works. It's important to remember that you can't cast bless with both hands full of axes, so keep your off hand open while you're exploring, that way if you want to class Bless then you can do so in the first round of combat before drawing your other axe.
The other big thing to do with your spell slots at this level is, of course, Divine Smite. You can use the ability on any hit, even with an off hand weapon, to apply some extra damage to that attack. You should keep in mind that critical hits double this damage as well, and you choose to smite after rolling the attack so you'll already know if it's a critical or not. Something to keep in mind when fighting bigger, tougher enemies, that you might be better off holding your spell slots back at first in the hopes of getting a double smite from a critical hit.
You only have a couple daily spell slots at this level, so try to save them for important seeming fights.
....
At third level you choose your oath. The typical oath for a traditional type paladin is devotion, but I don't recommend this for you. The best feature of the oath of devotion is their channel divinity which temporarily empowers a weapon. It's a good ability, but the important part to note there is that it buffs "a" weapon, as in not two weapons, so it's not as good for dual wielders. What I recommend instead is either Oath of Vengeance or Oath of the Ancients. Both are relatively traditional paladins - Vengeance is obviously a bit darker in tone but the emphasis on hunting down and slaying evil monsters is still a very paladiny thing that can fit with a Lawful Good character. Sentinel is more mellow, focusing on protecting the innocent and maintaining the natural order. Both have solid features that will work well for a dual wielder.
The key feature of Oath of Vengeance is their channel divinity 'Vow of Enmity'. Once per short rest (generally about twice per day), as a bonus action you pick one enemy, and gain advantage on all the melee attacks you make against that enemy for a minute. All attacks - including your off hand attacks. It does take a bonus action, so you can't make an off hand attack in the same turn that you use it, which means that's also a good round to consider casting a spell like Bless. Advantage lets you roll two d20 on attack rolls and take the highest, improving your accuracy and making you roll more critical hits to double smite with.
The key feature of Oath of Ancients comes later, at level 7, when they gain a passive aura that grants them and their nearby allies resistance to spell damage, which is amazing. As the aura is passive, it doesn't take any actions and thus doesn't conflict with your primary or off hand attacks. The third level abilities of oath of ancients aren't as good - natures wrath only targets one enemy and lets them choose the save they make against it so it mostly just does nothing. Turn the faithless is decent when you encounter groups of enemy fiends or fey, but depending on your campaign that might not happen much. Neither is anything like as good as 'Vow of Enmity", but again, the big feature for oath of ancients comes later, so you're basically holding off now for greater rewards down the line.
Either way, both oaths also offer some extra spells that you can cast, including the second level spell Misty Step once you get to level 5. That's a useful positioning spell, especially considering that paladins can sometimes be lacking when it comes to mobility. Misty Step is a bonus action, which will prevent you from making your off hand attack on a turn you use it, but if you need to use Misty Step in the first place then the chances are you weren't able to make any off hand attacks that round anyway.
....
At fourth level you get an "ability score improvement", which you can trade to get a feat instead. With this you can pick up the 'Dual Wielder' feat, further helping your AC and letting you finally fight with those twin battle axes you wanted. Again, this isn't an "optimal" choice mechanically, but it is a necessary one for this character for aesthetic and stylistic choices, so you shouldn't feel bad about it. The extra AC certainly won't go to waste.
....
Level 5 is a big level for most classes, and for you it's no exception. You get the 'extra attack' feature, which lets you make two attacks instead of one with your main weapon whenever you take the 'attack' action. Unfortunately it doesn't improve your off hand attacks, but so be it. You also second level spells, which will let you cast bigger divine smites, or cast the previously mentioned 'Misty Step' teleport spell to get out of a bind. You can also cast one of the Paladin's signature spells "Find Steed", summoning a permanent companion and mount to carry you into battle or even fight by your side. The mounted combat rules in 5e are a bit complicated and counter-intuitive, and you might not be able to take a horse with you into every situation, but the steed is good enough often enough that you should definitely keep it in mind.
....
Level 6 gets you Aura of Protection, one of the best abilities of the paladin class. You and nearby allies add your charisma modifier (+3) to all saving throws as long as you are conscious. Remember that this applies to concentration saving throws, and to your nearby allies' death saves (not yours though, as if you're making death saves then you won't be conscious).
...
Level 7 gets you another oath feature. The oath of vengeance feature gives you some extra movement when you make an opportunity attack, which is useful but not a huge deal for your particular build (it's better for builds that take the sentinel and/or polearm master feats). If you go with oath of ancients, then you'll get your Aura of Warding, which is amazing for both you and your party.
...
Level 8 gets you another ability score improvement. At this point your starting ability scores are maybe starting to lag a bit, so I recommend +2 strength to improve the damage of your primary weapon attacks, and the accuracy of all your weapon attacks.
....
Level 9 gets you your 3rd level spells. There are some good options here including Aura of Vitality and Dispel Magic. The 3rd level oath of ancients spells aren't anything particular to write home about, but if you went with oath of vengence then you get the Haste spell, which is a great personal buff. Otherwise, third level divine smites are big and impressive. One important spell to memorize is Revivify, which can bring a creature back to life if its body is mostly intact and it hasn't been dead for more then a minute. It's not a spell you need often, but when your party does need it you REALLY need it. There's an expensive material component, so try to save up for it by level 9 so that you can keep that 'extra life' in your back pocket. Ask your party members to help share the cost.
...
Level 10 gets you another aura, this time immunity to frighten for you & nearby allies. Doesn't come up all that much, but when it does it's nice to have.
...
Level 11 gets you Improved Divine Smite, an extra d8 damage to all your melee attacks, including your off hand attacks, which is just great, and it's a big part of why Paladin is better for dual wielding than you might otherwise expect.
...
...
