The Wall of Fear: A Complete Guide to the Oath of Conquest

[Skylivedk]

Thank you for the advice.
Hey, does anyone know if I can use Shield Master to shove 2 creatures to the ground?
It says you make an attack as an action then you can shove as a bonus action. Well, can I shove as an attack and then shove another creature as a bonus attack?

Or 3 after extra attack or 4 with haste... In 6 rounds you can have order in the most unruly of classrooms.

[Samayu]

How to Act like a Conqueror
You are going to be most comfortable where the fighting is thickest. Once you hit level 7, your main objective should be to maintain fear over as many enemies as possible for as long as possible. If you can’t keep enemies locked down by frightening them, make sure to stay close to your allies so you can keep them safe through Aura of Protection and use Lay on Hands in an emergency.

Your first move should always be to inflict fear. Your allies with higher DEX will likely take turns before you in combat, and as the campaign goes on you are only going to fall lower on the initiative list. Your role is to disable enemies and keep your allies safe. Fear is your single most powerful tool for accomplishing that, so it’s essential that your first turn is always used to frighten enemies. Wrathful Smite is going to be one of your most useful spells, and it is going to stay useful throughout your campaign. The Fear spell will be a strong opener against groups. Until level 20, Conquering Presence is your best ability — 30ft in every direction, only targets you want to be afraid, doesn’t require concentration, and recharges on a short rest. It will be useful in almost every situation, so don’t be afraid to cast it.

[SPOILER=The Prone Trap]A few commenters have pointed out a particularly powerful, yet subtle, part of your aura. Frightened enemies in the aura have their speed reduced to 0, and this has devastating implications for enemies whom you knock prone. While a creature is prone, attack rolls against it (so long as the attacker is within 5 feet) have advantage. Attacks from any farther away have disadvantage. But in order to stand up again, a creature must expend half its movement speed. From D&D Beyond: "You can't stand up if you don't have enough movement left or if your speed is 0." See the trap? Your aura reduces their movement speed to 0. This means that an enemy that is (a) frightened of you and (b) caught in your aura cannot get up. Doesn't matter if they're a peasant or a dragon. They will be stuck, kneeling before your terrible power.

Wow, 23 pages over three years!

I've only read about half the pages here, so this has probably come up before, but I'm just going to bring up flying opponents.

If a flier is in your aura, and you frighten it, and it can't hover, it plummets. If it doesn't leave your aura on its way to the ground, it hits, takes damage, and is likely prone. That's pretty sweet! But note the caveats - if it has hover, it just stays where it was when you frightened it. And it's got to stay in your aura, which is tricky, especially with only a 10' aura.

[Sception]

This has come up, actually. If your conwueror can fly, you can use this to escort frightened enemies to the ground. Usually you don't get fall damage & prone out of it - the enemy falls until they leave your aura then stops falling, you then follow them down to the ground. Every 5 feet brings them back into your aura, they then interrupt yoy to fall 5' back out of your aura, then you move another 5' bringing them back in, and this continues back and forth until you reach the ground. Their last fall was inly 5' tho, so again, no damage or free prone. But the ince flying enemy is now grounded and ummobilized in your aura, so you're already winning.

A flying mount can potentially also be used for this, but doing so depends heavily on how your dm navigates the very complicated and counter-intuitive mounted combat rules and their various contradictory (un)clarifications.

[Samayu]

Thanks. Funny, the discussion of flying enemies was on page 12. I gave up reading somewhere on page 11.

I guess I hadn't thought of following them to the ground. I think it would DM's call as to whether you can follow them down quickly enough that they take falling damage. In other words, I move, you move, square by square, versus we move.

My character just gained a magic item that lets him cast Fly, and just gained 7th level. It will be interesting to see how well I can take advantage. Of course, we're underground, so I'm not sure when we'll come across a flying enemy. On the other hand, when we do, they won't have much altitude.

[Chthonos]

A question regarding spell selection.

I have just hit level 8, OoC 7/Hexblade 1, Dragonborn CHA 18. I always keep Wrathful Smite prepared from my Paladin spell list. I am curious if Cause Fear from the Warlock list is worth preparing and casting? Both are concentration spells, meaning it's an either/or choice when casting. Wrathful Smite is the initial WIS saving throw, but then subsequent WIS checks versus Cause Fear being WIS saving throws always. Cause Fear can be upcast, to increase the number of targets, Wrathful Smite cannot. I know that at OoC 9 Fear will surpass Cause Fear.

Thanks in advance for guidance.

[CheddarChampion]

Snip

It probably isn't worth the pick: you'll probably end up using Channel Divinity/Fear for multiple opponents and frightening opponents outside of your aura/far away isn't super useful.

