In our previous campaign I played a bladesinger sun elf. During the campaign, I started a relationship with a half-elf. Like all the players established romantic relationships in that campaign, in the next one we are going to play with our children. So, I would have to be Half-Elf. However, since my father is also a Half-Elf, the DM allows me to choose between being a Half-Elf or a pure Elf.
Once the context has been explained, I would like to know your opinion on which build to make.
Initially i had thought of a Half-Elf Paladin. Maybe a revenge paladin, and try to go for agility (to use the Elvish Accuracy feat). But I'm not quite convinced by a agility paladin .
Another option i had thought of was a cleric half-elf. The domain of the storm, and booming blade as a cantrip of sun half-Elf. But I'm not quite convinced by throwing away the +2 in char either.
Any suggestion? I'm open to any build, but seeing what the rest of the players want to play, I think it would be convenient to play someone who can be in the front line and can heal.
Half Elf with the High Elf variant from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide can still pick up the Booming Blade Cantrip. Dexterity based Paladins are definitely a viable build, especially if you're going to use Elven Accuracy and Vow of Enmity to fish for critical hits.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
A sun-elf variant for the half-elf (sword coast adventure guide) is perfect for a swashbuckler rogue, especially if you take either booming blade or green-flame blade for your racial cantrip. It's great as a single-class build, but it also works really well when multiclassed into echo-knight fighter (wildmount).
If you take one level of hexblade warlock for your paladin build, you can add your Charisma to your weapon attack and damage rolls and the 6th paladin level lets you add it to all of your saves, allowing you to maximize almost everything by putting your ability score increases into charisma, freeing up the others for feats.
If you go with the cleric, you might see if the DM lets you change up which ability score the +2 goes to, per Tasha's Cauldron of Everything optional rule, to put it in wisdom.
Really, whatever you do is perfect if you enjoy the character, whether it's optimized or not.
As much as Paladins are generally assumed to be STR-based fighters, nothing in their build actually keys off of STR, specifically. Your Tankiness might suffer a bit because you won't have the STR to wear full plate armor, but high dex with half-plate is only 1AC lower than full plate, and if you grab a shield you can basically still be the big tank of the party without actually being particularly strong.
I agree with the others that Half-Elf, Sun Descent Variant is the best-of-both-worlds compromise between your character concepts. Plus, personally, I don't like to play as the same thing repeatedly... I don't know if you're the same, but I wouldn't want to go full-elf if only because you already played as one last campaign, so why not try something new? Plus if this is a group built of the children of the characters from the previous campaign... a full-blooded elf isn't really considered an "Adult" until they reach 100 years old... not that you can't have an elf who doesn't subscribe to that belief and chooses to go out on adventures at a much younger age (since they still physically mature around the same rate of humans), but a Half-Elf is considered fully adult by 20 and would require less homebrewing or story manipulation to justify them going on adventures at the same time that other children born around the same time do.
As for the idea of building a Crit-Fisher... pairing Elven Accuracy with Vengeance Paladin is truly devastating, one of the nastiest combos in the game, with the main downside being that you only get one use per short-rest. Something that could help is taking the Shield Master feat to knock opponents prone to get advantage, although the downside there is that Shoving is based on an Athletics contest, so it might not be worth the investment for this build. You might be better served by figuring out which of your allies is best at helping to give you advantage and working together with them. Especially if your DM is using Flanking rules.
I like skills for my characters so I’d opt for the half elf over the elf most any day. The exception would be if I needed the weapon proficiencies that an elf brings to the table, which you don’t for either of the class/subclasses you mentioned. Plus I’m not sure how, genetically speaking, you couple a half elf and a full elf to end up with a full elf. It’s cool of your DM to give you the option but it reminds of the PE tune “Fear of a Black Planet”—you got a little colour in your family tree now.
As far as class goes, either will be fine really. You kinda can’t go wrong with a paladin (unless you want to be an archer, maybe) and Tempest is a strong, fun domain to play. I’d prolly opt for the cleric as a matter of personal preference only.
There are a lot of upsides to doing a Dex build, like better initiative, Dex-based skills such as stealth, and Dex has much more useful saving throws.
