Help creating a character for Curse of Strahd

[TheGrayFoxLives]

So this is my first post on these forums. Now that that's out of the way, a group of friends and I are starting a campaign in the CoS module and I'm trying to figure out what/how to play. To give some useful information of our party, we have a Dwarf Life Cleric, a Human Sharpshooter Ranger/Rogue, and a Bard (most likely Lore Bard, but I'm not sure). I know the rogue/ranger is an optimizer and so is the Cleric (to a lesser degree). The Bard is kind of a wild card and plays whatever he thinks will be fun. This usually consists of characters that are slightly insane, so I have no idea what he's going to do. With that said, it seems we need a beefy frontliner and a (reliable) party face. So I thought the paladin looked pretty interesting but I have no idea what Oath/fighting style would help us the most. For those who have played Curse of Strahd, what would you recommend I play to be as useful as I can to the party makeup? I'm mostly new to 5th edition and came from 3.5. I've only played one campaign for a few levels in 5e, so I'm not too experienced with character building in this edition yet. Thanks for the help.

[PeteNutButter]

Just go devotion paladin, using sword and shield. You won't regret it. Dueling style for +2 damage. Stats str > cha > con > dump all else.

[Specter]

So this is my first post on these forums. Now that that's out of the way, a group of friends and I are starting a campaign in the CoS module and I'm trying to figure out what/how to play. To give some useful information of our party, we have a Dwarf Life Cleric, a Human Sharpshooter Ranger/Rogue, and a Bard (most likely Lore Bard, but I'm not sure). I know the rogue/ranger is an optimizer and so is the Cleric (to a lesser degree). The Bard is kind of a wild card and plays whatever he thinks will be fun. This usually consists of characters that are slightly insane, so I have no idea what he's going to do. With that said, it seems we need a beefy frontliner and a (reliable) party face. So I thought the paladin looked pretty interesting but I have no idea what Oath/fighting style would help us the most. For those who have played Curse of Strahd, what would you recommend I play to be as useful as I can to the party makeup? I'm mostly new to 5th edition and came from 3.5. I've only played one campaign for a few levels in 5e, so I'm not too experienced with character building in this edition yet. Thanks for the help.

Paladins are great in CoS, and I don't even need to give spoilers for you to know it's true. If you feel like it, then smite away. All oaths work well.

If you want some other ideas, here it comes:
- Paladin/Rogue (former criminal turned to justice? Would give great boons in the skills department)
- Purple Dragon Knight from SCAG (a fighter focused on inspiring allies, who eventually gets expertised Persuasion)
- Bladelock

[Aembrosia]

Yes. Oath of the ancient paladin. Be sure to collect your SS rogue optimizer's tears in a jar for me.

You have chosen the most correct path. Telling you the reasons why in this setting would be uncouth.

[TheGrayFoxLives]

Awesome. I'm glad Paladin seems like the best choice. As a side-note, I forgot to mention the DM is having us roll for stats and being very generous. His rule is roll 4d6, drop lowest, re-roll 1s. And also is totally find with us re-rolling the stat grouping if we don't like it. Not sure whether that actually changes anything or not.

[Aembrosia]

Having good stats just lets you palladin things harder. Oh! Oh! Your group doesnt have a core caster! Sorcadin! Read up on the paldin sorcerer multiclass. Not becasue you need one but because.... Well... Spoilers.

[TheGrayFoxLives]

Having good stats just lets you palladin things harder. Oh! Oh! Your group doesnt have a core caster! Sorcadin! Read up on the paldin sorcerer multiclass. Not becasue you need one but because.... Well... Spoilers.

That definitely sounds fun, I'm just a little worried that I'd be losing too much HP if I went too many levels into Sorcerer. The party doesn't really have a tank, so I probably need to fill that niche. That D6 hit die looks like it would be painful.

[Herobizkit]

A few notes:

* Paladins are no longer locked into Lawful Good.
* You can't lose Paladin abilities for not following your alignment.
* Paladins are no longer locked into following a deity. Their Oaths are the source of their power.

Protection Paladin is the one most traditionally like the 3.5 Paladin. Their abilities generally bolster defenses for you and your allies.

Vengeance Paladin is arguably your "DPS" Paladin. It focuses on raw damage output.

Crown Paladin (from the Sword Coast Adventure Guide [SCAG]) turns you into a "true" Defender by forcing enemies to engage you or preventing their escape.

Curse of Strahd [CoS] is more of a "thinking person's" adventure than a traditional crush-monster/loot-room dungeon romp. Skills will be your friend. Bard and Rogue will probably have that covered in spades, provided they didn't dump their Int (and even if they did, they can "specialize" in a few skills).

If you really want to be a face, I'd consider taking Guild Artisan/Merchant as a background. It gives you Insight and Perception as bonus skills. Slap on Half-Elf for two more skills (of your choice), +2 Charisma and darkvision.

Based on your party composition, you will likely be expected to take the most abuse. If I were in your party, I'd likely take the Protection or Crown paladin (the latter because I haven't played one yet and they seem all right).