Cause Fear has 60' range, sometimes that's good. It forgoes the need to hit your opponent so it is better at afflicting Frightened against high AC targets.

If the campaign you're in will include ranged enemies that you really need to frighten or really high AC targets that you need to frighten then Cause Fear might be worth the pick.

[Sception]

Cause Fear has niche applications as a potential frightener, particularly when upcast into second level slots. At first level, the range can be useful, but for the most part Wrathful Smite will be the better frightener due to how much harder it is to escape. Particularly since you need to be up close to impose your aura.

But when cast as a second level spell, Cause Fear can tag two targets. It's not as good for multi-target frighten as Conquering Presence, but that's a CD that can only be cast once per short rest, so will often be on cooldown.

You might even get some use of upcasting the spell to third level. Cause Fear is way worse than Fear as a third level spell, but as a multiclass character you're going to have third level slots before you have third level spells. Depending on your particular progression, it might be several levels before, and when you don't have access to Fear proper, a three target Cause Fear is a usable alternative. Again, Conquering Presence is better, but it's not always available.


On the other hand, Cause Fear allows a follow up save to escape every round, which isn't ideal, and you already have strong alternative spell options, including at second level. Sure, you might lock down two targets for multiple rounds with an upcast cause fear... or both targets might save, or might escape after only a single round. Spiritual Weapon doesn't activate your aura, but it does offer reliable damage over an entire encounter and that might be a better use of your second level spell slots, leaving concentration open for a single target but harder to escape Wrathful Smite.


In general, Cause Fear is a take it or leave it sort of spell. If hexblade had more first level spells that I cared about than just Shield - like if it also had access to Feather Fall or Endure Elements - then I'd probably never take Cause Fear. As it is, you can go either way. If you take it, you'll find some applications, but if you don't you won't exactly be missing out.

[Mitchellnotes]

A question regarding spell selection.

I have just hit level 8, OoC 7/Hexblade 1, Dragonborn CHA 18. I always keep Wrathful Smite prepared from my Paladin spell list. I am curious if Cause Fear from the Warlock list is worth preparing and casting? Both are concentration spells, meaning it's an either/or choice when casting. Wrathful Smite is the initial WIS saving throw, but then subsequent WIS checks versus Cause Fear being WIS saving throws always. Cause Fear can be upcast, to increase the number of targets, Wrathful Smite cannot. I know that at OoC 9 Fear will surpass Cause Fear.

Thanks in advance for guidance.

The one other thing I would throw out regarding cause fear is that because you have so many other ways of causing fear, it may be worth not selecting cause fear to broaden spell choices to cover other areas. Cause fear certainly has some niche applications, but it's more likely that you'll run into a situation where you wish you had a non-fear spell prepared rather than a situation where cause fear would work but none of your other fear creating abilities/spells would.

Cause fear may be a better choice in a build that leans more heavily into warlock (since it does benefit pretty well from being upcast)

[Chthonos]

Thanks for the feedback. It essentially confirms the direction I was leaning towards.

Based on how this campaign is progressing, and the gear I already have, and will be crafting, I've decided that at most I'd only take 2 levels of Hexblade. Hexblade 2 would only be for the invocations, and those might not be necessary if I can acquire gear to replicate those effects. None of the pacts are now worth investing 3 levels or beyond.

I agree with the utility of Shield, and that was already one of my spell selections. Now, the decision for the second spell is between Hellish Rebuke (thematically fitting, good for some extra damage, and useful if I'm going to absorb a non-critical hit anyway), Protection from Evil and Good (generally good tanking/defence, unfortunately requires concentration), or for party utility Comprehend Languages (can be replaced by the Helm of). The others in the Warlock level 1 list are mostly niche, at least from my perspective.

Any strong cases for any of the other Warlock 1 spells?

[Mitchellnotes]

Any strong cases for any of the other Warlock 1 spells?

Armor of agathys certainly has its moments, and depending upon your overall build/party, hex could have some moments, too (if going GWM, i'd avoid it, bless would be a better use of the slot, but if you aren't going that route, or are going with a more grappling focused build, it could have potential).

You can get protection from good and evil from your pally spell selections, so you may want to avoid that one (though if you are going to pick an option that is on both lists that you always want prepared, you could choose wrathful smite). This would let you have a little more choice when choosing pally spells.

Which invocations are you leaning towards? Is it something you could pick up with the new tasha's invocation feat?

[Samayu]

A question regarding spell selection.

