Vengeance Paladin with PAM, Spear & Shield, & Elven Accuracy

[bsullivanp]

I'm planning for a 1-20 campaign and wanted to try my hand at Paladin (Standard Point Buy). The party is most likely a Ranger, Wildfire Druid, Rune Knight, Rogue, and Wizard/Artificer, so a healing/tanky PC is probably a good idea.

The DM is permitting a starting feat for everyone, so it got my wheels turning on how I could best maximize my smiting damage and crit chance by trying to become an advantage machine.

Would love to get feedback on if this idea would work.


Class: Vengeance Paladin 18/Hexblade 2

Race: Half Elf Drow (for the Darkness and Faerie Fire spells)

Starting stats of STR 15/DEX 8/CON 16/INT 8/WIS 10/CHA 17

Starting Weapon Setup: Spear + Shield + PAM + Dueling Fighting Style (+2)

ASI/Feat: 4th - Elven Accuracy (Cha), 8th - +2 Cha, 12th - Res (Con), 16th - Chef (sucks but needed a +1 CON feat)

Level Progression: 1 Pal > 2 War > 3-6 Pal > 7 War > X Pal

Invocations: Devil's Sight & Eldritch Mind (Agonizing Blast was tempting but doubt I will really use it vs. Adv. on CON saves stacked on a +15 CON Saving Throw, will never lose concentration!)



My rationale is that Spear & Shield w/ PAM will provide steady accuracy and a BA attack, each allowing for a crit/smite opportunity. If I could then just find as many ways to gain advantage, I could then use Elven Accuracy (because my spear now attacks on Cha, not Str) to give me triple advantage. Between Vow of Enmity, Faerie Fire, and Darkness/Devil's Sight cheese, I could get advantage for days.

I've never built anything like this before but to an experienced community like this, perhaps this is nothing new. But I would be interested in knowing:


Will this build work well?

Any ways I should improve it? (e.g., 3 levels Warlock, Glaive, GWM for example)?

Is the 2nd level in Warlock just to get Devil's Sight worth the delay in Improved Divine Smite?

Is Spear/Shield the best weapon setup here?



Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks!

[KirbyDerby]

I assume that your party is trying to be moderately optimized, given the feats chosen. While this build will probably function OK enough, there are some major issues I think you should keep in mind. First, while this build does have some pretty decent nova damage with crit smites, the damage over an entire adventuring day isn't that great. Remember, you're sacrificing one spell slot just to set up advantage, and then one or more slots to smite. Something like Bless will be a much more efficient use of your slots by increasing the total party's DPR, especially if the other martials in the party have a power attack/bonus attack feat. If your campaign is generally running shorter adventuring days (less than 6 encounters per day), then your nova damage will represent a better increase in your average damage over the entire day, as you have more slots per encounter to spend, but that goes doubly so for the full casters, who can nova even harder than you can with their higher level slots.

You should also consider your action economy. Hexblade's Curse and Vow of Enmity both consume a bonus action, which will start competing with Polearm Master's BA attack if you're facing something you really want dead ASAP. Things get even worse with your advantage-gaining spells, as taking a full action to cast them completely removes your ability to attack that turn. Since most combats last at most 4 rounds, you're sacrificing a fourth of the attacks you could have made just to try to get crits later on. This makes your nova capabilities significantly worse, since the best time to nova is turn 1 so that you can kill something and remove it (and its actions) from the fight. This isn't too bad if you're casting Faerie Fire, since advantage will help your allies' attacks as well, but you'd much rather just cast Bless at that point. You could try to circumvent this by having one of your caster buddies cast one of the advantage-granting spells instead, but then they'd be consuming both their first turn AND their concentration, which are hugely important for casters, especially once you get into later tier 2/early tier 3.

