Best options for a paladin

[holywhippet]

I played the second game in a new campaign yesterday and things started to go south in our second fight. It didn't help that during the first fight our bard tried to cast sleep on some individuals who turned out to be zombies (apparently the groaning wasn't enough of a clue) and ended up putting himself to sleep instead. A large part of the problem was that the DM's dice were on fire. I think he rolled about 2 or 3 natural 20s and a heap of other high rolls. But there were other contributing factors. Several party members seemed unaware that we had enemies incoming and had wandered off. The druid managed to target two opponents with faerie fire but due to the gaps in our lines they knocked him out in the first combat round so the spell got disabled since it requires concentration.

We had to end the session before the combat was finished but we have 2 people down and several others wounded. I think our spellcasters are down to cantrips pretty much now. We still have enough battle after this by the sounds of things.

So anyway I took a maul as my main weapon thinking I could take the great weapon fighting style which would work well with a 2d6 damage weapon. But after the hammering we took I'm starting to reconsider. We are still first level so I haven't taken a fighting style yet but I'm thinking the protection style might be a better choice both for giving me more AC and helping to protect my allies. It will mean less damage dealt but I think not getting killed is more important than a few extra damage points. Of course the catch is that is likely to make me their primary target.

The other choice I have to consider is my sacred oath when I reach level 3. I was thinking of taking the oath of divinity initially as sacred weapon looks like quite a good power. Then I got a copy of the sword coast adventurer's guide and saw the oath of the crown option and the turn the tide ability. Being able to heal multiple allies as a bonus action seems nice but the amount of healing doesn't seem that great even if it might be able to get them back on their feet. That being said, it says the target needs to be able to hear you so I'm not sure if it can work on unconscious allies.

Have any more experienced players got any suggestions on how to make the most of my paladin? I think my DM is allowing feats so I was thinking that heavy armor master might be a good choice. I'd need the extra strength point anyway in order to be able to wear plate mail.

[Rysto]

Fights can be very swingy at level 1, because a couple of lucky rolls can change the fight drastically. I sounds like that's exactly what happened to your party, so I'd be wary of trying to generalize too much from the experience.

There is a very good Paladin guide on these forums (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?375696-Good-is-Not-Nice-A-Paladin-s-Guide). It doesn't rate either the Protection fighting style nor the Oath of the Crown. The trouble with Protection fighting style in particular is that it doesn't scale to multiple attacks in a round, it's fairly situational and it consumes your reaction (which means that, for instance, you lose the ability to take an attack-of-opportunity for the round).

[holywhippet]

Thanks, I noticed it says:
Great Weapon Fighting is obviously for those who want to wield bigger weapons, but it no longer works with smite, as per Crawdad's tweet. Does that mean the damage from smite isn't re-rolled if you get a 1 or 2? Is that actually official though since I don't see it in the errata.

[Woglin]

I played the second game in a new campaign yesterday and things started to go south in our second fight. It didn't help that during the first fight our bard tried to cast sleep on some individuals who turned out to be zombies (apparently the groaning wasn't enough of a clue) and ended up putting himself to sleep instead. A large part of the problem was that the DM's dice were on fire. I think he rolled about 2 or 3 natural 20s and a heap of other high rolls. But there were other contributing factors. Several party members seemed unaware that we had enemies incoming and had wandered off. The druid managed to target two opponents with faerie fire but due to the gaps in our lines they knocked him out in the first combat round so the spell got disabled since it requires concentration.

We had to end the session before the combat was finished but we have 2 people down and several others wounded. I think our spellcasters are down to cantrips pretty much now. We still have enough battle after this by the sounds of things.

So anyway I took a maul as my main weapon thinking I could take the great weapon fighting style which would work well with a 2d6 damage weapon. But after the hammering we took I'm starting to reconsider. We are still first level so I haven't taken a fighting style yet but I'm thinking the protection style might be a better choice both for giving me more AC and helping to protect my allies. It will mean less damage dealt but I think not getting killed is more important than a few extra damage points. Of course the catch is that is likely to make me their primary target.

The other choice I have to consider is my sacred oath when I reach level 3. I was thinking of taking the oath of divinity initially as sacred weapon looks like quite a good power. Then I got a copy of the sword coast adventurer's guide and saw the oath of the crown option and the turn the tide ability. Being able to heal multiple allies as a bonus action seems nice but the amount of healing doesn't seem that great even if it might be able to get them back on their feet. That being said, it says the target needs to be able to hear you so I'm not sure if it can work on unconscious allies.

Have any more experienced players got any suggestions on how to make the most of my paladin? I think my DM is allowing feats so I was thinking that heavy armor master might be a good choice. I'd need the extra strength point anyway in order to be able to wear plate mail.

We have an Oath of the Crown paladin (level 11) in our usual Adventurer's League party, and she's one of the toughest characters I've seen. It's a polearm+sentinel build, with Great Weapon as the chosen fighting style. Between the sentinel feat and champions challenge, she makes a very 'sticky' melee fighter. This works a treat in combination with Spirit Guardians.

It depends a lot on party composition though. In our case, the table usually has a supporting mix of Bard, Druid, Wizard and Cleric. We huddle around the Crown Paladin and rely on her to keep us alive, and we rely a lot on stacked area effects and movement control.

Also, FWIW, both of the AL DMs we've played with have ruled that Turn the Tide works on unconscious characters. It doesn't come up very often, but it's saved our party a couple of times.

[Specter]

Just so you know, Protection style doesn't increase your AC. What you're looking for is Defense.

[Arkhios]

Just so you know, Protection style doesn't increase your AC. What you're looking for is Defense.

Compared to maul it does due to using a shield. Being able to reactively protect allies is arguably equally valuable as a +1 bonus to your AC only.

I'm playing an Ancients paladin with protection style and I've not regretted one bit.

[Rysto]

Thanks, I noticed it says: Does that mean the damage from smite isn't re-rolled if you get a 1 or 2? Is that actually official though since I don't see it in the errata.

Oh. That. That was a Sage Advice ruling from Crawford, which means that it's not official. I'm of the opinion that the ruling ignores the clear wording of the rules, but others disagree. If you want to take GWF, ask your DM for his ruling.

[holywhippet]

Why does that paladin's guide say that sacred weapon doesn't scale with levels? Since proficiency bonus never goes about 6 I don't see how adding your charisma to your attack rolls could ever be bad. Or does it assume you get hold of strength improving items which make the bonus irrelevant?

[Arkhios]

Why does that paladin's guide say that sacred weapon doesn't scale with levels? Since proficiency bonus never goes about 6 I don't see how adding your charisma to your attack rolls could ever be bad. Or does it assume you get hold of strength improving items which make the bonus irrelevant?

I'm not sure I understand the question about not scaling with levels? It doesn't because it doesn't? You only get to add your charisma to your attack rolls for 1 minute, once between short rests. What kind of scaling with levels were you looking for? It literally has none. Even if you received strength improving items, adding your charisma to your attack rolls isn't going to be irrelevant.

[MrStabby]

Why does that paladin's guide say that sacred weapon doesn't scale with levels? Since proficiency bonus never goes about 6 I don't see how adding your charisma to your attack rolls could ever be bad. Or does it assume you get hold of strength improving items which make the bonus irrelevant?

Well the effect does... kind of.

The probability of turning a miss into a hit doesn't change but the damage from each extra hit this ability provides does go up as does the number of chances for it to be used (extra attack and possible bonus action attack from feats).

[holywhippet]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. Even with only a bonus of +2 or +3 that ability keeps being relevant.