I have just hit level 8, OoC 7/Hexblade 1, Dragonborn CHA 18. I always keep Wrathful Smite prepared from my Paladin spell list. I am curious if Cause Fear from the Warlock list is worth preparing and casting? Both are concentration spells, meaning it's an either/or choice when casting. Wrathful Smite is the initial WIS saving throw, but then subsequent WIS checks versus Cause Fear being WIS saving throws always. Cause Fear can be upcast, to increase the number of targets, Wrathful Smite cannot. I know that at OoC 9 Fear will surpass Cause Fear.

Thanks in advance for guidance.

I'm a human OoC 7/Hex 2. We just played through two sessions. I used Cause Fear twice, Wrathful Smite once, and I didn't use Conquering Presence. I always intend to save that one for big combats, forgetting that we tend to take a lot of short rests. Every fight on the entire level had only one or two opponents, so Cause Fear seemed good. Wrathful Smite is such low damage that it hardly seems worth it, so you have to just tell yourself it's for the fear and not the damage. And we had at least three combats against constructs.

I tried the prone trick, and it worked once. Another time the combat was over too soon.

21 AC, and I think I've used Shield twice in the campaign (we started at L4). Bless once, very early on. Armor of Agathys is worthless, for only 5 damage or 5 temp HP, neither of which I'm guaranteed to use, if nobody attacks me), and with an AC of 21, I want people to attack me. I've gotten a lot of use out of Hex - that is, whenever I'm not spending my actions on frightening. And I've used Command once or twice. I haven't used it for "grovel" yet because a shove is generally more effective. Hellish Rebuke is recommended, and Prot G/E may be better in some campaigns than others.

[Sception]

Based on how this campaign is progressing, and the gear I already have, and will be crafting, I've decided that at most I'd only take 2 levels of Hexblade. Hexblade 2 would only be for the invocations, and those might not be necessary if I can acquire gear to replicate those effects. None of the pacts are now worth investing 3 levels or beyond.

Second level hexblade also gets you a second first level spell slot on short rests. Between Bless, Shield, Wrathful Smite + Aura of Conquest, and plain old Divine Smite (particularly on criticals), Conquest Hexadins make some of the best use of first level spell slots in the game. An extra 1+ per adventuring day (ime typically 2, sometimes 3) is a big deal.

As for pact boons, none of them directly contribute to our frighten-based control gimmick, however pact of the chain is *fantastic* utility and amazingly fun from a narrative & role playing perspective. After all, what proper bully doesn't have a cringing lackey to boss around? Pact of the Chain also has some amazing dedicated invocations.

Voice of the Master lets you scout entire dungeons through your pet's invisible eyes and deliver messages and commands in your own voice over great distances. Combine with your pets invisibility and the Actor feat (no longer the best half-cha feat available, but still worth considering specifically for this interaction) for some hilarious and useful shenanigans.

Gift of the Ever Living Ones from Xanathars maximizes any randomized healing effects used on you. As a tank, you'll already be actively concentrating enemy attention on yourself because you're harder than your allies to meaningfully hurt. This takes the efficiency of that tactic a step further by also making you easier to heal, improving your party's overall hp reserves.

Investment of the Chain Master grants a number of bonuses, the most relevant being an extra flying or swimming speed, and you can command it to attack as a bonus action, and its save DCs equal your casting DC. With this imp is no longer the best option, as instead you'll want a sprite (no shape changing, but still flight and invisible and its attack is a ranged attack at +6 to hit that forces a save vs. poison with a chance of unconscious if the save result is 5 or less), or maybe a quasit (like the sprite, but the poison attack is melee with a worse hit bonus and no chance of unconscious but it can shape change), or maybe even a pseudodragon if you're committed to combat over utility (no invisibility, and the quasit's melee attack at a lower attack bonus to force the poison save, like the sprite it can cause unconsciousness but the pseudodragon causes unconsciousness if the target fails the save by 5 or more, which is way more likely than rolling a 5 or less on the save). This imps normal advantages are largely lost relative to these, and its weaker attack now matters since you'll actually be attacking with it. Remember you can change the familiars form whenever you cast the find familiar spell.

For conquest hexadins looking for a strong at will option for their bonus actions, you won't find better then that.


So yeah, there's actually plenty of utility and power to be had from that third level of warlock should you choose to take it, even if the bump from first to second level spell slots isn't that big a deal for you given how useful your first level spells are, and even if the extra power and utility isn't directly relevant to the conqueror's primary frightening gimmick.

anyway.

I agree with the utility of Shield, and that was already one of my spell selections. Now, the decision for the second spell is between Hellish Rebuke (thematically fitting, good for some extra damage, and useful if I'm going to absorb a non-critical hit anyway), Protection from Evil and Good (generally good tanking/defence, unfortunately requires concentration), or for party utility Comprehend Languages (can be replaced by the Helm of). The others in the Warlock level 1 list are mostly niche, at least from my perspective.

