Paladin subclass for solo gestalt-ish build?

[Greywander]

I'm rolling up a character for a solo game. We're going to be testing out some homebrew mutliclassing rules that, in a nutshell, allow you to build a flexible gestalt-like character. I could eventually raise every class to 20, but it would cost an exorbitant amount of XP to do so, and I'd be surprised if this campaign holds together until even 10th level. With that in mind, I'll need to strategize which classes I invest in beyond just a dip. (Which classes I take will also be contingent on me finding someone to train my character in that class, so I can't just dip whenever.)

For story reasons, I'll be putting levels into draconic sorcerer, so I'm looking at other classes and subclasses to see which classes will synergize well. I know sorcadins are popular, and I want to put at least 6 level in for the boost to saves, but I'm unsure which oath to pick.

Ancients is the obvious one, with resistance to all spell damage. The 1/day drop to 1 HP instead of 0 is nice, but comes late. Capstone is pretty strong.

Devotion gets permanent Protection from Evil and Good (but pretty late). This is a really strong spell, and concentration-free to boot. My only complaint is that it's redundant with several of their other abilities (they already get protection from fear and charm).

Another one I was looking at was Conquest, which has some interesting synergy with the Long Death monk. I was looking at Long Death since they can spend ki to drop to 1 HP instead of 0 (comes late, but very useful for solo play), but they also get an ability to cause fear in enemies within 30 feet on a failed save. It doesn't seem to cost any resources, so you can spam it over and over. Combined with the Conquest paladin, they can just lock enemies in place, dealing psychic damage to them every turn, and their attacks will be at disadvantage. Not sure it's better than just attacking, but it will be better than the Dodge action most of the time. The 15th level feature, though late, is like an always-on Armor of Agathys. I do like the idea of a "thorns" effect that damages those who attack you. Not sure I'm sold on the Long Death monk just yet, but this combo would give me an effective way to deal with hordes (or, you know, I could just Fireball).

Oathbreaker is strong, but doesn't jive with the character concept. Redemption and Crown don't seem to work for solo play.

I'm leaning toward Conquest, as not only does it seem pretty strong, but I think it also fits the draconic theme the character has going. Dragon sorc also gets a fear ability at higher levels, so there's that. Ancients is probably stronger if I only take paladin to 7, though.

[Mr A25]

I'm a big advocate for Conquest Paladin. It's one of the best controlling Paladin Subclasses, especially when combined WITH Sentinel. Upcasted Armor of Agathys, Spiritual Weapon and Aid will make you near invincible in HP plus with great saves you are gonna be difficult to take down. However you'll be the only option to attack due to your ability to lock down enemies. If you can work it out with your DM as well, a recent UA gave Paladins access to Spirit Guardians which is nasty in this combo. This will require you to take Paladin 9 though so that's quite an investment although alot can be said for Paladin 11 as you'll get improved Divine smite and immunity to Fear Aura which is amazing for your allies in this build.

I can't speak much for Long Death but it seems to fit thematically. Other recommendations could be Order cleric and Glamour Bard which will really add to the whole control aspect.

I'm very partial to the idea of a Moon druid Paladin, I just love the idea of smite bear though how useful it actually is is up to debate.

[Corran]

Locking down (most likely mostly melee) foes can't be that important for a solo campaign. Though at level 7 (if I understand gestalt correctly), combining a conquering presence with a quickened wall of fire (and with grappling if you want to delay this by one round) could be fun, if not effective under certain scenarios (lots of damage if fright sticks on surrounding enemies, and blocking line of sight can also be important if there are casters or several ranged enemies around).

[da newt]

I don't know if it would be as powerful as I think it would be, but the idea of a YuanTi Conquest Pali seems very very tough to me (especially if you cheese in a little HEXBLADE for CHA SADness) ...

[CTurbo]

You didn't explain how this "gestalt-ish" homebrew idea would work, or what your stats would be, or what level you'd be starting at.

Paladin/Monk is one of the MADest combos you can possibly have needing a 13 in Str, Dex, Wis, and Cha and course you don't want to dump Con either.

But yeah sure the Long Death Monk's Fear ability would be perfect for a solo Conquest Paladin. Keep in mind that Hour of Reaping get is NOT ally friendly. This would be a terrible combo to have in a party.

[Greywander]

You didn't explain how this "gestalt-ish" homebrew idea would work, or what your stats would be, or what level you'd be starting at.
Sorry, I didn't want to bog down the thread, but I can see how this might be relevant info.

The gestalt-ish homebrew:

Character level is always equal to your highest level in a single class. Therefore, a straight-classed character is functionally identical to a vanilla character.
When you level up, you can choose to gain a level in a class that isn't your highest. Your character level remains the same, and thus the cost to level up again does not change.
The main difference between this and a gestalt, is that (a) you have to pay XP for your "extra" class levels, instead of getting them for free, and (b) you can choose how many extra levels you want to get, depending on how much you're willing to delay your character progression. Higher character level means more HP, higher proficiency, and late-level class features (e.g. 9th level spells), and you're pushing that all back when you dip into another class.
Originally, the rules I wrote limited you to a number of classes equal to your proficiency bonus (to prevent dipping into literally every class at 1st level). Here, though, we're going to take a more narrative approach and require my character to find someone of 5th level or higher (tier 2 or higher) to train my character in that class before I can take levels in it.
Speaking of dipping, I've split 1st level of each class into two levels, with you being required to take "1/2 level" in a class before you can take 1st level. This is to alleviate frontloading.

Part of what we're doing is testing this homebrew, specifically. So I realize it might sound a bit janky. I wanted to see how it works in practice. I've played a gestalt character before, and one of the things that frustrated me was that it felt like I gained abilities too quickly, so I didn't have time to adjust to them. For example, I'd forget that I had something until after it would have been useful. So I wrote these multiclass rules to drag it out and give you time to acclimate to each class level as you earned it.

My character will be starting at 0th level, and his first order of business will be finding someone to train him in a class. I think the tentative plan is for my character to be a hireling for another group of adventurers initially, with the promise that one of them will train me if I survive.

I actually got a decent stat spread, all things considered. I rolled 3d6, in order, then rerolled one, then switched two. I went Vhuman (Lucky feat) as my race. After racial bonuses, my stats are:

9, 13, 12, 10, 14, 11

Not amazing, but not bad for 3d6 in order (IIRC, INT was my reroll, was originally 7). Because I did 3d6 instead of 4d6 drop the lowest, I'll get +1 to all stats when I reach 1/2 level, to represent my ascension from commoner to adventurer.


Paladin/Monk is one of the MADest combos you can possibly have needing a 13 in Str, Dex, Wis, and Cha and course you don't want to dump Con either.
We'll probably ignore the multiclass ability score restrictions. I've never liked them, to be honest. This means I can more or less ignore STR, and a monk dip would let me use DEX for non-finesse weapons.

And with this multiclass homebrew, one of the advantages of a "wide" build is that you get a lot more ASIs. And I'll need them, too. Honestly I should probably grab Alert and Observant with my first two, because getting surprised would suck pretty bad in a solo game.


But yeah sure the Long Death Monk's Fear ability would be perfect for a solo Conquest Paladin. Keep in mind that Hour of Reaping get is NOT ally friendly. This would be a terrible combo to have in a party.
I didn't think of this, but it's a good point. I'm liking this combo more and more. It might not be the most optimized, but sometimes it's okay to play something fun rather than something optimal.