Well if the pike is getting its day, then we better talk about the trident. Expensive martial version of the spear with the exact same stats, no unique benefits and lacks any sort of compatability with PAM. What happened there?
Outside of Roman gladiators and Poseidon (therefore other ocean based comic book characters, also) does anybody use a trident? But yeah, if a spear and quarterstaff get PAM, then there is an argument for a trident. I think you'd stand a fair chance of talking a DM into that as a house rule.
If the extent of what you think constitutes trident use is ocean-based comic book characters, then you need to read more. Poseidon was/is an actual deity, and you should not denigrate that history. Nor should you discount the likes of Neptune (his Roman counterpart), Shiva and Hanuman, (Hinduism), or the likes of Amphirites, Nerus, Oceanus, or the Tritons (all Greek). Plus, it's an actual tool that was wielded by fishermen.
Maybe the terminology is tripping you up. When we say someone has a greatsword, are we talking about Scottish and European claymores, flamberges, or zweihänders? What about the East Asian changdao and nodachi? The weapon and armor names listed in the various books are all shorthand to help us easily visualize. Do you think Tolkien actually meant that Middle-Earth used the Gregorian Callendar when he referred to specific dates? Of course not. That was another form of shorthand for the reader. The entire game is one giant abstraction.
So a trident doesn't actually have to visually match what you think it does. And neither does a quarterstaff.
Trident is basically just a re-skinned spear. It probably would have been included in the errata for Pole Arm Master, but Its just not very popular thematically. As has been pointed out, the major icons in Western culture for trident wielders are Poseidon and that one guy from the gladiator movie. Aside from those archetypes, maybe someone might play an angry farmer with a pitchfork, or some kind of fisherman, or Triton, or use it in an aquatic campaign.
But these are all rare cases where the player probably isn't trying to min/max too much to begin with. Its probably one of the least used weapons in the game.
Trident is basically just a re-skinned spear. It probably would have been included in the errata for Pole Arm Master, but Its just not very popular thematically. As has been pointed out, the major icons in Western culture for trident wielders are Poseidon and that one guy from the gladiator movie. Aside from those archetypes, maybe someone might play an angry farmer with a pitchfork, or some kind of fisherman, or Triton, or use it in an aquatic campaign.
But these are all rare cases where the player probably isn't trying to min/max too much to begin with. Its probably one of the least used weapons in the game.
Not saying the Trident would ever be a super popular weapon, but this feels a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even fewer people are going to use the trident if they see that they're spending more money on the functional equivalent to a spear that doesn't qualify for the feat every polearm user is looking to take advantage of.
Lack of popularity doesn't excuse blatant holes in design IMO. Is it really that much work for them to officially make the trident a 2d4 weapon that works with Polearm Master? After six years? Not everyone wants to homebrew stuff or have to ask the DM for it. Many players don't feel comfortable doing so. AL players simply can't. But it isn't a big deal in the end. Just something that annoys me.
This has all gotten wildly off topic. Sorry OP. You should take PAM. Unless you don't want to use a Polearm. Then don't. But PAM is way better than Shield Master on a Paladin.
Also, there's no need to pick up Sentinel. It's a nice addition, but not mandatory. If you go spear (or the dreaded quarterstaff 😉) then you don't even have GWM on your plate and can focus mostly on boosting your ability scores.
Its not a self-fulfilling prophecy, since my stating it doesn't cause it to come true. A thousand fellow nerds can read my statement, and I doubt it would change any of their minds. Its more an observation.
And one built on what the weak icons to look at for a trident, and the same lack of any mechanical niche that you yourself point out.
Trident is basically just a re-skinned spear. It probably would have been included in the errata for Pole Arm Master, but Its just not very popular thematically. As has been pointed out, the major icons in Western culture for trident wielders are Poseidon and that one guy from the gladiator movie. Aside from those archetypes, maybe someone might play an angry farmer with a pitchfork, or some kind of fisherman, or Triton, or use it in an aquatic campaign.
But these are all rare cases where the player probably isn't trying to min/max too much to begin with. Its probably one of the least used weapons in the game.
Not saying the Trident would ever be a super popular weapon, but this feels a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even fewer people are going to use the trident if they see that they're spending more money on the functional equivalent to a spear that doesn't qualify for the feat every polearm user is looking to take advantage of.