Final protips:
* If both your Bard and Rogue dumped Int, consider taking Sage or Cloistered Scholar [SCAG] as your background and load-up on Int-Based skills. ^_^
* Rogues don't have to be flanking to get their Sneak bonus - they need only attack someone who is in melee ('Engaged' in 5e-speak) with an ally.
* Life Clerics can wear Heavy armor. He's a Dwarf; he can take abuse. ;)
* You can freely move around an enemy space without invoking an Opportunity Attack. You invoke one if you leave their space. You can optionally Disengage (use your action to safely move away without invoking an OA).
* In lieu of attacking, you can opt for Total Defense (giving enemies Disadvantage to hit you [they roll twice and take the lower roll]), Help (granting an ally Advantage [roll twice and take the higher roll] on their attack roll), Shove (make an opposed Athletics check to knock the target prone or bump him 5'), and Grapple (which works way better than 3.5's Grapple).

Hope this helps!

[Biggstick]

A sword and board Half Elf Paladin of any oath will work wonders in this campaign. Having access to Bless, Magic Weapon, your + to saves aura, and advantage against charms (as a Half Elf) will be of a huge benefit to you in this campaign.

You will be faced with moral choices in this campaign, and sometimes it's better to think about who you're fighting before you start swinging swords. Sometimes the better choice is to sheathe that sword and deal with the problem later then to deal with it right now. Keep that in mind when you're building the personality/background of the character, otherwise you might end up dead.

[Herobizkit]

That definitely sounds fun, I'm just a little worried that I'd be losing too much HP if I went too many levels into Sorcerer. The party doesn't really have a tank, so I probably need to fill that niche. That D6 hit die looks like it would be painful.Dragon Sorcerer gives you 1 bonus HP/level, as well as a base 13 AC with no armor. You're not losing much for dipping 1 or 2 levels, plus you can use your Sorcerer spell slots for smiting.

Multiclassing works mostly the same as it does in 3x, with one important caveat. When you combine two spellcasting classes, you follow a special chart to determine your available spell slots, and all your spell slots are shared between your classes. Every 2 levels of Paladin counts as 1 level on said chart. So, a Paladin 2/Sorc 1 would be a level 2 "spellcaster" and get slots as shown on the chart.

Special notes:
* if you intend on wearing heavy armor, you can safely dump Dexterity; Heavy Armor AC replaces your base AC and you don't get Dex bonuses to it. If you intend on wearing Medium armor, you won't need Dex higher than 14. In all cases (including the Dragon Sorc option), a shield still gives you +2 AC.
* also in all cases, you can cast spells in any armor in which you are proficient at no penalty.
* your Proficiency bonus (previously your BAB) is static and levels with your total Character levels; you don't "fight worse" as a result of multiclassing.
* Cantrips scale by Character level as well (most getting a big damage bump at 5 total levels).
* If you MC, you will gain slots faster than you learn spells of equivalent level, but many spells are scalable and can be cast using those higher slots to greater effect. (much like the XPH did with Psionics).
* you can still use those higher-level slots to smite. ^_^

[Sir cryosin]

Ok here you go start paladin go to lv 7 then multiclass into dragon sorcerer for the last 3 lvs. I'll go palay 1 sorcerer 1, then pala lv7 then finished sorc. Why you ask is because it gives you access to the spell shield. That spell will save your butt trust me. Any oath will do but I'll try out the crown oath it gives a litter more come here and hit me not my friends feel and healing. Now why dragon sorc just because of the extra 1hp per lv and I don't relly care for the other sorcerers. For spell you want shield, magic weapon, those will be your bread and butter. A S&B is nice but it up to your play Style.

[TheGrayFoxLives]

So it seems like most people are saying that sword and shield is the way to go, which is interesting since I was actually expecting great weapon fighting style for re-rolling 1s on smites. I also thought people would recommend Vengeance paladin since people seem to love that oath on this and other forums. So sword and board + Ancients or Crown is the optimal start for the team I've got in the setting we're in?

[PeteNutButter]

So it seems like most people are saying that sword and shield is the way to go, which is interesting since I was actually expecting great weapon fighting style for re-rolling 1s on smites. I also thought people would recommend Vengeance paladin since people seem to love that oath on this and other forums. So sword and board + Ancients or Crown is the optimal start for the team I've got in the setting we're in?

The sage advice says the fighting style doesn't apply to extra dice like smite, so most DMs abide by that.

Anyways either will be fine. People are advocating sword and board for spoiler reasons but to be honest both have potential access to magic items.

[Herobizkit]

Thematically, Ancients oath in a world of depressing grimdark would be great.

Mechanically, Crown (or Protection) oath will win you friends in your party.

[Drackolus]

As someone who's running CoS; ancients, definitely. And get you a good charisma. I actually like the protection style, to be honest.

[sky red hunter]

I managed to keep a goliath fighter, monster hunter alive till level 6 which is pretty good in CoS, still regret him dying, it was unclimactic, pointless and ultimately unavoidable due to other factors and lack of wanting to metagame. Anyway, goliaths get stones endurance which along with second wind lets you take more damage before falling, the monster hunter archetype was a fun and useful alternative to the battle master which would be equally as good. As a fighter, more ASI gives you options for hitting harder, taking more hits or getting feats which can really help in what is a deadly campaign that is made to only reach level 10.

[TheGrayFoxLives]

So would I be better taking all 10 Paladin levels if I go Ancients over trying to multiclass, since CoS only goes to level 10?

[Herobizkit]

Spoilers aside, what is it about the Ancients Paladin that everyone seems to think is "better" than the others?

[Sigreid]

Spoilers aside, what is it about the Ancients Paladin that everyone seems to think is "better" than the others?

I think it usually turns out to be the half damage from spells for everyone protected by your aura.