Hellish rebuke is decent, and in some ways better than shield as a tank, since excessive use of shield can lead to enemies growing disheartened with missing you and attacking your friends instead. Even so, you've already got so many strong first level options for regular use I'd be inclined to go for something a bit more niche. Protection from Evil and Good is a good spell, but it's also something you can pick up from your paladin side so I'm disinclined to dedicate limited warlock spells known on it. Might as well grab wrathful smite if you're going to go that way, since that's at least a spell you know you'll always want prepared. Of the three you mention, I'm more inclined towards comprehend languages. Niche applications, but when it's useful it's quite useful, and you've got plenty of options for day to day use of first level slots.

Armor of agathys certainly has its moments

Sure, but as a conqueror we already have it by default.

depending upon your overall build/party, hex could have some moments, too

This is another one to consider. When confronted with frighten-immune enemies, or enemies with spell resistance or otherwise strong wisdom saves, you generally want to switch to a more focused damage dealing mode, but you want to do so in a way that preserves spell slots to frighten with in later encounters where that might be a better option. So where a normal paladin turns up the heat with action-efficient Divine Smites, you generally want damage boosts that are more spell slot efficient instead. Spiritual Weapon is the built-in option here, and it's typically enough, but Hex is a respectable alternative.

Then again, Bless will often be the better option here, as it also protects your allies from save effects and tends to attract more heat from more enemies than hex does, at least from my own subjective experience.


So again, a decent option to have, but not critical. Apart from Shield, the casting improvements offered to a conquest paladin by a hex dip are more about the spell slots than the spells themselves.

I didn't use Conquering Presence. I always intend to save that one for big combats, forgetting that we tend to take a lot of short rests.

Yeah, As a CD it comes back every short rest. If anything, it should be your first go to frightener, saving spell slots for when CP is on cooldown. Granted, if you're facing a lot of single enemy encounters it feels like a bit of a waste, and in that case specifically wrathful smite is the better option. I know there can be an urge to save it for when you can tag 3 or more enemies, but even when facing only two it's probably better to use it early than to end up resting without using it at all.

If you can reasonably expect to be facing mostly single targets, and in particularly expect to fight multiple constructs, do remember that you have another option for channel divinity.

If your DM uses the additional class options from tasha's, that's yet another fallback CD to use, one that can conveniently be used immediately before short resting if you didn't find an opportunity to use one of the other two since your last rest.

[Mitchellnotes]

Armor of Agathys

Sure, but as a conqueror we already have it by default.

Ah! Good catch, that slipped my mind for a moment

[Sception]

It's easy to forget. Conquest Paladins' in class options for first level spell slots could be reduced down to Wrathful Smite, Divine Smite, and Bless and most of the conquerors I've played wouldn't notice much of a difference. :p

[Nihilistic Owl]

Hi! I'm interested in playing a Conquest Paladin, and I'm torn between going straight pally or taking 13 levels of Hexblade. I aim to become a crowd control tank that uses a Polearm Master and Sentinel to deal with creatures immuned to fear. Is it best to go full conquest or will it be better to take hexblade levels?
Thanks in advance!

[Blood of Gaea]

Hi! I'm interested in playing a Conquest Paladin, and I'm torn between going straight pally or taking 13 levels of Hexblade. I aim to become a crowd control tank that uses a Polearm Master and Sentinel to deal with creatures immuned to fear. Is it best to go full conquest or will it be better to take hexblade levels?
Thanks in advance!

13 levels is a lot of delay to slap onto your Paladin, especially if you want to focus on control. Just go straight Paladin, it'll help get both your feats and fear effects online ASAP. If you'd really like a little Hexblade, take one level of it, and also pick Custom Lineage as your race. Becoming SAD works well with the single +2 that racial option gives you, and it also lets you start with one of your two key feats right at 1st level.

[Dr. Hieronymous]

The main reason why not is that conquest is a very stat intensive build and thus doesn't have a lot of room for feats. Spending one to shore up your concentration saves is a good idea, but more then that is overcomitting a very limited resource.

...

So, Tasha's is out, what useful bits do people see as relevant for conquest builds?

Obviously the racial customization rules are a big deal for such a MAD build, opening up a lot of strong options that previously were hard to justify due to stat mismatch. I think all the previous top tier conquest races are still top tier, including vuman, half elf, fallen Aasimar, Triton (in aquatic games) and Winter Eladrin (for dexadins), but if tasha variation is in play you can add to that list yuan-ti, winged variant tieflings, mountain dwarves, grey dwarves in underdark games, winter eladrins for non-dexadins, complete custom origin for hex dip builds, etc. furthermore, all racial options are brought up to at least mid tier, as long as you can shift your racial bonuses to some mus of str-or-dex, cha, & maybe con you're solid. The only race to suffer with tasha's is eberron changelings in hex dipped builds as errata now prevents them from stacking +3 to charisma..

