My Paladin idea

[Mooglir]

Hi everyone I'm new and while I've loved rpgs I have only played dnd 2 games totaling like 5 hours. My friends have decided to do 5e now and I have been invited to join their game. I have some questions on our party size etc. Is there a max size you wouldn't want to go over in 5e? I think we have 8 people total and then a DM. The plan is to also keep the group going for years to come. I usually min and max well, but for this group I think I only want to do like 70% min maxing and like 30% roleplaying if that makes sense.
Im making a paladin because paladin is my class! Anyway some spells would be useful and considered 'better' than others, but sometimes you just gotta command someone to go lick a wall.
This is my build and I'm just wondering if it seems to mesh for rp and for ok damage. Im going for steady damage and between off tank and tank if there is such a thing.
these stats are after I have applied heavy armor master and my human variant +1 to two abilities.
Strength 19
Charisma 17
Constitution 15
Dexterity 10
Wisdom 8
Intelligence 7
Totaling 76. Our group decided to just do roll 4d6 drop lowest. I think I got pretty lucky and the DM also lowered my wisdom and intelligence 3 to make it a little more fair.
Feats- Heavy armor master
I'm an Illuskan from a northern town, I was going for a nordish character and im a vengeance paladin because frost giants killed most of my snowy hometown.
The plan is to get duelist at level 2-3 for the +2 to damage rolls. I use a versatile battle axe and a shield. I think I start off with 17 AC. The 5 ability increases if we get them are as follows. 1 str , 1 cha for my level 4, resilient feat at 8 +1 con and con save throw, shield master at 12, warcaster at 16, and 2 char at 19. the final build, again if we ever get there is, 20 str 20 char 16 con with saving throw profs for con wisdom and charisma and a pretty nice bonus from strength already. The shield master adds to my dex throws as well as my pally aura that adds charisma to saves. I think my guy will be very good on almost all saves except intelligence. Is having low intelligence like that going to mess me up? Also, The rp aspect I am a lovable folk hero that is not very smart, but brave and nice. He is almost like a leeroy Jenkins my Dm said. Should I bother with warcaster as a paladin, or is it a wasted feat for my character? Am I dipping into too many areas? I may have more questions if the others get answered.
Thanks! And if anyone wants to know more just ask.

[Foxhound438]

just one thing, a lot of people will swear by the Heavy Armor Master feat, but understand that it in a lot of cases doesn't scale well. Magic weapons will circumvent it, and a flat 3 dr doesn't do a lot to 3d10+9 either way. Yes, it's still extra HP where it does work, but it won't always be enough, and it won't always be relevant. Resilient (constitution) would probably do more for you, since it scales better and it will frequently proc (every time you get hit with a spell up).

[GlenSmash!]

I concur on Heavy Armor Master. Great at low levels, not so much at high levels. I like Inspiring Leader on a paladin. It makes good use of that high Charisma modifier and I've never met a paladin that didn't like to give a grand speech :smallwink:

[Mooglir]

Ok thanks for that input. Is warcaster and resilient overkill on save? Paladins have a lot of conc spells, but how often do they lose concentration? Also maybe because we have so many I think a lot of feats will be covered. I know we have a bard that may be planning on inspiring leader. Maybe the party is good enough where I can wear a rubber ducky suit and use a pool noodle for attacking.

[Foxhound438]

Is warcaster and resilient overkill on save? Paladins have a lot of conc spells, but how often do they lose concentration?

more often without either than with both... You're a melee class, so you can reasonably expect to get hit a lot. Try one or the other, and if it's enough on its own good, otherwise grab the other too. Note also you get a solid boost at level 6 from aura of prot, so having one at the start and grabbing the other at 4 might not be the right choice; wait til 8 basically.

[gfishfunk]

Personally, I would drop Heavy Armor Master and move up Shield Master, and then do War Caster later.

The nice thing about Shield Master early is that it gives you something to do with a bonus action that is super helpful: knocking people prone. Also, with the Dex saves, its a great benefit early on.

As to Resilience and War Caster: with 8 people in a game, you will probably opt to do the quicker and easier action each time, which generally means just converting pally spells into smites. If you do not think you are going to be using concentration based spells often, you can skip it altogether. If you plan on using a lot of spells, grab either one, but still note that it will slow down the game a little. Normally, its not noticeable. With 8 people, it might be impractical to use a lot of spells.

[BiPolar]

I've got lots of ideas, and you have a lot of freedom with those stats.

What are the other party members? Is there a certain why you envisioned playing the Paladin (which may be different than strict needs based on the other party.)

