Curse of Strahd, first time need some advice for the current liv4 character

[Jacco]

Hi everyone, I am facing the curse of Strahd campaign and currently I have reached level 4 with my character (expected about 10 liv, maybe one less).
Being a beginner I'm afraid I have made some unwise choices and now I find myself with a not very useful character.

Paladin level 2 / Hexblade level 2, ability scores are: STR13, CHA16, DEX 14, CON16, WIS 13, INT 10.
VHuman race with shield master

Problems / errors I'm noticing:

• Talent is used very few times and with a low strength score I can't put my opponents prone.Even though they are prone, they use half of their movement to get up and keep attacking me as they are in melee.
• The next feature increase will be in two levels
• I'd like to be the tank of the group but still be usefull in dealing damage

considering this, what advice would you give me for the next levels?
Keep the Warlock? Proceed only Paladin? Eventually I could ask the DM to swap shield master with polearm master, is it worth?

Thanks a lot

[AttilatheYeon]

Do you have Athletics? If yes, you'll get a decent bonus by level 5. Enlarge gives you advantage.

Give another couple levels, you'll be a solid to outstanding tank. With pally abilities and shield and pro evil spells you'll be fine.

[Sception]

if you're looking to be tanky, I'd probably focus on paladin levels for the rest of the campaign. You'll have more hit points, more recovery via the 'lay on hands' ability, and eventually the aura of protection ability.

Ask your DM if he would be willing to allow you to re-train the shield master feat the next time you level up, swapping it out for something else. Shield master isn't a bad feat, but it isn't great, particularly with your low strength score.

If your DM agrees, then the next time you level up, swap out shield master for something else. If your first level was warlock, swap it out for War Caster.
You would like to have war caster regardless to let you comfortably cast your somatic spells while wielding a weapon and shield, plus it helps concentration saves.

If your first level was paladin, then you couldn't have taken war caster at first level, as you weren't a spellcaster yet, so instead grab Sentinel or inspiring leader. Sentinel is a very strong feat that will significantly improve your tanking abilities by letting you stop enemies from walking away from you to target your allies & punish those who attack your allies while you're next to them. Inspiring Leader significnatly improves the hit point reserves of your entire party by letting you hand out a bunch of free temporary hit points after every rest.

If your DM doesn't let you retrain shield master, then it's still ok, so long as you have proficiency in athletics. Not the best, but it won't be useless, and the bonus to dexterity saves will be welcome.

What paladin oath are you leaning towards? Personally, I recommend Devotion or Ancients in this campaign. Devotion gets you a useful channel divinity that will be very strong with your high charisma, and eventually an aura that will make you and nearby allies immune to charm, which will be very useful in an vampire-heavy campaign. The oath spells aren't too great though.

Ancients gets you misty step as an oath spell, which significantly improves your mobility and positioning in a pinch, something which can otherwise be a key weakness for paladins. It also gives you a resistance to spell damage aura later on which will be quite useful in a campaign where the primary antagonist is a powerful spellcaster. The channel divinities aren't particularly great, though, which will put more weight on your limited daily resources.

Either will work quite well. Other Oaths tend to either be more offensive in nature (vengeance) or their main benefits come on later than you're likely to reach in this campaign (crown) or they are uniquely poorly suited to adventuring in Barovia (conquest, oath breaker). That also leaves redemption and heroism, which I'm not personally familiar with enough to say either way.


What are your hexblade spells? Ideally you should have the booming blade cantrip, eldritch blast as a strong ranged, and the shield spell. If not those, then what else do you have? What invocations do you have? With two levels of warlock there aren't any must haves imo (arguably agonizing blast, but you should mostly be a melee combatant and I'm not sure a better fallback ranged option is worth one of your two invocation slots). Lots of good choices, though. Agonizing blast, mask of many faces, devil's sight, that one that lets you cast detect magic at will, that one that lets you cast silent image at will, that one that lets you cast false life at will, etc etc.


For spell slots generally, divine smite will be useful throughout the campaign, particularly with the relatively large number of undead. But don't forget that the paladin has access to the Bless spell, a powerful buff spell that enhances both the attack rolls and saving throws of multiple party members and can last for an entire encounter, provided you don't lose concentration.


If you stick to paladin levels, your next ability score improvement will come at level 6 (warlock 2, paladin 4). If you don't already have war caster then I recommend war caster, provided you know the booming blade and shield spells from warlock, as that feat makes both of those spells significantly better and is just a big quality of life improvement for any character that mixes melee and spellcasting. If you do already have war caster (ie, your DM lets you retrain your 1st level bonus feat and your first class level was warlock so war caster would have been a legal choice), or if you don't have shield & booming blade for some reason, then just raise your charisma to 18.

