Yet Another Vengeance Paladin Build Request - but in a weird party

[zoddie]

Hi All.

I'm about to start a campaign with a first-time DM with a few first-time players. I've played D&D...but not in over 20 years. Back then I played a standard Lawful Good 2e Paladin. This time I'm going with a Lawful Neutral Vengeance Paladin. I've never played that alignment, but I'm imagining it as a cross between John Wick, Omar from The Wire, and with a hint of Karl Urban's Judge Dredd's attitude. Let me know if I have that right.

We've already rolled our characters and we're going to be an odd party. We have a Tiefling Sorceress, a Dragonborn Bard, and an Elven Rogue, so we're not going to be going unnoticed in the corner of a tavern. I'm a Half-Elf that rolled some decent stats: 18 STR, 18 CHA, 15 CON, 14 DEX, 11 WIS, 10 INT. My main question is what direction to take my character in terms of weapons, spells, feats, and stuff. With a small party and without any Warrior/Fighter types, it seems like I may be in the front lines a lot and dealing and soaking up some damage. I thought it'd be cool to go around smashing people with a maul, but should I be thinking of going with a polearm or a shield instead?

Thanks!

[Gtdead]

I would stay away from 2handed weapons. You are going to take a lot of punishment with that party. You can always go with the quarterstaff PAM build which is really good on vengeance paladins. More advantage, more chance to crit, huge smites. I didn't do that, but it's super optimized.

I played Paladin 2/Sorc 18 (shield+sword) in a party with Necro Wizard/Land Druid/GOO Warlock. Without shield and the Shield/Blur spells I wouldn't be able to do anything. Once you start encountering multiattack mooks, things start getting hectic really fast.

[zoddie]

What does the quarterstaff PAM build entail? I'd get a shield and use the quarterstaff as a 1-handed weapon and get the Polearm Master feat? And then when I hit I'd get an extra D4 of damage and get +4 damage on each of the two attacks because of my 18 strength?

[Specter]

If you want to protect your frailer friends, grab Sentinel and go sword-and-board. If you want to dish out the most damage you can, grab Great Weapon Master with a big weapon, and use your Vow of Enmity to get advantage for better smashing.