The annoying thing is there is only one standard d8 finesse weapon in the game, the rapier. It breaks my immersion on most builds to go pokey pokey with that thing. There is a special weapon if your DM will allow it, that is extremely effective and has a cool factor. The double-bladed scimitar.
Genetically, the child of a half-elf and full-elf is 3/4 elf, which is more elf than human, so I can see them coming out functionally entirely Elven, at least in terms of what genetics directly apply to them mechanically.
Also, I like SeanJP's suggestion for the Double Bladed Scimitar, since the weapon itself inherently has elven flavor attached to it that makes it a potentially cool signature weapon.
I played a Half Elf Dex Paladin to 20th. He kicked ass. (Actually went Pal13/DivinerWiz7 with a Headband of Int).
I took Sentinel and Metamagic Adept. I would quicken Hold Person and issue the beatdown in the same turn. With favorable Portent rolls they aren't making their save.
At Wiz6 (19th level) I switched subclass from Diviner to Bladesinger as too many monsters at that level had Legendary saves that could ignore bad Portent rolls. Granted it still gave me extra chances at crits but I got Booming Blade damage on top of my weapon attacks.
I went 13/7 to get 4th level spells in each class. 12/8 would get an extra ASI/Feat but I wanted Find Greater Steed for the campaign we were in.
I played a Half Elf Dex Paladin to 20th. He kicked ass. (Actually went Pal13/DivinerWiz7 with a Headband of Int).
I took Sentinel and Metamagic Adept. I would quicken Hold Person and issue the beatdown in the same turn. With favorable Portent rolls they aren't making their save.
At Wiz6 (19th level) I switched subclass from Diviner to Bladesinger as too many monsters at that level had Legendary saves that could ignore bad Portent rolls. Granted it still gave me extra chances at crits but I got Booming Blade damage on top of my weapon attacks.
I went 13/7 to get 4th level spells in each class. 12/8 would get an extra ASI/Feat but I wanted Find Greater Steed for the campaign we were in.
Portent is great for getting rid of Legendary Saves, or if you can use other abilities to burn through their saves, you can then use Portent to finish them off with one big spell ... like Disintegrate.
There are a lot of upsides to doing a Dex build, like better initiative, Dex-based skills such as stealth, and Dex has much more useful saving throws.
The annoying thing is there is only one standard d8 finesse weapon in the game, the rapier. It breaks my immersion on most builds to go pokey pokey with that thing. There is a special weapon if your DM will allow it, that is extremely effective and has a cool factor. The double-bladed scimitar.
Just note that the double- bladed scimitar doesn't inherently have finesse if you are going with a dex build, you'll need the Revenant Blade feat to get that (or DM fiat). Either way, it's an excellent choice for the character, assuming the feat is in play if needed.
Regarding the dex paladin, the problem is not that it cannot be played. It can. However, I find it indisputably worse than a str paladin. You have less armor (each +1 to AC is -5% chance to be hit), and you gain absolutely nothing (or it's a marginal gain, like Dex saves). Instead, you also lose efficiency as a frontliner, by having negligible athletics. It might be worth it if you build him as a critic fish, and put the Elven Accuracy feat on him. A great combo with the vengace paladin. Even so, if you don't care that thematically it doesn't make much sense, before that it's better to go for hexadin or, directly, pure hexblade.
The double-bladed scimitar sounds like a great suggestion to me. Of course, since we will start at level 1, I don't see a way to take it with dex until level 4. But it's perfectly possible to play it at str. You lose the possibility of using it together with Elven Accuracy, unless you put 3 levels of Hexblade on it (you need blade pact to be able to use it with char, since it is a two-handed weapon). If we start at lvl 4 or higher, I would think it would be a good option for a melee ranger. Along with hunter's mark, you can do a lot of damage.
I don't know if anyone can think of any other double-bladed scimitar combos. I don't know if it would be very efficient for other classes, like cleric (it would have to be a subclass with martial proficiency, otherwise I won't be able to start with it).
Regarding the dex paladin, the problem is not that it cannot be played. It can. However, I find it indisputably worse than a str paladin. You have less armor (each +1 to AC is -5% chance to be hit), and you gain absolutely nothing (or it's a marginal gain, like Dex saves). Instead, you also lose efficiency as a frontliner, by having negligible athletics. It might be worth it if you build him as a critic fish, and put the Elven Accuracy feat on him. A great combo with the vengace paladin. Even so, if you don't care that thematically it doesn't make much sense, before that it's better to go for hexadin or, directly, pure hexblade.
