Fighter/Paladin/Sorcerer build

[Verble]

I'm planning a magic infused nimble green paladin. I'm thinking 3 fighter/7 paladin/ 10 sorcerer. This is for the Midguard setting and he'll be a ratfolk(small size, nimbleness, pack tactics) and use a rapier and a whip. I rolled really well and will have the following stats.

Str 10
Dex 19
Con 14
Int 11
Wis 13
Cha 18

The fighter dip is to get access to an archetype from the sourcebook that grants Proficiency in perform, persuasion, and adds Charisma mod to AC in light or no armor.

Paladin will be oath of the ancients. DM has waived the paladin Str multiclass requirement.

Sorcerer will be Dragon, though possibly reflavored to reflect his time spent in the Summerlands(Feywild).

Character will be starting around level 6 or 7. I was initially thinking to start level 1 as fighter(Str and Con saves, fighting style), then Paladin to 7(double attack, aura, resist spell damage), then fighter to 3(Cha mod to AC), then rest into sorcerer (Base AC 13, metamagic, spell slots).

Feats I'm looking at are Resilient Dex and War caster.

Starting as sorcerer, and not taking fighter levels, I still get a +1 AC bump, Con saves, and faster access to spells/feats. Though I do like that big +4 AC from fighter 3.

A bit of a departure from sorcerer heavy sorcadins, but at lvl 11 I'll have an AC of 25, and great saves/defenses. I do get a hit on feats(could take paladin to 8), but with my high stats I can live with just resilient Dex to take it to 20, and war caster.

The more I think on it the more I'm leaning to scrapping the fighter levels.

What's your thoughts on the build concept?

[GreyBlack]

I'm planning a magic infused nimble green paladin. I'm thinking 3 fighter/7 paladin/ 10 sorcerer. This is for the Midguard setting and he'll be a ratfolk(small size, nimbleness, pack tactics) and use a rapier and a whip. I rolled really well and will have the following stats.

Str 10
Dex 19
Con 14
Int 11
Wis 13
Cha 18

The fighter dip is to get access to an archetype from the sourcebook that grants Proficiency in perform, persuasion, and adds Charisma mod to AC in light or no armor.

Paladin will be oath of the ancients. DM has waived the paladin Str multiclass requirement.

Sorcerer will be Dragon, though possibly reflavored to reflect his time spent in the Summerlands(Feywild).

Character will be starting around level 6 or 7. I was initially thinking to start level 1 as fighter(Str and Con saves, fighting style), then Paladin to 7(double attack, aura, resist spell damage), then fighter to 3(Cha mod to AC), then rest into sorcerer (Base AC 13, metamagic, spell slots).

Feats I'm looking at are Resilient Dex and War caster.

Starting as sorcerer, and not taking fighter levels, I still get a +1 AC bump, Con saves, and faster access to spells/feats. Though I do like that big +4 AC from fighter 3.

A bit of a departure from sorcerer heavy sorcadins, but at lvl 11 I'll have an AC of 25, and great saves/defenses. I do get a hit on feats(could take paladin to 8), but with my high stats I can live with just resilient Dex to take it to 20, and war caster.

The more I think on it the more I'm leaning to scrapping the fighter levels.

What's your thoughts on the build concept?

What fighter archetype are you looking at?

[Verble]

What fighter archetype are you looking at?

Believe it's called Sword-Dancer, from the Midguard Sourcebook by Kobold Press. It's for a highly mobile martial character. I'd just be dipping for the 3rd level archetype, Cha Mod to AC in light or no armor, and the persuasion skill.

My main question is about trading 3 sorcerer levels for that big +4 AC bump, and essentially an extra skill. I like the idea of him being eerily nimble. Second Wind and Action surge are just gravy(though action surge with metamagic can get real silly).

It's a trade off between more utility/offense of sorcerer and defense of the fighter dip. Though fighter does also net the second fighting style for bonus damage.

I plan to build out both versions to see how I feel about spell and spell slot progression.

[Nhorianscum]

I'm planning a magic infused nimble green paladin. I'm thinking 3 fighter/7 paladin/ 10 sorcerer. This is for the Midguard setting and he'll be a ratfolk(small size, nimbleness, pack tactics) and use a rapier and a whip. I rolled really well and will have the following stats.

Str 10
Dex 19
Con 14
Int 11
Wis 13
Cha 18

The fighter dip is to get access to an archetype from the sourcebook that grants Proficiency in perform, persuasion, and adds Charisma mod to AC in light or no armor.

Paladin will be oath of the ancients. DM has waived the paladin Str multiclass requirement.

Sorcerer will be Dragon, though possibly reflavored to reflect his time spent in the Summerlands(Feywild).