I could keep going from there, but few campaigns last long enough to make it into the later levels. If yours does then spend your next ability score improvement to round your strength out to 20. After that, you can spend later ASIs to improve your charisma, or you can spend them on useful feats like Lucky, Alert, Sentinel, War Caster, or Inspiring Leader. If you get to 4th level spells, be sure to check out "Improved Find Steed" from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
People will tell you that two weapon fighting isn't good in 5e, and they're not really wrong, but between divine smite, improved divine smite, and the relative lack of other good bonus actions in class, dual wielding honestly isn't that bad an option for paladins specifically. I personally played a half elf paladin - single classed, with the oath of the ancients - who dual wielded scimitars, and it worked out fine. Had one particularly epic moment where a huge monster grabbed me right off my trusty steed and lifted me high into the air, and on my turn I hit and used smites on both my normal attacks and rolled a critical hit for a double divine smite on my off hand attack, dealing over a hundred damage in a single round to kill the monster outright, after which I rolled acrobatics (you'd roll athletics) to backflip off the dying monster right back into my trusty steed's saddle. It might not have been "optimal", but it was /amazing/. Outside of that shining moment the character was still fine, held up well, and was one of the tougher warriors and better damage dealers in the party. D&D is a cooperative game, you don't need to always make the strongest possible build choices to contribute effectively to your team.
Feats are optional abilities you can get at certain levels ( see the main table on the paladin page). At levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 19 you can: Raise one ability score by two, raise two ability scores by one or take one of the feats listed in the Player's Handbook. If you have purchased the PHB on this site you can find them on the right on the Game Rules tab up top. Sometimes your DM will give you an additional feat as a reward.
For the Axes maybe just combine them into the mother of all tree splitters. :)
You'd have to be like a half-giant to use one of those suckers, cool.
Besides the surprisingly complicated process behind wielding two axes, would like to know more for setting up my character. I figure he'll likely go for the Oath of Devotion, and using the character creator on this site I picked the Haunted One background, felt it best fit the raised by dracolich idea and he knows Draconic language through it.
Also don't know what god or goddess he would/should follow.
My own paladin is Oath of Ancients so I don't have first hand knowledge of playing Devotion. As Sception pointed out above the main draw of Devotion makes only one of your weapons magical.
Clerics deal in gods and goddesses, paladins deal in abstract concepts. You don't need to ally with a god for your powers but can if you wish to for flavour. Read the different Oaths you have access to and see which one fits the most. Seeking Vengeance on the undead may fit your concept and gives you a whole different toolbox to play with.
Also as Sception pointed out you don't have to be mechanically (read min/max) perfect in 5e to have a working character. Do what seems right for you. My Paladin is a dwarf which doesn't start with +Cha so I have been making that up with ability score increases but he fit my concept of the dwarven doorstop which is what I built him as.
Dual weapon fighting by default requires two light weapons, so two hand axes instead of two battle axes. There is, however, a feat, 'Dual Wielder', which allows you to fight with two one handed weapons that are not light, which would allow you to fight with two battle axes. The feat also grants +1 AC while dual wielding (basically half a shield), and lets you draw or stow two weapons for free on your turn instead of just one. The feat isn't really considered very optimal, the damage return you get for increased weapon size is relatively low. HOWEVER that doesn't mean you can't or even shouldn't take it. Sometimes a cool character concept isn't the best mechanically, and that's fine. You just make it the best it can be.
In general, dual wielding is considered a suboptimal way of fighting in 5th edition D&D, since it prevents you from using a shield and the increased damage from the Dual Wielder feat doesn't compare well to that offered by feats for other equipment types, including Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, or Sharp Shooter. The two weapon fighting combat style isn't very good either, but that doesn't matter since paladins can't take it anyway. Two weapon fighting in general, and the feats and styles associated with it, don't typically scale all that well either. AND you need twice as many magic weapons in order to fully bypass the damage resistance of some enemies. In my experience, most experienced DMs are aware of the shortcomings of two weapon fighting in 5e, and will take some extra steps to help you out, perhaps adding extra magic weapons to the treasure hordes you encounter, but not all DMs recognize the issue or believe it's their place to rectify it, so it can be a bit of a problem.
Even with all that said, while two weapon fighting may be a bit suboptimal in 5th edition D&D, it really isn't outright bad, especially for a paladin. Paladins can use divine smite with their off hand attacks as well as their primary attacks, and the improved divine smite feature at paladin level 11 adds d8 damage to all their melee attacks, including your bonus action off hand attack. Paladins also tend to lack strong bonus action options of their own, so at the very least the bonus action attack from dual wielding isn't competing with better options the way it does for some other classes.
Lets look at how we might build such a character:
For your race, look at the Zariel Bloodline variant of Tiefling from Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes. Zariel Tieflings have different racial bonuses from the regular kind, in particular gaining +1 strength instead of +1 intelligence, and that will be a lot more helpful for your character. They also have different racial spells that might work better for you, or might not since the 'smite' spells, unlike the divine smite class feature of a paladin, use bonus actions to cast.
For this character I would suggest using the 'point buy' rules for determining your attributes. Using those rules, you can start with something like the following array:
The gives you +3 modifiers, the highest normally available at level 1 using point buy, for your two primary stats of Strength, which governs your weapon attacks, and charisma, which affects your paladin spellcasting and other special class features. You also get a reasonable +2 modifier in Constitution, which is important for your hit points and saving throws to maintain concentration spells when you take damage, and avoid penalties to Dexterity and Wisdom, both of which have important saving throws tied to them. Your intelligence is low and will suffer a -1 penalty, but as a paladin that shouldn't negatively impact you too much. You can move around the scores in dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom a bit to better fit your personal vision for your character, but try not to lower your strength, constitution, or charisma if you can help it.
For your background, I recommend Sailor. Perhaps in your youth you lived at sea, maybe even lived as a pirate for a while, before a paladin found you and took you on as a pupil. Sailor is good for you since it grants proficiency in the Athletics and Perception skills, both of which will be useful to you. If you'd rather take another background, though, feel free.
For a dual wielding paladin I might normally suggest multiclassing fighter, for the two weapon style at level one, action surge at level two, maybe even the increased critical hit range at level 3. However, as this is your first character in the system, multiclassing adds a lot of complexity that you're probably better off saving for later characters, and it absolutely isn't needed to make this character work. As such, you should go right ahead and start with Paladin at level one.
At first level you won't have the feat to dual wield battle axes, so you're going to dual wield hand axes instead. Remember the off hand axe doesn't gain your strength bonus to damage, just the weapon's damage roll. It also requires a bonus action to attack with it, and you can only make that bonus action attack after you've used your regular attack action to attack with your main weapon, so you can't attack with your off hand weapon if you use your regular action to do something else.
As a first level paladin you'll have some healing from lay on hands, this is best used in two circumstances, either an ally is unconscious and you need to get them back to at least one hit point so they don't lose their turn, or after other healing methods after a fight to top off allies who are a few points away from full HP.