Finally, there's a bit of a problem with the role you're trying to fill. You're not dealing as consistent damage over the entire day as other martials, and casters can nova harder than you can, so I assume you're trying to also "tank" for the party. However, looking at your party, everyone but the rogue has medium armor + shield proficiency, so there really isn't anyone to "tank" for (on top of tanking being next to impossible to do in 5e, but I digress). You're also planning on being in melee while having a concentration spell up (Faerie Fire, Darkness, or just good old Bless), which isn't a good idea even once you get good concentration protection. Also, there only seems to be one other "frontliner" in the party, the Rune Knight (assuming they aren't playing a ranged fighter), so your Aura of Protection (arguably the Paladin's best feature) is often going to leave the backline unprotected. I'd like to add that this isn't just a problem with your build, but rather with the Paladin class in general, as their martial features are weak and pull them toward melee, while their other features (spellcasting, Aura of Protection) pull them toward hanging back with the casters.

As for specific build advice, I'd recommend multiclassing out of Paladin after level 6, or maybe a bit later. You mainly get additional spellcasting from the paladin levels, which you could get more of by going into a fullcasting class, and the few additional martial features you get come too late and are quite weak. Improved Divine Smite is a small increase in damage that isn't worth taking so many extra levels in the class for. As for going for Glaive + GWM, it would definitely increase your damage, but it'll still be lower compared to other melee martials with the same feats, and will reduce your AC due to not using a shield, hurting your "tanking" role.

[Damon_Tor]

The Crusher feat would get you the con bump, if you prefer it over chef. You could then switch to a staff instead of a spear, using the "shove" effect to force the enemy to move back into melee range on its turn, triggering the special OA condition of PAM and netting you another attack. And because you're built to crit, the advantage-on-crit effect of crusher is also very strong.

[bsullivanp]

As for specific build advice, I'd recommend multiclassing out of Paladin after level 6, or maybe a bit later. You mainly get additional spellcasting from the paladin levels, which you could get more of by going into a fullcasting class, and the few additional martial features you get come too late and are quite weak. Improved Divine Smite is a small increase in damage that isn't worth taking so many extra levels in the class for. As for going for Glaive + GWM, it would definitely increase your damage, but it'll still be lower compared to other melee martials with the same feats, and will reduce your AC due to not using a shield, hurting your "tanking" role.

Thank you, very helpful feedback, although I am now questioning what my optimal next step should be. Are you suggesting I keep the current structure (PAM + Spear/Shield + EA) but MC into a full caster class (probably a hexsorcadin) to maximize my smite spell slots, or to abandon entirely and go a more traditional Sorcadin (Sword & Board) to play a more effective damage dealer?

Also you raise an interesting point on my role. Is this build trying to do too much? I was reluctant to just go Cleric because that didn’t seem to fun to me, but I also don’t want to be so poorly planned vs. the rest of the party. Is this build beyond hope and go back to the drawing board?

Thanks!

[Guy Lombard-O]

Class: Vengeance Paladin 18/Hexblade 2

Race: Half Elf Drow (for the Darkness and Faerie Fire spells)

Starting stats of STR 15/DEX 8/CON 16/INT 8/WIS 10/CHA 17

Starting Weapon Setup: Spear + Shield + PAM + Dueling Fighting Style (+2)

ASI/Feat: 4th - Elven Accuracy (Cha), 8th - +2 Cha, 12th - Res (Con), 16th - Chef (sucks but needed a +1 CON feat)

Level Progression: 1 Pal > 2 War > 3-6 Pal > 7 War > X Pal

Invocations: Devil's Sight & Eldritch Mind (Agonizing Blast was tempting but doubt I will really use it vs. Adv. on CON saves stacked on a +15 CON Saving Throw, will never lose concentration!)

[/LIST]

My rationale is that Spear & Shield w/ PAM will provide steady accuracy and a BA attack, each allowing for a crit/smite opportunity. If I could then just find as many ways to gain advantage, I could then use Elven Accuracy (because my spear now attacks on Cha, not Str) to give me triple advantage. Between Vow of Enmity, Faerie Fire, and Darkness/Devil's Sight cheese, I could get advantage for days.

Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks!