Character will be starting around level 6 or 7. I was initially thinking to start level 1 as fighter(Str and Con saves, fighting style), then Paladin to 7(double attack, aura, resist spell damage), then fighter to 3(Cha mod to AC), then rest into sorcerer (Base AC 13, metamagic, spell slots).

Feats I'm looking at are Resilient Dex and War caster.

Starting as sorcerer, and not taking fighter levels, I still get a +1 AC bump, Con saves, and faster access to spells/feats. Though I do like that big +4 AC from fighter 3.

A bit of a departure from sorcerer heavy sorcadins, but at lvl 11 I'll have an AC of 25, and great saves/defenses. I do get a hit on feats(could take paladin to 8), but with my high stats I can live with just resilient Dex to take it to 20, and war caster.

The more I think on it the more I'm leaning to scrapping the fighter levels.

What's your thoughts on the build concept?

You're starting at 6-7 and by the time we hit Paladin6/Fi3/Sorc6 mask of the dragon is a thing that teenage draconic sorc's get in trouble for touching themselves over. The fighter levels are pushing us into tier 4 where they do jack all.

Movement wise, you have a mount. A really obnoxiously good mount. Also you can teleport, on the mount.

You start out at 7 with 19 AC buck naked and spelless holding a shield over your junk and go to 26 with shield + SoF and can force a wis save to even try attacking you.

We're really just pulling action surge at the cost of 6th and 7th level spells. Up to you.

[CheddarChampion]

The final level distribution seems good.
You definitely want to start play with extra attack.

I think it would be better to have a rapier and a shield, or two shortswords, over a rapier and a whip. To TWF with those you'd need the TWF feat and want the TWF style - until you get both of those your non-smite damage would be sub par (attacking with 2x 1d8+5 maximum, as opposed to 2x 1d8+7 & 2 AC higher or 3x 1d6+5).

Ask your DM if they care about casting spells with your hands full. If they allow you to skip the warcaster feat and you already have Con save proficiency, take resilient (Dex) first. If they don't allow it, take WC first, and maybe have at least one sorcerer level to capitalize on booming blade + WC combo. Or see if you can get a ruby of the war mage to bypass somatic components that way.

[GreyBlack]

Without your stat distribution and the DM fiat of ignoring multiclass requirements, I'd advise against this build. You're giving up really powerful spells for this and delaying your spellcasting progression. With it... I'm still on the fence because what you gain in unarmored AC, you lose in versatility.

[Verble]

I think it would be better to have a rapier and a shield, or two shortswords, over a rapier and a whip. To TWF with those you'd need the TWF feat and want the TWF style - until you get both of those your non-smite damage would be sub par (attacking with 2x 1d8+5 maximum, as opposed to 2x 1d8+7 & 2 AC higher or 3x 1d6+5).

Ask your DM if they care about casting spells with your hands full. If they allow you to skip the warcaster feat and you already have Con save proficiency, take resilient (Dex) first. If they don't allow it, take WC first, and maybe have at least one sorcerer level to capitalize on booming blade + WC combo. Or see if you can get a ruby of the war mage to bypass somatic components that way.

I wasn't clear initially. I will be sword and board using either a whip or a rapier. Midguard has special weapon actions for each weapon. Rapier allows you to use your reaction to lock blades with the enemy, upping your AC for the round. Whip allows you to restrain or steal a weapon. Not sure which I'd mainly use, so I'll carry both and try it out.

[Verble]

Without your stat distribution and the DM fiat of ignoring multiclass requirements, I'd advise against this build. You're giving up really powerful spells for this and delaying your spellcasting progression. With it... I'm still on the fence because what you gain in unarmored AC, you lose in versatility.

I'll do a build out of the two variants and see how I feel about spell utility. There are other tanks in the group, and if I use whip(DM upgraded the base damage to a d6) I wouldn't be front front line anyway. Well maybe with booming blade/green flame blade.

Also realized the defense fight style requires you to be wearing armor, so that's out. Duelling it is. Or is protection a decent option considering multiple tanks?

[GreyBlack]

I'll do a build out of the two variants and see how I feel about spell utility. There are other tanks in the group, and if I use whip(DM upgraded the base damage to a d6) I wouldn't be front front line anyway. Well maybe with booming blade/green flame blade.

Also realized the defense fight style requires you to be wearing armor, so that's out. Duelling it is. Or is protection a decent option considering multiple tanks?

Protection requires the use of a shield.

[Verble]

Protection requires the use of a shield.

Yes, which I'll be using. As I said above.

[GreyBlack]

Yes, which I'll be using. As I said above.

Must have missed that; your original post says a rapier and whip.