Hand axes deal less damage than battle axes or great axes, but at first level the extra off hand attack is decent on its own.
You also get to pick two skill proficiencies. For a traditional, goody two shoes lawful good & devoted to the gods type paladin I'd recommend persuasion and religion, in addition to the Athletics and Perception from the sailor background. If you picked another background just be sure that your character has the athletics and persuasion skills, taking them both with your paladin skill proficiencies if need be. Ideally you'd also like to be proficient in perception - remember that if your background grants a skill proficiency that you already have from your class then you can take any other skill instead. If you can't fit perception proficiency in, though, don't worry about it.
....
At second level you'll gain a fighting style. Two Weapon Style isn't available to paladins, but that's fine. Defense style works just fine for you. The extra point of AC is particularly nice since you won't be wearing a shield.
You also gain spellcasting and divine smite, and both are good ways to improve your fighting ability. Against enemies that are hard to hit (your DM describes them as wearing a lot of armor, or as monsters with hard shells, or as particularly agile and dodgy types), you may want to spend your first round casting the Bless spell. This spell gives yourself and two of your friends a +1d4 bonus to all of their attack rolls and saving throws for as long as you maintain concentration, up to a maximum of 10 rounds. Since that applies to all attack rolls, it will improve your off hand attacks as well. This is especially good in long fights where you'll be making lots of attacks. If you take damage, however, you will have to make a concentration saving throw and the spell will end if you fail. Your DM will explain how that works. It's important to remember that you can't cast bless with both hands full of axes, so keep your off hand open while you're exploring, that way if you want to class Bless then you can do so in the first round of combat before drawing your other axe.
The other big thing to do with your spell slots at this level is, of course, Divine Smite. You can use the ability on any hit, even with an off hand weapon, to apply some extra damage to that attack. You should keep in mind that critical hits double this damage as well, and you choose to smite after rolling the attack so you'll already know if it's a critical or not. Something to keep in mind when fighting bigger, tougher enemies, that you might be better off holding your spell slots back at first in the hopes of getting a double smite from a critical hit.
You only have a couple daily spell slots at this level, so try to save them for important seeming fights.
....
At third level you choose your oath. The typical oath for a traditional type paladin is devotion, but I don't recommend this for you. The best feature of the oath of devotion is their channel divinity which temporarily empowers a weapon. It's a good ability, but the important part to note there is that it buffs "a" weapon, as in not two weapons, so it's not as good for dual wielders. What I recommend instead is either Oath of Vengeance or Oath of the Ancients. Both are relatively traditional paladins - Vengeance is obviously a bit darker in tone but the emphasis on hunting down and slaying evil monsters is still a very paladiny thing that can fit with a Lawful Good character. Sentinel is more mellow, focusing on protecting the innocent and maintaining the natural order. Both have solid features that will work well for a dual wielder.
The key feature of Oath of Vengeance is their channel divinity 'Vow of Enmity'. Once per short rest (generally about twice per day), as a bonus action you pick one enemy, and gain advantage on all the melee attacks you make against that enemy for a minute. All attacks - including your off hand attacks. It does take a bonus action, so you can't make an off hand attack in the same turn that you use it, which means that's also a good round to consider casting a spell like Bless. Advantage lets you roll two d20 on attack rolls and take the highest, improving your accuracy and making you roll more critical hits to double smite with.
The key feature of Oath of Ancients comes later, at level 7, when they gain a passive aura that grants them and their nearby allies resistance to spell damage, which is amazing. As the aura is passive, it doesn't take any actions and thus doesn't conflict with your primary or off hand attacks. The third level abilities of oath of ancients aren't as good - natures wrath only targets one enemy and lets them choose the save they make against it so it mostly just does nothing. Turn the faithless is decent when you encounter groups of enemy fiends or fey, but depending on your campaign that might not happen much. Neither is anything like as good as 'Vow of Enmity", but again, the big feature for oath of ancients comes later, so you're basically holding off now for greater rewards down the line.
Either way, both oaths also offer some extra spells that you can cast, including the second level spell Misty Step once you get to level 5. That's a useful positioning spell, especially considering that paladins can sometimes be lacking when it comes to mobility. Misty Step is a bonus action, which will prevent you from making your off hand attack on a turn you use it, but if you need to use Misty Step in the first place then the chances are you weren't able to make any off hand attacks that round anyway.
....
At fourth level you get an "ability score improvement", which you can trade to get a feat instead. With this you can pick up the 'Dual Wielder' feat, further helping your AC and letting you finally fight with those twin battle axes you wanted. Again, this isn't an "optimal" choice mechanically, but it is a necessary one for this character for aesthetic and stylistic choices, so you shouldn't feel bad about it. The extra AC certainly won't go to waste.
....
Level 5 is a big level for most classes, and for you it's no exception. You get the 'extra attack' feature, which lets you make two attacks instead of one with your main weapon whenever you take the 'attack' action. Unfortunately it doesn't improve your off hand attacks, but so be it. You also second level spells, which will let you cast bigger divine smites, or cast the previously mentioned 'Misty Step' teleport spell to get out of a bind. You can also cast one of the Paladin's signature spells "Find Steed", summoning a permanent companion and mount to carry you into battle or even fight by your side. The mounted combat rules in 5e are a bit complicated and counter-intuitive, and you might not be able to take a horse with you into every situation, but the steed is good enough often enough that you should definitely keep it in mind.
....
Level 6 gets you Aura of Protection, one of the best abilities of the paladin class. You and nearby allies add your charisma modifier (+3) to all saving throws as long as you are conscious. Remember that this applies to concentration saving throws, and to your nearby allies' death saves (not yours though, as if you're making death saves then you won't be conscious).
...
Level 7 gets you another oath feature. The oath of vengeance feature gives you some extra movement when you make an opportunity attack, which is useful but not a huge deal for your particular build (it's better for builds that take the sentinel and/or polearm master feats). If you go with oath of ancients, then you'll get your Aura of Warding, which is amazing for both you and your party.
...
Level 8 gets you another ability score improvement. At this point your starting ability scores are maybe starting to lag a bit, so I recommend +2 strength to improve the damage of your primary weapon attacks, and the accuracy of all your weapon attacks.
....
