I was looking through different monsters my character could have as a minion (he’s a level 6 oathbreaker paladin) and I came upon the golems. I don’t have the time or resources to make any of them but I had the idea that he could make a “damaged flesh golem” or at least it’s equivalent. I was thinking the manual to make it would be rare instead of very rare and it would only cost 10,000 Gp instead of 50,000. I was hoping for any thoughts on if that seems fair. (The regular flesh golem is CR 5 while the damaged one is CR 1 for reference). Thank you in advance.
Also, if there are any better ideas for what would be a good minion, (I don’t plan to do zombies/ skeletons because I can only control them for about a day or I’m just down some spell slots), that would be a great help. Thanks again in advance.
P.S. I don’t really have the money to pay for mercenaries or anything like that.
Minions are complicated and mess with action economy. Your DM should have some suggestions for you, if they want you to have access to them.
TCoE also has Sidekick rules that your DM can use to turn any low CR creature into a "minion", but note that the more allies you have, the less exp you are likely to earn from each fight.
But say I wanted to make a small army, what would be the best monsters to use? Or even a small group of monsters to use as a flesh shield for my allies.
Best from what perspective? As a 6th level paladin, you're really not in the "army" game. Villains get minions through world dynamics or working with other villains. The best way to get a small army is to have a small fortune, or through rallying disenfranchised populations against a tyrant. For everyone else, the classic option is the Finger of Death spell to get permanent control over unlimited zombies at 13th level. However, Paladins don't get access to 7th level spells.
Constructs are viable, but they're expensive for a reason, and you'll probably only get one. Finagling a "damaged" version is just an attempt to skirt the system.
Magic users have their various means of getting a handful of minions temporarily, but anything permanent is potentially game breaking, so it's deliberately avoided where possible.
If your DM will allow you to have a "small army", then you need to work out the details with them. Most DMs will simply say "no".
For all practical purposes, your "small army" is your fellow players.
If you'd be satisfied with just one free minion, then you might want to look for a Shield Guardian and its corresponding Master's Amulet. Otherwise, you might want to consider becoming a "CoffeeLock" to control an irrational number of undead with spells.
I do plan on taking a few levels in sorcerer, so I would actually get 7th level slots. Also, my goal was to get a shield guardian at some point. The problem with making constructs really though is that by the time you get the money to make them, they’ll get stomped by basically anything actually worth fighting. I don’t even need a small army immediately, just something to help me hold the front. To fluff out our numbers a bit.
If you took 7 levels of Sorcerer, you would get 7th level spells when you hit Character level 19. Most games never last that long, and when they do, they're usually hitting an epilogue.
If you took nothing but Sorcerer levels from now on, you would get it at level 16, but would be more of a Sorcerer than a Paladin.
If you're going into epic levels, then there shouldn't be an issue with getting minions as an epic feat.
Until then, I'd suggest asking your DM to let you have an undead "sidekick" that you can control using the Control Undead channel divinity option. That will work best with your class features and will scale with you as you level. That will give you one permanent minion, and then you can use Animate Dead or negotiate for Summon Undead to conjure temporary support troops for day to day use.
You could flavor it as magically calling support from your troops that reside somewhere off screen. After their shift, they teleport to the "barracks".
The only problem is that the undead I control makes another saving throw every 24 hours. I wonder if I could exert my control to have them make the save a few minutes early and then use my power over it to force it to fail. It probably depends on whether my DM will allow it.
If you don't focus on undead, then you'll be wasting a significant part of your class features. Fortunately, undead generally don't have great Wisdom saving throws.
Your Channel Divinity ability resets on a short rest, so you can top off your control in the morning and in the evening, so that you have plenty of overlap. Just make it part of your daily ritual and you'll be fine.
While we’re at it, what sorcerer subclass do you think would pair best with paladin? I was thinking either shadow or divine would be good but I’m not sure.
Best depends on what your goal is. Shadow works well thematically, but is better suited for debuffing. Divine is good for gaining access to cleric spells, but that's going to be somewhat redundant.
Abberant Mind would give you a multi-mile telepathic connection, which would let you use your minion for scouting.
Clockwork Soul would give you a shield for your minion.
Wild Magic gives you some fun to play with.
Oh... fyi, in order to get access to Finger of Death, you'll need to reach level 13 in Sorcerer, so character level 19, minimum. While multiclassing increases your spell slots, it doesn't give you higher level spells /known/.
At your level as a Paladin, you can take it. I believe that by RAW, there is a 5% chance of triggering Wild Surge through casting, so even with a 50% of something bad happening, you really only need to worry about that 2.5%.
Some DMs mess with it to change the probabilities though.
I thought that until recently too, but the wording is actually that the DM can have you roll a d20 whenever you cast a spell. If that lands on a 1, the wild surge is triggered.
Apparently, if Wild Magic Sorcerers never use their Tides of Chaos ability, there is a real risk that a Wild Surge will never happen.