The double-bladed scimitar sounds like a great suggestion to me. Of course, since we will start at level 1, I don't see a way to take it with dex until level 4. But it's perfectly possible to play it at str. You lose the possibility of using it together with Elven Accuracy, unless you put 3 levels of Hexblade on it (you need blade pact to be able to use it with char, since it is a two-handed weapon). If we start at lvl 4 or higher, I would think it would be a good option for a melee ranger. Along with hunter's mark, you can do a lot of damage.
I don't know if anyone can think of any other double-bladed scimitar combos. I don't know if it would be very efficient for other classes, like cleric (it would have to be a subclass with martial proficiency, otherwise I won't be able to start with it).
Note that with the hexblade dip, you'll still need to start with at least 13 strength to use chainmail without penalty and need to boost your strength to 15 to use full plate without penalty. In either case, you can be a dwarf to "cut" the penalty from -10 speed to -5 speed (because of their base 25 ft movement, assuming you would have gone with a 30 ft movement race). Likewise, you could go with a wood elf to have 25 ft movement with the penalty or something like centaur for 30 ft movement with the penalty.
It should be noted that acrobatics can substitute for Athletics in many cases (though not with grappling) and that you'll not likely have much better athletics while focusing on Charisma than on Dexterity. In either case, you'd want Skill Expert (Athletics Expertise) to compensate for a lower strength.
The hexadin build will have better saves than most other builds after Paladin 6, but increasing dex saves will be more beneficial than increasing strength saves and much more beneficial than increasing charisma saves (pre Paladin 6 when the aura increases all saves).
The AC difference between strength and dex only really exists with full plate vs half plate. A character with 14 dex and scale mail starts with 16 AC just like a character with Chain mail. The only increase for medium armor comes from half plate to boost it to 17 AC (or the medium armor master feat to allow a medium armor user to make use of their dex modifier up to the 16-17 dex mark). While splint only costs 200 gp to get the same 17 AC that Half Plate costs 750 gp to acquire, it still weighs 20 more lbs (60 lbs versus 40 lbs). Plate is even worse: 1500 GP for 65 lbs. Of course, if you are maxing your attack stat, you can go with Studded Leather for the same 17 AC after your dex is maxed for 45 GP and 13 lbs. It also has the added benefit of not having disadvantage on stealth checks.
Unless you are grabbing one of a few select subclasses (of which I don't recall one from Paladin or cleric) or grabbing the Alert feat, dexterity is the only way most characters will improve their initiative. This is important for being able to go higher in the initiative order more frequently, which leads to more disabled enemies sooner and less damage coming to your party overall. It also means that you'll suffer from surprise for a shorter duration on average, and you'll have access to your reaction sooner during the first round even though you'll still lose your first turn if you are surprised. If your DM also grants advantage on attacks against surprised creatures, its even more valuable to get past that first turn sooner assuming that advantage isn't granted after that first turn.
Going with a double-bladed scimitar along with the Revenant Blade feat does grant a bonus to AC while wielding the weapon with two hands, potentially making up the AC difference between a strength build without the feat and a dexterity build with the feat. You can increase strength with the feat as well as dex so a strength build can still get the feat for the stat increase and the bonus to AC, it just comes at a higher opportunity cost than for dexterity builds that really want the finesse bullet.
2d4 is 5 average damage and slightly better than the 4.5 average damage from a d8 rapier. There isn't much lost there from 1-4. The bonus action attack is the bigger loss, 2.5 average damage per d4 plus the added efficiency from having the extra attack and an extra chance to apply your attack stat modifier. The dex build could instead start with d6 weapons and dual wield. Hitting with both attacks with the DBS and a +3 strength modifier would give 5.0 +3 +2.5 +3 for a total of 13.5 average damage. The dual wielding dex build with a +3 dex modifier (wielding a shortsword for the stabby and a scimitar for the slashy) could do 3.5 +3 + 3.5 for 10 average damage. Unfortunately, both Revenant Blade and Elven Accuracy will require feats, meaning that won't come online until level 8 for a paladin or cleric. Dueling fighting style and a shield might be better if you aren't starved for that bonus action giving 9.5 average damage and a +2 AC while still leaving the bonus action available (for what though?) if you want to cast a Smite spell or something.
