Half-Orc Fighter/Barb/Paladin build

[Calibus]

I just want to know other peoples thoughts on my build. I've just started playing last week and had the first session not long ago, and I've played enough and tried being a DM long enough to be relatively adept. However, I never really once tried to Optimize my characters. I always go for: Have fun with it, don't be too serious route of play

So maybe I tried to attempt a build that mostly focused on Reach. Then started to have fun as I prodded my future levels in my character. Let me know What you think:

HALF-ORC (Total Badass)
;Points assigned by roll 4d6 take highest 3; DM Witnessed
STR: 19(+2)
AGI: 16
INT: 12
CON: 18 (+1)
WIS: 14
CHA: (12)

CL: Fighter (1)
-Features
Great-Weapon Fighting- Reroll poopy damage (Now Referenced as GWF)
Second Wind- Round 2?, start!
Savage Attacks- Add more damage! (If poopy, use GWF)
Dark Vision

Weapons
Halberd - 1d10 Slash, reach Heavy
Greatsword - 2d6 Slash, Heavy

At this point, it's bland and boring. I'm going to ignore armor but you can assume Medium armor throughout campaign


Fast Forward


HALF-ORC (Total Badass)
;Points assigned by roll 4d6 take highest 3; DM Witnessed
STR: 19(+2)
AGI: 16
INT: 12
CON: 18 (+1)
WIS: 14
CHA: (12)

CL: Fighter (5)
-Race/Class Features
Great-Weapon Fighting- Reroll poopy damage (Now Referenced as GWF)
Second Wind- Round 2?, start!
Savage Attacks- Add more damage! (If poopy, use GWF)
Dark Vision
-New-
Action Surge (Lv2- more punchiness)
Extra Attack (+1)Lv5 - Oh dear the Punchiness is starting to reach Charliehorse levels.

Feature/Ability Score Improvement- Leaving this here mostly as a gauge
Lv4- Polearm Master
Extra Punchiness + More Punchiness! The AoO is too good to ignore for a GWFer and the 1d4+Str.mod is a good little lovetap!

Archetype Lv3 Champion- It's boring, but Synergizes well with Savage Attacks

Improved Critical- The Crit Range boost is good, doubling Crit rate x2 for a 1/10 chance to crit. Groovy.



Weapons
Halberd - 1d10 Slash, reach Heavy
Greatsword - 2d6 Slash, Heavy

Not as boring. Capable of hitting 3d10+1d4+(4xstr.mod) so 50 Damage Max using Action Surge, 40 Damage Max without Action Surge.

Now begins a new Era





HALF-ORC (Total Badass)
;Points assigned by roll 4d6 take highest 3; DM Witnessed
STR: 19(+2)
AGI: 16
INT: 12
CON: 18 (+1)
WIS: 14
CHA: (12)

CL: Fighter (5) Barbarian (2)
-Race/Class Features
Great-Weapon Fighting- Reroll poopy damage (Now Referenced as GWF)
Second Wind- Round 2?, start!
Savage Attacks- Add more damage! (If poopy, use GWF)
Dark Vision
Action Surge (Lv2- more punchiness)
Extra Attack (+1)Lv5 - Oh dear the Punchiness is starting to reach Charliehorse levels.
-New-
Unarmored Defense Lv6 - This should be a significant upgrade or a minor one. Depending. 10+DEXM+CONM can be ruthless or useless. Your AS determine if this is just a dump feat. For me It's a 17. and a 3 point jump is a welcome addition. Assuming I got shafted any Magic Armor.
Rage Lv6 - We gonna get Postal now. Resistance to Slash, Pierce, Bludgeon. We Gain Advantage on all Str based Attack Rolls, Doubling our Crit Ratio again to 1:5 rolls. And with an extra cherry on top, +2 damage :)
Reckless Attack Lv7 - More Advantage!? Awww yeah! Sure it's a double edged sword, but when I'm not raging, I might as well use it if i'm healthy.
Danger Sense Lv7 - Just some extra advantage for saving throws. Nothing to talk about here.



Feature/Ability Score Improvement- Leaving this here mostly as a gauge
Lv4- Polearm Master
Extra Punchiness + More Punchiness! The AoO is too good to ignore for a GWFer and the 1d4+Str.mod is a good little lovetap!