Level 9 gets you your 3rd level spells. There are some good options here including Aura of Vitality and Dispel Magic. The 3rd level oath of ancients spells aren't anything particular to write home about, but if you went with oath of vengence then you get the Haste spell, which is a great personal buff. Otherwise, third level divine smites are big and impressive. One important spell to memorize is Revivify, which can bring a creature back to life if its body is mostly intact and it hasn't been dead for more then a minute. It's not a spell you need often, but when your party does need it you REALLY need it. There's an expensive material component, so try to save up for it by level 9 so that you can keep that 'extra life' in your back pocket. Ask your party members to help share the cost.
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Level 10 gets you another aura, this time immunity to frighten for you & nearby allies. Doesn't come up all that much, but when it does it's nice to have.
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Level 11 gets you Improved Divine Smite, an extra d8 damage to all your melee attacks, including your off hand attacks, which is just great, and it's a big part of why Paladin is better for dual wielding than you might otherwise expect.
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I could keep going from there, but few campaigns last long enough to make it into the later levels. If yours does then spend your next ability score improvement to round your strength out to 20. After that, you can spend later ASIs to improve your charisma, or you can spend them on useful feats like Lucky, Alert, Sentinel, War Caster, or Inspiring Leader. If you get to 4th level spells, be sure to check out "Improved Find Steed" from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
People will tell you that two weapon fighting isn't good in 5e, and they're not really wrong, but between divine smite, improved divine smite, and the relative lack of other good bonus actions in class, dual wielding honestly isn't that bad an option for paladins specifically. I personally played a half elf paladin - single classed, with the oath of the ancients - who dual wielded scimitars, and it worked out fine. Had one particularly epic moment where a huge monster grabbed me right off my trusty steed and lifted me high into the air, and on my turn I hit and used smites on both my normal attacks and rolled a critical hit for a double divine smite on my off hand attack, dealing over a hundred damage in a single round to kill the monster outright, after which I rolled acrobatics (you'd roll athletics) to backflip off the dying monster right back into my trusty steed's saddle. It might not have been "optimal", but it was /amazing/. Outside of that shining moment the character was still fine, held up well, and was one of the tougher warriors and better damage dealers in the party. D&D is a cooperative game, you don't need to always make the strongest possible build choices to contribute effectively to your team.
Wow, I didn't have the time to go through all this yesterday but this was very informative, thank you!
My own paladin is Oath of Ancients so I don't have first hand knowledge of playing Devotion. As Sception pointed out above the main draw of Devotion makes only one of your weapons magical.
Clerics deal in gods and goddesses, paladins deal in abstract concepts. You don't need to ally with a god for your powers but can if you wish to for flavour. Read the different Oaths you have access to and see which one fits the most. Seeking Vengeance on the undead may fit your concept and gives you a whole different toolbox to play with.
Also as Sception pointed out you don't have to be mechanically (read min/max) perfect in 5e to have a working character. Do what seems right for you. My Paladin is a dwarf which doesn't start with +Cha so I have been making that up with ability score increases but he fit my concept of the dwarven doorstop which is what I built him as.
Didn't know that, thanks. Simplifies it a bit, good.
I'd look into a Zariel Tiefling and getting the dual wielding feat at level 4. Later on the game, if your strength modifier is high enough you can add the dip into fighter for the damage, but dual wielding as a Paladin is pretty good regardless of what other people might think. As a dual wielding Paladin, you have good justification to prepare and concentrate on Divine Favor and if you have a way to consistently get advantage, you'll be getting more chances to crit that sweet Divine smite damage. It's not bad
Also what people haven't mentioned is the multiclass into bard. The swords college gives you the dual weapon fighting style as well, and there are good synergies in that route.
Starting with two hand axes and maybe upgrading to battle axes would be pretty cool, I think. And hand axes have the thrown property, which adds in an extra tactical option. Hack the guy in front of you, then if he drops, chuck the second one at someone 20 feet away. Carry a few of them on some kind of bandolier. The feat for getting the battle axes might not even be worth it. You’ll find lots of your damage comes from smiting, anyway, which will make the bonus from boosting your base damage by one die by one almost meaningless. Then you can use the feat slot for more interesting things.
Starting with two hand axes and maybe upgrading to battle axes would be pretty cool, I think. And hand axes have the thrown property, which adds in an extra tactical option. Hack the guy in front of you, then if he drops, chuck the second one at someone 20 feet away. Carry a few of them on some kind of bandolier. The feat for getting the battle axes might not even be worth it. You’ll find lots of your damage comes from smiting, anyway, which will make the bonus from boosting your base damage by one die by one almost meaningless. Then you can use the feat slot for more interesting things.
Such as? I don't really know what all the feats are, much less which ones are useful.
That’s a big question. A good one, but a big one. It’s also almost impossible to answer in a vacuum. The first big issue is what campaign you’re joining and the DM. Technically, all feats are optional, you can take the ability score improvements by RAW (rules as written) but using any feats is only allowed by the DM. In practice, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a DM saying no feats, but that’s technically possible. Assuming you are allowed feats, you still might want the ability score increases. Especially if you have a couple of odd numbers you want to bump up, since the modifiers change at even numbers. Taking ability score increases (you might see them called ASI) is almost never a bad choice.
After that, we again run into the DM question, some DMs might ban certain books from their campaign, or individual feats if they feel they either don’t fit or are overpowered.
And there’s a level issue. Very rarely do campaigns go to level 20, I think most stop well before that, like in the 8-14 range (and some start above level 1, which can also impact choices). Usually, your DM can tell you about how high a level you’ll get to. This is important to know because you might have a plan for a character build that really doesn’t come online until that third feat at 12 th level, but if the campaign ends at level 10, you never get to see your concept in action.
Another factor can be party composition. A paladin can fill different roles (they make good tanks, have the potential for some really high nova damage, and can even be a good enough healer if there no one else who’s better) in the party, and depending on the other characters, it might be better to focus on one or the other.
But if you are just theorycrafting a character because it’s fun to do, then I guess none of that practical stuff matters. In that case, what kinds of things do you want your character to be able to do? Beyond the two weapon fighting and bashing undead, what things do you want to be able to do? Do you see the character is heavy armor or lighter armor? What are your ability scores?