Okay, I'm going to disagree with the other posters and say that your build is basically not only fine, but will perform well. The weapon setup is the best one.

Kirby is correct about the bonus action clog you'll be facing here. PAM is going to compete not only with Hexblade's Curse, but with Vow of Enmity (and Hex if you take it, but don't!).

As far as getting advantage goes, I'd have a word with the Rune Knight player. In case you're unfamiliar, RKs are designed with almost all the tools needed to be (at least one of) the best grapplers in the game. If the RK is going to lean into this, you're going to find that getting advantage in melee is much, much more common than you'd previously expected (RKs are fighters who get lots of ASIs, so suggest to the RK player that Skill Expert/Athletics might be a good investment if he's leaning into the grappler role). Also, you'll have Vow of Enmity for those big fights, once per SR (and that RK is going to want lots of SRs!). Also, find out from the DM if the game is using advantage-flanking. If so, it'll be trivially easy to get advantage all the time.

If the RK is going grappler, then I'd pick something other than half drow. You won't want to be spending your turns casting Faerie Fire, and the Darkness is going to actively interfere with cozying your Aura up to your fellow players (plus, you won't even be able to use it until 8th level). Which frees up that second level of warlock for either another paladin level, or for Agonizing/Repelling blasts - because every good "tank" needs a good canon for taking out those hard-to-reach targets. Plus, your concentration should be used for Bless, or possibly Shield of Faith/Prot from E&G for those big tanking moments against lots of (PfE&G creatures, or whatever else SoF). And possibly Haste later on for high-mobility battles. Faerie Fire & Darkness (and Hex) just don't measure up, and aren't worth your concentration (and probably not your Action either).

Concentration is important, but between your Aura and getting Res Con with decent/good Con (and often Bless), Eldritch Mind is a bit of overkill. There's such a thing as diminishing returns. I'd rather have a ranged option which I'm actually excited to use.

Others will see all this differently, but that's what i'd do. Your basic build is (very) solid. But a few tweaks should make it work more efficiently.

[ThatDuckGrant]

Will this build work well?

Any ways I should improve it? (e.g., 3 levels Warlock, Glaive, GWM for example)?

Is the 2nd level in Warlock just to get Devil's Sight worth the delay in Improved Divine Smite?

Is Spear/Shield the best weapon setup here?





Yes. This is, IMO, the single strongest build in 5e. I know wizards and 9th level spells do crazy ****, but you get SO MUCH GOOD out of a build like this.
See Below
No - Cut out the second level of Warlock. Darkness takes a whole action to cast, you should be able to find plenty of other ways to get advantage, and delaying all your feats just isn't worth it. Additionally, by the mid levels 50% or more of what you end up fighting will have a way around darkness. Another good option is the mounted combatant feat. Your warhorse or Pegasus is size large, so anytime you ride that you would get automatic advantage against anything medium or smaller. When your artificer hits level 11, he can give a spell storing item with enlarge/reduce to a familiar to enlarge your mount in many situations.
Spear/shield is exactly the same in effectiveness as Quarterstaff/shield with PAM. Which means the crusher feat might make a quaterstaff slightly more optimal than a spear later in your build. Another thing that people often forget about with the hexblade dip is that it actually makes you eligible to attune to the Staff of Power, which would make you a defensive beast with its +2 to AC and saving throws, on top of your already high AC and saving throws. So if your DM slips one into your campaign, see if you can talk your spellcaster friends into letting you use it a couple times.

One more thing I want to comment on is the War Caster feat. Hexblade warlock gives you access to the shield spell, but you don't have War Caster in your build progression. So you won't actually be able to use the shield spell and equip a shield at the same time. Hexblade also gives you access to Booming Blade, which War Caster turns into the best OA in the game. If you take War Caster at 13, an enemy walking away from you would take a Booming Blade attack from you that deals 1d6 blungeoning, 1d8 radiant, and 5d8 thunder damage. That option alone I think is better than Con save proficiency.

[Gignere]

I don’t think the warlock level or EA adds all that much to your build.