[Mooglir]

We are starting this weekend so I have been trying to figure out what I want to start with before we lock ourselves into roles and my feats also become locked. Our DM has kept our party mostly secret from one another because we are meeting up at some unknown place to all of us. We don't know each other yet so it kind of sucks, but he did let on that I think all 8 are different classes and whatnot. Haste seems to be the spell to use when I can for a pally, but if we end up with a buffer already should I assume ill get the buffs I need and just go into something else? What I enjoy playing is paladins. I played a prot pally in WOW for a couple years and that's all I did. I even created 2 other pallies so I could raid more as a prot pally. I like my heavy armored knights that can spot heal and take damage. Anytime I can grab a shield for a character that shield becomes my arm pretty much, and then whatever weapon from there.
I like maces first and foremost because as a pally, using maces makes sense since you should end up facing demons and undead which it is usually good against. I changed my weapon to be a little different this game and im not a full protector like usual as im a vengeance pally so that is different. I may end up being the full tank for the group, but im not sure yet there is one other person that I can think of as may wanting to build tanky. Im pretty sure we will have spell casters up the butt and at least a bard. My character is Mooglir Stromwind from a northern snowy/ice village who was a lumberjack. His town got destroyed by giants so now im going to seek out evil to protect others and to fight evil in general. That's kind of my character. He doesn't need to be full min/maxed. im going to be playing him as kind of an idiot that runs into a dungeon to kill evil but then gets the group in trouble. Good thing he is strong and can hopefully also get the group out of trouble. He may end up being the dad of the group and or leader. I don't mind smiting for most of my spell slots. I may have a couple very situational, but game changing spells for the oh crap moments.
Does that help more with what I should be looking for? maybe it changes a lot of the feats I should otherwise be taking. I just figured having 20 str and cha would be best so I started there, but if dropping heavy armor master and leaving my str at 18 to grab a different feat would be better than I may go with that. for my paladin do you think having that 1 extra ability point would matter much?

[BiPolar]

We are starting this weekend so I have been trying to figure out what I want to start with before we lock ourselves into roles and my feats also become locked. Our DM has kept our party mostly secret from one another because we are meeting up at some unknown place to all of us. We don't know each other yet so it kind of sucks, but he did let on that I think all 8 are different classes and whatnot. Haste seems to be the spell to use when I can for a pally, but if we end up with a buffer already should I assume ill get the buffs I need and just go into something else? What I enjoy playing is paladins. I played a prot pally in WOW for a couple years and that's all I did. I even created 2 other pallies so I could raid more as a prot pally. I like my heavy armored knights that can spot heal and take damage. Anytime I can grab a shield for a character that shield becomes my arm pretty much, and then whatever weapon from there.
I like maces first and foremost because as a pally, using maces makes sense since you should end up facing demons and undead which it is usually good against. I changed my weapon to be a little different this game and im not a full protector like usual as im a vengeance pally so that is different. I may end up being the full tank for the group, but im not sure yet there is one other person that I can think of as may wanting to build tanky. Im pretty sure we will have spell casters up the butt and at least a bard. My character is Mooglir Stromwind from a northern snowy/ice village who was a lumberjack. His town got destroyed by giants so now im going to seek out evil to protect others and to fight evil in general. That's kind of my character. He doesn't need to be full min/maxed. im going to be playing him as kind of an idiot that runs into a dungeon to kill evil but then gets the group in trouble. Good thing he is strong and can hopefully also get the group out of trouble. He may end up being the dad of the group and or leader. I don't mind smiting for most of my spell slots. I may have a couple very situational, but game changing spells for the oh crap moments.
Does that help more with what I should be looking for? maybe it changes a lot of the feats I should otherwise be taking. I just figured having 20 str and cha would be best so I started there, but if dropping heavy armor master and leaving my str at 18 to grab a different feat would be better than I may go with that. for my paladin do you think having that 1 extra ability point would matter much?

I love how your DM is doing it! That's great because it means you can create your character for YOU and not to fill a role in a party. What level are you starting at?

Given how you've described what you want, I'd consider Sword/board with Defense and Shield Master feat. Could be a lot of fun there and builds your tank that smashes. Your stat block as-is is perfect. STR and CHA are kings here and you've still got a strong CON. Resilient will come in handy, but more as a party buffing machine then smashing, which I'm not sure you'll be doing. If you've got a sorcerer or someone else who can cast haste, that's better than self-casting, but still not bad. Fortunately, you've likely got a lot of time to figure that out since Haste isn't an option for you until level 9 :)

[Mooglir]

We are starting at level one I made a slight custom change in that since im from the north I get +1 roll to cold and -1 to roll with heat. We are starting at level one and my character has a shield right now and a battleaxe versatile. I had thought of going for dueling for +2 damage on attack rolls for a steady increase in damage. I had defense first and changed it because I thought my AC would be high enough. chainmail and shield starts me at 18 I think eventually getting up to 20 with plate. my character is starting with 140 gold so splint is very close maybe even get after our initial adventure. ill reconsider the defense I get to wait a level and see my party before choosing so at least there is that. I should not go for 20 cha for the aura boost at 6 and max spell slots? i lose 1 spell at 9, 2 at 17 and 19, and 1 at 20. so maybe that's not so bad, but 8 people in my party lose a +1 to their saves if i don't go 20 char right? the more people you have in a party i feel like the better that aura becomes.