One you didn't mention is the Goliath. There's now a really dandy Conquest Goliath build for low-level campaigns. Using the new optional racial origin rules, put your racial bonus points in Strength and Charisma (17/16), take Heavy Armor Mastery at 4th to even out Str, and (up)cast Armor of Agathys a lot. Most melee damage will get reduced by about half by the HAM; if you get hit with a crit you can use your racial Stone's Endurance. Both of course preserve the AoA keeping at active so it keeps dealing direct damage at whatever strikes you.

Obviously there are some downsides -- your starting Chr is gonna be 16 maximum assuming point buy, and you're using a feat slot on something that isn't Sentinel or Resilient (Con). But if you then bump Chr at 8 and 12, you're at 18 str/14 Con/20 Chr, leaving two more ASI's to either take, say, Resilient (Con) and Crusher feat (bumping Con to 16), or taking Str to 20 with one ASI left for what you will. (If you set Dex, Wis, and Int to 8, you can set Con at 15 and then top it off with Resilient, but that'd be a long wait with uneven scores). And at higher levels, the Stone's Endurance ability and HAM both get a bit out-moded since they don't scale well as you level up. But most campaigns don't reach those levels anyway, so that's less of an issue than it might seem.

It's still not as optimized a build as the Fallen Aasimar -- you could even call it a bit gimmicky -- but it's thematic and effective at the levels (4-12) that most campaigns actually cover.

[Snake Pally]

Conquest Pally Sages I am in need of your advice,

So were starting a new campaign, itll be level 3 to start, im being allowed to use the Menacing UA feat, also were all being given a special item thatll level with us and since I was taking a level in warlock in those three for the sweet sweet cha to hit/dam he suggested letting my special item do that so that cleans up the build alot.
With those caveats out of the way im thinking of going Yuan-ti and im torn between going dexadin, to fit the yuan-ti snake theme more, being an agile snakey snake, or going full plate which would require me putting 5 points into str. Im also leaning more towards sword and board as I will be the frontline of the group along with a tanky cleric.
What stats should I go for if I go hexadin? Should I rethink anything else?

[Nihilistic Owl]

13 levels is a lot of delay to slap onto your Paladin, especially if you want to focus on control. Just go straight Paladin, it'll help get both your feats and fear effects online ASAP. If you'd really like a little Hexblade, take one level of it, and also pick Custom Lineage as your race. Becoming SAD works well with the single +2 that racial option gives you, and it also lets you start with one of your two key feats right at 1st level.

After some thinking and discussions with my DM, I've decided to go full Pally as you suggested. Sadly my DM doesn't allow the use of Tasha's custom lineage and I did have my eyes set on being a Half-Elf.

How would you go about feat/asi progression? We rolled for stats ( Str 16, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 18), and with Half-Elf I can start with 20 Cha, 17 Str, and 14 Con. Do I max out my strength first to 20 or grab Sentinel/PAM then max out strength? Thanks for replying and I appreciate it!

[Klorox]

OK, I'm late to the party, but I'm loving this class. Thank you for this guide.

[Sception]

Conquest Pally Sages I am in need of your advice,

So were starting a new campaign, itll be level 3 to start, im being allowed to use the Menacing UA feat, also were all being given a special item thatll level with us and since I was taking a level in warlock in those three for the sweet sweet cha to hit/dam he suggested letting my special item do that so that cleans up the build alot.
With those caveats out of the way im thinking of going Yuan-ti and im torn between going dexadin, to fit the yuan-ti snake theme more, being an agile snakey snake, or going full plate which would require me putting 5 points into str. Im also leaning more towards sword and board as I will be the frontline of the group along with a tanky cleric.
What stats should I go for if I go hexadin? Should I rethink anything else?

So, just to confirm, Tasha's is in play, and you are getting a free homebrew item to fix the MADness issue out of the gate?

In that case, I would personally lean toward medium armored Dexadin for style, hoping to transition to mithril fullplate eventually.

Even with just default array, you could end up with something like S13, D14, C14, I8, W10, H16 starting stats. Maybe switch I and W for role play, or dump both to start with 17 cha to grab a half feat like fey touched or actor.

For progression, pure paladin is viable, but S13 keeps multiclassing options open. Honestly, hexblade dip - or even longer multiclass - is still pretty effective for you, and sounds thematically appropriate for a Yuan-Ti.

Maybe something like:

Yuan-Ti Spy paladin 1
starting stats: S13, D14, C14, I9, W8, H17
starting gear: as paladin, but take rapier, and trade the heavy armor for medium
skills: Athletics & Intimidation (paladin), Deception & Stealth (background).