Lack of popularity doesn't excuse blatant holes in design IMO. Is it really that much work for them to officially make the trident a 2d4 weapon that works with Polearm Master? After six years? Not everyone wants to homebrew stuff or have to ask the DM for it. Many players don't feel comfortable doing so. AL players simply can't. But it isn't a big deal in the end. Just something that annoys me.
This has all gotten wildly off topic. Sorry OP. You should take PAM. Unless you don't want to use a Polearm. Then don't. But PAM is way better than Shield Master on a Paladin.
Also, there's no need to pick up Sentinel. It's a nice addition, but not mandatory. If you go spear (or the dreaded quarterstaff 😉) then you don't even have GWM on your plate and can focus mostly on boosting your ability scores.
I think they made their decision a couple of days ago, but this reminds me of something that I've seen on the PEG forums when discussing their IPs like Deadlands. A lot of the gear that we see is for world-building. Even if it's "suboptimal" from a player standpoint, enemies can use it. Like, it doesn't make optimal sense that a bugbear wields a morningstar when they could wield a bigger weapon with larger damage dice, but they do.
That isn't how a self-fulfilling prophecy works Kronzypantz. I was never saying you made it true. I was saying that the lack of mechanical support is going to lead to even fewer players choosing Trident. This lack of mechanical support helps to keep it as an unpopular choice, but it is also part of why it was never popular in the first place.
I agree the mechanics were just not in favor of trident being a popular choice. My point is that the archetypes of characters that would want to use trident, even if it was mechanically on par with other polearms, are so thin that it would remain uncommon.
I honestly had to check when it was brought up in this thread, because I thought it had some special feature that I had forgotten about. I think if it did have a neat mechanic like the net, then it would get more play as a gimmick than it would as an alternative spear.
I agree the mechanics were just not in favor of trident being a popular choice. My point is that the archetypes of characters that would want to use trident, even if it was mechanically on par with other polearms, are so thin that it would remain uncommon.
I honestly had to check when it was brought up in this thread, because I thought it had some special feature that I had forgotten about. I think if it did have a neat mechanic like the net, then it would get more play as a gimmick than it would as an alternative spear.
I mostly agree with you. The trident is a rather specific aesthetic and isn't going to be what a lot of players want no matter what goodies you tie at the end of the stick. But I have to wonder: would the hand crossbow be anywhere near as popular if it wasn't for the powerful support from Crossbow Expert? I doubt it. Throwing the trident in the pile of PAM options won't be the same, because the hand crossbow has that relationship with crossbow expert all to itself and it's at least slightly less limiting in terms of aesthetic. I definitely agree a unique feat, like something net and trident based would do more for its popularity than simply giving it the chance to be as good as the spear.
Jounichi I'm all down with that mode of thinking, but the fact that the trident is key to realizing a certain aesthetic makes me feel like it should get a little more attention when considering player characters. It doesn't take being a minmaxer, or anything close, to feel bad about the deficiencies in the trident design when you see the spear sitting there as a simple weapon with the same stats for less money. It would be a relatively simple fix and empower players looking for that aesthetic instead of constructing an obvious feel-bad situation.
I see this all the time that vengeance paladins should take PAM and use a polearm, I understand this because the extra opportunity attacks from the lvl 7 ability works well with 10 ft reach and the extra attack is another smite opportunity. Plus you can just vow of emnity for advantage.
The feat Polearm Master Is amazing because not only does it increase your attack output but also damage output in many ways while allowing for more battlefield control (Threatens incoming enemies).
Additionally, it can be used in conjunction with both a spear and shield to get the best of both worlds of PAM and the +2 AC then as your Fighting Style make up the damage by taking Duelling (For a +2 to dmg).
As with Vow of Emnity it’s very strong for single target Nova alongside PAM as a vengeance Paladin has a couple of features that synergize with PAM.
However sometimes I feel that the sword and shield route with shield master can be really overlooked on a vengeance pally, because you have a source of near constant advantage instead of just once per long rest as well as the versatility of shoving and you are less feat hungry (usually PAM means GWM and Sentinel). Not to even mention you’re probably far better off when Haste comes online.
As I said before if you want you can still go “sword and board” if you want as PAM allows for single handed use also, so you can still get that +2 to AC. But yes Shield Master is usually overlooked because it doesn’t “contribute” to damage and doesn’t allow for more attacks so in that regard it is overlooked (especially in many Min-Max builds [unless adv. is needed]). As with the near constant advantage remember that the Shield Master advantage comes from a bonus action shove therefore requires a check and isn’t guaranteed.