I was looking through different monsters my character could have as a minion (he’s a level 6 oathbreaker paladin) and I came upon the golems. I don’t have the time or resources to make any of them but I had the idea that he could make a “damaged flesh golem” or at least it’s equivalent. I was thinking the manual to make it would be rare instead of very rare and it would only cost 10,000 Gp instead of 50,000. I was hoping for any thoughts on if that seems fair. (The regular flesh golem is CR 5 while the damaged one is CR 1 for reference). Thank you in advance.
Also, if there are any better ideas for what would be a good minion, (I don’t plan to do zombies/ skeletons because I can only control them for about a day or I’m just down some spell slots), that would be a great help. Thanks again in advance.
P.S. I don’t really have the money to pay for mercenaries or anything like that.
Minions are complicated and mess with action economy. Your DM should have some suggestions for you, if they want you to have access to them.
TCoE also has Sidekick rules that your DM can use to turn any low CR creature into a "minion", but note that the more allies you have, the less exp you are likely to earn from each fight.
But say I wanted to make a small army, what would be the best monsters to use? Or even a small group of monsters to use as a flesh shield for my allies.
Best from what perspective? As a 6th level paladin, you're really not in the "army" game. Villains get minions through world dynamics or working with other villains. The best way to get a small army is to have a small fortune, or through rallying disenfranchised populations against a tyrant. For everyone else, the classic option is the Finger of Death spell to get permanent control over unlimited zombies at 13th level. However, Paladins don't get access to 7th level spells.
Constructs are viable, but they're expensive for a reason, and you'll probably only get one. Finagling a "damaged" version is just an attempt to skirt the system.
Magic users have their various means of getting a handful of minions temporarily, but anything permanent is potentially game breaking, so it's deliberately avoided where possible.
If your DM will allow you to have a "small army", then you need to work out the details with them. Most DMs will simply say "no".
For all practical purposes, your "small army" is your fellow players.
If you'd be satisfied with just one free minion, then you might want to look for a Shield Guardian and its corresponding Master's Amulet. Otherwise, you might want to consider becoming a "CoffeeLock" to control an irrational number of undead with spells.
I do plan on taking a few levels in sorcerer, so I would actually get 7th level slots. Also, my goal was to get a shield guardian at some point. The problem with making constructs really though is that by the time you get the money to make them, they’ll get stomped by basically anything actually worth fighting. I don’t even need a small army immediately, just something to help me hold the front. To fluff out our numbers a bit.
If you took 7 levels of Sorcerer, you would get 7th level spells when you hit Character level 19. Most games never last that long, and when they do, they're usually hitting an epilogue.
If you took nothing but Sorcerer levels from now on, you would get it at level 16, but would be more of a Sorcerer than a Paladin.
True. We do plan on going until level 20. I think we planned on doing a home brew, beyond level 20 thing but I don’t remember.
If you're going into epic levels, then there shouldn't be an issue with getting minions as an epic feat.
Until then, I'd suggest asking your DM to let you have an undead "sidekick" that you can control using the Control Undead channel divinity option. That will work best with your class features and will scale with you as you level. That will give you one permanent minion, and then you can use Animate Dead or negotiate for Summon Undead to conjure temporary support troops for day to day use.
You could flavor it as magically calling support from your troops that reside somewhere off screen. After their shift, they teleport to the "barracks".
Thanks for the idea. That might work, I’ll negotiate it with them.
The only problem is that the undead I control makes another saving throw every 24 hours. I wonder if I could exert my control to have them make the save a few minutes early and then use my power over it to force it to fail. It probably depends on whether my DM will allow it.
I guess my other option is control something with really bad wisdom
If you don't focus on undead, then you'll be wasting a significant part of your class features. Fortunately, undead generally don't have great Wisdom saving throws.
Your Channel Divinity ability resets on a short rest, so you can top off your control in the morning and in the evening, so that you have plenty of overlap. Just make it part of your daily ritual and you'll be fine.
Agreed
While we’re at it, what sorcerer subclass do you think would pair best with paladin? I was thinking either shadow or divine would be good but I’m not sure.
Best depends on what your goal is. Shadow works well thematically, but is better suited for debuffing. Divine is good for gaining access to cleric spells, but that's going to be somewhat redundant.
Abberant Mind would give you a multi-mile telepathic connection, which would let you use your minion for scouting.
Clockwork Soul would give you a shield for your minion.
Wild Magic gives you some fun to play with.
Oh... fyi, in order to get access to Finger of Death, you'll need to reach level 13 in Sorcerer, so character level 19, minimum. While multiclassing increases your spell slots, it doesn't give you higher level spells /known/.
I know. Also, I wasn’t planning on doing wild because it’s completely crazy and I have a 50% chance roughly that I get the snot beat out of me.
At your level as a Paladin, you can take it. I believe that by RAW, there is a 5% chance of triggering Wild Surge through casting, so even with a 50% of something bad happening, you really only need to worry about that 2.5%.
Some DMs mess with it to change the probabilities though.
I thought a surge happened every time you cast a spell of 1st level or higher
I thought that until recently too, but the wording is actually that the DM can have you roll a d20 whenever you cast a spell. If that lands on a 1, the wild surge is triggered.
Apparently, if Wild Magic Sorcerers never use their Tides of Chaos ability, there is a real risk that a Wild Surge will never happen.