Progression after level 1:

Hexblade 1-2: Booming Blade, Mind Sliver, Shield, Hex, Wrathful Smite (frees up paladin memorization later), Hexblade's Curse, Beguiling Influence (proficiency in persuasion and deception, which you already have so you get to trade it out for perception or maybe insight), Mask of Many Faces (at will disguise self), 2 short rest spell slots for shield/wrathful smite

Paladin 2-12: all that conqueror stuff. For ASIs grab War Caster, Actor, +2 Charisma, in order. Maybe Switch Actor and War Caster if your campaign favors social encounters over combat.

From there either stick with paladin through 18 for Improved Find Steed and expanded aura range, or go back to warlock for Chain Boon, Short Rest slots high enough to cast Fear, & some more invocations (Gift of the Ever Living Ones is great on a tank, Voice of the Chain Master is fantastic with the Actor feat for social manipulation, Investment of the Chain Master gives you some solid at will bonus action options), or slip over to eloquence bard for more smooth talk & party support abilities, plus a choice debuff to enemy saves. Either way, consider Alert, Sentinel, or maybe that Tasha feat to grab a metamagic (for subtle) for remaining ASI.


An early, two level dip into hexblade costs a lot. Like, that's a real and significant delay on ASIs, Extra Attack, Aura of Protection, Aura of Conquest, and Fear. And with a medium armored character you'll probably always be one point of AC behind heavy armored counterparts. 2 points if you want to keep stealth as a viable option. But cantrip scaling on Booming Blade cushions the delay on extra attack, and the stuff you gain in terms of mechanical sneakiness to back up the Yuan-Ti theme imo makes up for the rest, particularly once you get to third level and pick up at will disguise self.


For your custom special item that scales with you, I'd ask your DM not for something to fix MADness (since I'm suggesting hex dip anyway), and not even for a magic weapon (you'll need one, of course, but you can use any one handed weapon, so finding a usable magic weapon shouldn't be a problem). Rather, I'd ask for magic armor - perhaps a suit of enchanted armor crafted from the living scales of a naga, the creature's soul still bound to the armor itself. At first level it could be scale armor, but light enough to not impose a penalty to stealth checks. As your character progresses through levels, the armor could periodically shed its skin, each time revealing more stunningly iridescent scales underneath. The renewed armor would gain incremental boosts to its AC bonus each time. Or maybe other magical properties, perhaps daily charges that can be used to charm or frighten enemies. Something like that would suit a Yuan-Ti paladin, imo.


Result is a character as effective in the royal court as they are on the field of battle, their silver tongue as deadly as their piercing blade. Capable of slipping past enemies undetected, but when combat does break out they can shed their stealth or disguise to reveal their true and terrible magnificence, crushing their enemies' resolve with martial prowess and supernatural terror.

In terms of party support & mechanical functionality, the only thing a rogue likes better than a solid melee tank is a solid melee tank that can join them on scouting runs, and with magic resistance plus eventual aura of protection you won't be nearly as susceptible to charm and dominate style abilities that can turn a party's melee tank or beat stick into a liability.

[Snake Pally]

Hi Malisteen really love you response, first im going to suggest the special item to be an armor because I think your idea is fantastic. Our damage mostly comes from our smites so a special weapon isn't going to increase it as much as a special armor will increase our surviveability, it also pigeonholes me into only being able to use that weapon and theres alot of cool weapons.

Perhaps I should have mentioned my stats last post, were using the DMs homebrew rules and it puts my stats at 15str,10dex,18con (with racial bonus) , 10 int, 10 wis, 19 cha (with racial bonus) were also using tashas racial score optional rule to switch the +2 and +1 to our liking. I could technically drop wis and int to 8 and bring the 15 stat to a 17 and put it in dex. This would be more then medium armor could use and maybe a waste, though high dex still has ALOT of uses. Does this change your suggestions at all?

If I ran warlock levels I would rather take only 1 until I get the aura of fear since Im going to be the "tank" (theres a bard/druid/cleric/rogue none in tanky subclasses). If I did take more warlock levels it would be after pally level 9 most likely.

[Sception]

remember you need at least 13 strength to multiclass paladin. I like dex over strength for a yuan-ti paladin, if only for strictly aesthetic/thematic reasons. But if you opt not to push stealth and focus instead on more cha based subtlety and infiltration, then the stat choice isn't as significant.

