Crazy multiclass options that "could" work?

[djreynolds]

15,14,13,12,10,8 these are the initial stats. Simpe Buy in. Anything roled better is just gravy.
I commented on someone's thread. About becoming a ranger. He had great roles on the dice. I suggested a ranger paladin hybrid.
Now I come to the experts with a build. Be kind.
Paladin ranger. Vengeful Hunter.
I went Half ELF, really for the charisma bonus and because I was gonna start off, I'll advised of course with Paladin for heavy armor and the half elf helps with loss initial skills.
16 strength, +1
13 dex, +0 min for ranger
12 con, +0
8 int, +0 though I hate dump stats
13 wis, +1 min for ranger
16 charisma, +2
Not optimal, will be tough to max out strength and charisma

Now take great weapon from paladin, along with polearm master and sentinel and greater weapon master 3 feats total there.
Defense from ranger gives +1
You might get one or two ASI out of the build.

Now the question is to go either 12 paladin for improved divine smite, or 12 ranger for whirlwind attack? Since spell progression, goes by character and either combo ends with 4 level spell slots, not access to 4th level spells mind you-- could the paladin use any of those spell slots for divine smite or only the paladin ones.

Could this build work?

[zinycor]

15,14,13,12,10,8 these are the initial stats. Simpe Buy in. Anything roled better is just gravy.
I commented on someone's thread. About becoming a ranger. He had great roles on the dice. I suggested a ranger paladin hybrid.
Now I come to the experts with a build. Be kind.
Paladin ranger. Vengeful Hunter.
I went Half ELF, really for the charisma bonus and because I was gonna start off, I'll advised of course with Paladin for heavy armor and the half elf helps with loss initial skills.
16 strength, +1
13 dex, +0 min for ranger
12 con, +0
8 int, +0 though I hate dump stats
13 wis, +1 min for ranger
16 charisma, +2
Not optimal, will be tough to max out strength and charisma

Now take great weapon from paladin, along with polearm master and sentinel and greater weapon master 3 feats total there.
Defense from ranger gives +1
You might get one or two ASI out of the build.

Now the question is to go either 12 paladin for improved divine smite, or 12 ranger for whirlwind attack? Since spell progression, goes by character and either combo ends with 4 level spell slots, not access to 4th level spells mind you-- could the paladin use any of those spell slots for divine smite or only the paladin ones.

Could this build work?


you get a 10 on con not a 12

According to the errata "Divine Smite (p. 85). You can expend any spell slot, not just a paladin spell slot.", so you have that going for you...

It would work but am not really seeing why you want ranger on this, so far you mainly want things that go very well with a paladin.

[djreynolds]

you get a 10 on con not a 12

According to the errata "Divine Smite (p. 85). You can expend any spell slot, not just a paladin spell slot.", so you have that going for you...

It would work but am not really seeing why you want ranger on this, so far you mainly want things that go very well with a paladin.

Sorry about the 12, yes its a 10 on con. You're right not the best build. But I'm curious to know how smite would do with hordebreaker or whirlwind and extra adjacent attacks. I see that both only work with 5 ft and hordebreaker once a turn. But I just was looking for something that would allow the paladin to fight multiples. It's very much a stretch but it's tough to simulate the occurrence. I just picked ranger seeing if too MAD classes together could get the job done. Obviously there are better solutions. Also trying to see how good whirlwind could be if optimized. I guess tempest or war cleric could fit for that and lose some of the MAD scores I'd need. Even warlock might work better with ranger because of the no strength requirement. Takes a seasoned player to see it, I'm just little halfling right now. Thanks for the divine smite info as well

[zinycor]

For a ranger/paladin multiclass i would go dex and twf.

Start with paladin (so you don't have to worry about requirements to multiclass into paladin), sell your chain mail and get a leather armor :D, get 2 short-swords (Or scimitars).

str:10 (just for carrying capacity i guess)
dex: 16 (+1, half elf)
con: 14
int: 8
wis: 14 (+1, half elf)
cha: 14 (+2, half elf)

this way you can get more attacks, which for paladins means more divine smite.

I think the polearm master build is amazing for paladins, but I don't think rangers benefit that much from it, and with this build you actually get more AC than with your previous setup.

BUT, if what you want is to attack multiple people i would go paladin/sorcerer that way you get more spells to burn as a sorcerer and AoE spells, and since sorcerer uses charisma you don't even need other stat.

If what you want more attacks then go fighter, 2 levels will grant you action surge and those could very well be 4 attacks on a turn!! which is far more versatile than whirlwind attack, since you can put them all on a big monster

If what you want is multiclass on ranger, then i would go rogue assasin.

[PotatoGolem]

For a ranger/paladin multiclass i would go dex and twf.

Start with paladin (so you don't have to worry about requirements to multiclass into paladin), sell your chain mail and get a leather armor :D, get 2 short-swords (Or scimitars).


Doesn't work- the MC rules say you have to qualify for both your old class and the new class.

[zinycor]

Doesn't work- the MC rules say you have to qualify for both your old class and the new class.

wow that sucks

[Isli]

It wouldn't totally gimp your character as much as a few other builds(re: some druid multiclassing) but ranger/paladin is really MAD to begin with, and then you take three feats....which kinda kills it, IMHO. Even without feats, it'd be hard to pull off with normal standard array/pointbuy. Also, ranger doesn't really give you anything you want (in my humble opinion ranger isn't part of nearly any truly optimized build, but that's just me probably) other than caster level, and if you just want CL you can go sorcerer or bard and get way more.

[PoeticDwarf]

For a ranger/paladin multiclass i would go dex and twf.