In addition, Vow of Emnity recharges on a SHORT and long rest allowing for more ease of use while with PAM both Sentinel and GWM aren’t needed for PAM though Sentinel would be beneficial.
Now as with Haste it’s just Net benefit to ether of the three builds (PAM, Spear/PAM and Shield, Sword and Board). Although I feel the extra movement, Dex help, and extra action would benefit a PAM build more than a Shield Master build.
I mean constant advantage, with hunters mark and your smites on S&B isn’t bad compared to one chance a day at getting your real offense off with advantage with PAM.
Like I said Channel Divinity is on a SHORT or long rest so it’s not just a once a day more like (though not always) once every encounter. And as with Shield Master sure you CAN get advantage against most foes (some are too big to be shoved prone and an ally might not like getting disadvantage on ranged attacks against a prone target) but by doing so you must expend a bonus action that could have been used for something else in trying to get advantage on all of your attacks while using Vow, and focusing on other bonus action options (spells) the PAM Paladin may gain better mileage than a Shield Master focused build. As with PAM sure it has good Nova potential but the DPR is also amazing due to the net gain in the amount of attacks gain from PAM.
What does everyone think? Paladins should have good burst damage so maybe PAM does make sense, but S&B just seems better in some ways.
Yes a pure S&B build does have its pluses with Shield Master and a pure PAM build has it’s pluses with Nova but why do one when you can do both (as before) by taking PAM, a spear/quarterstaff, and a shield for the AC boost. Overall as I’ve wrote I think without a doubt that a PAM (wit a shield) is the best of the two (three) builds.
and yeah the Gms I play with let me re skin stuff very liberally. I’m playing a swashbuckler/hex blade in a campaign now where I started off with a wooden sword (that was a rapier mechanically) and now I use a basket hilted broad sword that’s mechanically a rapier. If a certain weapon is thematically important to a character then as a dm and as a player I’ve always found a way to have that fit. Ive told DMs before “Rick only uses basket hilted swords and other late medieval type equipment because he is themed as a witch hunter etc” so if they intended for an item to drop they could make it fit thematically and not have a late medieval period type character walking around in their world with a shield that fits thematically 1000 years in the past instead of a neat buckler.
I started playing almost two years ago now and I’ve always had this thought that homebrew was part of the rules and that it’s completely fine to tweak things especially stuff like that, and I would almost never see myself playing with someone who didn’t think that way. It just makes the game so stale and boring.
Trident is basically just a re-skinned spear. It probably would have been included in the errata for Pole Arm Master, but Its just not very popular thematically. As has been pointed out, the major icons in Western culture for trident wielders are Poseidon and that one guy from the gladiator movie. Aside from those archetypes, maybe someone might play an angry farmer with a pitchfork, or some kind of fisherman, or Triton, or use it in an aquatic campaign.
But these are all rare cases where the player probably isn't trying to min/max too much to begin with. Its probably one of the least used weapons in the game.
Not saying the Trident would ever be a super popular weapon, but this feels a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even fewer people are going to use the trident if they see that they're spending more money on the functional equivalent to a spear that doesn't qualify for the feat every polearm user is looking to take advantage of.
Lack of popularity doesn't excuse blatant holes in design IMO. Is it really that much work for them to officially make the trident a 2d4 weapon that works with Polearm Master? After six years? Not everyone wants to homebrew stuff or have to ask the DM for it. Many players don't feel comfortable doing so. AL players simply can't. But it isn't a big deal in the end. Just something that annoys me.
This has all gotten wildly off topic. Sorry OP. You should take PAM. Unless you don't want to use a Polearm. Then don't. But PAM is way better than Shield Master on a Paladin.
Also, there's no need to pick up Sentinel. It's a nice addition, but not mandatory. If you go spear (or the dreaded quarterstaff 😉) then you don't even have GWM on your plate and can focus mostly on boosting your ability scores.
You should definitely grab PAM if you plan to use compatible weapons *and are building for damage output*. If you're building for support/tanking it's still potentially useful, but is far from obligatory, even if you're using compatible weapons. Control/Tanking Conquest Paladins, for instance, might opt to use a halberd for reach, but still have a hard time justifying the ASI for PAM given the pressure on their strength, charisma, and concentration saves, especially conquerors since access to spiritual weapon as an oath spell reduces their need to look for other bonus action attack options.