The dex build isn't strictly worse than the strength build for a paladin, it simply focuses on different things. What will determine whether it's better or worse will depend on what you want from the build and somewhat on what rules are in force. If gold is an issue in your campaign, the extra 750 gold can be a big deal. If carrying capacity is a big deal, the weight differentials may make a difference though having more strength will offset some or all of the weight difference. How much you and your party want to be sneaky will lend itself more to one build or the other. How your DM differentiates between Athletics and Acrobatics will determine how much of a factor that will be.
For a Cleric or a Hexadin, going medium armor might be better since a 14 dex will be all that you'll require for max AC instead of 15 strength (that many people will OCD into a 16). It's close enough that you can pick your preferences based on campaign/DM/Party factors and not be too far off. You'll give up some benefits either way, but you'll probably be a reasonably high level before the main benefits of either build start to tell against the other build (How long will it take to get Full plate if your DM doesn't just give you some?) Strength builds will typically be better damage earlier but not overwhelmingly so until GWM and/or PAM come online.
Edit: Hexadin gains less from going medium armor since they need 13 strength (and charisma) to multiclass anyway. They may as well stay heavy armor.
For me the advantage of dex builds is that versatile weapons tend to be light. That allows you to attack with a weapon in each hand, which is great if you trigger another source of damage (like hex or hunter's mark). The problem is that the paladin can't take Two-Weapon Fighting, so you wouldn't add the modifier to the second attack. You can live without it, but it's worse than equipping yourself with a sword and shield in my opinion. You can equip rapier and shield, it's true, but I don't see the benefit over the other option (at most it's the same, and I think it's worse).
For me dexterity paladins are generally a bit worse. I've seen them, and they're competent, but in my opinion going to dex doesn't add anything to the paladin that he mechanically needs. It can be fun if you want to play a different paladin, or if you want to play a paladin and a race that goes to dexterity (which seems to be the case with you). It's perfectly doable, in any case.
An interesting option for an elf, and more if you say you want to go frontliner, and heal, it can be a cleric. With medium armor (or heavy depending on the case), and a shield, it holds up very well. And, in addition, he heals himself and others. The +1 wis from the wood elf should be enough to fuel your magic, and if you put medium armor on it, that +2 to dex leaves room for other abilities (having it at 14 is enough). Don't invest in str if you're not going to go heavy armor (which isn't going to give you much, really). Clerics work best attacking with cantrips, even in melee, and with spells in general. In addition to leaving your hand free for your spells. I see a lot of people wasting resources for their cleric to hit with a weapon (such as buying Shillelagh from him through the magic initiate feat, or even going for the combo with booming blade). In my opinion it is not worth it. A cleric doesn't need to hit with weapons, his role is completely different (and he's generally better at attacking with magic anyway).
Double-bladed scimitar can be interesting if you want to go str, and hit with your bonus action. In any case, the best thing about this weapon is that it's very cool. Mechanically it's not much better than other options (not much worse either).
For me the advantage of dex builds is that versatile weapons tend to be light. That allows you to attack with a weapon in each hand, which is great if you trigger another source of damage (like hex or hunter's mark). The problem is that the paladin can't take Two-Weapon Fighting, so you wouldn't add the modifier to the second attack. You can live without it, but it's worse than equipping yourself with a sword and shield in my opinion. You can equip rapier and shield, it's true, but I don't see the benefit over the other option (at most it's the same, and I think it's worse).
I hadn't thought of that, but that actually pairs fairly well with a crit-fishing Elven Accuracy Paladin build. Keeping a dagger in the off-hand to take jabs at enemies as a bonus action each turn just to try and land a crit, then pump a Divine Smite into it... so even though the initial hit is pretty mediocre, when you've got advantage that's still 3 more rolls to try and land a crit.
For me the advantage of dex builds is that versatile weapons tend to be light. That allows you to attack with a weapon in each hand, which is great if you trigger another source of damage (like hex or hunter's mark). The problem is that the paladin can't take Two-Weapon Fighting, so you wouldn't add the modifier to the second attack. You can live without it, but it's worse than equipping yourself with a sword and shield in my opinion. You can equip rapier and shield, it's true, but I don't see the benefit over the other option (at most it's the same, and I think it's worse).