If you make it to your second ability score improvement at level 10 (warlock 2, paladin 8), then definitely raise charisma there, as by that point you'll have better spells, more attacks, and aura of protection, all of which heavily favor more charisma investment.


All in all you should be able to manage a perfectly effective character out of your starting package. Decent AC with +2 dexterity bonus, medium armor, and a shield; decent attacks with hex warrior, booming blade, and the shield spell when needed (at least once you get the war caster feat, you can't cast it while wielding a weapon and shield before that), eventual extra attacks, and divine smite when needed. A couple extra spell slots per short rest to power defense via shield or offense via smites. Bless to buff multiple party members in tough fights. Eventual protective auras to improve your defenses and those of the party. Yeah, decent stuff all round, and a plenty effective party tank with the offense to draw enemy attention and the defense to blunt their damage output when they do try to attack you.

There are some decent magic items to look out for as a paladin in curse of strahd as well, any of which can significantly improve your hexadin's ability to contribute to the party. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and be sure to take advantage of any potentially useful sources of information or insight that might be able to point you towards useful treasures.

[Jacco]

if you're looking to be tanky, I'd probably focus on paladin levels for the rest of the campaign. You'll have more hit points, more recovery via the 'lay on hands' ability, and eventually the aura of protection ability.

Ask your DM if he would be willing to allow you to re-train the shield master feat the next time you level up, swapping it out for something else. Shield master isn't a bad feat, but it isn't great, particularly with your low strength score.

If your DM agrees, then the next time you level up, swap out shield master for something else. If your first level was warlock, swap it out for War Caster.
You would like to have war caster regardless to let you comfortably cast your somatic spells while wielding a weapon and shield, plus it helps concentration saves.

If your first level was paladin, then you couldn't have taken war caster at first level, as you weren't a spellcaster yet, so instead grab Sentinel or inspiring leader. Sentinel is a very strong feat that will significantly improve your tanking abilities by letting you stop enemies from walking away from you to target your allies & punish those who attack your allies while you're next to them. Inspiring Leader significnatly improves the hit point reserves of your entire party by letting you hand out a bunch of free temporary hit points after every rest.

If your DM doesn't let you retrain shield master, then it's still ok, so long as you have proficiency in athletics. Not the best, but it won't be useless, and the bonus to dexterity saves will be welcome.

What paladin oath are you leaning towards? Personally, I recommend Devotion or Ancients in this campaign. Devotion gets you a useful channel divinity that will be very strong with your high charisma, and eventually an aura that will make you and nearby allies immune to charm, which will be very useful in an vampire-heavy campaign. The oath spells aren't too great though.

Ancients gets you misty step as an oath spell, which significantly improves your mobility and positioning in a pinch, something which can otherwise be a key weakness for paladins. It also gives you a resistance to spell damage aura later on which will be quite useful in a campaign where the primary antagonist is a powerful spellcaster. The channel divinities aren't particularly great, though, which will put more weight on your limited daily resources.

Either will work quite well. Other Oaths tend to either be more offensive in nature (vengeance) or their main benefits come on later than you're likely to reach in this campaign (crown) or they are uniquely poorly suited to adventuring in Barovia (conquest, oath breaker). That also leaves redemption and heroism, which I'm not personally familiar with enough to say either way.


What are your hexblade spells? Ideally you should have the booming blade cantrip, eldritch blast as a strong ranged, and the shield spell. If not those, then what else do you have? What invocations do you have? With two levels of warlock there aren't any must haves imo (arguably agonizing blast, but you should mostly be a melee combatant and I'm not sure a better fallback ranged option is worth one of your two invocation slots). Lots of good choices, though. Agonizing blast, mask of many faces, devil's sight, that one that lets you cast detect magic at will, that one that lets you cast silent image at will, that one that lets you cast false life at will, etc etc.


For spell slots generally, divine smite will be useful throughout the campaign, particularly with the relatively large number of undead. But don't forget that the paladin has access to the Bless spell, a powerful buff spell that enhances both the attack rolls and saving throws of multiple party members and can last for an entire encounter, provided you don't lose concentration.