Shield master, though... it's not a terrible feat. Again, it's significantly brought up by the boost to dexterity saves. But if your DM is using the sage advice interpretation then the usefulness of that bonus action shove is dramatically diminished, so honestly even on shield using tanky characters without other solid bonus action options, I'd still look elsewhere. Paladins have a lot of reason to invest in their stats (if your cha isn't maxed yet then '+1 to all your saves and all the saves of nearby allies' is going to be better than almost any support feat), and even apart from that, there are a lot of *great* support & utility feats. Sentinel, Lucky, Alert, & Inspiring Leader, for instance, are all better options that shield master, imo.
It's a bit convoluted but here is a feat combination I like for shield master builds if you're still obsessing over it Drewcifer: Shield Master + Slasher + Mobile.
Slasher reduces their movement speed by 10 and then you shove them prone before scooting away. Considering the standard of 30 feet of movement, many enemies will be left with 5 feet of movement by the time they get up and hopefully will be stuck without someone to hack at if they are a melee unit. It's a lot of pieces for a combo that only really works on melee-bound meatheads, but each individual piece has good value outside of the combo.
This comes together much more easily on a fighter using custome lineage but I could see something like this on a custom lineage paladin. Personally I like this on battlemasters the most though, because you can drop mobile to purposefully trigger attacks of opportunity from the people you shove prone as you walk away. They will be at disadvantage and will likely trigger a riposte manuever.
Also, I'm all aboard the reskinning train. It's gotta be the easiest "homebrew" to accept because it isn't changing any mechanics, just giving them new names. I love reskinning things to fit my needs.The trident feels like an exception to me though. I don't want it to simply be functional like a spear. I want it to have slightly different mechanics to solidify its place amongst the martial polearms and away from the simple spear.
When should a V Human take Sentinel after PAM? Say if you are using standard array...
Take Sentinel at 4? then just pump up ASI after taking it? Or wait for another level?
4 is a good choice, and honestly speaking it allows for the opportunity for your DM to give you a strength gauntlets or belt without feeling like you wasted an ASI, if they're feeling generous.
I agree with cgarciao. 4 is good in this case, and hope your DM has dropped you a strength fixing item by level 8 so you can either start raising your charisma or take a feat to shore up your concentration saves then.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Well if the pike is getting its day, then we better talk about the trident. Expensive martial version of the spear with the exact same stats, no unique benefits and lacks any sort of compatability with PAM. What happened there?
Outside of Roman gladiators and Poseidon (therefore other ocean based comic book characters, also) does anybody use a trident? But yeah, if a spear and quarterstaff get PAM, then there is an argument for a trident. I think you'd stand a fair chance of talking a DM into that as a house rule.
If the extent of what you think constitutes trident use is ocean-based comic book characters, then you need to read more. Poseidon was/is an actual deity, and you should not denigrate that history. Nor should you discount the likes of Neptune (his Roman counterpart), Shiva and Hanuman, (Hinduism), or the likes of Amphirites, Nerus, Oceanus, or the Tritons (all Greek). Plus, it's an actual tool that was wielded by fishermen.
Maybe the terminology is tripping you up. When we say someone has a greatsword, are we talking about Scottish and European claymores, flamberges, or zweihänders? What about the East Asian changdao and nodachi? The weapon and armor names listed in the various books are all shorthand to help us easily visualize. Do you think Tolkien actually meant that Middle-Earth used the Gregorian Callendar when he referred to specific dates? Of course not. That was another form of shorthand for the reader. The entire game is one giant abstraction.
So a trident doesn't actually have to visually match what you think it does. And neither does a quarterstaff.
What matters is how they behave.
Trident is basically just a re-skinned spear. It probably would have been included in the errata for Pole Arm Master, but Its just not very popular thematically. As has been pointed out, the major icons in Western culture for trident wielders are Poseidon and that one guy from the gladiator movie. Aside from those archetypes, maybe someone might play an angry farmer with a pitchfork, or some kind of fisherman, or Triton, or use it in an aquatic campaign.
But these are all rare cases where the player probably isn't trying to min/max too much to begin with. Its probably one of the least used weapons in the game.
Not saying the Trident would ever be a super popular weapon, but this feels a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even fewer people are going to use the trident if they see that they're spending more money on the functional equivalent to a spear that doesn't qualify for the feat every polearm user is looking to take advantage of.
Lack of popularity doesn't excuse blatant holes in design IMO. Is it really that much work for them to officially make the trident a 2d4 weapon that works with Polearm Master? After six years? Not everyone wants to homebrew stuff or have to ask the DM for it. Many players don't feel comfortable doing so. AL players simply can't. But it isn't a big deal in the end. Just something that annoys me.
