The way I understand it, I can simply use True Strike and use my Charisma modifier every time I would normally attack with my Longsword. Does this make my Strength stat irrelevant aka can I put everything in my Constitution instead? Are there any downsides to this? Does the Cantrip consume my Longsword or can't I use my Weapon Mastery etc.? I think I am missing something because this seems like a loophole.
Besides not being able to extra attack? The next biggest issue with that is most of the feats that you might want to improve your weapon damage won't help your charisma, and most of your spells don't really require a lot of charisma to work well anyway.
If you're interested, treantmonk compared a couple of builds of paladins in a recent video. He shows that if you care about damage, then true strike doesn't beat out just going strength (or even dexterity). Probably shillelagh (from Magic initiate (druid)) does better than true strike for a paladin.
[...] Does the Cantrip consume my Longsword or can't I use my Weapon Mastery etc.? I think I am missing something because this seems like a loophole.
Nick might be the one you can't use unless you cast the cantrip as part of the Attack Action (e.g. thanks to Eldritch Knight's War Magic, College of Valor Bard's Extra Attack, or Bladesinging's Extra Attack).
Thanks for the reply! I am building a Paladin for a One Shot on Lvl 3 so the extra attack doesn't yet matter. So I guess it would work, though Shillelagh seems like a good option, too. Thanks for the video recommendation, I'm gonna check it out.
True strike works alright if you're never going to get a second attack from any source and you're never going to take any feats to improve weapon damage. It starts to not make sense if either of those are not true.
Shillelagh works ok if you have extra attack, but you need both if you want to dual wield with all attacks using your casting stat -- and a special attack action that allows the use of a cantrip in the attack action, as TarodNet said.
Feats are always a problem for characters that want to make attacks with weapons using casting stats because the stat increases don't align.
Yeah, before extra attack, I think there isn't any problem. Shillelagh limits you on the weapon you can use -- and you won't be able to smite or use any other bonus action on the turn you activate it. True strike is more general on the weapon options but you have to use it every turn. On the other hand, it doesn't interfere with smites ever.
The other thing that we haven't mentioned is that with true strike, any attacks outside of your turn such as opportunity attacks will suffer -- you'll have to make them using a dump stat. Using strength or Shillelagh will avoid that, or a feat (but at level 3, you won't have room for that).
Another thing to consider is getting Shillelagh from the Magic Initiate feat means it's not a Paladin spell for you and you must have a Club or Quarterstaff in one hand and Mistletoe or Component Pouch in the other when casting it.
While getting True Strike from that same Magic Initiate feat means you can have a shield and a weapon when casting it.
If you're point buying, the highest you can take Charisma and Constitution is 15, which leaves you 9 points for abilities. I'm just curious what other abilities you would raise for your Paladin? Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 13?
You could start Paladin (direct line to your deity) with STR 13 and then take 2 levels of Warlock (your deity is busy, talk to the Assistant Vice President of Ethereal Affairs). Lvl 2 Warlock gives you Pact of the Blade as an Eldritch Invocation Option, so you can use Charisma to attack AND your weapon becomes a spellcasting focus.
Two of your choice of DEX, INT, or WIS take a 10 while the other takes an 8. You also don't need to worry about burning an action to cast true strike and your Paladin would be a bit more traditional than a guy running around in chain mail with a magic stick.
Warlock 1 with Pact of the Blade Invocation / Paladin 2 will also let you use Charisma for your attacks and you can vary the weapon. I assume that you can only use it as a spell casting focus for Warlock spells, but that is not an explicit restriction. Once activated, it remains available until it is away from for 1 minute or more so it is reasonable to be an all day perk. The downside is that you wouldn't have you subclass perks and channel divinity and you would have one less prepared Paladin spell and Paladin spell slot. For a one shot, it might be a good trade.
The way I understand it, I can simply use True Strike and use my Charisma modifier every time I would normally attack with my Longsword. Does this make my Strength stat irrelevant aka can I put everything in my Constitution instead?