If you stick to paladin levels, your next ability score improvement will come at level 6 (warlock 2, paladin 4). If you don't already have war caster then I recommend war caster, provided you know the booming blade and shield spells from warlock, as that feat makes both of those spells significantly better and is just a big quality of life improvement for any character that mixes melee and spellcasting. If you do already have war caster (ie, your DM lets you retrain your 1st level bonus feat and your first class level was warlock so war caster would have been a legal choice), or if you don't have shield & booming blade for some reason, then just raise your charisma to 18.

If you make it to your second ability score improvement at level 10 (warlock 2, paladin 8), then definitely raise charisma there, as by that point you'll have better spells, more attacks, and aura of protection, all of which heavily favor more charisma investment.


All in all you should be able to manage a perfectly effective character out of your starting package. Decent AC with +2 dexterity bonus, medium armor, and a shield; decent attacks with hex warrior, booming blade, and the shield spell when needed (at least once you get the war caster feat, you can't cast it while wielding a weapon and shield before that), eventual extra attacks, and divine smite when needed. A couple extra spell slots per short rest to power defense via shield or offense via smites. Bless to buff multiple party members in tough fights. Eventual protective auras to improve your defenses and those of the party. Yeah, decent stuff all round, and a plenty effective party tank with the offense to draw enemy attention and the defense to blunt their damage output when they do try to attack you.

There are some decent magic items to look out for as a paladin in curse of strahd as well, any of which can significantly improve your hexadin's ability to contribute to the party. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and be sure to take advantage of any potentially useful sources of information or insight that might be able to point you towards useful treasures.

In the meantime, many thanks for all this advice, very kind. Now I will try to answer the questions you asked me and maybe add some of my thoughts:
M

• My first level was Paladin and i don't have Athelitcs
• I haven't thought about which oath to take yet, probabily Ancients
• I took GFB cantrip, eldritch blast and the shield spell. As for the invocations False life and devil's sight.
• Why BB over GFB? The extra damage is triggered if the enemy moves of his own accord. How do I make it happen?
• War caster is a nice feat as Sentinel. Should i try Sentinel+ Polearm master? Spear+shield

Again, thanks a lot for the answers

[OldTrees1]

You have decent Cha, consider pushing to Paladin 6 and get Cha 18 at Paladin 4.

It is okay that using Shield Master's bonus shove is not very accurate. It is a bonus that sometimes triggers. All in all it is a useful bonus action for the Paladin to have.

My first level was Paladin and i don't have Athelitcs
I haven't thought about which oath to take yet, probabily Ancients
I took GFB cantrip, eldritch blast and the shield spell. As for the invocations False life and devil's sight.
Why BB over GFB? The extra damage is triggered if the enemy moves of his own accord. How do I make it happen?
War caster is a nice feat as Sentinel. Should i try Sentinel+ Polearm master? Spear+shield

Not having Athletics or a decent Str will impact your ability to shove. You can either recalibrate your expectations, ask your DM if you can respect that proficiency, or take Prodigy as your next ASI (+2x Prof to Athletics)

Ancients or Devotion get great auras at Paladin 7. They would both make good choices. I am a big fan of Ancients, but Devotion deserves a mention for its anti-charm abilities.

GFB is a fine choice compared to BB. Fire damage is sometimes resisted but that is not as much of an issue here.

[RogueJK]

With only +1 STR and no Athletics proficiency, you won't be able to make reliable use of Shield Master's Shove, unless you were to spend a second feat on Prodigy for Athletics proficiency + Expertise. Talk to your DM and request to swap it out for either Polearm Master or War Caster, depending on whether he's a big stickler for the whole "must have a free hand for spell components" aspect of spellcasting. Some DMs stick to it, while others just handwave it.

A Spear & Shield Paladin with Polearm Master works very well, especially when combined with the Dueling Fighting Style. That would be my first choice as an exchange for Shield Master, provided your DM isn't a stickler for the "must have a free hand to cast spells" aspect of spell components. The Bonus Action attack not only gets you a 2nd and eventually 3rd attack per round, but also frequently grants you a 4th attack in a turn from the OA when an enemy closes with you, all of which are just more chances to potentially Crit and Smite. PAM does combine nicely with Sentinel, but you will not want to go that route in this case, since in this campaign you'll only have one other ASI total to play with at Paladin 4 and you'll want to spend that on raising your CHA, not only for better attack/damage and spellcasting but also since at Paladin 6 you get to add your CHAMOD to all of your saves (and nearby allies' saves).

