I want to run an oathbreaker paladin of lolth has all the oathbreaker abilities but never broke their oath the with her. I am Unsure how to narratively work this in. I want him to truly believe that she a just and right. I also am trying to figure out how to pitch it to my dm who generally views paladins as the lawful good stereotype. Any advice is welcome it's for a LVL 5 game so I have leeway with that.
An Oathbreaker didn’t break an oath to anyone per se, they broke the oath they made. For example, an oath of devotion paladin who lied. I’d say first develop what kind of pally you were, which oath you broke and why.
Big picture, though, is your DM and the rest of the party ok with an evil character who is, literally, known for breaking their word? Why would the rest of the PCs be willing to adventure with someone who was untrustworthy?
work with your DM to make an oath with the abilities of an oathbreaker but tenets of either some other Oath(Conquest comes to mind) or wholly new tenets. Shouldn't be impossible. The whole thing with playing a evil character will require talking to your DM anyway.
Conquest also works well with an evil god like lolth. She is no friend to fiends or the undead, so I’m not sure why you think Oathbreaker powers match with her, besides them both being evil. Honestly, reading conquest and reading her description, they seem to match really well. And mechanically, the Oathbreaker aura will do absolutely nothing for anyone in your party. either way, and I can’t stress this enough, make sure not only your DM, but also the rest of the players are ok with you playing an evil character. If everyone is into it, great. But you’re forcing the rest of the party to come up with a reason for why they’d be willing to pal around with an evil person; it often doesn’t end well.
Big picture, though, is your DM and the rest of the party ok with an evil character who is, literally, known for breaking their word? Why would the rest of the PCs be willing to adventure with someone who was untrustworthy?
I think Joe Manganiello's character Arkhan is a good standard to use. He was was a devo pally sworn to Bahamut but broke his oath as he was lured by Tiamat. Arkhan is fiercely loyal to her and is a Lawful Evil alignment. The Lawful aspect can keep you somewhat honor bound to the group for the adventure while you have an ultimate goal in hand. You work with the party because it furthers your deity's overall purpose.
Iirc, in most settings she lives in the abyss and has a number of fiendish servants there that also work as agents and enforcers for the leaders of her clergy in the mortal world, so that part fits well enough.
Oathbreaker works fine when reflavored as a dedicated anti-paladin. Arguably, it works far better for this than it does for a paladin who has broken other oaths. The features and oath spells don't really convey duplicity or self interest, but rather a committed dedication to evil in the same way that a typical paladin is dedicated to good. The sadly abandoned play test 'oath of treachery' was a much better mechanical fit for the dastardly blackguard / fallen paladin concept.
As is, just come up with appropriate tenets with your DM. If they're not willing to do so, consider instead Oath of the Crown or Oath of Conquest, both of which fit the concept reasonably well without homebrew changes to their narrative components.
Mechanically, as a drow, you're looking at a dexadin build. Rapier & shield or twin short swords would be traditional, with hand crossbow as a fallback ranged option, and all that works, though spear and shield or glaive for the polearm master feat might be stronger. Elven Accuracy might be good if you can use it to round out an odd starting score in your attack stat. I wouldn't take more than a single feat before committing yourself to maxing out your weapon attack stat and your charisma.
Full paladin works fine, but if you can manage the 13 strength requirement without unduly impacting your other key stats then you might consider multiclassing to let you fight in magical darkness. The main options there warlock for devil's sight, or shadow sorcerer for its own darkness-you-can-see-through. Shadow sorcerer works better thematically, though its see-through-darkness ability doesn't work for your racial spell. Hexblade is an obvious fit, joining your weapon attack and magic attack stats, and facilitating the initial multiclassing requirement by letting you make do with medium armor and a 14 dexterity. However, hexblade can be iffy in terms of the narrative. Bonding your soul to a metaphysical weapon forged from cursed magical darkness sounds like something a paladin of Lolth would do, but the default lore for hexblades connects their origins to the Raven Queen, who in 5e is a rival/adversary to the elven gods both good and evil, so if your DM uses default 5e lore, then that's not a great fit. Fiendlock is a solid alternative choice - again Lolth has a number of powerful demons in her employ that could work as patrons to you, and the fiendlock temporary hit points ability is solid for a front line combatant. Doesn't fix your stat issues though.
If you want to multiclass but the stat requirements aren't working for you, you might consider playing a half-drow using the sword coast adventurer's guide half elf variant. You miss out on some features, but the more generous and flexible racial ability modifiers are helpful for such a multiple-ability-dependent build, multiclassing or no, and there's some juicy narrative potential there. Perhaps your character is the daughter of a high ranking drow priestess and a particularly high value human captive - maybe a kidnapped prince; raised as your mother's prized bodyguard, herald, and enforcer, both a soldier and a toy / curiosity / status symbol. Female Half Drow could help make sense for a paladin, since males are mostly barred from Lolth's clergy, but female drow with magical talent and high enough rank to be divine casters typically operate as pure divine casters - usually clerics, though divine soul sorcerers are a better mechanical fit in 5e - and leave the messy business of physical combat to lower ranked males or non-drow servants. A female half-drow of a high ranking house might be the best fit for the paladin's odd position of straddling the line between divine caster and martial warrior.
Again, though, single classed paladin works just fine on its own, and drow have good stat bonuses for a single classed dexadin build, so if you aren't looking to dip in some sorcerer or warlock then you don't have to worry about any of that.
