Paladin Class Guide for Dungeons and Dragons 5e

Paladin Class Guide for Dungeons and Dragons 5e
Nerdarchy dives in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons to discuss the paladin character class. We look at all the subclasses from the 5e D&D Player's Handbook and Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
*****************************************************
Patreon
**********************************************
Join the Nerdarchy Adventuring Party
Patreon: / nerdarchy
**************************************************
Links from Video
**************************************************
During the coronavirus, the price of the books is lowered.
On Amazon for 99 cents (they won't let me price it lower than that)
Donating 100% of my audiobook profits for April to No Kid Hungry because of the Coronavirus. Audiobook to be available in April.
A novel of the Black Plages Series - amzn.to/3aLq6jF
*****************************************************
Support the Channel by Shopping (Our Affiliate Links)
*****************************************************
Nerdarchy the Store- goo.gl/M4YZEQ
Amazon- amzn.to/2jf0boA
Drive Thru RPG- goo.gl/6nf5zh
*****************************************************
Nerdarchy Sponsors
*****************************************************
Power Up Your Game with D&D Beyond- bit.ly/DnDBeyon...
Easy Roller Dice (Affiliate Link)- easyrollerdice...
1 Time 20% OFF Coupon Code: New2DnD
*****************************************************
Nerdarchy Freebies
*****************************************************
Nerdarchy the News Letter- nerdarchynewsle...
(FREE) Nerdarchy the Dice Calculator App Beta Test- itunes.apple.c...
*****************************************************
Join Your Fellow Nerdarchist
*****************************************************
Nerdarchy Discord- goo.gl/qXEuGw
Company of the NAG Facebook Group- / 986097241428198
*****************************************************
More Nerdy Content
*****************************************************
Website: www.Nerdarchy.com
Facebook: / nerdarchy
Instagram: / nerdarchy
Twitter: / nerdarchy
*****************************************************
Credits
*****************************************************
Cartoon Goblin Thumbnails- mmmmjava on instagram
/ mmmmjava
All Other Thumbnails- Alex Guillotte of Critical Hit Publishing
goo.gl/JTJDDe
Music- Zero Flux
Video Planning and Skit Scripting- Doug Vehovec, Dave Friant, Ted Adams

[@Nerdarchy]

nks from Video ************************************ During the coronavirus, the price of the books is lowered. On Amazon for 99 cents (they won't let me price it lower than that) Donating 100% of my audiobook profits for April to No Kid Hungry because of the Coronavirus. Audiobook to be available in April. A novel of the Black Plages Series - amzn.to/3aLq6jF

[@VerumAdPotentia]

Social distancing? I've been playing D&D since the '70s. How much more socially distant am I expected to get?

[@storyspren]

1e paladins: humans only, gotta be LG, knightly orders, tied to a god Meanwhile my Oath of Ancients paladin: tiefling, ex-cop, literal anarchist, has no clue where her powers come from

[@OakenTome]

Storyspren 1e Paladins sound a lot like typical Paladins from Classic World of Warcraft.

[@storyspren]

@@OakenTome Probably yeah, it's the archetypal paladin after all. I've never actually played 1e or WoW, just put that together from what I've heard people say about 1e online :P

[@kyliepoe6231]

I made a paladin back in AD&D 2e, and the DM and i wrote a list of paladin vows. I had a sort of active crusader idea, so i went with a poverty vow. The main ones i recall: Give to charity (except needed equipment) No squire, must maintain and mend equipment alone Leave a portion of meals uneaten Solid rp tool when the game was so combat heavy that skills were just called "non-weapon proficiencies".

[@seerozymandias7616]

Big love for the social distancing sent from the locked-down UK. I'm playing a paladin at the moment so always looking for RP tips.

[@ericsheogorath9978]

Very timely. I am currently rolling up my first paladin and I have been playing for 30 years.

[@dnddude9652]

I have a friend who decided he would eventually play a Paladin Warlock Lots of high level smites on a short rest

[@dnddude9652]

The Warlock is a Hexblade Warlock, and the Paladin is a Vengeance Paladin He’s also making a Ancients Paladin and a Totem Barbarian When both of our characters are in the same game, his characters are almost always a counter to mine. I’m playing a Pure Barb in the game where he could just rip my head off, and a Pyromancer (Wizard) in the game where spells do barely anything

[@freman007]

I like the dex Paladin build. Half Elf 8/16/14/10/10/17 and taking Magic Initiate Warlock at level 4. Since he can fight with whip, rapier, shortsword, dagger, and longbow, he's still a fairly flexible fighter and the dueling fighting style brings up his damage a bit. He can't multiclass, but taking Entertainer background (swapping out disguise kit for thieves' tools as an escape artist) means he has a life outside smiting people. Stealth and Perception from Half Elf, Insight and Persuasion from Paladin, Performance and Acrobatics from Entertainer, who earns a living playing his lute in taverns.

