How to level a sorcadin from 1

[samuraijaques]

Hey dudes,

I'm starting a new campaign but I've been having so much fun and I'm not done playing this sorcadin so I am going to start him over from lvl 1. My thought was to go sorcerer 1/hexblade 1/paladin 2/ sorcerer X. I realize this puts me 3 levels behind for spells known but the large majority of the time I am just using my spell slots for smiting anyway so it seems like it's going to be fine. Does this seem like a reasonable way to go about it? Should I put the hexblade level off till later?

[Blood of Gaea]

I would go with one of these:

6 Paladin/14 Sorcerer.
1 Paladin/1 Hexblade/5 Paladin/13 Sorcerer.

[Tikkun]

If you are interested in making a 'smiter' taking a level of warlock (hexblade) makes you SAD. Just ensure you have enough STR to MC and, perhaps, wear heavy armor for the AC boost. I, myself leveled an OotA pally to 7 (for the saves and resistance to spell damage) before going SAD. Then you simply add in your sorcerer levels for more smite powah. You can hold off on the hexblade should you wish, but then you have to consider adding ASI's to STR to ensure you hit the mob. No hit, no smite. This way you are pretty SAD from the get go and you can smite with the warlock slots which come back on a short rest.

[samuraijaques]

I would go with one of these:

6 Paladin/14 Sorcerer.
1 Paladin/1 Hexblade/5 Paladin/13 Sorcerer.

I definitely want to prioritize 4th level spells over the aura of protection. I'm making more of a damage dealer than a support/tank. Also both of those builds lack constitution saving throw proficiency without a feat meaning that they are either more likely to fail a concentration check or are going to have to waste an ASI on resilient.


If you are interested in making a 'smiter' taking a level of warlock (hexblade) makes you SAD. Just ensure you have enough STR to MC and, perhaps, wear heavy armor for the AC boost. I, myself leveled an OotA pally to 7 (for the saves and resistance to spell damage) before going SAD. Then you simply add in your sorcerer levels for more smite powah. You can hold off on the hexblade should you wish, but then you have to consider adding ASI's to STR to ensure you hit the mob. No hit, no smite. This way you are pretty SAD from the get go and you can smite with the warlock slots which come back on a short rest.
Yeah that sounds awesome and definitely the kind of thing I'm leaning toward. But i'm going to wait to get the last 4 levels of paladin until after I get 4th level spells. maybe I'll settle for 3rd.

[Blood of Gaea]

In that case, I would consider something like:

One level of Sorcerer, be sure to pick up Booming and/or Greenflame Blade.
One level of Hexblade.
Two levels of Paladin, choose Defense fighting style.
Sixteen more levels of Sorcerer.

If using the Standard Array I would allocate like this:

Race: Half-Elf
Str: 12+1
Dex: 14
Con: 13+1
Int: 8 or 10
Wis: 8 or 10
Cha: 15+2

That hits the required 13 Str for multiclassing, 14 Dex for max AC from Medium armor, starts you with 17 Cha, and still leaves you with a passable 14 Con. I honestly wouldn't recommend a different race. If you go Shadow Sorcerer, I would probably take Elven Accuracy as your first ASI.

[samuraijaques]

In that case, I would consider something like:

One level of Sorcerer, be sure to pick up Booming and/or Greenflame Blade.
One level of Hexblade.
Two levels of Paladin, choose Defense fighting style.
Sixteen more levels of Sorcerer.

If using the Standard Array I would allocate like this:

Race: Half-Elf
Str: 12+1
Dex: 14
Con: 13+1
Int: 8 or 10
Wis: 8 or 10
Cha: 15+2

That hits the required 13 Str for multiclassing, 14 Dex for max AC from Medium armor, starts you with 17 Cha, and still leaves you with a passable 14 Con. I honestly wouldn't recommend a different race. If you go Shadow Sorcerer, I would probably take Elven Accuracy as your first ASI.
That's almost exactly what I was thinking. My one thought is whether taking the last 4 levels of paladin is worth it sometime down the line or not.

[Lombra]

1 sorcerer for con saves
2 - 3 paladin for smites
4-20 sorcerer for better spells, metamagic and more smite fuel.

[Blood of Gaea]

That's almost exactly what I was thinking. My one thought is whether taking the last 4 levels of paladin is worth it sometime down the line or not.
Not as much. Taking Paladin six in the short term gets you Aura of Protection, but if it's put off until later it's competing with a 7th, 8th, and 9th level spell slot.

[ATHATH]

But not taking Paladin at 1st level means that you don't get heavy armor proficiency...

[Blood of Gaea]

But not taking Paladin at 1st level means that you don't get heavy armor proficiency...
Hence the 14 in Dex to use medium armor. -1AC is worth the tradeoff for Con proficiency when worried about keeping spells going.

[Nifft]

If you want heavy armor, start with Paladin. The stub might be Paladin 2 / Sorc ++

If you want Sorcerer's save proficiency (because Con save proficiency is pretty spiffy), then maybe Sorc 3 / Paladin 2 / Sorc ++

I suspect both are good.

[samuraijaques]

1 sorcerer for con saves
2 - 3 paladin for smites
4-20 sorcerer for better spells, metamagic and more smite fuel.
That's what I did with the campaign that were in right now but I considering switching it up for the next one


Not as much. Taking Paladin six in the short term gets you Aura of Protection, but if it's put off until later it's competing with a 7th, 8th, and 9th level spell slot.
True facts


But not taking Paladin at 1st level means that you don't get heavy armor proficiency...
I'll gladly trade 1 AC for constitution saves


If you want heavy armor, start with Paladin. The stub might be Paladin 2 / Sorc ++

If you want Sorcerer's save proficiency (because Con save proficiency is pretty spiffy), then maybe Sorc 3 / Paladin 2 / Sorc ++

I suspect both are good.
Definitely want con saves.

Thanks for all the help guys

[Spiritchaser]

I can certainly appreciate why you’d want con saves, but...

Could you not wait for your first ASI for warcaster or res con (I won’t debate which here)?

The great strength of your hexblade level is to spare ASIs, and presuming you start at 17 CHA, you’re only one and a half ASIs from capped.

[Blood of Gaea]

I can certainly appreciate why you’d want con saves, but...

Could you not wait for your first ASI for warcaster or res con (I won’t debate which here)?

The great strength of your hexblade level is to spare ASIs, and presuming you start at 17 CHA, you’re only one and a half ASIs from capped.
That's true, but if they're only dipping 3 levels into Paladin/Warlock then they don't get their first ASI until level 7 and their second until 11th.

[samuraijaques]

I can certainly appreciate why you’d want con saves, but...

Could you not wait for your first ASI for warcaster or res con (I won’t debate which here)?

The great strength of your hexblade level is to spare ASIs, and presuming you start at 17 CHA, you’re only one and a half ASIs from capped.

The real question here is whether con saves are worth it over heavy armor. And they are. Pretty much categorically. If I went paladin for level 1 I'd get 4 more hp and 1 more ac but would lose as much as 5 to my constitution saves. It's just not worth it.

[Spiritchaser]

The real question here is whether con saves are worth it over heavy armor. And they are. Pretty much categorically. If I went paladin for level 1 I'd get 4 more hp and 1 more ac but would lose as much as 5 to my constitution saves. It's just not worth it.

It’s not just CON saves vs heavy armor...

It’s con saves early vs heavy armor and wis saves early, with an easy option for CON saves, and potentially a point in CON a little later with res CON or with a lot of other nice things with war caster.

I would agree that of the bunch CON saves are the most critical, but it’s not just the one vs. the other.