I want to run an oathbreaker paladin of lolth has all the oathbreaker abilities but never broke their oath the with her. I am Unsure how to narratively work this in. I want him to truly believe that she a just and right. I also am trying to figure out how to pitch it to my dm who generally views paladins as the lawful good stereotype. Any advice is welcome it's for a LVL 5 game so I have leeway with that.
An Oathbreaker didn’t break an oath to anyone per se, they broke the oath they made. For example, an oath of devotion paladin who lied. I’d say first develop what kind of pally you were, which oath you broke and why.
Big picture, though, is your DM and the rest of the party ok with an evil character who is, literally, known for breaking their word? Why would the rest of the PCs be willing to adventure with someone who was untrustworthy?
I don't necessarily want them to break their oath just the abilities of an oathbreaker seem to align with a more evil deity like lolth
work with your DM to make an oath with the abilities of an oathbreaker but tenets of either some other Oath(Conquest comes to mind) or wholly new tenets. Shouldn't be impossible. The whole thing with playing a evil character will require talking to your DM anyway.
Conquest also works well with an evil god like lolth. She is no friend to fiends or the undead, so I’m not sure why you think Oathbreaker powers match with her, besides them both being evil. Honestly, reading conquest and reading her description, they seem to match really well. And mechanically, the Oathbreaker aura will do absolutely nothing for anyone in your party.
either way, and I can’t stress this enough, make sure not only your DM, but also the rest of the players are ok with you playing an evil character. If everyone is into it, great. But you’re forcing the rest of the party to come up with a reason for why they’d be willing to pal around with an evil person; it often doesn’t end well.
I think Joe Manganiello's character Arkhan is a good standard to use. He was was a devo pally sworn to Bahamut but broke his oath as he was lured by Tiamat. Arkhan is fiercely loyal to her and is a Lawful Evil alignment. The Lawful aspect can keep you somewhat honor bound to the group for the adventure while you have an ultimate goal in hand. You work with the party because it furthers your deity's overall purpose.
Iirc, in most settings she lives in the abyss and has a number of fiendish servants there that also work as agents and enforcers for the leaders of her clergy in the mortal world, so that part fits well enough.
Oathbreaker works fine when reflavored as a dedicated anti-paladin. Arguably, it works far better for this than it does for a paladin who has broken other oaths. The features and oath spells don't really convey duplicity or self interest, but rather a committed dedication to evil in the same way that a typical paladin is dedicated to good. The sadly abandoned play test 'oath of treachery' was a much better mechanical fit for the dastardly blackguard / fallen paladin concept.
As is, just come up with appropriate tenets with your DM. If they're not willing to do so, consider instead Oath of the Crown or Oath of Conquest, both of which fit the concept reasonably well without homebrew changes to their narrative components.
Mechanically, as a drow, you're looking at a dexadin build. Rapier & shield or twin short swords would be traditional, with hand crossbow as a fallback ranged option, and all that works, though spear and shield or glaive for the polearm master feat might be stronger. Elven Accuracy might be good if you can use it to round out an odd starting score in your attack stat. I wouldn't take more than a single feat before committing yourself to maxing out your weapon attack stat and your charisma.
Full paladin works fine, but if you can manage the 13 strength requirement without unduly impacting your other key stats then you might consider multiclassing to let you fight in magical darkness. The main options there warlock for devil's sight, or shadow sorcerer for its own darkness-you-can-see-through. Shadow sorcerer works better thematically, though its see-through-darkness ability doesn't work for your racial spell. Hexblade is an obvious fit, joining your weapon attack and magic attack stats, and facilitating the initial multiclassing requirement by letting you make do with medium armor and a 14 dexterity. However, hexblade can be iffy in terms of the narrative. Bonding your soul to a metaphysical weapon forged from cursed magical darkness sounds like something a paladin of Lolth would do, but the default lore for hexblades connects their origins to the Raven Queen, who in 5e is a rival/adversary to the elven gods both good and evil, so if your DM uses default 5e lore, then that's not a great fit. Fiendlock is a solid alternative choice - again Lolth has a number of powerful demons in her employ that could work as patrons to you, and the fiendlock temporary hit points ability is solid for a front line combatant. Doesn't fix your stat issues though.
If you want to multiclass but the stat requirements aren't working for you, you might consider playing a half-drow using the sword coast adventurer's guide half elf variant. You miss out on some features, but the more generous and flexible racial ability modifiers are helpful for such a multiple-ability-dependent build, multiclassing or no, and there's some juicy narrative potential there. Perhaps your character is the daughter of a high ranking drow priestess and a particularly high value human captive - maybe a kidnapped prince; raised as your mother's prized bodyguard, herald, and enforcer, both a soldier and a toy / curiosity / status symbol. Female Half Drow could help make sense for a paladin, since males are mostly barred from Lolth's clergy, but female drow with magical talent and high enough rank to be divine casters typically operate as pure divine casters - usually clerics, though divine soul sorcerers are a better mechanical fit in 5e - and leave the messy business of physical combat to lower ranked males or non-drow servants. A female half-drow of a high ranking house might be the best fit for the paladin's odd position of straddling the line between divine caster and martial warrior.
Again, though, single classed paladin works just fine on its own, and drow have good stat bonuses for a single classed dexadin build, so if you aren't looking to dip in some sorcerer or warlock then you don't have to worry about any of that.