That’s a big question. A good one, but a big one. It’s also almost impossible to answer in a vacuum. The first big issue is what campaign you’re joining and the DM. Technically, all feats are optional, you can take the ability score improvements by RAW (rules as written) but using any feats is only allowed by the DM. In practice, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a DM saying no feats, but that’s technically possible. Assuming you are allowed feats, you still might want the ability score increases. Especially if you have a couple of odd numbers you want to bump up, since the modifiers change at even numbers. Taking ability score increases (you might see them called ASI) is almost never a bad choice.
After that, we again run into the DM question, some DMs might ban certain books from their campaign, or individual feats if they feel they either don’t fit or are overpowered.
And there’s a level issue. Very rarely do campaigns go to level 20, I think most stop well before that, like in the 8-14 range (and some start above level 1, which can also impact choices). Usually, your DM can tell you about how high a level you’ll get to. This is important to know because you might have a plan for a character build that really doesn’t come online until that third feat at 12 th level, but if the campaign ends at level 10, you never get to see your concept in action.
Another factor can be party composition. A paladin can fill different roles (they make good tanks, have the potential for some really high nova damage, and can even be a good enough healer if there no one else who’s better) in the party, and depending on the other characters, it might be better to focus on one or the other.
But if you are just theorycrafting a character because it’s fun to do, then I guess none of that practical stuff matters. In that case, what kinds of things do you want your character to be able to do? Beyond the two weapon fighting and bashing undead, what things do you want to be able to do? Do you see the character is heavy armor or lighter armor? What are your ability scores?
Should answer ability scores. Starting at level 1. Have no clue how party composition works for the most part or the different rolls.
For the fun stuff, what I want my character to do. Bit of a toughie, I have a lot of the personality stuff thought out, and the background, but not sure how about the in battle in party kind of stuff. Think earnest do-gooder always trying to help, whether it's fighting a monster or Lay on Hands healing, if he can help somebody somehow that takes priority. Also while he will fight, he's the type to try everything else first - make friends, negotiate a deal or make a trade, get someone to flee or surrender, that sort of thing, and if all other options fail then fight. Never takes a life if it can be avoided.
Hi Vakanai good start. We cannot see which background you chose and I don't see any tool proficiencies listed, which background did you take?
For your weapons you will want to click on one battleaxe and one handaxe and click on customize. This will allow you to click dual wield so you can see which axe is in your offhand. This will show you what we were talking about with the off hand not having proficiency bonus. Rather then Actions these attacks will show up on your sheet as a Bonus Action.
Only as a suggestion. You will roll way more perception or insight checks then Religion. Leave the history of religion to the Int classes.
Hi Vakanai good start. We cannot see which background you chose and I don't see any tool proficiencies listed, which background did you take?
For your weapons you will want to click on one battleaxe and one handaxe and click on customize. This will allow you to click dual wield so you can see which axe is in your offhand. This will show you what we were talking about with the off hand not having proficiency bonus. Rather then Actions these attacks will show up on your sheet as a Bonus Action.
Only as a suggestion. You will roll way more perception or insight checks then Religion. Leave the history of religion to the Int classes.
I picked Haunted One for his background. Didn't come with any tool profiencies, but he did pick up the Draconic language from it.
Click on each of the skills and see which you will need more often. Anything that says Lore are normally for the bookish types not the bashing types. Perception is often called the most important skill. If you don't see something you can't react to something. If you are trying to Persuade someone to do something then Insight would tell you if it is working or not. Basicly think of the Str/Dex skills as Lift/move/hide/jump skills. Int as the bookish / study skills. Wis as the street smarts / active knowledge skills. Cha as the social skills. A paladin will be great at talking to people and lifting things so Persuasion and Athletics are the right choices. I took Perception and Insight as my other choices.
Click on each of the skills and see which you will need more often. Anything that says Lore are normally for the bookish types not the bashing types. Perception is often called the most important skill. If you don't see something you can't react to something. If you are trying to Persuade someone to do something then Insight would tell you if it is working or not. Basicly think of the Str/Dex skills as Lift/move/hide/jump skills. Int as the bookish / study skills. Wis as the street smarts / active knowledge skills. Cha as the social skills. A paladin will be great at talking to people and lifting things so Persuasion and Athletics are the right choices. I took Perception and Insight as my other choices.
If I drop Religion my only other two options for that background are Arcana and Survival.
May want to try to play with the backgrounds then or check with our DM if you can make a custom one that works for you. Haunted One sounds a bit like a hermit.
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Hope this is the right place for this, let me know if it isn't. I've never played DnD before, but always wanted to, so I'm finally getting around into really looking into it. Mostly I've just done some light googling, wikis, and joined this site yesterday, and this is my first post!
Anyway, the character I want to create is a tiefling paladin who wields two battleaxes in battle and very paladin-y fights the undead a lot. Very traditional lawful good type paladin, albeit with a bit of a grim and dark countenance.
Very much a work in progress, not really sure what the stat breakdown should be, but I'm not really interested in min-maxing him at all. Much more interested in what works best role-playing wise.
Still working out the background and all for him, but the idea I like is that for whatever reason unknown to him he was raised by a dracolich during his childhood. Understandably not a healthy environment, and is the main reason he hates the undead so vigorously now. Don't know if that actually works or not, just the idea I've been spitballing.
So yeah, all advice for paladin character creation for this character is much appreciated, I am very much a newbie. Thank you.
Welcome glad to see another pursuing the oaths. Nice concept and backstory. You will run into a couple mechanical issues with your dual battle-axe swinging.
Unlike Fighter the two weapon fighting style is not available for paladins. So most, that use axes, use one great axe, one battle-axe in two hands or an axe and shield combo. So you may want a 2 level dip into the fighter class for this.
Also to use an offhand weapon that is not light you would need a feat called Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
Darn. I wasn't aware of that. Which means when my Paladin starts at level 1 he can't do that, earliest would be level 3 if I multi-class, and that's if I immediately dip into fighter for it, as opposed to waiting at a higher level to multi-class. Plus multi-classing means I can't get whatever paladins get at levels 19 and 20, whatever those are (I only skimmed through the higher level descriptions since I don't imagine they'll come in use any time soon for a new player and character). Still might be worth it because I really am enamoured with the picture of him mowing down the undead hordes with two big axes...(again, I prefer the visuals and role-playing over what's technically more powerful).
I think that's right, right?
Also how do you get feats?
