Best feats for a Paladin/in general?

[Jeivar]

My Paladin just hit level three and I'm wondering what to do at level four. And I don't have the greatest experience with the new system. I went over the Feat list and singled three out:

Heavy Armor Master
The +1 to Strength won't help me, but reducing non-magical damage by 3 seems extremely good at lower levels.

Lucky
Seems like an absolutely fantastic ace in the hole for when everything depends on a single roll.

Mounted Combatant
An advantage on attack rolls against any Medium or Small creature sound really effing sweet. It seems this would go really well with the Find Steed spell. Though a horse doesn't really belong in a dungeon...

I feel like I really SHOULD take Lucky for those desperate situations, but on the other hand those other two may prevent those desperate situations from arising in the first place. And come up more often than mere three rolls per rest.

Thoughts?

[PoeticDwarf]

My Paladin just hit level three and I'm wondering what to do at level four. And I don't have the greatest experience with the new system. I went over the Feat list and singled three out:

Heavy Armor Master
The +1 to Strength won't help me, but reducing non-magical damage by 3 seems extremely good at lower levels.

Lucky
Seems like an absolutely fantastic ace in the hole for when everything depends on a single roll.

Mounted Combatant
An advantage on attack rolls against any Medium or Small creature sound really effing sweet. It seems this would go really well with the Find Steed spell. Though a horse doesn't really belong in a dungeon...

I feel like I really SHOULD take Lucky for those desperate situations, but on the other hand those other two may prevent those desperate situations from arising in the first place. And come up more often than mere three rolls per rest.

Thoughts?

I'd go for an ASI at lower levels (till your primary stat is 20 or at least 18 and your secondary 16) but lucky is always nice to have. Heavy armor master is good at lower levels but I wouldn't take it. Shield master is a good feat for a paladin.

[rhouck]

Polearm master and/or Sentinel.

[Millface]

Polearm master and/or Sentinel.

Need more info. Why won't strength help you? Are you a Dex build? Sword and board or two weapon fighting? Planning on multiclassing or staying Paladin?

[Jeivar]

Need more info. Why won't strength help you? Are you a Dex build? Sword and board or two weapon fighting? Planning on multiclassing or staying Paladin?

I'm at Strength 16, so a single more dot won't make a difference. Dex 11, Con 14, Cha 18. Sword and board, and I'm staying Paladin. I chose the protection fighting style.

[Daishain]

I'm at Strength 16, so a single more dot won't make a difference. Dex 11, Con 14, Cha 18. Sword and board, and I'm staying Paladin. I chose the protection fighting style.
In that case, my suggestions, not in order:
-Str+2
-Shield Master Feat
-Resilient (Dex)
-Sentinel
-Lucky

Heavy Armor Master is useful at low level, but really peters out in the long run. Mounted Combatant has a similar issue. Your mount doesn't scale, at all. At higher levels, with or without the feat, you're going to find yourself without a steed to work with, as it gets one shotted every bloody time you try. If on the other hand you can convince your DM to let the steed's HP scale with you, even if nothing else does, then MC goes right back on the list.

Bear in mind, my suggestions are assuming a relatively long campaign.

[HoarsHalberd]

I'm at Strength 16, so a single more dot won't make a difference. Dex 11, Con 14, Cha 18. Sword and board, and I'm staying Paladin. I chose the protection fighting style.

Not the best set up so far (Protection is generally the worst fighting style) I'd also have recommended STR over cha.

Get strength to 20 by level 8.

Then... shield master or lucky.

[rhouck]

I'm at Strength 16, so a single more dot won't make a difference. Dex 11, Con 14, Cha 18. Sword and board, and I'm staying Paladin. I chose the protection fighting style.

Sentinel is usually a great sword-and-board feat, but the issue you will have is that it conflicts with your fighting style as they both use up your reaction. You could ask your DM to change your fighting style to defense (assuming you want to go pure tank), or dueling (if you want more damage), and then grab Sentinel. Otherwise, I'd probably take another feat above this one.

Shield Master is a great one and gives you a way to use your Bonus Action nearly every round. Remember, you can use the shove BEFORE your Action (i.e., you can shove prone, and then attack). It also props up your lower Dex, as well as increasing your general tankiness. I'd definitely consider grabbing this at level 4.

I agree with your ASI approach (i.e., waiting). The difference between a 16 and an 18 is negligible in actual play. You'll notice a far bigger swing in play from having a fun feat like Shield Master than a simple +1 to rolls.

[coredump]

Heavy Armor Master is good at mid and high levels also... it just isn't as game-breaking as at 2nd level.

That said... with a 16 Str.... may not be worth a feat.

Shield master is good, even better with a higher Str(athletics)

I would suggest... in no particular order... +2 Str, Shield Master, Sentinel.... depending on how you want to run the Paly...

[Dralnu]

I don't think Heavy Armor peters out. My experiences running/designing encounters in 5e is that you'll continue fighting low CR monsters for a long, long time, either in larger groups or acting as minions for bigger threats. Plus a lot of creatures have multiattack. Both cases the feat remains quite powerful.

For your case on 16 STR, I'd probably just take the +2 STR.

Otherwise there's plenty of options. Want to be more tanky? Heavy Armor all the way. Want to control the battlefield? Sentinel and eventually Polearm Master, or Shield Master if you Sword n' Board. Want to focus on damage? I'd still take +2 STR, but probably next ASI pick up Great Weapon Master.

The beauty here, and an indication of good design, is that there's no universal "best" option, rather it depends on what you want your character to excel at.

[coredump]

Just got back from playing PotA with my Paly with HAM. Spent a lot of time getting hit by razerblast (?).... attacking 3 times with multi-attack, 7-7-7 turns into 4-4-4..... also got hit by a magic dagger or Hell Hounds for 7+7 turned into 4+7. And this is near the end of Tier 2 play. Sure you get to a point where you are being hit for 15 a shot.... but that is still negating 20% of the damage....

[Rhaegar14]

Heavy Armor Master is well worth it if you have an odd Strength score (my Tiefling Paladin was really happy about the bump and the extra survivability), but I would recommend staying away if you have an even score and don't plan to split any of your other ASIs. Shield Master is great and gives you additional combat options. If you want to tank, the answer is Sentinel; even if you already have Protection and can't retrain it, Sentinel is so much better at that function for a number of reasons. If you're going sword-and-board, you may also want to consider Warcaster, but it depends on the spells you usually prepare; with Warcaster and an emblem holy symbol on your shield you can cast spells with somatic and material components without putting away your weapon.