Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?

[Bayonet300]

Hi guys, I'm presently running a level 3 variant human vengeance paladin with 16/10/13/8/10/16 stats, the poelarm master feat, and a halberd at my local Adventure League and I'm trying to decide which feat I should pick up when I hit level 4. My goal is to make good use of the vengeance paladin's vow of enmity and the haste spell later on to score tons of attacks and make the opponent afraid of coming near me. I plan to also pick up the con resilient feat at level 8, increasing my health pushing my concentration checks into nearly auto-save territory just in time for the haste spell at level 9.

I've heard a lot of good things about combining sentinel with polearm master to keep opponents under lock down, but my concern is that sentinel will become redundant at level 7 when vengeance paladin's get the relentless avenger feature, which lets me move up half my speed when I get an opportunity attack. That combined with hastes doubling of my speed basically means, as a reaction, I can strike at an enemy and dash out of the way if anyone tries to come within range of me. I'm also concerned for later on when I start fighting against monsters with longer reach, where being stopped 10 feet away isn't much of an issue for some of the big baddies I intend to take head on.

My alternative option is the great weapon master feat, which will allow me to potentially add +10 to the damage of all of the attacks I can get off of haste and the polearm master's reactions and bonus actions. It also pairs well with vow of enmity, granting me advantage against one enemy and helping offset the -5 to attack rolls if I choose to boost my damage. The downside though is that I don't have much use for chance to use for turning my bonus action into a regular attack whenever I score a critical or defeat an enemy, as polearm master already gives me an attack, albeit a d4, to be used with my bonus action.

i'd love hearing any thoughts more experienced players have. My character is already sounding very MAD, so I'd like to just choose just one of the two feats and pump up my strength and charisma later on. Thanks in advance for any sound advice!

[prototype00]

How often are you going to have haste? I’d rather just use sentinel + Relentless to no sell one attack every round.

[sithlordnergal]

I would go with Sentinal as well. It has wonderful synergy with Pole Arm Mastery. A lot of people also seem to forget that Sentinal allows you to make an Attack of Opportunity on an enemy that took the Disengage action, along with giving you a free attack if they don't target you and making their speed 0

[Contrast]

Personally I'd be inclined to choose sentinel over GWM because it lets you do something you simply can't do at the moment and its a bit more mechanically interesting than GWM (on demand damage being something you can already do as a paladin with smite).

Edit - One downside to note is that if you're playing theatre of the mind is that you'll potentially constantly have to bug your DM saying 'does that move them within 10ft of me' for the rest of time or miss out on some potential opp attacks when they forget.

That said - don't dismiss the benefits of +2 Str. A +1 to every single hit and damage roll you make adds up over time. Sentinel is certainly the more interesting option but I don't think I could confidently say it was the better one.

[Mikal]

I'd recommend getting STR to 20 before Sentinel or at least 18. All those extra attacks aren't super useful if you can't land any hits with them.

If you really want to choose a feat first, choose Sentinel. The -5 attack from GWM will make your lower strength even more of a handicap otherwise.

[Specter]

Sentinel. All the damage in the world can be futile if your enemies just focus on your more fragile friends instead of you.

[Bayonet300]

Sounds like majority rules, I'll try the sentinel feat. Thanks guys!

[djreynolds]

So you have 3 attacks at 5th level with PAM. 2 regular attacks, 1 BA, and maybe a reaction attack.

So on those 2 attacks you can add an extra 20 points of damage.

Now it depends on your spells and battles.

But vow of enmity gives you advantage and you can spam shield of faith and GWM is easier to land

And when that BBEG is dead throw up bless and use that to help out with the -5 from GWM.

GWM is awesome with either vow of enmity or bless.

But sentinel is awesome as well and so is max strength.

But at these lower levels, GWM is very consistent.

[Mikal]

But at these lower levels, GWM is very consistent.

I'd say it's slightly more inconsistent. Even if the enemy has a lower AC, your own lower attack bonuses due to a Str less than 20, no magic items, and lower proficiency means you're more likely to miss, and on those you're likely to hit, they likely don't have the hps where the +10 damage is needed.

[vehementi]

I'd recommend getting STR to 20 before Sentinel or at least 18. All those extra attacks aren't super useful if you can't land any hits with them.

A 5% hit chance difference does not translate to what you are insinuating.

[djreynolds]

I'd say it's slightly more inconsistent. Even if the enemy has a lower AC, your own lower attack bonuses due to a Str less than 20, no magic items, and lower proficiency means you're more likely to miss, and on those you're likely to hit, they likely don't have the hps where the +10 damage is needed.

Agreed, but with advantage from vow of enmity and/or the bless spell, GWM hits more often than not.

You cannot go wrong with sentinel or GWM, but PAM already has a reaction attack.

And yes for a vengeance paladin having 20 in strength is also preferable

I just like getting GWM early, but you cannot go wrong with ASI strength or sentinel

[Mikal]

A 5% hit chance difference does not translate to what you are insinuating.

Then I guess it's nice that I recommended working towards a 10% hit chance then eh?


Agreed, but with advantage from vow of enmity and/or the bless spell, GWM hits more often than not.

You cannot go wrong with sentinel or GWM, but PAM already has a reaction attack.

And yes for a vengeance paladin having 20 in strength is also preferable

I just like getting GWM early, but you cannot go wrong with ASI strength or sentinel

That'll help a few times a day, but if you hit the regular number of encounters or go heavy, you can't rely on that.
I used to think the same about GWM, but in play I've found having the expanded options really helps... especially if fighting a creature who flies. That 0 ft. speed causing them to drop is really nasty.

But again, I still recommend Str 20 first.