I think a straight vhuman or custom lineage so you can start with PAM go with spear and shield will give you the flexibility to go mounted combatant to maximize find steed and find greater steed. I would keep resilient con.

Something like PAM, Mounted Combatant, +2 charisma, +1 resilient con, +2 charisma. You’ll hit often enough and since your damage is mostly coming from smite you really don’t need +5 to hit and damage.

If you go this route you’ll want to start with 16 strength and 15 con.

I will bank on eventually picking up a strength item.

[Guy Lombard-O]

I don’t think the warlock level or EA adds all that much to your build.

I think a straight vhuman or custom lineage so you can start with PAM go with spear and shield will give you the flexibility to go mounted combatant to maximize find steed and find greater steed. I would keep resilient con.

Something like PAM, Mounted Combatant, +2 charisma, +1 resilient con, +2 charisma. You’ll hit often enough and since your damage is mostly coming from smite you really don’t need +5 to hit and damage.

If you go this route you’ll want to start with 16 strength and 15 con.

I will bank on eventually picking up a strength item.

Yeah, I almost recommended a Vhuman instead of half-elf as well. TBH, taking Res Con right from 1st level is best, if for no other reason than taking it in place of an ASI later on is sort of painful. Res Con is super solid as a feat, but it's completely passive and not a really "fun" thing to spend an ASI on when you've been waiting 4 levels since the last ASI. Getting it out of the way in the basic build is easier to swallow.

Possibly leaving you room for Mounted Combatant?

[Gignere]

Yeah, I almost recommended a Vhuman instead of half-elf as well. TBH, taking Res Con right from 1st level is best, if for no other reason than taking it in place of an ASI later on is sort of painful. Res Con is super solid as a feat, but it's completely passive and not a really "fun" thing to spend an ASI on when you've been waiting 4 levels since the last ASI. Getting it out of the way in the basic build is easier to swallow.

Possibly leaving you room for Mounted Combatant?

PAM is crazy increase in DPR in t1, so I would recommend starting with that if you plan to be getting PAM eventually but yeah maybe get the res con earlier like 4 isn’t a bad alternative.

[Guy Lombard-O]

PAM is crazy increase in DPR in t1, so I would recommend starting with that if you plan to be getting PAM eventually but yeah maybe get the res con earlier like 4 isn’t a bad alternative.

I was assuming that OP could get both at level 1 with Vhuman - the 1 from the race, and the one free one from DM's house rule.

[KirbyDerby]

Ok I'm going to disagree with the other posters and say that your build is only basically fine, and not "the strongest build in 5e". This build suffers from not being particularly powerful at any of the things it's trying to do. You get 18 average damage from a crit smite on top of the weapon damage, which isn't bad, but the party (either you or another party member) has had to spend some of their actions and resources to set you up. They'll also have to spend more resources/actions once you've killed the first target, since your best sources of advantage are single-target. Comparatively, Bless costs only one spell slot and a single action on your part, will last the entire fight, protects saving throws, and increases your party's DPR significantly if the other martials are optimized and taking good damage feats. The slots and actions you spend setting up your smites lead them to being a very inefficient use of the party's resources over the entire adventuring day, meaning you're failing at your job as the martial to put out high amounts of damage without spending too many resources. If you have a shorter adventuring day, then you'll have more resources to spend per encounter (as I said in my last post), but so too will the fullcasters. Will your critfishing build really be able to outdamage the wizard who can now cast Fireball every encounter? Or the Druid who can keep up a Conjure Animals up in every fight? I doubt it, and the full casters will be able to nova with just one spell slot and only one action on their part. You just won't be able to compete, and this disparity will only get worse as you level up.