Are there any downsides to this? Does the Cantrip consume my Longsword or can't I use my Weapon Mastery etc.? I think I am missing something because this seems like a loophole.
Besides not being able to extra attack? The next biggest issue with that is most of the feats that you might want to improve your weapon damage won't help your charisma, and most of your spells don't really require a lot of charisma to work well anyway.
If you're interested, treantmonk compared a couple of builds of paladins in a recent video. He shows that if you care about damage, then true strike doesn't beat out just going strength (or even dexterity). Probably shillelagh (from Magic initiate (druid)) does better than true strike for a paladin.
Nick might be the one you can't use unless you cast the cantrip as part of the Attack Action (e.g. thanks to Eldritch Knight's War Magic, College of Valor Bard's Extra Attack, or Bladesinging's Extra Attack).
Related threads:
True Strike and Weapon Masteries - Rules & Game Mechanics
Shadow Blade - Rules & Game Mechanics
2024 Weapon Mastery and Two-weapon Fighting with Weapon-based Cantrips - Rules & Game Mechanics
Does weapon mastery work with a spell attack action - Rules & Game Mechanics
Thanks for the reply! I am building a Paladin for a One Shot on Lvl 3 so the extra attack doesn't yet matter. So I guess it would work, though Shillelagh seems like a good option, too. Thanks for the video recommendation, I'm gonna check it out.
True strike works alright if you're never going to get a second attack from any source and you're never going to take any feats to improve weapon damage. It starts to not make sense if either of those are not true.
Shillelagh works ok if you have extra attack, but you need both if you want to dual wield with all attacks using your casting stat -- and a special attack action that allows the use of a cantrip in the attack action, as TarodNet said.
Feats are always a problem for characters that want to make attacks with weapons using casting stats because the stat increases don't align.
Yeah, before extra attack, I think there isn't any problem. Shillelagh limits you on the weapon you can use -- and you won't be able to smite or use any other bonus action on the turn you activate it. True strike is more general on the weapon options but you have to use it every turn. On the other hand, it doesn't interfere with smites ever.
The other thing that we haven't mentioned is that with true strike, any attacks outside of your turn such as opportunity attacks will suffer -- you'll have to make them using a dump stat. Using strength or Shillelagh will avoid that, or a feat (but at level 3, you won't have room for that).
Yeah, I totally forgot about opportunity attacks, although unless the DM abuses that flaw I think it should be a minor problem.
Dumping STR will also reduce your speed in most heavy armors, so that’s a consideration.
And for longsword, it isn't an issue, but would be a problem if you wanted to use a heavy weapon.
Another thing to consider is getting Shillelagh from the Magic Initiate feat means it's not a Paladin spell for you and you must have a Club or Quarterstaff in one hand and Mistletoe or Component Pouch in the other when casting it.
While getting True Strike from that same Magic Initiate feat means you can have a shield and a weapon when casting it.
If you're point buying, the highest you can take Charisma and Constitution is 15, which leaves you 9 points for abilities. I'm just curious what other abilities you would raise for your Paladin? Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 13?
You could start Paladin (direct line to your deity) with STR 13 and then take 2 levels of Warlock (your deity is busy, talk to the Assistant Vice President of Ethereal Affairs). Lvl 2 Warlock gives you Pact of the Blade as an Eldritch Invocation Option, so you can use Charisma to attack AND your weapon becomes a spellcasting focus.
Two of your choice of DEX, INT, or WIS take a 10 while the other takes an 8. You also don't need to worry about burning an action to cast true strike and your Paladin would be a bit more traditional than a guy running around in chain mail with a magic stick.
Warlock 1 with Pact of the Blade Invocation / Paladin 2 will also let you use Charisma for your attacks and you can vary the weapon. I assume that you can only use it as a spell casting focus for Warlock spells, but that is not an explicit restriction. Once activated, it remains available until it is away from for 1 minute or more so it is reasonable to be an all day perk. The downside is that you wouldn't have you subclass perks and channel divinity and you would have one less prepared Paladin spell and Paladin spell slot. For a one shot, it might be a good trade.
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