Start with paladin (so you don't have to worry about requirements to multiclass into paladin), sell your chain mail and get a leather armor :D, get 2 short-swords (Or scimitars).

str:10 (just for carrying capacity i guess)
dex: 16 (+1, half elf)
con: 14
int: 8
wis: 14 (+1, half elf)
cha: 14 (+2, half elf)

this way you can get more attacks, which for paladins means more divine smite.

I think the polearm master build is amazing for paladins, but I don't think rangers benefit that much from it, and with this build you actually get more AC than with your previous setup.

BUT, if what you want is to attack multiple people i would go paladin/sorcerer that way you get more spells to burn as a sorcerer and AoE spells, and since sorcerer uses charisma you don't even need other stat.

If what you want more attacks then go fighter, 2 levels will grant you action surge and those could very well be 4 attacks on a turn!! which is far more versatile than whirlwind attack, since you can put them all on a big monster

If what you want is multiclass on ranger, then i would go rogue assasin.

This sounds much better. I'd go for paladin warlock instead of sorcerer (and instead of ranger/assassin/fighter). If you want to go that way.
If you want to play the real paladin. You can go fighter paladin.

[PoeticDwarf]

Doesn't work- the MC rules say you have to qualify for both your old class and the new class.

Mmm. you can still better go for the DEX build. But your CON is than lower and your STR higher.

[djreynolds]

Imagine whirlwind attack with smite, or hex, or cleric's channel divinity damage coupled with it. Every guy within 5feet of you gets a scimitar to the face and "god-smacked".

[HoarsHalberd]

Imagine whirlwind attack with smite, or hex, or cleric's channel divinity damage coupled with it. Every guy within 5feet of you gets a scimitar to the face and "god-smacked".

Improved divine smite is the only one that works with that. Smite and divinity both apply to one attack and whirlwind lets you make an attack against each. Hex is targeted.

[MeeposFire]

Improved divine smite is the only one that works with that. Smite and divinity both apply to one attack and whirlwind lets you make an attack against each. Hex is targeted.

Actually you are incorrect smite applies on a hit (not an attack which yes is not the same thing) and whirlwind attack is no longer multiple attacks (it is now one attack with multiple attack rolls).

Smite applies on a hit so you can use it with WA (though to use it with every hit you make could make it very expensive with spell slots since you have to use it per hit).

As for the divinity which one is he trying to use? If it applies per hit then yea you could only apply it once during the WA, however with this new ruling WA is now only one attack with multiple attack rolls which means that if an ability applies to an attack it could now apply to every attack roll with WA since they are all now just part of one attack (before WA was assumed to be a bunch of attacks initiated with one action with stipulations but thta is apparently not the case any more).

[HoarsHalberd]

Actually you are incorrect smite applies on a hit (not an attack which yes is not the same thing) and whirlwind attack is no longer multiple attacks (it is now one attack with multiple attack rolls).

Smite applies on a hit so you can use it with WA (though to use it with every hit you make could make it very expensive with spell slots since you have to use it per hit).

As for the divinity which one is he trying to use? If it applies per hit then yea you could only apply it once during the WA, however with this new ruling WA is now only one attack with multiple attack rolls which means that if an ability applies to an attack it could now apply to every attack roll with WA since they are all now just part of one attack (before WA was assumed to be a bunch of attacks initiated with one action with stipulations but thta is apparently not the case any more).

I was taking it as read that he intended to use one smite to whirlwind everyone. If he wants to blow his entire arsenal to do fireball level damage across a smaller area then more fool him.

I assume he meant divine strike as there is no channel divinity that does bonus damage on a weapon attack. He might be referring to guided strike for a bonus on an attack roll but again that refers solely to attack rolls.

Whilst my vernacular may have been wrong in the wee hours of the morning, the intent was clear. None of it has any special synergy with whirlwind attack.

[djreynolds]

I'm not looking to optimize, not that I don't like to. I just like the concept of the ranger/paladin and was looking to combine them. Obviously melee and it seems dex, though I like the glaive and strength. I imagine a ranger stalking a demon on spearing him.
More importantly I wanted to see if whirlwind or improved divine smite were better than the other. Both are level 11 abilities. Level 13 for vengeance paladin is nice.
I like the strength based ranger. With a spear or harpoon. Something different. Non dex based against the grain.

That being said I love the comments and advice. Will be put to good use

[MeeposFire]

I was taking it as read that he intended to use one smite to whirlwind everyone. If he wants to blow his entire arsenal to do fireball level damage across a smaller area then more fool him.

I assume he meant divine strike as there is no channel divinity that does bonus damage on a weapon attack. He might be referring to guided strike for a bonus on an attack roll but again that refers solely to attack rolls.

Whilst my vernacular may have been wrong in the wee hours of the morning, the intent was clear. None of it has any special synergy with whirlwind attack.

I am certain he wanted to use only one smite but sadly for him that is not how it works since it is based on hits not attacks.

Divine strike could be what he is talking about in which case it still does not work since the ability specifies one creature in the description ("a creature") so even if you want to use the whirlwind attack is one attack ruling it still only applies to one creature due to the wording of the ability.

[djreynolds]

No I was hoping that a paladin could use any spell slot he wanted for his smites during a whirlwind attack. It's not perfect. I know he would burn through most of spells to smite with quickly, but the idea is a final stand.
And according to the errata he can use any of his spell slots go smite.
Now if I could just use one... But not the case.
The build is feasible, better if rolled for stats than the point buy. I prefer a great weapon to be used, but two weapon dex or strength is fine. Sentinel is a must. I like the combo of strength based polearm master.
Yes there are better builds, but I just wanted some experienced minds doing some critiquing. Great points all around.