Feats are optional abilities you can get at certain levels ( see the main table on the paladin page). At levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 19 you can: Raise one ability score by two, raise two ability scores by one or take one of the feats listed in the Player's Handbook. If you have purchased the PHB on this site you can find them on the right on the Game Rules tab up top. Sometimes your DM will give you an additional feat as a reward.
For the Axes maybe just combine them into the mother of all tree splitters. :)
Dual weapon fighting by default requires two light weapons, so two hand axes instead of two battle axes. There is, however, a feat, 'Dual Wielder', which allows you to fight with two one handed weapons that are not light, which would allow you to fight with two battle axes. The feat also grants +1 AC while dual wielding (basically half a shield), and lets you draw or stow two weapons for free on your turn instead of just one. The feat isn't really considered very optimal, the damage return you get for increased weapon size is relatively low. HOWEVER that doesn't mean you can't or even shouldn't take it. Sometimes a cool character concept isn't the best mechanically, and that's fine. You just make it the best it can be.
In general, dual wielding is considered a suboptimal way of fighting in 5th edition D&D, since it prevents you from using a shield and the increased damage from the Dual Wielder feat doesn't compare well to that offered by feats for other equipment types, including Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, or Sharp Shooter. The two weapon fighting combat style isn't very good either, but that doesn't matter since paladins can't take it anyway. Two weapon fighting in general, and the feats and styles associated with it, don't typically scale all that well either. AND you need twice as many magic weapons in order to fully bypass the damage resistance of some enemies. In my experience, most experienced DMs are aware of the shortcomings of two weapon fighting in 5e, and will take some extra steps to help you out, perhaps adding extra magic weapons to the treasure hordes you encounter, but not all DMs recognize the issue or believe it's their place to rectify it, so it can be a bit of a problem.
Even with all that said, while two weapon fighting may be a bit suboptimal in 5th edition D&D, it really isn't outright bad, especially for a paladin. Paladins can use divine smite with their off hand attacks as well as their primary attacks, and the improved divine smite feature at paladin level 11 adds d8 damage to all their melee attacks, including your bonus action off hand attack. Paladins also tend to lack strong bonus action options of their own, so at the very least the bonus action attack from dual wielding isn't competing with better options the way it does for some other classes.
Lets look at how we might build such a character:
For your race, look at the Zariel Bloodline variant of Tiefling from Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes. Zariel Tieflings have different racial bonuses from the regular kind, in particular gaining +1 strength instead of +1 intelligence, and that will be a lot more helpful for your character. They also have different racial spells that might work better for you, or might not since the 'smite' spells, unlike the divine smite class feature of a paladin, use bonus actions to cast.
For this character I would suggest using the 'point buy' rules for determining your attributes. Using those rules, you can start with something like the following array:
Strength 15, Dexterity 10, Constitution 14, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 10, Charisma 14.
after racial modifiers for Zariel bloodline tieflings, that gives you the following stats at first level:
Strength 16, Dexterity 10, Constitution 14, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 10, Charisma 16.
The gives you +3 modifiers, the highest normally available at level 1 using point buy, for your two primary stats of Strength, which governs your weapon attacks, and charisma, which affects your paladin spellcasting and other special class features. You also get a reasonable +2 modifier in Constitution, which is important for your hit points and saving throws to maintain concentration spells when you take damage, and avoid penalties to Dexterity and Wisdom, both of which have important saving throws tied to them. Your intelligence is low and will suffer a -1 penalty, but as a paladin that shouldn't negatively impact you too much. You can move around the scores in dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom a bit to better fit your personal vision for your character, but try not to lower your strength, constitution, or charisma if you can help it.
For your background, I recommend Sailor. Perhaps in your youth you lived at sea, maybe even lived as a pirate for a while, before a paladin found you and took you on as a pupil. Sailor is good for you since it grants proficiency in the Athletics and Perception skills, both of which will be useful to you. If you'd rather take another background, though, feel free.
For a dual wielding paladin I might normally suggest multiclassing fighter, for the two weapon style at level one, action surge at level two, maybe even the increased critical hit range at level 3. However, as this is your first character in the system, multiclassing adds a lot of complexity that you're probably better off saving for later characters, and it absolutely isn't needed to make this character work. As such, you should go right ahead and start with Paladin at level one.
At first level you won't have the feat to dual wield battle axes, so you're going to dual wield hand axes instead. Remember the off hand axe doesn't gain your strength bonus to damage, just the weapon's damage roll. It also requires a bonus action to attack with it, and you can only make that bonus action attack after you've used your regular attack action to attack with your main weapon, so you can't attack with your off hand weapon if you use your regular action to do something else.
As a first level paladin you'll have some healing from lay on hands, this is best used in two circumstances, either an ally is unconscious and you need to get them back to at least one hit point so they don't lose their turn, or after other healing methods after a fight to top off allies who are a few points away from full HP.
Hand axes deal less damage than battle axes or great axes, but at first level the extra off hand attack is decent on its own.
You also get to pick two skill proficiencies. For a traditional, goody two shoes lawful good & devoted to the gods type paladin I'd recommend persuasion and religion, in addition to the Athletics and Perception from the sailor background. If you picked another background just be sure that your character has the athletics and persuasion skills, taking them both with your paladin skill proficiencies if need be. Ideally you'd also like to be proficient in perception - remember that if your background grants a skill proficiency that you already have from your class then you can take any other skill instead. If you can't fit perception proficiency in, though, don't worry about it.
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At second level you'll gain a fighting style. Two Weapon Style isn't available to paladins, but that's fine. Defense style works just fine for you. The extra point of AC is particularly nice since you won't be wearing a shield.
You also gain spellcasting and divine smite, and both are good ways to improve your fighting ability. Against enemies that are hard to hit (your DM describes them as wearing a lot of armor, or as monsters with hard shells, or as particularly agile and dodgy types), you may want to spend your first round casting the Bless spell. This spell gives yourself and two of your friends a +1d4 bonus to all of their attack rolls and saving throws for as long as you maintain concentration, up to a maximum of 10 rounds. Since that applies to all attack rolls, it will improve your off hand attacks as well. This is especially good in long fights where you'll be making lots of attacks. If you take damage, however, you will have to make a concentration saving throw and the spell will end if you fail. Your DM will explain how that works. It's important to remember that you can't cast bless with both hands full of axes, so keep your off hand open while you're exploring, that way if you want to class Bless then you can do so in the first round of combat before drawing your other axe.
