Making a ranged Vengance Paladin NPC

[Yora]

I want to make an enemy NPC that would be recognizable as a Vengeance Paladin to players, but also rely on a longbow as his primary weapon as he sends his soldiers into battle. Divine Smite, Relentless Avenger, and all the smiting spells only work with melee attacks, which makes me think they really wanted to make sure that all paladins will never use ranged weapons. Aura's also won't matter in ranged combat with their short range.

That means the only paladin features of relevance to this character would be Paladin spells and Abjure Enemy, which actually might come in handy.
The special Oath of Vengeance spells are actually pretty good. Hunter's mark, hold person, misty step, haste, and dimension door are all great for an archer leading more close ranged soldiers.
For an NPC, I also feel pretty okay to give him Divine Smite with ranged attacks.

But I never worked with paladin spells or really looked at them before. Is there anything that just screams paladin but would work well for an archer?

[Man_Over_Game]

I want to make an enemy NPC that would be recognizable as a Vengeance Paladin to players, but also rely on a longbow as his primary weapon as he sends his soldiers into battle. Divine Smite, Relentless Avenger, and all the smiting spells only work with melee attacks, which makes me think they really wanted to make sure that all paladins will never use ranged weapons. Aura's also won't matter in ranged combat with their short range.

That means the only paladin features of relevance to this character would be Paladin spells and Abjure Enemy, which actually might come in handy.
The special Oath of Vengeance spells are actually pretty good. Hunter's mark, hold person, misty step, haste, and dimension door are all great for an archer leading more close ranged soldiers.
For an NPC, I also feel pretty okay to give him Divine Smite with ranged attacks.

But I never worked with paladin spells or really looked at them before. Is there anything that just screams paladin but would work well for an archer?

There's a few ways you can make it work, but neither are through Vengeance.

One is through Devotion:

Charisma-based enhancement isn't melee-weapon specific, great with Sharpshooter.
Has lots of auras, meaning you can stand near the allies you want to enhance.
Has lots of good Concentration spells, meaning you'll afford to be in the thick of combat less and make fewer Concentration checks.


Other is through Redemption:

Damage-absorption aura works as a ranged combatant, as you'll be unlikely to be bursted down while using it. You can effectively keep your weakest party member from dying and keep your party at 100% fighting power longer.
Has several party-defense spells, like Counterspell.
Has a Channel Divinity that hurts enemies when they hurt your allies.



But have you just considered making something that was better at ranged combat, like a Hexblade or Bard?

[MrStabby]

So you want to build an NPC and to add on the features that shout Vengeance Paladin?

I would play on the abjure enemy a lot. Let the NPC do it 3 times per short rest. You want to highlight active abilities over passive to give a clear feel for the character.

Then lean on the spells; the domain spells really bring out the subclass. Hunters mark and misty step. Make them at will so you dont have to track use in a busy battle.

Let them have a good to hit bonus - like the archery fighting style, although this is really just part of the stat block.


If you play more into the paladin feel than the vengeance feel then you can still have a dangerous melee combatant. Imagine a very mobile archer that only the fastest PCs can catch... now imagine those same fast PCs separated from the rest of their party and in combat with a high level paladin. There could be quite a shock for them there.