What flavor paladin do you prefer?

[Jmarsh56]

Sword and board or 2hander?

[Pex]

Depends if Great Weapon Style will work on smites for that game.
:smallbiggrin:

[suplee215]

Boring answer but depends on the subclass. If you didn't grab the biggest weapon you can get your hands on after swearing an oath of vengeance I look down on you, if you are a devoted holy knight you better be using a shield. Oath of the Ancients could go either way, I personally prefer a whip and shield with them going dex but I can envision an ancient, gnarled greataxe in the hands of one.

[Jmarsh56]

Boring answer but depends on the subclass. If you didn't grab the biggest weapon you can get your hands on after swearing an oath of vengeance I look down on you, if you are a devoted holy knight you better be using a shield. Oath of the Ancients could go either way, I personally prefer a whip and shield with them going dex but I can envision an ancient, gnarled greataxe in the hands of one.

Reasonable answer, but in an effort to prompt a discussion why can't (in your mind) a devotion paladin use a 2 hander?

Again not trying to argue just wanting to hear opinions on it all.

[suplee215]

Reasonable answer, but in an effort to prompt a discussion why can't (in your mind) a devotion paladin use a 2 hander?

Again not trying to argue just wanting to hear opinions on it all.

I never picture King Arthur or Sir Lancelot without a shield and that is how I picture knights of devotion. Might not be true in the actual myths but sure is in media around it. Just googled and neither of them had images with shield but I guess when I think of the typical Knight of the Round Table I think of shields and I think of the devotion path as the most generic knight path

[djreynolds]

Reasonable answer, but in an effort to prompt a discussion why can't (in your mind) a devotion paladin use a 2 hander?

Again not trying to argue just wanting to hear opinions on it all.

I think the reasoning is sacred weapon is an action, versus vow of enmity which is a bonus action.

Now if you are using GWM along with sacred weapon, its awesome... but its that action at the beginning of combat that sometimes can be tricky.

With a paladin of devotion and GWM, ......say now you might want to add bless into the mix to ensure these big hits land... that's 2 rounds.

All the while, the barbarian is already recklessly attacking and the OoV paladin is also seeking out the BBEG

So sometimes sacred weapon can be seen as "slower" because of that action it costs.

I prefer to use channel divinity, sacred weapon, and then as a BA cast a smite spell. Then I charge in. Some DMs may or may not allow this, but I do. But there is still this 1 round loss where OoV is already fighting.

I personally prefer devotion over vengeance, for me their Aura of Devotion at 7th (immunity versus charm) is very powerful.

Aura of warding is considered more powerful with its resistance to spell damage

An OoV paladin can focus here on strength because vow of enmity grants advantage (albeit versus 1 adversary), where an OoD paladin is torn between sacred weapons dependency on charisma stat and his strength stat

This usually why GWM types are drawn to OoV, as they can max out that strength stat first.

I have used an OoD paladin with GWM with great success, but I choose to use my bonus action on a smite spell and forgo the bless spell or shield of faith

An OoV paladin can use vow enmity and attack right away

Early on it is said advantage is worth roughly +5, by the time an OoD paladin with GWM equals that is around 8th or 12th level, depending on the race selected

IMO it really depends if you are going to use GWM.

[Sariel Vailo]

Boring answer but depends on the subclass. If you didn't grab the biggest weapon you can get your hands on after swearing an oath of vengeance I look down on you, if you are a devoted holy knight you better be using a shield. Oath of the Ancients could go either way, I personally prefer a whip and shield with them going dex but I can envision an ancient, gnarled greataxe in the hands of one.vengence can also be calculating so i use a battleaxe if i need to i drop the shield extra damage if i need defense use the axe as such with shield

[djreynolds]

It is really about the rounds.

Round 1

OoV can cast bless right away, and can use their BA on the BBEG in the 1st round

or

OoV can channel sacred weapon and immediately make a bee-line for the BBEG

however

OoD can channel sacred weapon, and maybe can cast a smite spell

Round 2

OoV is already attacking with advantage and has a 1d4 extra from bless

but

OoD may be attacking, with at 4th level an extra +3/+4 to hit from a 16/18 in charisma... but no bless

or

OoD may be casting bless

Round 3

OoD is finally attacking and at 4th level.... once. At 5th twice.

[JackPhoenix]

Speaking of flavor and not mechanics, sword & board for devotion paladin. Protector of the weak, knight in shining armor and all that ****. Propably mounted too, so lance is a possibility. Maybe blunt weapons, mace, warhammer, not flail. Swords over axes. May have few javelins, but unlikely to use ranged weapons.

For vengeance, twohander. Destroyer of "evil", not protector. Sword, axe, halberd... big, heavy, powerful weapon. Less likely to be mounted. Unlike devotion paladin, ranged weapons, crossbow or longbow, leaning towards the former.

Ancients, unlikely to use shield, but no heavy weapons either. Spears, swords, maybe axe, not blunt weapons (but case may be made for quarterstaff). More likely to two-hand versatile weapon rather than true twohander. Lighter weapons like rapier fit more than other subclasses, and dual-wielding is a possibility, even if paladin lacks combat style for it. Also more likely to use bow (but not crossbow) than other paladins, but javelins are also an option.

Oathbreaker: similar to vengeance, but more likely to be mounted. Leaning towards more "brutal" weapons like axes. Though depending on original oath, may show up with anything.

Crown: similar to devotion, with preference to swords over blunt weapons. Almost certainly mounted. More likely to use ranged weapon than devotion, propably a crossbow.