The other big thing to do with your spell slots at this level is, of course, Divine Smite. You can use the ability on any hit, even with an off hand weapon, to apply some extra damage to that attack. You should keep in mind that critical hits double this damage as well, and you choose to smite after rolling the attack so you'll already know if it's a critical or not. Something to keep in mind when fighting bigger, tougher enemies, that you might be better off holding your spell slots back at first in the hopes of getting a double smite from a critical hit.
You only have a couple daily spell slots at this level, so try to save them for important seeming fights.
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At third level you choose your oath. The typical oath for a traditional type paladin is devotion, but I don't recommend this for you. The best feature of the oath of devotion is their channel divinity which temporarily empowers a weapon. It's a good ability, but the important part to note there is that it buffs "a" weapon, as in not two weapons, so it's not as good for dual wielders. What I recommend instead is either Oath of Vengeance or Oath of the Ancients. Both are relatively traditional paladins - Vengeance is obviously a bit darker in tone but the emphasis on hunting down and slaying evil monsters is still a very paladiny thing that can fit with a Lawful Good character. Sentinel is more mellow, focusing on protecting the innocent and maintaining the natural order. Both have solid features that will work well for a dual wielder.
The key feature of Oath of Vengeance is their channel divinity 'Vow of Enmity'. Once per short rest (generally about twice per day), as a bonus action you pick one enemy, and gain advantage on all the melee attacks you make against that enemy for a minute. All attacks - including your off hand attacks. It does take a bonus action, so you can't make an off hand attack in the same turn that you use it, which means that's also a good round to consider casting a spell like Bless. Advantage lets you roll two d20 on attack rolls and take the highest, improving your accuracy and making you roll more critical hits to double smite with.
The key feature of Oath of Ancients comes later, at level 7, when they gain a passive aura that grants them and their nearby allies resistance to spell damage, which is amazing. As the aura is passive, it doesn't take any actions and thus doesn't conflict with your primary or off hand attacks. The third level abilities of oath of ancients aren't as good - natures wrath only targets one enemy and lets them choose the save they make against it so it mostly just does nothing. Turn the faithless is decent when you encounter groups of enemy fiends or fey, but depending on your campaign that might not happen much. Neither is anything like as good as 'Vow of Enmity", but again, the big feature for oath of ancients comes later, so you're basically holding off now for greater rewards down the line.
Either way, both oaths also offer some extra spells that you can cast, including the second level spell Misty Step once you get to level 5. That's a useful positioning spell, especially considering that paladins can sometimes be lacking when it comes to mobility. Misty Step is a bonus action, which will prevent you from making your off hand attack on a turn you use it, but if you need to use Misty Step in the first place then the chances are you weren't able to make any off hand attacks that round anyway.
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At fourth level you get an "ability score improvement", which you can trade to get a feat instead. With this you can pick up the 'Dual Wielder' feat, further helping your AC and letting you finally fight with those twin battle axes you wanted. Again, this isn't an "optimal" choice mechanically, but it is a necessary one for this character for aesthetic and stylistic choices, so you shouldn't feel bad about it. The extra AC certainly won't go to waste.
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Level 5 is a big level for most classes, and for you it's no exception. You get the 'extra attack' feature, which lets you make two attacks instead of one with your main weapon whenever you take the 'attack' action. Unfortunately it doesn't improve your off hand attacks, but so be it. You also second level spells, which will let you cast bigger divine smites, or cast the previously mentioned 'Misty Step' teleport spell to get out of a bind. You can also cast one of the Paladin's signature spells "Find Steed", summoning a permanent companion and mount to carry you into battle or even fight by your side. The mounted combat rules in 5e are a bit complicated and counter-intuitive, and you might not be able to take a horse with you into every situation, but the steed is good enough often enough that you should definitely keep it in mind.
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Level 6 gets you Aura of Protection, one of the best abilities of the paladin class. You and nearby allies add your charisma modifier (+3) to all saving throws as long as you are conscious. Remember that this applies to concentration saving throws, and to your nearby allies' death saves (not yours though, as if you're making death saves then you won't be conscious).
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Level 7 gets you another oath feature. The oath of vengeance feature gives you some extra movement when you make an opportunity attack, which is useful but not a huge deal for your particular build (it's better for builds that take the sentinel and/or polearm master feats). If you go with oath of ancients, then you'll get your Aura of Warding, which is amazing for both you and your party.
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Level 8 gets you another ability score improvement. At this point your starting ability scores are maybe starting to lag a bit, so I recommend +2 strength to improve the damage of your primary weapon attacks, and the accuracy of all your weapon attacks.
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Level 9 gets you your 3rd level spells. There are some good options here including Aura of Vitality and Dispel Magic. The 3rd level oath of ancients spells aren't anything particular to write home about, but if you went with oath of vengence then you get the Haste spell, which is a great personal buff. Otherwise, third level divine smites are big and impressive. One important spell to memorize is Revivify, which can bring a creature back to life if its body is mostly intact and it hasn't been dead for more then a minute. It's not a spell you need often, but when your party does need it you REALLY need it. There's an expensive material component, so try to save up for it by level 9 so that you can keep that 'extra life' in your back pocket. Ask your party members to help share the cost.
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Level 10 gets you another aura, this time immunity to frighten for you & nearby allies. Doesn't come up all that much, but when it does it's nice to have.
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Level 11 gets you Improved Divine Smite, an extra d8 damage to all your melee attacks, including your off hand attacks, which is just great, and it's a big part of why Paladin is better for dual wielding than you might otherwise expect.
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I could keep going from there, but few campaigns last long enough to make it into the later levels. If yours does then spend your next ability score improvement to round your strength out to 20. After that, you can spend later ASIs to improve your charisma, or you can spend them on useful feats like Lucky, Alert, Sentinel, War Caster, or Inspiring Leader. If you get to 4th level spells, be sure to check out "Improved Find Steed" from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
People will tell you that two weapon fighting isn't good in 5e, and they're not really wrong, but between divine smite, improved divine smite, and the relative lack of other good bonus actions in class, dual wielding honestly isn't that bad an option for paladins specifically. I personally played a half elf paladin - single classed, with the oath of the ancients - who dual wielded scimitars, and it worked out fine. Had one particularly epic moment where a huge monster grabbed me right off my trusty steed and lifted me high into the air, and on my turn I hit and used smites on both my normal attacks and rolled a critical hit for a double divine smite on my off hand attack, dealing over a hundred damage in a single round to kill the monster outright, after which I rolled acrobatics (you'd roll athletics) to backflip off the dying monster right back into my trusty steed's saddle. It might not have been "optimal", but it was /amazing/. Outside of that shining moment the character was still fine, held up well, and was one of the tougher warriors and better damage dealers in the party. D&D is a cooperative game, you don't need to always make the strongest possible build choices to contribute effectively to your team.