And all this setup only works in the encounters where you'll be able to participate. If you're fighting enemies who start out a long distance away from the party, you'll have to spend precious actions dashing towards them, decreasing your total damage for that encounter. If you're fighting a flying enemy, or one that frightens you, or traps you in place, you won't even be able to get close enough to hit it. On top of that, if you DO get to be in melee range of an enemy, most monsters are far more dangerous in melee than at range, so you'll be getting smacked around a lot. Your party will have to spend even MORE resources to keep you from dying, and they won't be able to use their AOE damage and control spells as effectively, since they don't want to hit you with them. Melee builds in 5e need to deal lots of damage to justify being in melee, which you can't do consistently enough. A fighter with XBE and SS will be able to outdamage you without having to rely on spending tons of resources like you do, and can do so at range.

Overall, you don't do any of your 3 roles (damage dealer, nova, tank) particularly well, and you'll be spending a lot of your and the party's resources to work. As I said in my last post, this is a problem with Paladins as a whole. Smites are ok nova but an inefficient use of their slots, they don't get enough martial features to deal damage comparable to a fighter or barbarian, and they aren't significantly more tanky than a cleric or a wizard with medium armor + shield proficiency. To top it all off, their best spells and their Aura of Protection, which are their standout features, actively incentivize them to play at range and stay near the full casters. No paladin build can properly reconcile all these issues.

Paladins in high optimization games actually completely ditch playing in melee and mainly rely on Eldritch Blast for damage and focus on their spellcasting, playing a lot more like a delayed fullcaster (usually the build is Palading 6 or 7/Warlock 2/Sorcerer X). However, this build takes a while to come online and might not be what you want to play. If you want to play as a melee paladin because you like the playstyle, then that's perfectly reasonable, although you won't be super effective at your role. However, if you're playing a melee paladin to try to keep up in a high-optimization game or to role-fill for the party, then I'd recommend playing something else.

[LudicSavant]

Okay, I'm going to disagree with the other posters and say that your build is basically not only fine, but will perform well.

Ok I'm going to disagree with the other posters and say that your build is only basically fine, and not "the strongest build in 5e".

To be fair, I think only one poster made that out there 'strongest build' claim. Others seem to mostly be saying it's just fine or would work well.

[Angelalex242]

A melee paladin should generally be single class. Paladins are designed for melee.

[KirbyDerby]

To be fair, I think only one poster made that out there 'strongest build' claim. Others seem to mostly be saying it's just fine or would work well.

That's fair, I was just taken aback by someone actually making that claim. I thought it was just a meme, but apparently there are people who believe it.

[Damon_Tor]

A melee paladin should generally be single class. Paladins are designed for melee.

Naw, pallys are too MAD to not dip hexblade 1.

[bsullivanp]

That's fair, I was just taken aback by someone actually making that claim. I thought it was just a meme, but apparently there are people who believe it.

It sounds like you are not a fan of Paladin vs. any poor choices with the build itself. To me the Darkness, Faerie Fire spell setups were more add-ons vs. the main feature of the build (since I could only ever cast them once/day anyways as part of the racial feature). This build could certainly utilize Bless as you suggested.

Would your recommendation be just to go Cleric then? I think the party probably needs healing more than anything. I have never played a Cleric, so my opinion is solely based on my perceptions and not on any actual gameplay, but it feels like a somewhat boring class to me.

[Skrum]

Vengeance Pally/Hexblade is extremely strong. Being an elf and getting Elven Accuracy makes it even better.

I would probably recommend dropping the self-created sources of advantage though (or at least most of them). Definitely talk to the DM and the other players, and see what you have to work with. If there's flanking, you're golden; go Shadar-Kai because they're are easily the best elf race. Smite on crits and watch things explode.

If you're not playing with flanking, yah, talk to the RK about grappling. They don't even need to be a dedicated grappler - if they shove someone down and you go after them, boom, you have advantage.

[KirbyDerby]

It sounds like you are not a fan of Paladin vs. any poor choices with the build itself. To me the Darkness, Faerie Fire spell setups were more add-ons vs. the main feature of the build (since I could only ever cast them once/day anyways as part of the racial feature). This build could certainly utilize Bless as you suggested.

