Help making a Protector Paladin

[Scubasteve0209]

TLDR: I'm making a new PC for the campaign, and would like help making a Paladin who spec's protection & defense.

The Campaign up to this point: The party has faced off with an undead Orcus cult who has revealed themselves in a kingdom-wide assault on holy temples to rival gods (domains of death, life, healing, etc), and eliminated a great many enclaves. The PC's having had recent conflicts with the cult, and scouted their operations have been summoned to the seat of the kingdom for a summit.

The Party (level 8) up to this point has gotten by as mostly glass cannons: A Sorcerer (draconic), two Warlocks (fiend & hexblade), monk (open hand), & a Fighter (battle master). The only healing comes from potions & the monks healer feat. Given that the conflict has opened up to other religions I feel like this would be a good time to bring in a divine-centered character. The idea is that this would be a paladin whose temple/area of responsibility was destroyed, and would likely join up with the party seeing as they are actively seeking to destroy the threat.

As far as editions are concerned, the players have been dabbling with converting their characters into One D&D playtesting, but my current character (Fiend Warlock) will not, since it's such a drastic leap in play-style, and I like him the way he is. I don't know much about the One D&D Paladin rules, so most of my ideas so far are based in 5E.

My Ideas So Far:
Race: Aasimar (Scourge) for the extra hit of healing, divinity, & the AOE aura
Subclass: Redemption. While the character is not strictly a "pacifist" this subclass feels the closest to a paladin who has been taking care of healing temples for several decades. I could go Vengeance, considering the character is likely out for justice following the deaths of their wards, but Redemption feels more natural.
Fighting Style: Duelist, or Defense. I'd consider protection, but I have something in mind for my reactions
Feat: Shield Mastery to help me stay up longer, and to synergize with my idea for magic items
Magic Items: I am allowed to start with 1 Very Rare or 2 Rare items, and a smattering of simple items. I'm thinking a Shield of Missile Attraction (rare), Ring of Evasion (rare), & a Moon-touched sword (common)

The Basic Idea: I feel like this would be a solid defender/tank as I would be able to draw missile attacks, and have three resistances (radiant, necrotic, ranged missile) which would be clutch when facing an undead cult. The Shield draws fire, and Shield Mastery would allow me to have evasion against Dex saves, and the ring would be backup to make sure I passed in a pinch (also allowing me to not worry as much about Dex). Aasimar and Class provide a bit of Lay of Hands to help bolster HP, & Redemption provides a lot of solid utility spells, and otherwise lets me focus on keeping the heat off of the rest of the party while they wreck the house.

This is based in 5e, though. Are there stronger options I'm overlooking, or is there something better in the One D&D rules?

[Kane0]

Shield master + ring of evasion + aura of protection, i can see what youre getting at there. Its a fine plan, just be prepared to take the dodge action every now and again.

Does anyone in the party have inspiring leader? Because thats a great feat.

Warforged and dwarf are good race alternatives thanks to resistances and AC/HP

[Quietus]

I'll second the usefulness of Inspiring Leader here. Turn the conviction in your beliefs into tangible morale benefits!

For fighting styles - defense is good if you're looking to make an AC tank, or dueling if you feel the party needs slightly more offense. But also consider, from Tasha's, the Interception style.

- When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon to use this reaction.

[solidork]

Shield of Missile attraction is extremely powerful so long as you don't have anyone in your party who is trying to use ranged weapon attacks; if the Battlemaster is melee then I think you're going to be impressed with how effective it is.

[RogueJK]

Shield Mastery would allow me to have evasion against Dex saves, and the ring would be backup to make sure I passed in a pinch (also allowing me to not worry as much about Dex).

Shield master + ring of evasion + aura of protection, i can see what youre getting at there. Its a fine plan

Note that Ring of Evasion and Shield Master's quasi-Evasion effect don't work together, as either one requires your Reaction. So you can't trigger your Evasion Ring in order to get Shield Master's 0 damage effect. It'd be either/or, not both.