Archetype Lv3 Champion- It's boring, but Synergizes well with Savage Attacks

Improved Critical- The Crit Range boost is good, doubling Crit rate x2 for a 1/10 chance to crit. Groovy.



Weapons
Halberd - 1d10 Slash, reach Heavy
Greatsword - 2d6 Slash, Heavy

So what, a Barb Multiclass. Whoopie. Yeah, I know, not like most fights last 10 rounds of combat, and in case It does or I somehow can't reach an opponent while raging, I do Have a second rage to pop when needed. Yay! 20% chance to crit is a pretty wide margin in my honest opinion




HALF-ORC (Total Badass)
;Points assigned by roll 4d6 take highest 3; DM Witnessed
STR: 19(+2)
AGI: 16
INT: 12
CON: 18 (+1)
WIS: 14
CHA: (12)

CL: Fighter (5) Barbarian (2) Paladin (2)
-Race/Class Features
Great-Weapon Fighting- Reroll poopy damage (Now Referenced as GWF)
Second Wind- Round 2?, start!
Savage Attacks- Add more damage! (If poopy, use GWF)
Dark Vision
Action Surge (Lv2- more punchiness)
Extra Attack (+1)Lv5 - Oh dear the Punchiness is starting to reach Charliehorse levels.
Unarmored Defense Lv6 - This should be a significant upgrade or a minor one. Depending. 10+DEXM+CONM can be ruthless or useless. Your AS determine if this is just a dump feat. For me It's a 17. and a 3 point jump is a welcome addition. Assuming I got shafted any Magic Armor.
Rage Lv6 - We gonna get Postal now. Resistance to Slash, Pierce, Bludgeon. We Gain Advantage on all Str based Attack Rolls, Doubling our Crit Ratio again to 1:5 rolls. And with an extra cherry on top, +2 damage :)
Reckless Attack Lv7 - More Advantage!? Awww yeah! Sure it's a double edged sword, but when I'm not raging, I might as well use it if i'm healthy.
Danger Sense Lv7 - Just some extra advantage for saving throws. Nothing to talk about here.
-new-
Divine Sense Lv8 - Roleplay fodder. Not much else.
Lay on Hands Lv8 - Other than a bit of extra Heal, at this point, it's gonna be handy for Diseases and poisons you should be encountering at this level.
Defender Lv9 - This fighting Style is dearly needed at this point. You're going to WANT any AC where you can get it.
Spellcasting Lv9 - I'll be honest. Just Go Shield of Faith and whatever else you feel like. Chances are, you'll forget you had spells to even use.
Divine Smite Lv9 - Everything that matters in this Paladin Multiclass has been for this one sole feat. Why? Just read the description: " when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one paladin spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target" WHEN YOU HIT. So if you Crit, pop this Badboy and Deal double Dice rolls including Divine smite. That's a Brutal 6d10+2d4+4d8+(Str.Mx4). Boss killer damage right there.

Feature/Ability Score Improvement- Leaving this here mostly as a gauge
Lv4- Polearm Master
Extra Punchiness + More Punchiness! The AoO is too good to ignore for a GWFer and the 1d4+Str.mod is a good little lovetap!

Archetype Lv3 Champion- It's boring, but Synergizes well with Savage Attacks

Improved Critical- The Crit Range boost is good, doubling Crit rate x2 for a 1/10 chance to crit. Groovy.



Weapons
Halberd - 1d10 Slash, reach Heavy
Greatsword - 2d6 Slash, Heavy

So we've done it. We've survived to this point. At this point, we're pretty much set on dumping everything into Fighter. The wide crit range, the reach threat, and the nastiness of Divine Smite has produced a fine Paragon of beat-down. But the real challenge starts at Lv10.






At this point there's a few ways for me to go. I'm honestly not very sure where to go at this point.

I know the best course of action would be to dump everything into fighter. Plenty of Ability Score Improvements/Feats
At level 10 should I just go with a ABI Improvement, or do I take a Feat to boost just my Str to a full 20? (Athlete) Do I continue to just find more Synergies to overpower my character first? (Polearm Master + Sentinel) or (Charger + Great Weapon Master)
At level 10 I get another Fighting Style which is really left me with either Archery or Protection. Either option will see very little use. And at Level 15 I get a wider crit range of 18-20.