That's partially true, a lot of the problems with this build are inherent to traditional paladin builds in general. However, critfishing Vengeance paladin builds compound many of these issues significantly. You're spending party actions/resources just to set up advantage, then spending your limited slots on crit smites to deal nova damage that isn't worth the setup. On the other hand, more supportive Paladin builds that focus on their spellcasting can be extremely effective at protecting the party. Aura of Protection is an incredible feature, and is basically required in high-difficulty campaigns, as a party failing a few key saving throws (including concentration saves) can lead to a TPK. These are much more passive builds that won't be doing anything flashy though, so you may not enjoy playing them.


Would your recommendation be just to go Cleric then? I think the party probably needs healing more than anything. I have never played a Cleric, so my opinion is solely based on my perceptions and not on any actual gameplay, but it feels like a somewhat boring class to me.

You party actually seems to already have a good amount of healing between the Druid, Ranger and Wizard/Artificer. You may want to talk to the Druid or Ranger about them picking up a single level in Life Cleric to get the lifeberry combo, where each goodberry heals 3 + the level of the slot spent to cast it. However, the DM may not allow it, so talk to them and the rest of the group. I think the biggest thing your party needs is a good source of temporary hitpoints, which can be achieved via Twilight Cleric, Shepard Druid, or a CHA caster with Inspiring Leader (such as a paladin!).

As for playing a cleric, you would do just fine in the party, and have a lot of good spells to support your fellow party members. I'm playing a cleric right now in a Curse of Strahd campaign, and it's been a lot of fun to play. However, note that their main combat spell in Tier 2 is Spirit Guardians, so you may find that a bit repetitive.

[Angelalex242]

Naw, pallys are too MAD to not dip hexblade 1.

I've never done that, myself. If I want STR, I'll get a belt Else STR can stay at 16. I'm focusing on charisma boosting...to 20, or 22 if I can get the book.

[Guy Lombard-O]

I've never done that, myself. If I want STR, I'll get a belt Else STR can stay at 16. I'm focusing on charisma boosting...to 20, or 22 if I can get the book.

I've played 3 paladins, 2 were single class and 1 was P1, hexblade 2-3, PX.

I agree with Angelalex that it's definitely not required or necessary. The paladin base class is strong enough, with a diverse enough skill set, that you can have fun and be powerful from 1-(I don't know, at least 13?) with just the paladin class features.

But I have to admit that the dip into hexblade made the hexadin both more powerful and more well rounded. I never for a second regretted the decision while playing that character, with the exception of waiting longer for the aura.

Of course, I never got a Belt for Str, either. That might have made a difference.

[Damon_Tor]

I've played 3 paladins, 2 were single class and 1 was P1, hexblade 2-3, PX.

I agree with Angelalex that it's definitely not required or necessary. The paladin base class is strong enough, with a diverse enough skill set, that you can have fun and be powerful from 1-(I don't know, at least 13?) with just the paladin class features.

But I have to admit that the dip into hexblade made the hexadin both more powerful and more well rounded. I never for a second regretted the decision while playing that character, with the exception of waiting longer for the aura.

Of course, I never got a Belt for Str, either. That might have made a difference.

Expecting to get a belt of strength to make a paladin playable is like expecting one on a barbarian so you can pump both dex and con.

Cha is too good on a paladin not to max it out. And choosing not to max an attack stat is similarly unpalatable. This mean a MAD paladin has, at best, four of his ASIs spoken for. But a SAD paladin only needs two. In other words, one level in warlock nets you two feats. There's no way I could justify skipping the dip.

