Need an optimized dex paladin friends

[StormBaron]

Stats are 18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10. Starting 3rd level. Feats are allowed. Variant human. Help!

[StormBaron]

Looking for stat allocation, and a good feat

[DracoKnight]

Stats are 18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10. Starting 3rd level. Feats are allowed. Variant human. Help!

STR 10, DEX 18, CON 15 (14 + 1), INT 12, WIS 12, CHA 14 (13 + 1).

You can pick up the Resilient (CON) feat which will make your life a lot easier.

[StormBaron]

Thanks. Thats a nice allocation. Curious what your thoughts are on crossbow master

[DivisibleByZero]

Thanks. Thats a nice allocation. Curious what your thoughts are on crossbow master

On a Paladin? Next to useless.
Divine smite, and most of your best spells, rely on melee attacks.
A Dex Paladin works fine. A ranged Paladin.... less so.

[DivisibleByZero]

18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10.

With those, I would recommend my favorite build. Not what you asked for, but what I'd make.
Half elf Paladin 2 / Draconic Sorcerer
Str 12+1= 13
Dex 18
Con 13+1= 14
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 14+2= 16

[StormBaron]

18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10.

With those, I would recommend my favorite build. Not what you asked for, but what I'd make.
Half elf Paladin 2 / Draconic Sorcerer
Str 12+1= 13
Dex 18
Con 13+1= 14
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 14+2= 16

That sounds fun but i cant with this character. Going for more of a victorian duelist. Its for a ravenloft game

[Specter]

Stats are 18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10. Starting 3rd level. Feats are allowed. Variant human. Help!

Victorian duelist? You mean Inigo Montoya? Then definitely go the Vengeance way.

ST10, DX18, CO13 (+1), IN12, WI12, CH14 (+1).

DEX paladins don't rely on weapon feats, so you could grab Lucky (to avoid nasty saves and bad rolls) or Mobile (to get in and out of combat easily, and get to the highest threats on the battlefield more easily). If your party has no other Cleric/Druid/Bard, Healer may also be a good option (CoS deals a lot of damage, and resting is not easy).

Hunter's Mark is a nice single-target damage dealer, and you should keep it up whenever your bonus action is not busy. If you are facing several opponents, then go Shield of Faith. With Vow of Enmity, you should be critting a lot, and when that happens... let the smite hit the floor.

That +1 I put to Charisma can be put anywhere, as long as you plan for a feat that gives you +1 to that stat. If you're planning to get Resilient (DEX), for instance, put it in DEX.

Multiclassing is not necessary, because Paladin shine against undead naturally, and CoS is full of them. Hopefully you can grab Improved Divine Smite before you face Strahd, and then let the good times roll.

[Saeviomage]

On a Paladin? Next to useless.
Divine smite, and most of your best spells, rely on melee attacks.
A Dex Paladin works fine. A ranged Paladin.... less so.

Well, you can go with ancients and use ensnaring strike at range instead of smiting, but that still doesn't go well with crossbow master.

[Biggstick]

Keep in mind that Vengeance can also use the channel divinity for advantage from 10' away, back up, and take advantaged ranged attacks against the target.

[Arkhios]

Yeah, like others have said, Crossbow Master isn't really optimal for Paladin, which leans heavily on melee. However, with Oath of Devotion and another feat: Sharpshooter, you might even some odds with a Rapier and Hand Crossbow combination (which I'm assuming might be what you were looking at), damage-wise. True, you won't be able to smite with the crossbow, but once your Charisma reaches 20 (can be done with your stats, as suggested by DracoKnight, although you won't get Dex to 20 if you go this way. Except with a magic item you may or may not find, of course), you can attack with your rapier twice, and deal the usual melee damage for a dex paladin (with lots of crits, hopefully), and for a 1 minute at a time, once per short rest, use your bonus action each round to attack with the hand crossbow for 1d6+dex+10 damage, the -5 penalty to hit offset by Oath of Devotion Channel Divinity: Sacred Weapon.