However, if your DM is a stickler about having a free hand to cast spells, you're forced into either taking the Warcaster feat or foregoing a shield. In this case, if you want a shield, go Warcaster instead of PAM at 1st and stick to a sword/axe/warhammer/whatever. Or if you can live with using a two-handed Spear and no shield, you can still go Polearm Master at 1st. Either way, use your ASI at Paladin 4 for +2 CHA.

With either feat swap, I'd definitely go Hexblade 2/Paladin X. (Hexblade 1/Paladin X would have been even more ideal, but that ship has sailed.)

Ancients is nice, especially at Paladin 7+, but Devotion is most likely the stronger choice in this particular campaign. (Just talk to your DM to ensure that he agrees that Devotion Paladin's Sacred Weapon's +CHA to Attack stacks with Hexblade's CHA-based attacks, granting Proficiency+2xCHAMOD as an attack bonus when using that ability. If he rules it does not, that lessens Devotion's value a bit.)

Vengeance is another Paladin Oath that combines nicely with Polearm Master, being a bit stronger against single large enemies, but is likely less optimal than Devotion in this particular campaign. You already have Hexblade's Curse to use against single large enemies anyway.

[OldTrees1]

Last time I ran a Paladin of Ancients / Hexblade I went:
Paladin 1-2
Hexblade 1
Paladin 3-7 (I am a huge fan of Paladin 6 & 7)
Hexblade 2-3
Paladin 8-9
Hexblade 4-5
Paladin 10-11
...
Paladin 13 / Hexblade 7

However Curse of Strahd ends around 9th level, so Paladin 7 / Hexblade 2 would be one of many reasonable approaches.

[RogueJK]

If your DM shuts you down and won't let you swap out Shield Master, this can still be salvaged, at the expense of the sweet Paladin 6 save aura. (Which is painful, but not fatal.)

You'll want to go Warlock 5/Paladin 4. Get to Level 5 in Warlock first, then add in the last two Paladin levels.

Pick Pact of the Blade at Warlock 3. Swap out one of your current invocations for Improved Pact Weapon at Level 3. This allows you to use your weapon as a spellcasting focus, removing the need to take Warcaster. Then choose Thirsting Blade for your Warlock 5 Invocation, to get an Extra Attack.

Spend your first ASI at Warlock 4 on the Prodigy feat, which gets you Proficiency and Expertise with Athletics. Spend your 2nd ASI at Paladin 4 on +2 CHA.

This will allow you to Grapple an enemy, Shove them Prone, and then make Advantaged attacks against them. If a prone enemy is Grappled, their speed is 0 and they can no longer stand up.

This is less optimal than swapping out Shield Master and going Warlock 2/Paladin 7, but if you're forced to go this route, Ancients or Glory are good choices for Oath. Ancients allows you to inflict the Restrained condition using either Nature's Wrath Channel Divinity or the Ensnaring Strike Oath spell, and a Prone Restrained enemy cannot stand up, even if not also Grappled. Or Glory gets you the ability to have Advantage on some of your Athletics checks for Grappling/Shoving. Of the two, Glory is probably the better choice, since you won't be getting up to Paladin 7 where Ancients really shines.

On the plus side, this Warlock 5/Paladin 4 build gets you 3rd level spells, and 3rd level short rest spell slots for big smites.

[Jacco]

Thanks everyone for the advice.
At this point I would try to continue with only the Paladin and asking the master to change feat.
I'd like to try spear and shield, i like the concept and i have already the dueling style.

For the invocation i suppose that i dont need the Devil's sight, what can i swap it for? Instead, false life could still help me..

[RogueJK]

For the invocation i suppose that i dont need the Devil's sight

As a human without racial Darkvision, Devil's Sight is a very solid choice. So Devil's Sight and False Life are both great Invocations for this character.

You don't need any of the usual go-to Eldritch Blast boosting Invocations, since you'll be in melee most of the time, and EB is only a backup.

The only other Invocation that would possibly be worth considering is Beguiling Influence, if you're the party Face yet don't have those Face Skill proficiencies.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Quick question- if you go with polearms, is there anyone else in your party that would wield a longsword? Not just as a backup weapon, but as their main thing?

Also, do you know if your DM is going to be giving magic items solely from the book, or are they going to tailor lists to award you with things you wield?

[Jacco]

Quick question- if you go with polearms, is there anyone else in your party that would wield a longsword? Not just as a backup weapon, but as their main thing?

I don't think so, we're 1 mage,1 rogue, 1 cleric and me.

Also, do you know if your DM is going to be giving magic items solely from the book, or are they going to tailor lists to award you with things you wield?