The already-mentioned Interception Fighting Style + Inspiring Leader feat is a great combo for mitigating a ton of damage throughout the day. Boost all your allies with Temp HP after each rest, and then in battle, stick close to the Battlemaster and/or Monk to reduce their incoming damage with your Reactions via Interception and also allow them to benefit from your Aura.


It's also worth considering another Oath besides Redemption on a "Protector Paladin". Watchers or Crown are worth looking at too. Being a "Protector" involves more than just having strong personal defenses. It's also about boosting your allies' defenses and mitigating damage to them, while also preventing enemies from attacking them.

Watchers Paladins can use their CD to boost their allies' INT/WIS/CHA saves, without having to be adjacent to them. You also boost your allies' Initiative, which helps them get off those first turn save-or-suck spells/stuns before the enemy has a chance to act.

Crown has a handy tanking CD to prevent an enemy from moving away from you and attacking a squishier ally. Plus they have several means to allow you to soak/distribute damage from allies to yourself (like Warding Bond and Divine Allegiance).


The cool thing about Redemption's Aura of the Guardian and Crown's Divine Allegiance is that while they're both Reactions in response to an ally taking damage, they don't actually have to conflict with Interception, since they don't necessarily cover the same situations. You can use Interception to reduce incoming attack damage on an ally, or use Guardian Aura/Divine Allegiance to instead soak non-attack damage (like from a failed save or environmental effect). When it applies, Interception is the better option, since it reduces rather than just redistributes the damage. But you still have the other use for your Reaction when Interception doesn't apply.


But I wouldn't necessarily go with Interception + Shield Master + Crown/Redemption ability, as then you really start to get Reaction clog. If you're trying to go with a "Protector" build that protects their allies instead of just themselves, I'd skip Shield Master and the Evasion Ring, and go with Inspiring Leader+Interception instead.

[Scubasteve0209]

Shield of Missile attraction is extremely powerful so long as you don't have anyone in your party who is trying to use ranged weapon attacks; if the Battlemaster is melee then I think you're going to be impressed with how effective it is.

The Fighter is Melee. In fact, the only PC who uses ranged weapons is the monk with Javelins. That's really rare though.



Note that Ring of Evasion and Shield Master's quasi-Evasion effect don't work together, as either one requires your Reaction. So you can't trigger your Evasion Ring in order to get Shield Master's 0 damage effect. It'd be either/or, not both...

But I wouldn't necessarily go with Interception + Shield Master + Crown/Redemption ability, as then you really start to get Reaction clog. If you're trying to go with a "Protector" build that protects their allies instead of just themselves, I'd skip Shield Master and the Evasion Ring, and go with Inspiring Leader+Interception instead.

Good notes. I hadn't noticed that the Shield Master/Evasion trick both used Reaction.

What would you consider better between Interception, and Protection? One reduces between 4-14 damage a turn, and the other imposes disadvantage, which might negate the attack entirely. I imagine I'll be standing near either the Fighter or Hexblade most of the time, so either could work.

[Kane0]

Interception is generally better than protection

[RogueJK]

Definitely Interception. There's a thread around here somewhere where someone breaks down the math, but Interception is strictly better than Protection.

[Quietus]

With Protection, you aren't changing the outcome after you see the roll, you have to use it pre-emptively. So for Protection to matter, the following has to be true :
- The attack must have been going to hit in the first place
- The attack must roll low enough on the second die you force, to miss

This means that Protection is best used to protect party members who least need it - those with high AC. That 13 AC wizard? How often is giving something with +8-+9 disadvantage going to change the outcome of a roll there?

Interception works after seeing whether the initial roll hit. You can use other methods to apply disadvantage to the attack roll, and stack Interception if they still hit. And there's no chance of Interception doing nothing, it's just flat damage prevention. Doesn't matter whether you're protecting a buddy with 13 or 23 AC, Interception is there to do the job.