I hadn't thought of that, but that actually pairs fairly well with a crit-fishing Elven Accuracy Paladin build. Keeping a dagger in the off-hand to take jabs at enemies as a bonus action each turn just to try and land a crit, then pump a Divine Smite into it... so even though the initial hit is pretty mediocre, when you've got advantage that's still 3 more rolls to try and land a crit.
Well, the best paladin to do that is vengeance because it gets hunter's mark and because its feature to hit with advantage. It's the only case of a paladin that I think is better with two weapons, than with a hand weapon and a shield.
As for AC, I had a 22 dex (via Manual) at the end, so with +1 Studded Leather (Glamored), a +3 shield, Haste, and Shield Spell, he was pretty hard to hit.
Later I dropped the +3 shield when we found another Staff of Power so I got a +2 AC bonus from that instead of the shield.
As for AC, I had a 22 dex (via Manual) at the end, so with +1 Studded Leather (Glamored), a +3 shield, Haste, and Shield Spell, he was pretty hard to hit.
Later I dropped the +3 shield when we found another Staff of Power so I got a +2 AC bonus from that instead of the shield.
If we put magic items and things that rarely happen like having more than 20 in an ability, any build can be really powerful. If, for example, we add the Gauntlets of Ogre Power to a dex build, we become very competent in athletics and in everything related to strength (and we can wear heavy armor if we want and we are competent), etc... of a build, in my opinion, the interesting thing is to highlight the things that it can achieve by itself. And especially at low levels, which is what is usually played. A build where I get something super powerful when the character is level 17, for example, doesn't make much sense since it's very rare to get to those levels.
Jhfffan, Thanks for your comment. Everything you say is very interesting, and the way you explain it.
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In our previous campaign I played a bladesinger sun elf. During the campaign, I started a relationship with a half-elf. Like all the players established romantic relationships in that campaign, in the next one we are going to play with our children. So, I would have to be Half-Elf. However, since my father is also a Half-Elf, the DM allows me to choose between being a Half-Elf or a pure Elf.
Once the context has been explained, I would like to know your opinion on which build to make.
Initially i had thought of a Half-Elf Paladin. Maybe a revenge paladin, and try to go for agility (to use the Elvish Accuracy feat). But I'm not quite convinced by a agility paladin .
Another option i had thought of was a cleric half-elf. The domain of the storm, and booming blade as a cantrip of sun half-Elf. But I'm not quite convinced by throwing away the +2 in char either.
Any suggestion? I'm open to any build, but seeing what the rest of the players want to play, I think it would be convenient to play someone who can be in the front line and can heal.
Half Elf with the High Elf variant from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide can still pick up the Booming Blade Cantrip. Dexterity based Paladins are definitely a viable build, especially if you're going to use Elven Accuracy and Vow of Enmity to fish for critical hits.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
A sun-elf variant for the half-elf (sword coast adventure guide) is perfect for a swashbuckler rogue, especially if you take either booming blade or green-flame blade for your racial cantrip. It's great as a single-class build, but it also works really well when multiclassed into echo-knight fighter (wildmount).
If you take one level of hexblade warlock for your paladin build, you can add your Charisma to your weapon attack and damage rolls and the 6th paladin level lets you add it to all of your saves, allowing you to maximize almost everything by putting your ability score increases into charisma, freeing up the others for feats.
If you go with the cleric, you might see if the DM lets you change up which ability score the +2 goes to, per Tasha's Cauldron of Everything optional rule, to put it in wisdom.
Really, whatever you do is perfect if you enjoy the character, whether it's optimized or not.
As much as Paladins are generally assumed to be STR-based fighters, nothing in their build actually keys off of STR, specifically. Your Tankiness might suffer a bit because you won't have the STR to wear full plate armor, but high dex with half-plate is only 1AC lower than full plate, and if you grab a shield you can basically still be the big tank of the party without actually being particularly strong.
