Reroll character help

[Niden230]

So my group is currently running OotA, we started with a fairly strong group but sadly as it tends to happen we lost of few people including the cleric. So now my group are all level 4 with 2 monks, a bard, a warlock, a wizard and a sometimes there fighter/barbarian. I just got my hands on Dawnbringer so my question is this:

whats a good level 4 paladin build that's sword are board?

I figure with Dawnbringer the scales are tipped in my favor as the stats on it alone are pretty incredible for a tier 1. I was considering being an eldritch knight but our group really needs the heals.

So any/all suggestions are welcome, I'd prefer not to multiclass but I won't outright turn my nose up at it.

[Theodoxus]

Vhuman, Shieldmaster @ 1st, Sentinel at 4th, Defense fighting style (possibly Protection, if your DM has 'smart' critters that don't provoke OAs). You'll be a turtle, keeping everything focused on you while your melee heavy crew stands next to you.

In a few levels, you'll provide bonuses to saves, so your wizard will be ok with fireballing your feet :)

Might ask the Bard to pick up Cure Wounds, if they haven't... Paladins are adequate healers, but if you're blowing slots on smites, your LoH won't do the heavy lifting - I learned that the hard way.

[Corran]

Using cure wounds when in combat is not advisable. But neither is it advisable when out of combat either, it is far better to use your slots to smite and thus kill opponents faster. For healing with a paladin you are looking only at lay on hands, and spells like aid (5th level) and aura of vitality (9th level). Best way to contribute to healing, is via the inspiring leader feat imo. Make sure you grab that. Also, since you are lacking healing, try to convince someone to take the goodberry spell (maybe the bard can do it), it can provide you with lots of hp between encounters, when there is no time for a short rest, or when HD are running low. I would suggest the oath of the ancients, for the aura of warding at level 7. If the DM doesn't drop many enemies who target your saves or use magic, consider dropping the paladin entirely and instead focus on a build with exceptional AC (that could be a bladesinger, an EK, or just generally something that can grab you a good AC score and the spells blur, shield and secondarily protection from evil and good and mirror image).

Another thing that could work, is a Barbarian(totem)/moon druid build. Since you are the only tank, this is what I suspect you will need. A paladin will not be able to tank alone if your allies are all squishy. Plus, a barbarian(totem)/moon druid has goodberry, so that alone will provide more healing than a paladin will (and at no serious cost of resources). Just use all your remaining slots each day to create goodberries just before you take a long rest.

[Kane0]

Goodberry is also good because food can be a problem in OotA.