Any advice?

[Gwendol]

Well, you could pick Tunnel Fighter as fighting style instead of GWF, then go for Sentinel at lvl 4, to complement PAM.

[X3r4ph]

You need to take Barbarian 3 (bear totem) it is brokenly powerful and makes AC less important. This way you can exchange the Paladin's Defense fighting style for Tunnel Fighter as Gwendol mentioned.

Champion 5/Bear-barian 3 is a crazy powerful start. I wouldn't touch Paladin to get an extra fighting style though. I would grab Ranger (hunter) 3 instead. It gives you Horde Breaker which is a potential extra attack and Hunters Mark, a great concentration spell for that special boss battle where you need to be extra effective.
If you absolutely want to tie something to charisma, go Shadow Sorcerer 1. It gives you a chance to stay in the fight when you go below 0, a few cantrips to help with ranged attacks, and Shield spell a few times per day is better than Shield of Faith. You can't smite, but believe me, you don't need the spike damage. A raging champion is all you need to make your DM cry.

Champion 11/ Bear-barian 4/ Hunter 4/ Shadow Sorcerer 1 is quite strong.
Fighting Styles: Tunnel Fighter and GWF.
Feats: PAM, Sentinel, GWM, Lucky.

EDIT: You don't have sufficient Charisma to multiclass into Paladin or Sorcerer. So, Fighter 12, Barb 4/ Ranger 4.

[djreynolds]

The tough thing is the extra attack. Why fighter 5, not fighter 6?

Is the character already made? Wisdom saves are just as important as con saves, IMO.

I like paladin, but without another casting class to support his smites, then this could be your primary class. And PAM and improved divine smite is just too sweet. But you need level 11 paladin for this. And you need charisma at 13 minimum. But remember level 6 paladin adds charisma to all your saves.

The problem is the wait on polearm master at 4th, and the extra attack at 5th.

Start paladin and place that 14 in charisma. I know your wisdom will be a 12, but this will help out as you now have wisdom save proficiency. Take paladin to 8th level and just wear chainmail for now. By then you should have taken polearm master and bump up charisma. Now you have 2 attacks and bonus attack and your charisma is 16, so that's +3 to all saves, and your constitution will be a +7 for saves.

At 8th level, go barbarian now and dump the chainmail and go medium armor or nothing. That's level 12 and you will have another ASI/feat. Remember so spell casting while raging, so smite everything.

Then go back to paladin till 12th level. 12 paladin/4 barbarian you can only smite when you are raging, so use stuff like cure wounds after a fight. And since you are not concentrating on spells while raging, you can get by with just bumping up charisma to make up for not having con save proficiency.

IMO just skip the fighter. Rearrange your stats and so that str/chr/con/dex/wis/int and just wear breastplate.

[Gwendol]

Agreed in full. Barb 3 for Bear totem will be highly beneficial, and ranger will offer a lot of utility out of combat.

[Sillybird99]

If you are going bear totem barb and wearing medium armour I would switch your 14 to dex, your 16 to ch, and your 12 to wis.

Str 19
Dex 14
Con 18
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 16

This let's you multiclass into paladin and get the most out of your dex bonus to AC. You would be better off without armour tho with that 18 con. Unarmed defense from barbarian gives you +4 to AC without disadvantage on stealth, having to spend time donning armour, or paying for armour.

[djreynolds]

I've never seen a barbarian/paladin, you shall be the first!!!!!!

Angry-smiting

Oh, and go devotion, since you cannot get the other spells when raging, but that channel divinity sacred weapon with reckless attack and GWM. Nasty

[MrStabby]

I've never seen a barbarian/paladin, you shall be the first!!!!!!

Angry-smiting

Oh, and go devotion, since you cannot get the other spells when raging, but that channel divinity sacred weapon with reckless attack and GWM. Nasty

I would suggest vengeance - the (vow enmity)channel divinity doesn't key off cha so it being on the low side isn't an issue, and the low level domain spells don't need so much cha either (hunters mark, misty step). The downside is you can kind of replicate it with reckless attack. The upside is advantage is great with barbarian champion...

[JellyPooga]

How married to the idea of Paladin are you?