This has all gotten wildly off topic. Sorry OP. You should take PAM. Unless you don't want to use a Polearm. Then don't. But PAM is way better than Shield Master on a Paladin.
Also, there's no need to pick up Sentinel. It's a nice addition, but not mandatory. If you go spear (or the dreaded quarterstaff 😉) then you don't even have GWM on your plate and can focus mostly on boosting your ability scores.
Its not a self-fulfilling prophecy, since my stating it doesn't cause it to come true. A thousand fellow nerds can read my statement, and I doubt it would change any of their minds. Its more an observation.
And one built on what the weak icons to look at for a trident, and the same lack of any mechanical niche that you yourself point out.
I think they made their decision a couple of days ago, but this reminds me of something that I've seen on the PEG forums when discussing their IPs like Deadlands. A lot of the gear that we see is for world-building. Even if it's "suboptimal" from a player standpoint, enemies can use it. Like, it doesn't make optimal sense that a bugbear wields a morningstar when they could wield a bigger weapon with larger damage dice, but they do.
Think of them as tools for when you want to stick a thug in ring mail and hand 'em a greatclub. Or make a gladiator who wields a trident and net instead of a shield and spear.
That isn't how a self-fulfilling prophecy works Kronzypantz. I was never saying you made it true. I was saying that the lack of mechanical support is going to lead to even fewer players choosing Trident. This lack of mechanical support helps to keep it as an unpopular choice, but it is also part of why it was never popular in the first place.
I agree the mechanics were just not in favor of trident being a popular choice. My point is that the archetypes of characters that would want to use trident, even if it was mechanically on par with other polearms, are so thin that it would remain uncommon.
I honestly had to check when it was brought up in this thread, because I thought it had some special feature that I had forgotten about. I think if it did have a neat mechanic like the net, then it would get more play as a gimmick than it would as an alternative spear.
I mostly agree with you. The trident is a rather specific aesthetic and isn't going to be what a lot of players want no matter what goodies you tie at the end of the stick. But I have to wonder: would the hand crossbow be anywhere near as popular if it wasn't for the powerful support from Crossbow Expert? I doubt it. Throwing the trident in the pile of PAM options won't be the same, because the hand crossbow has that relationship with crossbow expert all to itself and it's at least slightly less limiting in terms of aesthetic. I definitely agree a unique feat, like something net and trident based would do more for its popularity than simply giving it the chance to be as good as the spear.
Jounichi I'm all down with that mode of thinking, but the fact that the trident is key to realizing a certain aesthetic makes me feel like it should get a little more attention when considering player characters. It doesn't take being a minmaxer, or anything close, to feel bad about the deficiencies in the trident design when you see the spear sitting there as a simple weapon with the same stats for less money. It would be a relatively simple fix and empower players looking for that aesthetic instead of constructing an obvious feel-bad situation.
The feat Polearm Master Is amazing because not only does it increase your attack output but also damage output in many ways while allowing for more battlefield control (Threatens incoming enemies).
Additionally, it can be used in conjunction with both a spear and shield to get the best of both worlds of PAM and the +2 AC then as your Fighting Style make up the damage by taking Duelling (For a +2 to dmg).
As with Vow of Emnity it’s very strong for single target Nova alongside PAM as a vengeance Paladin has a couple of features that synergize with PAM.
As I said before if you want you can still go “sword and board” if you want as PAM allows for single handed use also, so you can still get that +2 to AC. But yes Shield Master is usually overlooked because it doesn’t “contribute” to damage and doesn’t allow for more attacks so in that regard it is overlooked (especially in many Min-Max builds [unless adv. is needed]). As with the near constant advantage remember that the Shield Master advantage comes from a bonus action shove therefore requires a check and isn’t guaranteed.
In addition, Vow of Emnity recharges on a SHORT and long rest allowing for more ease of use while with PAM both Sentinel and GWM aren’t needed for PAM though Sentinel would be beneficial.
Now as with Haste it’s just Net benefit to ether of the three builds (PAM, Spear/PAM and Shield, Sword and Board). Although I feel the extra movement, Dex help, and extra action would benefit a PAM build more than a Shield Master build.