You'd have to be like a half-giant to use one of those suckers, cool.
Besides the surprisingly complicated process behind wielding two axes, would like to know more for setting up my character. I figure he'll likely go for the Oath of Devotion, and using the character creator on this site I picked the Haunted One background, felt it best fit the raised by dracolich idea and he knows Draconic language through it.
Also don't know what god or goddess he would/should follow.
My own paladin is Oath of Ancients so I don't have first hand knowledge of playing Devotion. As Sception pointed out above the main draw of Devotion makes only one of your weapons magical.
Clerics deal in gods and goddesses, paladins deal in abstract concepts. You don't need to ally with a god for your powers but can if you wish to for flavour. Read the different Oaths you have access to and see which one fits the most. Seeking Vengeance on the undead may fit your concept and gives you a whole different toolbox to play with.
Also as Sception pointed out you don't have to be mechanically (read min/max) perfect in 5e to have a working character. Do what seems right for you. My Paladin is a dwarf which doesn't start with +Cha so I have been making that up with ability score increases but he fit my concept of the dwarven doorstop which is what I built him as.
Wow, I didn't have the time to go through all this yesterday but this was very informative, thank you!
Didn't know that, thanks. Simplifies it a bit, good.
I'd look into a Zariel Tiefling and getting the dual wielding feat at level 4. Later on the game, if your strength modifier is high enough you can add the dip into fighter for the damage, but dual wielding as a Paladin is pretty good regardless of what other people might think. As a dual wielding Paladin, you have good justification to prepare and concentrate on Divine Favor and if you have a way to consistently get advantage, you'll be getting more chances to crit that sweet Divine smite damage. It's not bad
Also what people haven't mentioned is the multiclass into bard. The swords college gives you the dual weapon fighting style as well, and there are good synergies in that route.
Starting with two hand axes and maybe upgrading to battle axes would be pretty cool, I think. And hand axes have the thrown property, which adds in an extra tactical option. Hack the guy in front of you, then if he drops, chuck the second one at someone 20 feet away. Carry a few of them on some kind of bandolier.
The feat for getting the battle axes might not even be worth it. You’ll find lots of your damage comes from smiting, anyway, which will make the bonus from boosting your base damage by one die by one almost meaningless. Then you can use the feat slot for more interesting things.
Such as? I don't really know what all the feats are, much less which ones are useful.
That’s a big question. A good one, but a big one. It’s also almost impossible to answer in a vacuum. The first big issue is what campaign you’re joining and the DM.
Technically, all feats are optional, you can take the ability score improvements by RAW (rules as written) but using any feats is only allowed by the DM. In practice, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a DM saying no feats, but that’s technically possible.
Assuming you are allowed feats, you still might want the ability score increases. Especially if you have a couple of odd numbers you want to bump up, since the modifiers change at even numbers. Taking ability score increases (you might see them called ASI) is almost never a bad choice.
After that, we again run into the DM question, some DMs might ban certain books from their campaign, or individual feats if they feel they either don’t fit or are overpowered.
And there’s a level issue. Very rarely do campaigns go to level 20, I think most stop well before that, like in the 8-14 range (and some start above level 1, which can also impact choices). Usually, your DM can tell you about how high a level you’ll get to. This is important to know because you might have a plan for a character build that really doesn’t come online until that third feat at 12 th level, but if the campaign ends at level 10, you never get to see your concept in action.
Another factor can be party composition. A paladin can fill different roles (they make good tanks, have the potential for some really high nova damage, and can even be a good enough healer if there no one else who’s better) in the party, and depending on the other characters, it might be better to focus on one or the other.
But if you are just theorycrafting a character because it’s fun to do, then I guess none of that practical stuff matters. In that case, what kinds of things do you want your character to be able to do? Beyond the two weapon fighting and bashing undead, what things do you want to be able to do? Do you see the character is heavy armor or lighter armor? What are your ability scores?
https://ddb.ac/characters/25878557/huyTMV
Should answer ability scores. Starting at level 1. Have no clue how party composition works for the most part or the different rolls.
For the fun stuff, what I want my character to do. Bit of a toughie, I have a lot of the personality stuff thought out, and the background, but not sure how about the in battle in party kind of stuff. Think earnest do-gooder always trying to help, whether it's fighting a monster or Lay on Hands healing, if he can help somebody somehow that takes priority. Also while he will fight, he's the type to try everything else first - make friends, negotiate a deal or make a trade, get someone to flee or surrender, that sort of thing, and if all other options fail then fight. Never takes a life if it can be avoided.
Any of that help?
Hi Vakanai good start. We cannot see which background you chose and I don't see any tool proficiencies listed, which background did you take?
For your weapons you will want to click on one battleaxe and one handaxe and click on customize. This will allow you to click dual wield so you can see which axe is in your offhand. This will show you what we were talking about with the off hand not having proficiency bonus. Rather then Actions these attacks will show up on your sheet as a Bonus Action.
Only as a suggestion. You will roll way more perception or insight checks then Religion. Leave the history of religion to the Int classes.
I picked Haunted One for his background. Didn't come with any tool profiencies, but he did pick up the Draconic language from it.
What do you suggest instead of Religion?
Click on each of the skills and see which you will need more often. Anything that says Lore are normally for the bookish types not the bashing types. Perception is often called the most important skill. If you don't see something you can't react to something. If you are trying to Persuade someone to do something then Insight would tell you if it is working or not. Basicly think of the Str/Dex skills as Lift/move/hide/jump skills. Int as the bookish / study skills. Wis as the street smarts / active knowledge skills. Cha as the social skills. A paladin will be great at talking to people and lifting things so Persuasion and Athletics are the right choices. I took Perception and Insight as my other choices.
If I drop Religion my only other two options for that background are Arcana and Survival.
May want to try to play with the backgrounds then or check with our DM if you can make a custom one that works for you. Haunted One sounds a bit like a hermit.