Tankadin Sorcadin - Torn between conquest and crown.

[Thuran]

Hi there.

For the first time im playing a paladin, as a S&B paladin, with intent to do Sorcadin later on.

Im the group tank, so have made sure to pick up interception to help protect my party.

But, welcome to level 3 and its time to pick an oath, and this is where im torn.

Both conquest and crown are befitting the character, and they seem both very very similar in terms of offering some form of crowd control, thats also why im torn between the two. Fear and immobilise, and +10 to hit, vs the "taunt of not leave my vicinity"+aoe deal bloodied allies and absord damage at level 7.

So, what do you think, and what in your experience, works best for a tank, between oath of conquest and oath of the crown?


Thanks in advance.

[Oramac]

So, what do you think, and what in your experience, works best for a tank, between oath of conquest and oath of the crown?

Conquest, hands down. The Crown aura is pretty terrible in general, but especially compared to the Conquest aura.

That said, the Crown Channel Divinity is pretty good, if a little situational.

[RogueJK]

I find Crown to be fairly lackluster. Conquest is definitely the stronger option. Especially with a 1 level Undead Warlock dip for frequent additional fear effects each turn via Form of Dread. (Or eventually more than 1 level, if you're okay with Padlock instead of Sorcadin.)

And Conquest gets access to one of the better oath spell lists, filled with bangers that normally aren't Paladin spells, like Armor of Agathys, Spiritual Weapon, Hold Person, Fear, and Dominate Person/Monster. Crown gets... Spirit Guardians. (Undoubtedly a great spell, but that's it.)

The main downside to Conquest is that you're relying heavily on fear, while there's a decent number of enemies that are immune to fear. Luckily, you're still a Paladin, so even in situations where your primary schtick doesn't work, you're still plenty powerful.

Crown's crowd control CD isn't that great, merely making enemies not be able to move more than 30' away from you, with no other debuff like fear's Disadvantage on attacks, and they can still wander freely within that 60' sphere.

So unless the rest of your party consists solely of long ranged attackers, and all your battles take place in large open areas where your allies can remain 35+ feet away, that's not all that useful. (And renders your Interception useless.)

Crown's "Mass Healing Word if under 50% HP" CD is situationally handy if your party is teetering on the edge of a TPK with several downed PCs needing to be yo-yo'd back to their feet, but any other Paladin can accomplish similar via merely casting Aid.

[Kessel]

How many levels in each are you planning to take?

[Thuran]

How many levels in each are you planning to take?

Not sure, but im leaning towards 7 pal/13 sorc, due to conquest having that immobilize effect at level 7 that synergizes well with the frighten aura it gets at level 3, to keep opponents in place.

We are playing rime of the frost maiden, so far I havent really seen many undead, we are just busy killing a Verbeeg and his friend, after the bloody Cwinga rode off on his fox, refusing to come back with us :D

[Unoriginal]

Not sure, but im leaning towards 7 pal/13 sorc, due to conquest having that immobilize effect at level 7 that synergizes well with the frighten aura it gets at level 3, to keep opponents in place.

We are playing rime of the frost maiden, so far I havent really seen many undead, we are just busy killing a Verbeeg and his friend, after the bloody Cwinga rode off on his fox, refusing to come back with us :D

Rime of the Frostmaiden is unlikely to go anywhere close to lvl 20.

[RogueJK]

It only goes to 12th, so good options could be:

Conquest Paladin 12

Or

Conquest Paladin 9/Shadow or Clockwork Sorcerer 3

Or

Conquest Paladin 11/Undead Warlock 1, taking the Warlock dip after 6 or 7

[herrhauptmann]

Question for those recommending Conquest Paladin.

How does the Aura of Conquest work if you Turn Undead with a cleric multiclass? Seems like it would immediately end the fear effect since they can't run if close, and take damage on the start of their turn. (I know OP isn't looking for a cleric/paladin, but teh question didn't seem worth a separate thread.)

[RogueJK]

Let's say an Undead enemy is both Frightened and close enough to be in your Aura of Conquest, thus their speed is 0.

If they are then turned using Turn Undead, it would have no effect, because they would take damage from Aura of Conquest at the start of their turn, thus ending the Turn Undead before they are forced to use their Action to Dodge (since they cannot move away). So it would be pointless.

But, Turn Undead is not specifically a fear effect, since it doesn't inflict the Frightened condition. So a Conquest Paladin/Cleric could use Turn Undead on a nearby Undead (who is not currently Frightened by some other means) without triggering Aura of Conquest, and the undead would thus not take psychic damage or lose its movement and would be forced to Dash away as normal.

[gloryblaze]

Crown is significantly underrated IMO, but not because of its CDs or features—rather, because it gets spirit guardians at level 9. You can do a lot of cool builds if you combine that with, say, the Telekinetic feat and a warlock dip for Grasp of Hadar.

[herrhauptmann]

But, Turn Undead is not specifically a fear effect, since it doesn't inflict the Frightened condition.

D'oh!

Thank you, totally missed that part of the ability.