Perhaps your magic scales could be a heavy armor, that could get stronger with each shed, and the magical property could be something that helps with disguise rather than stealth? Maybe daily charges that can be spent on 'disguise self'? That also feels pretty snakey. And if you have disguise self from something other than a warlock invocation, thenit gets easier to delay that second warlock level, too. And if you do ever take it, you can spend an invocation on something else (at will silent image, maybe)

If you go that way, then you also might look for a background that grants disguise kit proficiency, rather than thieves tool proficiency. Maybe Charlatan.

Still, if none of your allies are tanky, then check to see if they're all stealthy. If every other party member is stealthy, then you'll want to be stealthy too. You don't want to be the one party member that prevents your team from doing full stealth tactics.

[arnin77]

I just got my Conquest Paladin to level 9 finally! I also just received a +2 halberd that does 2d6 radiant after the bonus action command word. I have been using a flame tongue and shield so far but now I’m tempted to try the “Death Stick” approach.

IÂ’m just wondering why the sword and board is considered better than death stick. Am I missing something there?

Seems like you could lock enemies 10Â’ from you and you can attack them while they canÂ’t attack you.

If itÂ’s for AC and con saves, I took resilient con at level 1 and now my save is +13 with an amulet of health and 20 charisma for my aura.

Am I missing something more than: you have more AC and therefore more HPs from not getting hit; because IÂ’ve been Heat Metalled a few times!

[Sception]

Congrats on reaching level 9! That's a huge level for us, really makes the build feel like it's come into its own.

Regarding reach weapons: If an enemy is locked in your aura, they already have disadvantage on attacks from the Frighten condition. Combine that with high AC and they're not much threat to you anyway. The higher AC from a shield also helps protect you from enemies you haven't frightened, saving you some concentration checks.

That said, reach weapons aren't a bad option, for the reason you described. there are basically 3 things you'd like out of your melee weapon choice: reach, single handed (to use a shield), and decent damage, and you get to pick two of the three.

Reach + Decent Damage = glaive or halberd
Shield + Decent Damage = longsword, rapier, etc
Reach + Shield = whip

Any of the above can be considered optimal, and for builds that aren't locked into a particular weapon choice (ie, not dipping hexblade), I recommend carrying multiple options with you, or at least being open to changing gear if a stronger option from another category becomes available, as in your case.

I will say that ASIs are very tight for conquest paladins, so you likely wonpt have room for the full Polearm Master / Great Weapon Master / Sentinel combo that can make halberds so amazing on other weapon using classes, particularly fighters. Or if you do go for that combo, it will cost you more in opportunity cost than for other martials.

Even without specialty feats, though, yeah. Halberd / Glaive is still a serious weapon option for conquerors. They are less common as magic item drops in mist published adventures, though.

[Andrwrwn]

Looking for some advice on feats. Essentially I'm acting as tank in a primarily ranged group and feeling very squishy at the moment, so looking for the best way to get tankier.

We'll be going into level 4 shortly in an Eberron-based campaign (likely to go to around level 11) with the following party:
BM ranger, Thief rogue, Theurgy wizard, BS artificer and me as the Conquest paladin.

I'm a half-drow with rolled stats 18/17/14/14/12/11 and final stats 18/12/15/14/11/20. AC is 20 (thanks to Defense and artificer infusion), but I still go down very frequently, even with Shield of Faith up. Now, I do think I've been a little unlucky with incoming crits and we've had some pretty crazy opponents (like a Hasted Ogre with legendary action attacks), but nevertheless...

So my original plan was to take Sentinel at 4 and then Resilient Constitution at 8 to round out Con and improve saves, but I'm now wondering about Aberrant Dragonmark with Shield and Mind Sliver, to shore up defenses and get a ranged attack which complements the Theurge's disables.

I should say at this point that a) I don't want to dip Hexblade because it's cheesy and I already have 18 strength, b) our DM has stated that my holy symbol can be used to provide somatic components as it would for a VSM spell, so I don't need Warcaster to cast Shield through the Dragonmark and c) we get two short rests per day.

Clearly, if I take the Dragonmark, Resilient Con is less attractive because it would leave me on an odd stat. In that case, maybe Lucky at 8? Can you get away with neither Warcaster not Resilient Con as a Conquest Paladin?

There are lots of other fun feats on my wish list, such as Crusher to combine forced movement with Wrathful Smite and freeze opponents in place unable to retaliate, PAM for similar shenanigans, etc. I guess, as noted many times in this thread, there are just too many fun feats and not enough ASIs!

[Sception]

You're in a pretty unique position with rolled stats so high you really don't have to be conservative with your ASIs.

Some of your issue may be teamwork based. Is the battlesmith using their pets reaction to help defend other party members, or just their character? What kind of spells is the wizard casting? Your party is also lacking the kind of dedicated support you get from a cleric or bard. Falling down isn't as concerning when there are party members around to pop you back up. With an Artificer and Paladin it's not a critical gap, though.