I agree with the others that Half-Elf, Sun Descent Variant is the best-of-both-worlds compromise between your character concepts. Plus, personally, I don't like to play as the same thing repeatedly... I don't know if you're the same, but I wouldn't want to go full-elf if only because you already played as one last campaign, so why not try something new? Plus if this is a group built of the children of the characters from the previous campaign... a full-blooded elf isn't really considered an "Adult" until they reach 100 years old... not that you can't have an elf who doesn't subscribe to that belief and chooses to go out on adventures at a much younger age (since they still physically mature around the same rate of humans), but a Half-Elf is considered fully adult by 20 and would require less homebrewing or story manipulation to justify them going on adventures at the same time that other children born around the same time do.
As for the idea of building a Crit-Fisher... pairing Elven Accuracy with Vengeance Paladin is truly devastating, one of the nastiest combos in the game, with the main downside being that you only get one use per short-rest. Something that could help is taking the Shield Master feat to knock opponents prone to get advantage, although the downside there is that Shoving is based on an Athletics contest, so it might not be worth the investment for this build. You might be better served by figuring out which of your allies is best at helping to give you advantage and working together with them. Especially if your DM is using Flanking rules.
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I like skills for my characters so I’d opt for the half elf over the elf most any day. The exception would be if I needed the weapon proficiencies that an elf brings to the table, which you don’t for either of the class/subclasses you mentioned. Plus I’m not sure how, genetically speaking, you couple a half elf and a full elf to end up with a full elf. It’s cool of your DM to give you the option but it reminds of the PE tune “Fear of a Black Planet”—you got a little colour in your family tree now.
As far as class goes, either will be fine really. You kinda can’t go wrong with a paladin (unless you want to be an archer, maybe) and Tempest is a strong, fun domain to play. I’d prolly opt for the cleric as a matter of personal preference only.
There are a lot of upsides to doing a Dex build, like better initiative, Dex-based skills such as stealth, and Dex has much more useful saving throws.
The annoying thing is there is only one standard d8 finesse weapon in the game, the rapier. It breaks my immersion on most builds to go pokey pokey with that thing. There is a special weapon if your DM will allow it, that is extremely effective and has a cool factor. The double-bladed scimitar.
Genetically, the child of a half-elf and full-elf is 3/4 elf, which is more elf than human, so I can see them coming out functionally entirely Elven, at least in terms of what genetics directly apply to them mechanically.
Also, I like SeanJP's suggestion for the Double Bladed Scimitar, since the weapon itself inherently has elven flavor attached to it that makes it a potentially cool signature weapon.
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I played a Half Elf Dex Paladin to 20th. He kicked ass. (Actually went Pal13/DivinerWiz7 with a Headband of Int).
I took Sentinel and Metamagic Adept. I would quicken Hold Person and issue the beatdown in the same turn. With favorable Portent rolls they aren't making their save.
At Wiz6 (19th level) I switched subclass from Diviner to Bladesinger as too many monsters at that level had Legendary saves that could ignore bad Portent rolls. Granted it still gave me extra chances at crits but I got Booming Blade damage on top of my weapon attacks.
I went 13/7 to get 4th level spells in each class. 12/8 would get an extra ASI/Feat but I wanted Find Greater Steed for the campaign we were in.
Portent is great for getting rid of Legendary Saves, or if you can use other abilities to burn through their saves, you can then use Portent to finish them off with one big spell ... like Disintegrate.
Just note that the double- bladed scimitar doesn't inherently have finesse if you are going with a dex build, you'll need the Revenant Blade feat to get that (or DM fiat). Either way, it's an excellent choice for the character, assuming the feat is in play if needed.
Thank you all for the comments.
Regarding the dex paladin, the problem is not that it cannot be played. It can. However, I find it indisputably worse than a str paladin. You have less armor (each +1 to AC is -5% chance to be hit), and you gain absolutely nothing (or it's a marginal gain, like Dex saves). Instead, you also lose efficiency as a frontliner, by having negligible athletics. It might be worth it if you build him as a critic fish, and put the Elven Accuracy feat on him. A great combo with the vengace paladin. Even so, if you don't care that thematically it doesn't make much sense, before that it's better to go for hexadin or, directly, pure hexblade.