To clarify what I'm trying to present here (excluding possible bonuses from other sources):
Two rapier attacks with a bonus to hit equal to Proficiency Bonus+Dexterity, for damage equal to 1d8+dex (later with Improved Divine Smite: 1d8+dex+1d8 (radiant).
+
Bonus Action, Sacred Weapon Hand Crossbow Attack with a bonus to hit equal to Proficiency Bonus+Dexterity+Charisma-5, for damage equal to 1d6+dex+10.

In the end, a +10 to damage is on average +1 damage more when compared to 2d8 (average 9), and with hand crossbow dealing on average -1 damage compared to rapier, your damage for each attack is somewhat equal.

Edit: I think it's commonly accepted, that an advantage is comparable to +5 bonus, so going with either Oath of Devotion, or Oath of Vengeance can work with the above.



TL;DR. Crossbow master isn't optimal for paladin, but with proper methods, it can be made feasible.

[StormBaron]

Stats are 18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10. Starting 3rd level. Feats are allowed. Variant human. Help!

Victorian duelist? You mean Inigo Montoya? Then definitely go the Vengeance way.

ST10, DX18, CO13 (+1), IN12, WI12, CH14 (+1).

DEX paladins don't rely on weapon feats, so you could grab Lucky (to avoid nasty saves and bad rolls) or Mobile (to get in and out of combat easily, and get to the highest threats on the battlefield more easily). If your party has no other Cleric/Druid/Bard, Healer may also be a good option (CoS deals a lot of damage, and resting is not easy).

Hunter's Mark is a nice single-target damage dealer, and you should keep it up whenever your bonus action is not busy. If you are facing several opponents, then go Shield of Faith. With Vow of Enmity, you should be critting a lot, and when that happens... let the smite hit the floor.

That +1 I put to Charisma can be put anywhere, as long as you plan for a feat that gives you +1 to that stat. If you're planning to get Resilient (DEX), for instance, put it in DEX.

Multiclassing is not necessary, because Paladin shine against undead naturally, and CoS is full of them. Hopefully you can grab Improved Divine Smite before you face Strahd, and then let the good times roll.
Is there any way to get a +1 to charisma with a feat? I didn't see one.

[Specter]

Is there any way to get a +1 to charisma with a feat? I didn't see one.

Actor. But it's only good if you're also responsible for being the party face. What you could do is grab Resilient (CON) and at level 4 boost both CHA and CON.

[Drackolus]

I would personally probably do 18(+1) dex and 14(+1) cha (or vice versa), and then put the 13 in con and use the free feat for resilient (con) to boost it to 14. Then, at level 4, pump the 19 and 15 to 20 and 16, respectively.
Do as you wish with the other three. Wis should probably be your next highest, though.

[Squeeq]

You pick the whip, then you can attack at range since a lot of your big damage is coming from divine smite, and you get to literally be simon belmont, which is really the ideal we all aspire to

[RSP]

Not sure the Crossbow Expert feat works the way you think; it alleviates the Loading property, not the Ammunition property, which requires a free hand to reload a 1-handed weapon, so when using a crossbow in your off-hand, you would only get a bonus action attack the first round. Since your main hand is occupied, you would not be able to reload.

Also, if the OP is planning on dual wielding, I'd advise against Vengeance and the Hunter's Mark spell, for mechanical reasons, as both HM and TWF compete with using the Bonus Action. True this would only be some rounds, but there are more efficient builds.

[djreynolds]

Stats are 18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10. Starting 3rd level. Feats are allowed. Variant human. Help!

Well just go rogue/paladin

13/18/12/10/12/14 Nice dex based paladin/swashbuckler who can use a crossbow or stab with a rapier

and if you were a cool player with crossbow expert.... I would let you smite with a ranged attack, but only with in 5ft

[Citan]

Stats are 18, 14, 13, 12, 12, 10. Starting 3rd level. Feats are allowed. Variant human. Help!
Hi!

I suggest two paths.

