Hey! I'm playing as a ranger for the first time, he is a level two and lived in the wild for almost his whole life, until he recently moved to the city. The campaign we are playing involves a lot of fiends, and one of our party members is a Paladin of Lathander. I want to drop ranger at maybe level 4, and start picking up Paladin. Is this a good idea?

First of all, go to fifth if you go into paladin. Second, you need at least 14 charisma. I would say it isn't the best idea, but if you do, then go ancients.

Sounds good, thanks!

Quote from BramblefootDruid >>

First of all, go to fifth if you go into paladin. Second, you need at least 14 charisma. I would say it isn't the best idea, but if you do, then go ancients.

 I mean five of ranger. Then seven of paladin then the rest ranger. 

Before I start, you have to know Multiclassing Rule Zero: Never ditch a martial class before level 5. Level 5 martial characters get Extra Attack (or Uncanny Dodge, for rogues) which is their bread and butter. If you feel useless and weak in combat, I promise you won't once you hit level 5.

Whenever you multiclass, you make your overall character weaker. Unless you're multiclassing to supplement skills that are already in your base class (like a dip into rogue or fighter, for example), you are going to end up sacrificing your ranger's abilities. Yes, you'll get versatility, but unless you do it very carefully, you'll probably end up unhappy with the result. It's easy to mess up a multiclass build - especially half-casters like ranger and paladin, where your magic capacity doesn't increase every level. 

You're probably better off analyzing why paladin appeals to you and seeing if you can buff your ranger with feats and subclass choices first. Do you want to do more damage? Do you want to be able to sense fiends? Both of these are easily accomplished in your base class.

Step 1: Subclass. At level 3, rangers choose their conclaves. I'm going to assume that you didn't pick fiend as your Favored Enemy, so if you want to boost your character's usefulness against fiends, you have a couple choices. Monster Slayer gives you more paladin-like spells and lets you sense vulnerabilities and inflict better damage on any foe, not just your favored enemy. If your DM is throwing a lot of enemies at you in combat and you just want to be more effective against groups, Hunter will turn you into a one-man army.  If fiends are popping up from other planes and you want to keep them from invading, Horizon Walker turns you into a portal-detecting and banishing powerhouse. And if you stick with ranger through level 6, you'll get to pick a Greater Favored Enemy and can choose fiends then.

Step 2: Feats. At level 4, you get an ability score increase (ASI) or your DM can let you take a feat. If you wanna have spidey senses for fiends, Magic Initiate (Cleric) is perfect. Take whatever cantrips you like (Guidance is highly recommended) and Detect Evil and Good as your 1st-level spell. Or take Protection from Evil and Good if you want to make sure fiends can't hurt you or your party. Depending on your ranger's race and archetype, other feats may help you become a deadlier force or a sturdier tank on the battlefield. Sharpshooter, War Caster, Tough, and Alert are useful for any ranger.

I definitely agree that you want to stay in ranger at least until level 5, for Extra Attack. At 6th level, you get another favored enemy (or greater favored enemy), which you can use for fiends, which seems like it would help you. Everything that theologyofbagels said is very helpful.

Quote from theologyofbagels >>

Before I start, you have to know Multiclassing Rule Zero: Never ditch a martial class before level 5. Level 5 martial characters get Extra Attack (or Uncanny Dodge, for rogues) which is their bread and butter. If you feel useless and weak in combat, I promise you won't once you hit level 5.

Whenever you multiclass, you make your overall character weaker. Unless you're multiclassing to supplement skills that are already in your base class (like a dip into rogue or fighter, for example), you are going to end up sacrificing your ranger's abilities. Yes, you'll get versatility, but unless you do it very carefully, you'll probably end up unhappy with the result. It's easy to mess up a multiclass build - especially half-casters like ranger and paladin, where your magic capacity doesn't increase every level. 

You're probably better off analyzing why paladin appeals to you and seeing if you can buff your ranger with feats and subclass choices first. Do you want to do more damage? Do you want to be able to sense fiends? Both of these are easily accomplished in your base class.

Step 1: Subclass. At level 3, rangers choose their conclaves. I'm going to assume that you didn't pick fiend as your Favored Enemy, so if you want to boost your character's usefulness against fiends, you have a couple choices. Monster Slayer gives you more paladin-like spells and lets you sense vulnerabilities and inflict better damage on any foe, not just your favored enemy. If your DM is throwing a lot of enemies at you in combat and you just want to be more effective against groups, Hunter will turn you into a one-man army.  If fiends are popping up from other planes and you want to keep them from invading, Horizon Walker turns you into a portal-detecting and banishing powerhouse. And if you stick with ranger through level 6, you'll get to pick a Greater Favored Enemy and can choose fiends then.

Step 2: Feats. At level 4, you get an ability score increase (ASI) or your DM can let you take a feat. If you wanna have spidey senses for fiends, Magic Initiate (Cleric) is perfect. Take whatever cantrips you like (Guidance is highly recommended) and Detect Evil and Good as your 1st-level spell. Or take Protection from Evil and Good if you want to make sure fiends can't hurt you or your party. Depending on your ranger's race and archetype, other feats may help you become a deadlier force or a sturdier tank on the battlefield. Sharpshooter, War Caster, Tough, and Alert are useful for any ranger.

 I do not have fiends as my favorite enemy, made that mistake when I created him. Also, I want to multi-class into a Paladin more for RP than abilities, so I'm not too worried about abilities. My character has been in the wild his whole life, and only recently moved to a city. Over the course of the campaign, I want him to shed his past, and embrace a new future, hence the multi-class.

Quote from YGiraffe >>

I definitely agree that you want to stay in ranger at least until level 5, for Extra Attack. At 6th level, you get another favored enemy (or greater favored enemy), which you can use for fiends, which seems like it would help you. Everything that theologyofbagels said is very helpful.

 Thank you for taking the time to reply!

If you're looking for RP options, then yeah, multiclassing is an easy backdoor. I did something similar with my own ranger/cleric. If you're not worried about mechanics or weakening your combat abilities, then the really only thing to keep in mind is 1) utilizing your ASI to boost your strength and charisma stats to 13, if necessary, and 2) waiting until at least level 6 to multiclass. 

Happy roleplaying!

Thank you!

While I am not prepared to say it's a bad idea, 2 half casters seems like it's not a /good/ idea either.  Once doesn't seem to get much from the other in my opinion.  My suggestion would be to look at a Cleric MC and flavor it towards paladin-iness.