The double-bladed scimitar sounds like a great suggestion to me. Of course, since we will start at level 1, I don't see a way to take it with dex until level 4. But it's perfectly possible to play it at str. You lose the possibility of using it together with Elven Accuracy, unless you put 3 levels of Hexblade on it (you need blade pact to be able to use it with char, since it is a two-handed weapon). If we start at lvl 4 or higher, I would think it would be a good option for a melee ranger. Along with hunter's mark, you can do a lot of damage.
I don't know if anyone can think of any other double-bladed scimitar combos. I don't know if it would be very efficient for other classes, like cleric (it would have to be a subclass with martial proficiency, otherwise I won't be able to start with it).
Note that with the hexblade dip, you'll still need to start with at least 13 strength to use chainmail without penalty and need to boost your strength to 15 to use full plate without penalty. In either case, you can be a dwarf to "cut" the penalty from -10 speed to -5 speed (because of their base 25 ft movement, assuming you would have gone with a 30 ft movement race). Likewise, you could go with a wood elf to have 25 ft movement with the penalty or something like centaur for 30 ft movement with the penalty.
It should be noted that acrobatics can substitute for Athletics in many cases (though not with grappling) and that you'll not likely have much better athletics while focusing on Charisma than on Dexterity. In either case, you'd want Skill Expert (Athletics Expertise) to compensate for a lower strength.
The hexadin build will have better saves than most other builds after Paladin 6, but increasing dex saves will be more beneficial than increasing strength saves and much more beneficial than increasing charisma saves (pre Paladin 6 when the aura increases all saves).
The AC difference between strength and dex only really exists with full plate vs half plate. A character with 14 dex and scale mail starts with 16 AC just like a character with Chain mail. The only increase for medium armor comes from half plate to boost it to 17 AC (or the medium armor master feat to allow a medium armor user to make use of their dex modifier up to the 16-17 dex mark). While splint only costs 200 gp to get the same 17 AC that Half Plate costs 750 gp to acquire, it still weighs 20 more lbs (60 lbs versus 40 lbs). Plate is even worse: 1500 GP for 65 lbs. Of course, if you are maxing your attack stat, you can go with Studded Leather for the same 17 AC after your dex is maxed for 45 GP and 13 lbs. It also has the added benefit of not having disadvantage on stealth checks.
Unless you are grabbing one of a few select subclasses (of which I don't recall one from Paladin or cleric) or grabbing the Alert feat, dexterity is the only way most characters will improve their initiative. This is important for being able to go higher in the initiative order more frequently, which leads to more disabled enemies sooner and less damage coming to your party overall. It also means that you'll suffer from surprise for a shorter duration on average, and you'll have access to your reaction sooner during the first round even though you'll still lose your first turn if you are surprised. If your DM also grants advantage on attacks against surprised creatures, its even more valuable to get past that first turn sooner assuming that advantage isn't granted after that first turn.
Going with a double-bladed scimitar along with the Revenant Blade feat does grant a bonus to AC while wielding the weapon with two hands, potentially making up the AC difference between a strength build without the feat and a dexterity build with the feat. You can increase strength with the feat as well as dex so a strength build can still get the feat for the stat increase and the bonus to AC, it just comes at a higher opportunity cost than for dexterity builds that really want the finesse bullet.
2d4 is 5 average damage and slightly better than the 4.5 average damage from a d8 rapier. There isn't much lost there from 1-4. The bonus action attack is the bigger loss, 2.5 average damage per d4 plus the added efficiency from having the extra attack and an extra chance to apply your attack stat modifier. The dex build could instead start with d6 weapons and dual wield. Hitting with both attacks with the DBS and a +3 strength modifier would give 5.0 +3 +2.5 +3 for a total of 13.5 average damage. The dual wielding dex build with a +3 dex modifier (wielding a shortsword for the stabby and a scimitar for the slashy) could do 3.5 +3 + 3.5 for 10 average damage. Unfortunately, both Revenant Blade and Elven Accuracy will require feats, meaning that won't come online until level 8 for a paladin or cleric. Dueling fighting style and a shield might be better if you aren't starved for that bonus action giving 9.5 average damage and a +2 AC while still leaving the bonus action available (for what though?) if you want to cast a Smite spell or something.