Don't know yet, i should ask him

[RogueJK]

Without spoilers, note that the sword in question is a Finesse weapon that could still be put to use by the Rogue, provided he's not built to be ranged-only.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Without spoilers, note that the sword in question is a Finesse weapon that could still be put to use by the Rogue, provided he's not built to be ranged-only.

Yeah, that's a perfectly fine choice, too. To the OP, the weapon in question is one that's so good, it can make sword and board worth it all on it's own.

Besides that, I can only think of one magic polearm in CoS if the DM isn't adding anything, and it's a spear (no reach...). It's decent, but personally, between PAM with that or sword and board with the thing we're dancing around, I'd *really* prefer sword and board.

[Jacco]

Yes, our rogue is melee only so he can have that sword. I may ask for a magic spear or something custom made...
I really like the idea of ​​a paladin with a gladiator-style spear and shield

[5eNeedsDarksun]

If you take a level of Rogue then you get 1 free skill (Take Athletics) and expertise (take Athletics again as one of your options). Your shield master will then work fine as you have double proficiency in it.
Just editing to add the following: If you have Stealth proficiency and decide to go this route, then expertise in that would be advised. With your strength you can't have plate anyway, so you might as well get the double bonus for stealth and sneak around and whack stuff before it knows you are there. I did play a similar character to this and it was great.

[AttilatheYeon]

Yes, our rogue is melee only so he can have that sword. I may ask for a magic spear or something custom made...
I really like the idea of ​​a paladin with a gladiator-style spear and shield

There's a magic spear. You're good there.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You can cast Hex to give your opponent disadvantage on Str checks.

Start taking Bard levels, get proficiency in athletics, get more spell slots for smites, get expertise in athletics, pick college of swords and get extra attack. That also gets dueling style which you already have, ask your DM if you can gain a different Paladin style instead, such as defense or protection.


And/or, talk to your DM about repicking some things. Starting as a Paladin you could have picked Athletics as a proficient skill, see if you can swap another one for that. If Shield Master isn't working out for you, see if you can swap it for a different feat, such as Polearm Master.

[Keravath]

Hi! Paladin+hexblade is a good option. The biggest problem you probably face at the moment is that your level split will delay either the paladin or warlock level 5 features until at least level 7.

Extra attack is a key element of this build but it can be offset with polearm master using a spear and shield (ideally combined with dueling fighting style). If you can swap shield master for pole arm master you might be happier with the character since you will have two attacks. In addition, without proficiency in athletics and only a +1 strength, your shove attempts are likely to be mediocre. I'm not sure it is worth using a feat or multiclassing into rogue to get the ability to use shield master better if you can swap it out instead.

However, the real challenge is in the levels ahead ...

If you go with paladin now you will get extra attack at level 7 and your saving throw aura at 8. Devils sight is a good choice of invocation but I would probably go with agonizing blast over false life since false life will lose its value a bit as you level up. It only amounts to 8 temporary hit points. It's value may depend somewhat on what sort of healing your party has available. On the other hand, agonizing blast gives you a very effective ranged attack for those times when you need it. Some of the other invocations may also be useful or thematic depending on your character.

Magical weapons are pretty scarce in CoS especially if you are looking for a specific type (for example, there are no magical bows unless the DM decides to put one in. I'm not even sure if there are any magical ranged weapons). There is a magical spear but it has conditions attached in terms of what sort of character should fully benefit from it and depending on your party it may or may not come up. If your DM will put something in for you that is great. If not, a third level of hexblade with the pact of the blade feature at level 8 or 9 will let you create a magical weapon of any type for use as your pact weapon. You can also use the hexwarrior feature with your pact weapon. You could also swap agonizing blast for improved pact weapon giving you a +1 to hit and damage with the weapon. This is a possible solution if you can't get a good magical weapon in game by that level.

[Chugger]

See if your DM will let you rebuild. If you need to negotiate, you can argue I want to keep him basically the same, just change the order in which I get levels and my feat, which was a big mistake.

Go 6 lvls of Pal first to get extra attack, lvl 5, and aura at lvl 6. At this point you're amazing. You'll have just enough spell slots to smite some, and the aura is great for the party and you.

Then one-dip hexblade so you can push up charisma. I'd dump dex, go heavy armor, and get at least 14 str for your early levels, until you can use charisma in combat as your combat stat, and so you can wear some heavy armor. Actually you need 15 st to wear plate ... pals are tough. Well, see what your DM says.