Some of your issue will resolve itself with levels. Paladins have a large hit die and gain 5 extra points of lay on hands per level. as a result you're going to grow out of the range of dropping to individual unlikely crits pretty soon.

That said, abberant dragonmark to pick up shield isn't a bad feat for you, especially with your DM's more lenient version of the spell component rules. but if you take it I'd still want to increase your concentration saves at some point. Maybe grab booming blade instead of mind sliver, and then grab war caster with your next feat? even not needing the hands, advantage on concentration saves plus booming blade as an opportunity attack is still probably worth the feat for you.

If you really want mind sliver, you can multiclass for it. Even if you don't want hexblade, both sorcerer and non-hex-warlock dips are still quite nice for you.

Otherwise, if you're looking for feats that up your (and your party's) overall resilience, consider inspiring leader for a good chunk of temp hp per rest, or alert so you're personally less vulnerable to ambush ganks and to prop up your initiative so you get to act first more often. After all, the best way for a conqueror to reduce incoming damage from enemies is to frighten them before they get the chance to attack. If you bump into more troublesome ogres, keep in mind that their wisdom saves usually aren't great, and wrathful smite might to more to keep one in check than shield of faith.

[Wildarm]

Looking for some advice on feats. Essentially I'm acting as tank in a primarily ranged group and feeling very squishy at the moment, so looking for the best way to get tankier.

We'll be going into level 4 shortly in an Eberron-based campaign (likely to go to around level 11) with the following party:
BM ranger, Thief rogue, Theurgy wizard, BS artificer and me as the Conquest paladin.

I'm a half-drow with rolled stats 18/17/14/14/12/11 and final stats 18/12/15/14/11/20. AC is 20 (thanks to Defense and artificer infusion), but I still go down very frequently, even with Shield of Faith up. Now, I do think I've been a little unlucky with incoming crits and we've had some pretty crazy opponents (like a Hasted Ogre with legendary action attacks), but nevertheless...

If your DM allows it for a half drow, Lucky feat can be pretty handy when dealing with reducing crit RNG.

[Andrwrwn]

Thanks for the responses.

Some of your issue may be teamwork based. Is the battlesmith using their pets reaction to help defend other party members, or just their character? What kind of spells is the wizard casting? Your party is also lacking the kind of dedicated support you get from a cleric or bard. Falling down isn't as concerning when there are party members around to pop you back up. With an Artificer and Paladin it's not a critical gap, though.

Yep, the Steel Defender is doing its best for me, but seems to mostly give disadvantage when enemies roll a 5 and then be out of reactions when they roll 19s... probably the real issue is crazy variance on a small sample size, rather than me being super squishy. I did open up with a Command on the ogre to try and abuse its low wisdom, but of course it rolled a 20...

Even if you don't want hexblade, both sorcerer and non-hex-warlock dips are still quite nice for you.

Sorcerer dip is tempting. Shadow/Divine Soul/Clockwork all have level 1 abilities that would be good fits with the character. So maybe Sorc dip at level 8 and then Warcaster at 9. Or Lucky at 8 if I decide against the sorc.

Two warlock levels for six effective level 1 slots is a lot of Wrathful Smiting and Devils' Sight to go with the innate drow Darkness seems very good. Just not sure any of the patrons really appeal.

If your DM allows it for a half drow, Lucky feat can be pretty handy when dealing with reducing crit RNG.

I'm missing something. Why wouldn't a half-elf be allowed to take the Lucky feat? It's a PHB option, not a racial feat.

[Sception]

6 short rest slots for shield, wrathful smite, divine smite, or bless, plus devils sight to make your racial darkness more usable, plus mind sliver for save debuffs, plus either eldritch blast & agonizing blast for a strong fallback ranged option or else something more utility oriented - maybe Friends and Mask of Many Faces for social shenanigans? Or Mage Hand and Misty Visions for general utility? - are more then enough to justify a couple level warlock buff, even if none of the patrons particularly appeal to you.

That said, Archfey can fit with your elven ancestry and comes with a weak but still usable extra frighten effect on short rests. Celestial patron can fit with the divine aspect of the paladin class, and two levels will get you more or less three healing words per day, something your party could probably use. Or you can burn them all to heal yourself 3d6 as a bonus action mid combat, which sounds like it might be helpful. Fathomless could represent a connection you or an ancestor made while crossing the sea from Xen'Drik, and comes with a bonus action tentacle ability that reduces movement. Not the strongest bonus action option, but potentially useful, and you'd gain water breathing & a swim speed, which is either a ribbon or extremely useful depending on your campaign.

Not that I necessarily think you should multiclass into warlock, just that it's an option worth considering.