My axe is actually 2lbs heavier than a regular axe, but it is not a heavy weapon. It's name is (slight cheese) Repent, and my shield is a fur lined greatshield for +2 to defense. My shields name is The Beast. My shield has a Trithereon symbol on it to use as my symbol. I fell in love with Arthas' storyline and i picture paladins around a combination of Uther and a good Arthas. Oh and my paladin has mutton chops as all lumberjacks should. It will probably change again, but i think im going to go with shield master to start since that covers my dex saves a little and some utility. at 4 i will probably raise my cha 1 for the +1 and then leave it at 18 and raise my int 1 to 8 so its only -1 does that sound good? that will cover my first ability bonus then from there i can just do feats.

[gfishfunk]

We are starting at level one I made a slight custom change in that since im from the north I get +1 roll to cold and -1 to roll with heat. We are starting at level one and my character has a shield right now and a battleaxe versatile. I had thought of going for dueling for +2 damage on attack rolls for a steady increase in damage. I had defense first and changed it because I thought my AC would be high enough. chainmail and shield starts me at 18 I think eventually getting up to 20 with plate. my character is starting with 140 gold so splint is very close maybe even get after our initial adventure. ill reconsider the defense I get to wait a level and see my party before choosing so at least there is that. I should not go for 20 cha for the aura boost at 6 and max spell slots? i lose 1 spell at 9, 2 at 17 and 19, and 1 at 20. so maybe that's not so bad, but 8 people in my party lose a +1 to their saves if i don't go 20 char right? the more people you have in a party i feel like the better that aura becomes.

My axe is actually 2lbs heavier than a regular axe, but it is not a heavy weapon. It's name is (slight cheese) Repent, and my shield is a fur lined greatshield for +2 to defense. My shields name is The Beast. My shield has a Trithereon symbol on it to use as my symbol. I fell in love with Arthas' storyline and i picture paladins around a combination of Uther and a good Arthas. Oh and my paladin has mutton chops as all lumberjacks should. It will probably change again, but i think im going to go with shield master to start since that covers my dex saves a little and some utility. at 4 i will probably raise my cha 1 for the +1 and then leave it at 18 and raise my int 1 to 8 so its only -1 does that sound good? that will cover my first ability bonus then from there i can just do feats.

That sounds good to me.

The +2 dmg for dueling is a good choice. Protection is also a decent choice, letting you be more of a tank because it forces other enemies to target you or increase their chance of missing.

I like the character as is.

[BiPolar]

We are starting at level one I made a slight custom change in that since im from the north I get +1 roll to cold and -1 to roll with heat. We are starting at level one and my character has a shield right now and a battleaxe versatile. I had thought of going for dueling for +2 damage on attack rolls for a steady increase in damage. I had defense first and changed it because I thought my AC would be high enough. chainmail and shield starts me at 18 I think eventually getting up to 20 with plate. my character is starting with 140 gold so splint is very close maybe even get after our initial adventure. ill reconsider the defense I get to wait a level and see my party before choosing so at least there is that. I should not go for 20 cha for the aura boost at 6 and max spell slots? i lose 1 spell at 9, 2 at 17 and 19, and 1 at 20. so maybe that's not so bad, but 8 people in my party lose a +1 to their saves if i don't go 20 char right? the more people you have in a party i feel like the better that aura becomes.

My axe is actually 2lbs heavier than a regular axe, but it is not a heavy weapon. It's name is (slight cheese) Repent, and my shield is a fur lined greatshield for +2 to defense. My shields name is The Beast. My shield has a Trithereon symbol on it to use as my symbol. I fell in love with Arthas' storyline and i picture paladins around a combination of Uther and a good Arthas. Oh and my paladin has mutton chops as all lumberjacks should. It will probably change again, but i think im going to go with shield master to start since that covers my dex saves a little and some utility. at 4 i will probably raise my cha 1 for the +1 and then leave it at 18 and raise my int 1 to 8 so its only -1 does that sound good? that will cover my first ability bonus then from there i can just do feats.

The aura doesn't kick in until 6th level, so you've got a lot of time to get there. I'd take the 20 STR first, especially based on the description of your pally. That +2 damage really isn't going to mean much as you get higher level, but AC will.

[gfishfunk]

Around here, ask a question, get 3 different replies with 5 different idea.

:smallsmile:

[Mooglir]

it helps narrow down a littlebit, but then opens a whole new can of worms. Maybe in a few more questions itll be someone saying that im actually a warlock so I should just build that. I appreciate everyone's input and now I think ill wait to play and use the advice after a round or two.