The dex build isn't strictly worse than the strength build for a paladin, it simply focuses on different things. What will determine whether it's better or worse will depend on what you want from the build and somewhat on what rules are in force. If gold is an issue in your campaign, the extra 750 gold can be a big deal. If carrying capacity is a big deal, the weight differentials may make a difference though having more strength will offset some or all of the weight difference. How much you and your party want to be sneaky will lend itself more to one build or the other. How your DM differentiates between Athletics and Acrobatics will determine how much of a factor that will be.
For a Cleric or a Hexadin, going medium armor might be better since a 14 dex will be all that you'll require for max AC instead of 15 strength (that many people will OCD into a 16). It's close enough that you can pick your preferences based on campaign/DM/Party factors and not be too far off. You'll give up some benefits either way, but you'll probably be a reasonably high level before the main benefits of either build start to tell against the other build (How long will it take to get Full plate if your DM doesn't just give you some?) Strength builds will typically be better damage earlier but not overwhelmingly so until GWM and/or PAM come online.
Edit: Hexadin gains less from going medium armor since they need 13 strength (and charisma) to multiclass anyway. They may as well stay heavy armor.
For me the advantage of dex builds is that versatile weapons tend to be light. That allows you to attack with a weapon in each hand, which is great if you trigger another source of damage (like hex or hunter's mark). The problem is that the paladin can't take Two-Weapon Fighting, so you wouldn't add the modifier to the second attack. You can live without it, but it's worse than equipping yourself with a sword and shield in my opinion. You can equip rapier and shield, it's true, but I don't see the benefit over the other option (at most it's the same, and I think it's worse).
For me dexterity paladins are generally a bit worse. I've seen them, and they're competent, but in my opinion going to dex doesn't add anything to the paladin that he mechanically needs. It can be fun if you want to play a different paladin, or if you want to play a paladin and a race that goes to dexterity (which seems to be the case with you). It's perfectly doable, in any case.
An interesting option for an elf, and more if you say you want to go frontliner, and heal, it can be a cleric. With medium armor (or heavy depending on the case), and a shield, it holds up very well. And, in addition, he heals himself and others. The +1 wis from the wood elf should be enough to fuel your magic, and if you put medium armor on it, that +2 to dex leaves room for other abilities (having it at 14 is enough). Don't invest in str if you're not going to go heavy armor (which isn't going to give you much, really). Clerics work best attacking with cantrips, even in melee, and with spells in general. In addition to leaving your hand free for your spells. I see a lot of people wasting resources for their cleric to hit with a weapon (such as buying Shillelagh from him through the magic initiate feat, or even going for the combo with booming blade). In my opinion it is not worth it. A cleric doesn't need to hit with weapons, his role is completely different (and he's generally better at attacking with magic anyway).
Double-bladed scimitar can be interesting if you want to go str, and hit with your bonus action. In any case, the best thing about this weapon is that it's very cool. Mechanically it's not much better than other options (not much worse either).
I hadn't thought of that, but that actually pairs fairly well with a crit-fishing Elven Accuracy Paladin build. Keeping a dagger in the off-hand to take jabs at enemies as a bonus action each turn just to try and land a crit, then pump a Divine Smite into it... so even though the initial hit is pretty mediocre, when you've got advantage that's still 3 more rolls to try and land a crit.
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Well, the best paladin to do that is vengeance because it gets hunter's mark and because its feature to hit with advantage. It's the only case of a paladin that I think is better with two weapons, than with a hand weapon and a shield.
As for AC, I had a 22 dex (via Manual) at the end, so with +1 Studded Leather (Glamored), a +3 shield, Haste, and Shield Spell, he was pretty hard to hit.
Later I dropped the +3 shield when we found another Staff of Power so I got a +2 AC bonus from that instead of the shield.
If we put magic items and things that rarely happen like having more than 20 in an ability, any build can be really powerful. If, for example, we add the Gauntlets of Ogre Power to a dex build, we become very competent in athletics and in everything related to strength (and we can wear heavy armor if we want and we are competent), etc... of a build, in my opinion, the interesting thing is to highlight the things that it can achieve by itself. And especially at low levels, which is what is usually played. A build where I get something super powerful when the character is level 17, for example, doesn't make much sense since it's very rare to get to those levels.
Jhfffan, Thanks for your comment. Everything you say is very interesting, and the way you explain it.