Like I said Channel Divinity is on a SHORT or long rest so it’s not just a once a day more like (though not always) once every encounter. And as with Shield Master sure you CAN get advantage against most foes (some are too big to be shoved prone and an ally might not like getting disadvantage on ranged attacks against a prone target) but by doing so you must expend a bonus action that could have been used for something else in trying to get advantage on all of your attacks while using Vow, and focusing on other bonus action options (spells) the PAM Paladin may gain better mileage than a Shield Master focused build. As with PAM sure it has good Nova potential but the DPR is also amazing due to the net gain in the amount of attacks gain from PAM.
Yes a pure S&B build does have its pluses with Shield Master and a pure PAM build has it’s pluses with Nova but why do one when you can do both (as before) by taking PAM, a spear/quarterstaff, and a shield for the AC boost. Overall as I’ve wrote I think without a doubt that a PAM (wit a shield) is the best of the two (three) builds.
Thanks no this is fun though.
and yeah the Gms I play with let me re skin stuff very liberally. I’m playing a swashbuckler/hex blade in a campaign now where I started off with a wooden sword (that was a rapier mechanically) and now I use a basket hilted broad sword that’s mechanically a rapier. If a certain weapon is thematically important to a character then as a dm and as a player I’ve always found a way to have that fit. Ive told DMs before “Rick only uses basket hilted swords and other late medieval type equipment because he is themed as a witch hunter etc” so if they intended for an item to drop they could make it fit thematically and not have a late medieval period type character walking around in their world with a shield that fits thematically 1000 years in the past instead of a neat buckler.
I started playing almost two years ago now and I’ve always had this thought that homebrew was part of the rules and that it’s completely fine to tweak things especially stuff like that, and I would almost never see myself playing with someone who didn’t think that way. It just makes the game so stale and boring.
Meant to quote you in my last post
You should definitely grab PAM if you plan to use compatible weapons *and are building for damage output*. If you're building for support/tanking it's still potentially useful, but is far from obligatory, even if you're using compatible weapons. Control/Tanking Conquest Paladins, for instance, might opt to use a halberd for reach, but still have a hard time justifying the ASI for PAM given the pressure on their strength, charisma, and concentration saves, especially conquerors since access to spiritual weapon as an oath spell reduces their need to look for other bonus action attack options.
Shield master, though... it's not a terrible feat. Again, it's significantly brought up by the boost to dexterity saves. But if your DM is using the sage advice interpretation then the usefulness of that bonus action shove is dramatically diminished, so honestly even on shield using tanky characters without other solid bonus action options, I'd still look elsewhere. Paladins have a lot of reason to invest in their stats (if your cha isn't maxed yet then '+1 to all your saves and all the saves of nearby allies' is going to be better than almost any support feat), and even apart from that, there are a lot of *great* support & utility feats. Sentinel, Lucky, Alert, & Inspiring Leader, for instance, are all better options that shield master, imo.
Yeah I agree there are better feats. You know when you get build ideas in your head and are like “THIS HAS TO WORK” lmao.
It's a bit convoluted but here is a feat combination I like for shield master builds if you're still obsessing over it Drewcifer: Shield Master + Slasher + Mobile.
Slasher reduces their movement speed by 10 and then you shove them prone before scooting away. Considering the standard of 30 feet of movement, many enemies will be left with 5 feet of movement by the time they get up and hopefully will be stuck without someone to hack at if they are a melee unit. It's a lot of pieces for a combo that only really works on melee-bound meatheads, but each individual piece has good value outside of the combo.
This comes together much more easily on a fighter using custome lineage but I could see something like this on a custom lineage paladin. Personally I like this on battlemasters the most though, because you can drop mobile to purposefully trigger attacks of opportunity from the people you shove prone as you walk away. They will be at disadvantage and will likely trigger a riposte manuever.
Also, I'm all aboard the reskinning train. It's gotta be the easiest "homebrew" to accept because it isn't changing any mechanics, just giving them new names. I love reskinning things to fit my needs.The trident feels like an exception to me though. I don't want it to simply be functional like a spear. I want it to have slightly different mechanics to solidify its place amongst the martial polearms and away from the simple spear.
When should a V Human take Sentinel after PAM? Say if you are using standard array...
Take Sentinel at 4? then just pump up ASI after taking it? Or wait for another level?
4 is a good choice, and honestly speaking it allows for the opportunity for your DM to give you a strength gauntlets or belt without feeling like you wasted an ASI, if they're feeling generous.
I agree with cgarciao. 4 is good in this case, and hope your DM has dropped you a strength fixing item by level 8 so you can either start raising your charisma or take a feat to shore up your concentration saves then.