1. Vengeance paladin
Option a). STR 12, DEX 18, CON 14(+1), INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 13(+1), take Resilient: Constitution.
You start with great DEX, good Concentration, which will help you keep Hunter's Mark on your Oath enemy.
You will start your fight with sheathed weapon, cast Hunter's Mark (or oath feature) then unsheathe to Attack.
Your low CHA means you will use buffs for some time, but you can later either decide to bump CHA (at least for Aura of Protection) or keep your DEX as is and take the Sentinel or Warcaster feat.

Option b) STR 12 (+1), DEX 18, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 13(+1). Take Alert, Defensive Duelist or Mobile. You are gearing more towards an "opening kill & run" or "hit and run" type. The 13 in STR will allow you to multiclass out, a 2-3 level dip in Rogue would be great (Swashbuckler + Defensive Duelist, Assassin + Alert or Mobile).

2. Devotion Paladin
Option a) STR 12, DEX 13(+1), CON 14(+1), INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 18, take Resilient: Constitution.
The lesser DEX is largely compensated by Sacred Weapon. Your great concentration also gives you reliable bonus to hit (Bless) or to AC (Shield of Faith), and you will have a very fair chance of applying control spells (smite spells, Command, Compelled Duel).

Option b) STR 12, DEX 13(+1), CON 14, INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 18.
Larger array of options here.

- Put the remaining racial +1 in STR to allow multiclass, and take Athlete or Tavern Brawler if you want to build a Dex fighter who also knows how to shove. It also opens multiclass options for Rogue (confer above point, + you can take Expertise in Athletics to become really great in "run > shove > kill" tactic).

- Put the remaining racial +1 in CHA and take Actor feat, if you want to make also the greatest party face one could be. ;)

- Put the remaining racial +1 in Wisdom and take Observant, giving you great Perception, better WIS save and also opening interesting multiclass options if you also later bump STR and another stat (Cleric, Monk, Ranger).

Or just put the remaining +1 in whatever stat you will bump later and pick one of the aforementioned (Alert, Defensive Duelist or Mobile) or even Resilient: Dexterity or Mage Slayer.

---
My personal preference would go to build 1.a if you don't want to multiclass and 2b (with STR bump and later Swashbuckler) if you are ready to multiclass at some point.

[CaptainSarathai]

Ask your DM if you can take Two Weapon Fighter Style from the Fighter list at 1st level. If not, go Fighter at 1st level for better saves, and that style. You can go as high as Fighter2 from here, if you like. It's a nice healing ability, and an extra action in combat per short rest.
As a Vuman, grab Dual Wielder at 1st level, or Medium Armor Master, whatever.

From levels 1-6 (or 1-8 without party Fighters) you should have the highest damage output of anyone at the table. Seriously, 3d8+12 is nasty with Extra Attack at 5/6th level (depending if you went Fighter1)
Oath of Vengeance for the win, since Enmity applies advantage to every attack, and Hunter's Mark is an extra D6 Damage per hit (better with multiple attacks). At 11th, Improved Divine Smite's constant +d8 also stacks onto both weapons.

Paladins are actually among the best 2-weapon-fighters in the game, because of all the stacking damage, plus the fact that mlre attacks means more chances to Crit, and more chances to Crit means higher odds of massive Divine Smite damage.
For that reason, getting to Fighter3 for Champion's improved critical range is pretty awesome.

If you want pure brokenness, Warlock1 with Undying Light Patron stacks Charisma to Radiant Damage. Do this after getting Improved Smite (+radiant damage per hit).

Alternatively, you can get to ~Pal6, and then max out on Sorcerer levels for tons of Spell Slots and Metamagic, although a dual-weapon user is gonna have big trouble with Components, even with Warcaster.

If you're thinking that dual-wielding isn't "Victorian", there are quite a few swordsmen who would disagree. Historically, rapiers were paired with daggers, and there was one school (in Italy, I believe) which taught dual-rapier. More commonly however, if not paired with a dagger, buckler, or cloak, duellists would pair a rapier with a 'backsword', which was a shorter rapier-like blade, sharpened at the edges for cut&thrust fighting. These were also dual-wielded, although historically, fighting with a pair of weapons was not intended for an offensive bonus, but rather, a defensive one.