Taking a 2 level dip after level 7 is...lacklustre. Taking those two levels in either Fighter or Barbarian will likely get you more bang for your buck; not the least of which is another ASI...Great Weapon Master, perhaps?

As suggested by others, Ranger would probably be a superior multiclass, I think (and is rules legal with your current stats). Hunter get's you a functional extra attack if you take Horde Breaker, which when stacking up with reach and bonus damage from Rage (and/or Great Weapon Master), plus the additional potential for another Crit, is probably better than the limited extra damage from Smites. Also, the additional out-of-combat utility of the Ranger is far superior and (for me at least) the thematic aspect of marrying Ranger/Barbarian fits better than Paladin/Barbarian.

My recommended build would be Barbarian 4/Ranger 4/Fighter 4 at 12th. After that, you are free to advance any or all as you desire, but all avenues get you more goodies quickly.
The progression looks a bit like:

Level 1 - Barbarian 1 : Max HP, Rage, Big Chopper, Chest of Steel. What's not to like?
Level 5 - Barbarian 2/Ranger 3 : Horde Breaker substitutes for Extra Attack at this point, you've got out-of-combat utility and flavour coming out the wazoo, but you've also still got a massive chopper, big damage, and big HP. Oh and spells.
Level 6 - Barbarian 2/Ranger 4 : Polearm Master as your ASI and you're now rocking 3 attacks per round. With advantage. Sweet.
Level 8 - Barbarian 2/Ranger 4/Fighter 2 : Everyone else gets their second ASI; you're getting Action Surge. Only other Fighters (who have it already) won't be jealous.
Make a choice now; get tougher (progress Barbarian) or boost damage (progress Fighter). At level 10, whichever route you took, you get another ASI; Great Weapon Master is your friend.
Level 12 - Barbarian 4/Ranger 4/Fighter 4 : You've got 3 ASI's; Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master and Resilient (Wis) (seriously, it's gold). You've got 3 Archetypes; Totem Warrior, Hunter and Champion. You've got 3 Attacks; one standard, one Bonus (Polearm Master) and one additional (Horde Breaker). Lots of three's going on at this level.
Level 13 - Pick your poison; whichever Class you advance, you get Extra Attack.
Level 14+ - Probably best to stick with whatever you picked at 13th...Extra Attack doesn't stack and you'll really want the higher level (well, mid-level anyway) abilities of at least one Class as you approach that mythic 20.

[smcmike]

Rage Lv6 - We gonna get Postal now. Resistance to Slash, Pierce, Bludgeon. We Gain Advantage on all Str based Attack Rolls, Doubling our Crit Ratio again to 1:5 rolls. And with an extra cherry on top, +2 damage :)
Reckless Attack Lv7 - More Advantage!? Awww yeah! Sure it's a double edged sword, but when I'm not raging, I might as well use it if i'm healthy.


Rage does not give you advantage on attack rolls. It only gives advantage on strength checks, which do not include attack rolls.

In other words, you need reckless attack for the build to really work. Luckily, reckless attack works perfectly while you are raging.

My advice, particularly with stats like yours, is to start as a barbarian. Between unarmored defense, rage, d12 hit die, and relentless endurance, you'll be a tank from level one.

I also don't see the point of the paladin dip. I get that chasing crits is more fun with more dice, but how many dice do you get for a couple of levels?

Personally, I'm running a barbarian/rogue build, and wondering if adding in some champion is worth trying. Better to go barbarian 5/rogue 15, or barb 5/champ 4/rogue 11?

[Calibus]

Wow. I'm actually floored with the response I've gotten! Woke up an hour ago to expect maybe 1 or 2 replies. Nope.


Well, you could pick Tunnel Fighter as fighting style instead of GWF, then go for Sentinel at lvl 4, to complement PAM.

Never thought of that. Mostly stayed to PHB5e. Which everyone else did. I'll bring it up to the DM if Unearthed Arcana can be used.

I wouldn't have PAM at level 1 as I'm a Half-Orc. Would be neat though, but I'd be faster to get by build if I were at the cost of a moderate drop in damage early game... However, as tempting as it is, the Backstory has been given and characters rolled.


You need to take Barbarian 3 (bear totem) it is brokenly powerful and makes AC less important. This way you can exchange the Paladin's Defense fighting style for Tunnel Fighter as Gwendol mentioned.


