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So, in my group, it's 1 wizard, 1 cleric, 1 bard, and 1 rogue w/ magic initiate (the DM rolled a character), then my Dragonborn Paladin. For background he's kinda like someone who'd rather have been a barbarian or fighter but was forced into being a paladin (more for RP than anything else). In any event he's the meatshield-tank of the group.
It works out in fights that my guy, with such higher health than anyone else, can take hits while the others are glass cannons. At level 4 I took shield master because I wanted that AC boost/DEX bonus. People still get hurt and go down but that's the game - no one's perma-deathed, and between me and the cleric people can get some heals. I kinda regret that as sentinel + polearm would have gone great with my STR build but whatever (besides, just works into my character's RP).
Coming up on level 8 I'm wondering what feats or abilities might be best for the group we have (there's a chance some new player or players might join but no guarantee, so presuming against that for now). All my good spells seem to require concentration and somatic which is a bummer since you can't then do more than one concentration spell at a time (but hey game balance), and otherwise I'm just slashing away and bashing now and then.
To keep the group alive longer and manage fights with 1) big bads, or 2) mobs, or 3) both, these are the feats I'm considering:
- War Caster: the RP isn't really making this guy a caster, but that ability to ignore somatic could be helpful + advantage on CON saves.
- Sentinel: really better with polearms, but even with a longsword that could be decent when facing mobs and my guy rushes into the heart of them to take hits
- Dragon Fear: decent supplement to the breath attack, and could work in crowd control settings
- Tough/Resilient: just because the guy's a meatshield and so boosts to HP or CON (+proficiency) can help. I think this may be better for Human Variants as a level 0 or 4 feat though
Of course, I could also boost the base stats: 16 STR, 12 DEX, 14 CON, 8 INT, 8 WIS, 16 CHA
What is your Oath? What about what other people have as builds? Ignoring those possibly useful details it seems like your likely the main/only frontliner tanky boy, so charger could be a viable option for you in regards to closing in on enemies and laying some hurt on them. If your dm also is throwing a lot of spellcasting enemies at you mage slayer too is an option to make it so you can really lock down those types of enemies and greatly improve yourself against them.
Depending on your Cha score, Inspiring Leader probably wouldn't be a bad feat to take. Help yourself and your allies become a little bit more bulky, and can do it after every long rest.
My vote goes to an ASI for more strength. At level 8-ish having your primary offensive stat below 18 starts to hurt. Enemies typically have higher AC and a lot more HP, so every attack counts.
Having more strength means more reliable attacks, thus more uses of divine smite, thus more dead enemies. Dead enemies typically don't continue to do damage, thus negating the need for more healing.
If you really want a feat, I'd recommend polearm master. It grants a bonus action to attack with an attack action, as well as a reaction to attack when approached. More attacks means more hits and more smites.
If Paladines could get the Conjuration school, just to invoke a Divine Shield of Heavens, then they could use this spell to Smite enemies using the Holy Shield as a Radiant/Bludgeoning damage. Plus the CHA modifier.................... guess how powerful this feat could be.
Crowdsourcing this question to get some feedback and input!
So, in my group, it's 1 wizard, 1 cleric, 1 bard, and 1 rogue w/ magic initiate (the DM rolled a character), then my Dragonborn Paladin. For background he's kinda like someone who'd rather have been a barbarian or fighter but was forced into being a paladin (more for RP than anything else). In any event he's the meatshield-tank of the group.
It works out in fights that my guy, with such higher health than anyone else, can take hits while the others are glass cannons. At level 4 I took shield master because I wanted that AC boost/DEX bonus. People still get hurt and go down but that's the game - no one's perma-deathed, and between me and the cleric people can get some heals. I kinda regret that as sentinel + polearm would have gone great with my STR build but whatever (besides, just works into my character's RP).
Coming up on level 8 I'm wondering what feats or abilities might be best for the group we have (there's a chance some new player or players might join but no guarantee, so presuming against that for now). All my good spells seem to require concentration and somatic which is a bummer since you can't then do more than one concentration spell at a time (but hey game balance), and otherwise I'm just slashing away and bashing now and then.
To keep the group alive longer and manage fights with 1) big bads, or 2) mobs, or 3) both, these are the feats I'm considering:
- War Caster: the RP isn't really making this guy a caster, but that ability to ignore somatic could be helpful + advantage on CON saves.
- Sentinel: really better with polearms, but even with a longsword that could be decent when facing mobs and my guy rushes into the heart of them to take hits
- Dragon Fear: decent supplement to the breath attack, and could work in crowd control settings
- Tough/Resilient: just because the guy's a meatshield and so boosts to HP or CON (+proficiency) can help. I think this may be better for Human Variants as a level 0 or 4 feat though
Of course, I could also boost the base stats: 16 STR, 12 DEX, 14 CON, 8 INT, 8 WIS, 16 CHA
*Oath of Heroism
What is your Oath? What about what other people have as builds? Ignoring those possibly useful details it seems like your likely the main/only frontliner tanky boy, so charger could be a viable option for you in regards to closing in on enemies and laying some hurt on them. If your dm also is throwing a lot of spellcasting enemies at you mage slayer too is an option to make it so you can really lock down those types of enemies and greatly improve yourself against them.
I went Heroism, which has worked out decently so far for the meatshield RP!
Depending on your Cha score, Inspiring Leader probably wouldn't be a bad feat to take. Help yourself and your allies become a little bit more bulky, and can do it after every long rest.
I'd vote Sentinel myself. Fits your theme well.
My vote goes to an ASI for more strength. At level 8-ish having your primary offensive stat below 18 starts to hurt. Enemies typically have higher AC and a lot more HP, so every attack counts.
Having more strength means more reliable attacks, thus more uses of divine smite, thus more dead enemies. Dead enemies typically don't continue to do damage, thus negating the need for more healing.
If you really want a feat, I'd recommend polearm master. It grants a bonus action to attack with an attack action, as well as a reaction to attack when approached. More attacks means more hits and more smites.
If Paladines could get the Conjuration school, just to invoke a Divine Shield of Heavens, then they could use this spell to Smite enemies using the Holy Shield as a Radiant/Bludgeoning damage. Plus the CHA modifier.................... guess how powerful this feat could be.
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk