I like playing a support character that tries to draw fire away from the rest of my party. I have built a L2 Paladin/ L3 Bard (lore). He wears full plate with a shield and his AC is 21. Going into combat, my first move is to cast "Shield of Faith" which gives me a +2AC. MY DM was very kind and he allowed party members to start with either 2 uncommon or 1 rare magic item. I took a Cloak of Displacement (attacks on me are at disadvantage). My AC is 23 with advantage. I took Lucky as a feat. If he rolls 2 20s I make him roll one again. I also took College or Lore for the Cutting Words ability. If he rolls 3 19s, I can use cutting words to deduct 1d6 from the roll. My next level I was planning to take either Hexblade or a level of Sorcerer so that I could get the Shield spell (+5AC if about to be hit). This means my DM would need to roll 3 20s (automatic hit and I can't change) or, with a +9 to hit beastie, he could roll two 20s and a 19 and still miss (I roll a 1 on cutting words). Sure, I can't do it every round since I will run out of feat, ability and spell slots. So in combat I do my best to taunt the enemy (CHA 16) into attacking me, not the squishy rogue. I think we are playing this correctly. In addition to my bragging, I am also wondering if I could get advice on whether to do Hexblade or Sorcerer for my defense-based character and which oath would be best when I level Paladin (I was going to take Paladin to 7th for the save bonus and I was thinking Oath of Ancients for resistance to magic, because he could be hard to either with magic or melee in that case).
Likely Warlock, since you are not putting many points into the class and the ability to short rest to regain limited spell slots would be helpful. Additionally you’ll get the ability to use a hex weapon and the ever-useful Eldritch Blast, providing a bit more damage output.
Out of curiosity, what race did you pick? My inclination would be for Yuan-ti for their innate advantage on saving throws against magical effects, but there’s a few other options that could work.
Just remember to have some sort of defense against Dex/Wis saves! The big beefy frontline is a juicy target for the DM to cast Dominate on, for instance.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I like playing a support character that tries to draw fire away from the rest of my party.
If you want to protect your party, you need more than good defenses. You need introduce a dilemma where attacking you is a bad idea but NOT attacking you is also a bad idea.
As a DM, if I came up against a character like this I would simply ignore them and go for the squishier PCs. You're not a threat to me all turtled up like that.
We are all friends for the game. The DM was trying to let us build some customization into our characters and some jerk decided to min/max it. As I mentioned, he is also letting use my persuasion or intimidation skill (jacked because of Bard expertise) to taunt them into attacking me. (Very fun to role play too). In terms of throwing down damage, this is where I think the Warlock may be the way to go. The Hexblade curse gives me advantage and if he does crit, I burn my highest spell to smite. Hexblade would let me use CHA for attack so I can really focus on that Stat. Other thought would be Divine soul socercer for the lifeline on a saving through (2d4) once because, yeah, DM is going to be spelling my butt and saves will be needed (another use for Lucky). But I really welcome any advice!
A small point I would make is that shield and cutting words both use your reaction, so you will not be able to use both in the same round.
How many levels of sorcerer/hexblade would you be planning to take? I'm assuming only the one?
Shadow or Draconic Sorcerer could make your character a little more resilient which is always helpful for a tank.
Oath of Conquest could help you in locking down your opponents into facing you (using Aura of Conquest) and Armour of Agathys could be useful for you. Oath of Glory also has some potential if you were willing to go two more levels of Paladin to get haste for an extra +2 to AC and other useful features such as a little speed to keep pace with the rogue and inspiring smite.
I like playing a support character that tries to draw fire away from the rest of my party. I have built a L2 Paladin/ L3 Bard (lore). He wears full plate with a shield and his AC is 21. Going into combat, my first move is to cast "Shield of Faith" which gives me a +2AC. MY DM was very kind and he allowed party members to start with either 2 uncommon or 1 rare magic item. I took a Cloak of Displacement (attacks on me are at disadvantage). My AC is 23 with advantage. I took Lucky as a feat. If he rolls 2 20s I make him roll one again. I also took College or Lore for the Cutting Words ability. If he rolls 3 19s, I can use cutting words to deduct 1d6 from the roll. My next level I was planning to take either Hexblade or a level of Sorcerer so that I could get the Shield spell (+5AC if about to be hit). This means my DM would need to roll 3 20s (automatic hit and I can't change) or, with a +9 to hit beastie, he could roll two 20s and a 19 and still miss (I roll a 1 on cutting words). Sure, I can't do it every round since I will run out of feat, ability and spell slots. So in combat I do my best to taunt the enemy (CHA 16) into attacking me, not the squishy rogue. I think we are playing this correctly. In addition to my bragging, I am also wondering if I could get advice on whether to do Hexblade or Sorcerer for my defense-based character and which oath would be best when I level Paladin (I was going to take Paladin to 7th for the save bonus and I was thinking Oath of Ancients for resistance to magic, because he could be hard to either with magic or melee in that case).
Likely Warlock, since you are not putting many points into the class and the ability to short rest to regain limited spell slots would be helpful. Additionally you’ll get the ability to use a hex weapon and the ever-useful Eldritch Blast, providing a bit more damage output.
Out of curiosity, what race did you pick? My inclination would be for Yuan-ti for their innate advantage on saving throws against magical effects, but there’s a few other options that could work.
I took human variant. I wanted the Lucky feat. I am still fairly new so I didn't know much about the Yuan-ti.
Just remember to have some sort of defense against Dex/Wis saves! The big beefy frontline is a juicy target for the DM to cast Dominate on, for instance.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
If you want to protect your party, you need more than good defenses. You need introduce a dilemma where attacking you is a bad idea but NOT attacking you is also a bad idea.
As a DM, if I came up against a character like this I would simply ignore them and go for the squishier PCs. You're not a threat to me all turtled up like that.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Your post made me realize that shield isn't concentration!
WOW! That's OP!
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.We are all friends for the game. The DM was trying to let us build some customization into our characters and some jerk decided to min/max it. As I mentioned, he is also letting use my persuasion or intimidation skill (jacked because of Bard expertise) to taunt them into attacking me. (Very fun to role play too). In terms of throwing down damage, this is where I think the Warlock may be the way to go. The Hexblade curse gives me advantage and if he does crit, I burn my highest spell to smite. Hexblade would let me use CHA for attack so I can really focus on that Stat. Other thought would be Divine soul socercer for the lifeline on a saving through (2d4) once because, yeah, DM is going to be spelling my butt and saves will be needed (another use for Lucky). But I really welcome any advice!
A small point I would make is that shield and cutting words both use your reaction, so you will not be able to use both in the same round.
How many levels of sorcerer/hexblade would you be planning to take? I'm assuming only the one?
Shadow or Draconic Sorcerer could make your character a little more resilient which is always helpful for a tank.
Oath of Conquest could help you in locking down your opponents into facing you (using Aura of Conquest) and Armour of Agathys could be useful for you. Oath of Glory also has some potential if you were willing to go two more levels of Paladin to get haste for an extra +2 to AC and other useful features such as a little speed to keep pace with the rogue and inspiring smite.
Hope this helps.
Thank you. Lots to think about there.