Champion 5/Bear-barian 3 is a crazy powerful start. I wouldn't touch Paladin to get an extra fighting style though. I would grab Ranger (hunter) 3 instead. It gives you Horde Breaker which is a potential extra attack and Hunters Mark, a great concentration spell for that special boss battle where you need to be extra effective.
If you absolutely want to tie something to charisma, go Shadow Sorcerer 1. It gives you a chance to stay in the fight when you go below 0, a few cantrips to help with ranged attacks, and Shield spell a few times per day is better than Shield of Faith. You can't smite, but believe me, you don't need the spike damage. A raging champion is all you need to make your DM cry.

Champion 11/ Bear-barian 4/ Hunter 4/ Shadow Sorcerer 1 is quite strong.
Fighting Styles: Tunnel Fighter and GWF.
Feats: PAM, Sentinel, GWM, Lucky.

EDIT: You don't have sufficient Charisma to multiclass into Paladin or Sorcerer. So, Fighter 12, Barb 4/ Ranger 4.

Looked at Bear totem. I was seriously considering taking 3 in barbarian at first then thought I could take the third level when I was feeling a bit too squishy in later adventures. On the note of Charisma, I asked if I can make a small swap for Scores and he gave the thumbs up. So thanks for letting me know! Gave me a minor heart attack. The Ranger mention was an interesting one indeed.



If you are going bear totem barb and wearing medium armour I would switch your 14 to dex, your 16 to ch, and your 12 to wis.

Str 19
Dex 14
Con 18
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 16

This let's you multiclass into paladin and get the most out of your dex bonus to AC. You would be better off without armour tho with that 18 con. Unarmed defense from barbarian gives you +4 to AC without disadvantage on stealth, having to spend time donning armour, or paying for armour.

The Unarmored defense is just a bonus if I really required it at that point. Magic armor and other better quality armors could appear at that point and I may or may not need it. I can see your reasoning behind it, but Barb Levels were purely for the Resistance, Raging, and Reckless Attacks. I might Go 5/Fighter 3/Barb for my first levels. Its not a bad way to go.


I've never seen a barbarian/paladin, you shall be the first!!!!!!

Angry-smiting

Oh, and go devotion, since you cannot get the other spells when raging, but that channel divinity sacred weapon with reckless attack and GWM. Nasty

Angry-Smite was the idea. However, I don't think 3/Paladin for Devotion will be worth it at all.


How married to the idea of Paladin are you?

Taking a 2 level dip after level 7 is...lacklustre. Taking those two levels in either Fighter or Barbarian will likely get you more bang for your buck; not the least of which is another ASI...Great Weapon Master, perhaps?

As suggested by others, Ranger would probably be a superior multiclass, I think (and is rules legal with your current stats). Hunter get's you a functional extra attack if you take Horde Breaker, which when stacking up with reach and bonus damage from Rage (and/or Great Weapon Master), plus the additional potential for another Crit, is probably better than the limited extra damage from Smites. Also, the additional out-of-combat utility of the Ranger is far superior and (for me at least) the thematic aspect of marrying Ranger/Barbarian fits better than Paladin/Barbarian.

My recommended build would be Barbarian 4/Ranger 4/Fighter 4 at 12th. After that, you are free to advance any or all as you desire, but all avenues get you more goodies quickly.
The progression looks a bit like:

Level 1 - Barbarian 1 : Max HP, Rage, Big Chopper, Chest of Steel. What's not to like?
Level 5 - Barbarian 2/Ranger 3 : Horde Breaker substitutes for Extra Attack at this point, you've got out-of-combat utility and flavour coming out the wazoo, but you've also still got a massive chopper, big damage, and big HP. Oh and spells.
Level 6 - Barbarian 2/Ranger 4 : Polearm Master as your ASI and you're now rocking 3 attacks per round. With advantage. Sweet.
Level 8 - Barbarian 2/Ranger 4/Fighter 2 : Everyone else gets their second ASI; you're getting Action Surge. Only other Fighters (who have it already) won't be jealous.
Make a choice now; get tougher (progress Barbarian) or boost damage (progress Fighter). At level 10, whichever route you took, you get another ASI; Great Weapon Master is your friend.
Level 12 - Barbarian 4/Ranger 4/Fighter 4 : You've got 3 ASI's; Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master and Resilient (Wis) (seriously, it's gold). You've got 3 Archetypes; Totem Warrior, Hunter and Champion. You've got 3 Attacks; one standard, one Bonus (Polearm Master) and one additional (Horde Breaker). Lots of three's going on at this level.
Level 13 - Pick your poison; whichever Class you advance, you get Extra Attack.
Level 14+ - Probably best to stick with whatever you picked at 13th...Extra Attack doesn't stack and you'll really want the higher level (well, mid-level anyway) abilities of at least one Class as you approach that mythic 20.