[sithlordnergal]

This is a pretty darn solid build. But there are ways to improve it:


A 16/17 Con is perfectly fine, take War Caster over Chef.
Take Agonizing Blast over Eldritch Mind. You're going to want War Caster since you're a Sword and Board Paladin, that way you can cast spells with Somatic Components, and it provides you with Adv. on Concentration checks. Eldritch Sight is fine, just know that Darkness isn't actually that great of a spell, cause it messes with allies and enemies often have ways around it
Snag one of the Blade Cantrips, cause War Caster will let you make Attacks of Opportunity with them. I suggest Booming Blade.
Swap your Spear for a Quarterstaff. Warlock is gonna give you access to a lot of powerful magical staffs, most of which have a +1 to +2 bonus, on top of other benefits
Don't bother with Paladin 18. If you want Improved Divine Smite, go Paladin 12 / Warlock 8, or Paladin 12 / Warlock 2 / Sorcerer 6, but its really not needed. Instead, I suggest Paladin 6 / Warlock 14, or Paladin 6 / Warlock 2 / Sorcerer 12. Both of these net you more spells and spell slots, which is something you'll want as a Paladin.
For leveling, Paladin 1, Warlock 1, Paladin 2-5, Warlock X


Now, you do have some issues with Bonus Actions. I'm going to be honest, you'll probably not use Hexblade's Curse and Vow of Enmity together that often. Which is actually perfectly fine, since the two are limited short rest resources. I'd honestly only use one of them in a combat encounter, unless something new pops up that makes the encounter take much longer. Outside of that though, it won't be a big deal.

Next, you really wanna go into a casting class after Vengeance Paladin 6. It doesn't matter if you go Hexblade or Sorcerer, but you will want to choose one of them. There are pros and cons to both options:


Higher level Hexblades will have fewer resources per encounter, a slightly weaker spell list in my opinion, and don't have proper access to 6th level spells. They make up for their short comings with more resources that recover on a Short Rest, higher HP, the ability to better customize your Subclass, and potentially better At-Will abilities depending on the Invocations you choose. An important thing to keep in mind is that you won't have many resources during encounters, since Warlocks only get two spells slots till level 11, and you'll max out at three spell slots at level 20. But on the flipside, you won't have to worry about resource management if you take regular Short Rests, since you'll be back to full every time you take one. So you can nova in every single encounter if you like, provided you get plenty of Short Rests

If you do go for more Hexblade levels, I suggest Pact of the Tome or Pact of the Blade. If you take Pact of the Blade, I highly suggest Improved Pact Weapon and Lifedrinker. I also suggest avoiding Eldritch Smite, because you won't have enough resources in an encounter to really make use of it. Yes, you can do a powerful nova strike by mixing Eldritch Smite and Divine Smite, but it takes too many resources to do and isn't worth it. On the flip side, Pact of the Tome is a bit more utility focused. Make sure you snag Book of Ancient Secrets and copy all the Ritual spells you can find. Additionally, you can snag Shillelagh as a Tomelock, letting you turn your d6 Quarterstaff into a d8 Quarterstaff, while keeping your Shield and PAM. Since Shillelagh is a non-concentration, Bonus Action cantrip, there's really no reason to have it down when you're dungeon delving.

---

Now, you can go Sorcerer instead of Warlock. You end up with more spell slots per encounter, a somewhat better spell list, some really good subclass choices, and Metamagic. Downside is that all you have no Short Rest resources, lower HP, limited Sorcery Points, and its harder to customize a Sorcerer like you can a Warlock. Boiling it down, you have a LOT more resources per encounters then a Hexadin gets, but none of that comes back on a Short Rest so you have to be careful with resource management over the course of an adventuring day.

If you do go Sorcerer, I can suggest a few Subclass options


Divine Soul is a perfect thematic choice to go with Paladin. It also opens the entire Cleric spell list to you, which is a wonderful boon
Aberrant Mind is a good thematic choice for Warlocks, gives you telepathy and psychic resistance, and extra spells known
Clockwork Soul gives you more spells known, a good way to remove advantage or disadvantage from friends and foes, and gives you a defensive option similar to the Abjuration Wizard's Arcane Ward
Draconic Bloodline grants more HP, a damage resistance you can apply to yourself, bonus damage to a damage type, and advantage on Charisma Checks when dealing with Dragons
Wild Magic Sorcerer is just plain fun. Additionally, if your DM allows you to use wild Magic Surge every time you cast a spell after using Tides of Chaos, you have an exceptionally easy and reliable method of getting advantage on a roll.