You're making me consider Ranger again. I'm pretty Married to the idea of Paladin, but I'll be honest, I only love her for her furious smite-fire she has at those times I roll an 19-20 <3

Should I order the divorce papers? My strange affair to Ranger is becoming apparent now.


Rage does not give you advantage on attack rolls. It only gives advantage on strength checks, which do not include attack rolls.

In other words, you need reckless attack for the build to really work. Luckily, reckless attack works perfectly while you are raging.

My advice, particularly with stats like yours, is to start as a barbarian. Between unarmored defense, rage, d12 hit die, and relentless endurance, you'll be a tank from level one.

I also don't see the point of the paladin dip. I get that chasing crits is more fun with more dice, but how many dice do you get for a couple of levels?

Personally, I'm running a barbarian/rogue build, and wondering if adding in some champion is worth trying. Better to go barbarian 5/rogue 15, or barb 5/champ 4/rogue 11?

Oh... it doesn't...? Dang. Reckless attack still makes it work, so no real issue.

No can do on the starting for Barbarian. Mainly because we've already played 2 hours of play for new players to the game to get a feel for the mechanics of combat and Roleplay. DM is allowing Minor changes however. Unfortunately that's a pretty big change. Fighter will be the Main squeeze this round of adventuring.

Champion is, lets be honest, Mediocre. It's mostly passive bonuses, an extra Fighting Style is pretty much useless.




Thanks guys for the support and advice on my build. :) I do appreciate it and was a pleasant experience as this was my first time ever posting a build concept on a forum, ever.

[gfishfunk]

Champion is, lets be honest, Mediocre. It's mostly passive bonuses, an extra Fighting Style is pretty much useless.

Champion Fighter is the Vanilla of 5e: great when mixed with other things, but fairly boring alone.

[smcmike]

Champion Fighter is the Vanilla of 5e: great when mixed with other things, but fairly boring alone.

It's funny that we think vanilla is boring. It's really not - it's super delicious, it's the second most expensive spice in the world, and it's exotic as all get-out - it comes from a freaking tropical orchid developed by the Aztecs. The problem is that it makes everything you put it in a bit more delicious, so it's ubiquitous now - though, really, that's mostly fake vanilla.

But yeah, a bit of champion makes a lot of things taste better. Who doesn't like twice as many crits and action surge?

[JellyPooga]

Who doesn't like twice as many crits and action surge?

Especially when those Crits are extra tasty. Rogue, Barbarian, Paladin...three Classes that really like Crits.

[djreynolds]

Devotion paladin's sacred weapon is awesome. With a 20 in charisma it is +5 to hit and it recharges on a short rest because it is channel divinity. If you can couple this with advantage, than using GWM becomes almost automatic. Every hit within that minute becomes a guarantee to hit even with GWM, which is a +10, not 1d10, but +10.

Sacred weapon coupled with reckless attack's advantage is huge. Remember vow enmity and reckless attack cannot stack their advantages. But sacred weapon is your charisma bonus to your weapon attack works with advantage.

The key to your build is what level are you starting at. If level 1 up, you must get to 5th level quickly for your extra attack.

The only issue with paladin and barbarian is raging and spell casting, and both being sort of MAD, needing str, chr, dex, con

But sacred weapon will cover you as you raise up your strength. And medium armor will cover you as you raise up your dex for unarmored defense purposes.

IMO paladin/barbarian is an achievable build with good rolls, not too much with standard array. I like vengeance paladins, but because of their spells which you cannot use while raging so it is not good, but you can use channel divinity and sacred weapon. I use it all the time with my paladin and GWM.

[Malifice]

You need a Cha of at least 13 to MC into paladin.

Yours is 12.