[@005-y8v]

Jason Clark I did , eldritch blast and then expeditious retreat and use that with haste , the flash , range damage and super AC.

[@patrickbuckley7259]

Which subclass? I'd assume Ancients personally as it works better with warlock, and complements the Dx Paladin feel.

[@robertconnor3603]

Sounds fun. A couple of things that occur to me is you could take the elven accuracy feat to re-roll one of your d20s when you have advantage, and I wonder if you were using a scimitar of speed and hit with your bonus action could you smite on that hit as well?

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

@@robertconnor3603 you can Smite on any melee hit. Action, Bonus Action, and even reaction hits.

[@digitaldevil696]

And if we speak about pop-culture characters, I think about Judge Dredd more as of a Paladin of the Crown, because he is more about law enforcement rather than a personal vengeance. Street-level vigilantes like the Punisher or maybe Batman or Daredevil are certainly more in line with the oath of vengeance.

[@shaunperron7080]

They actually did errata the smite bonus so that non-undead/fiend smites go up to 6d8, otherwise using a 5th level slot is the same as 4th, so with that bonus, plus improved statically there, it's +8d8 at higher levels

[@soreg666alex]

Everyone's talking about number-crunching and abilities of paladin, but noone's talking about the roleplay aspect, how not to fall in lawful stupid mindset and how to reskin paladin without changing the ideology too much. The lore of the class is very strict and it's very hard to make a comfortable to roleplay paladin, yet noone talks deep enough into it.

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

The way to escape that is to focus in what you oath does not stop. So for example mine does not stop me from lying, stealing, being greedy, or manipulating enemies to kill each other instead of me and the party. If you focus on the things not restricted it can be a lot more fun. Nothing in the modern game says the paladin has to be a nice person. They can be but being the anti-hero or even a villain is entirely possible.

[@digitaldevil696]

@@SirStanleytheStumbler exactly. I mean, oath of vengeance almost directly says to you: go there, be an edgelord or an unlikable rude jerkass while still doing good on the global scale if you want to

[@kevindensmore7507]

I will say I feel like this edition has done a better job of giving the player and DM the ability to reflavor exactly what the oath entails and how a paladins patron works.

[@digitaldevil696]

The Oath of redemption makes me want to build an ex-mercenary drow paladin who never takes his helmet off as a homage to the Mandalorian

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

@17:44 Multiple instances of resistance do not stack. So if you have resistance to damage from spells and fire resistance and someone hits you with fireball you only get to half the damage. "Page 197 of the PHB: Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance. For example, if a creature has resistance to fire damage as well as resistance to all nonmagical damage, the damage of nonmagical fire is reduced by half against the creature, not reduced by three-quarters." It is still the best Aura though.

[@nickdahl203]

Well, unless your DM sees the logic in stacking resistances. Last time I ran a game, I ruled that if you can stack a resistance 3 times, you're immune. Get a Dragonborn Forge Cleric at level 6, with the Gold dragon background, and a ring of Fire resistance, he'd just use heat metal to light himself on fire, and go hug goblins.

[@Nick-tj9cr]

Good job on the social distancing guys, stay safe

[@khartog01]

I miss the use of blackguard. I know it's there but without the name it's not the same. That, oathbreaker is a cool substitute.

[@digitaldevil696]

The Oath of Treachery was in UA and it has the Blackguard vibe too

[@richardhood8124]

Aura of Protection is awesome. My DM kept using really strong enemies against us and would always make the mistake of picking up my character to use as his weapon so anytime someone had to make a dex save or be knocked prone they would get to use the aura of protection bonus on the save even if they were initially more than 10 feet away.

[@Gladerunner2113]

I've kind of wanted to make a Mass Effect Asari Justicar, since the oath of the justicar is basically a Paladin. Could be a good Ancients or Crown Paladin. I've probably never homebrewed it because the Oath of the Justicar is thousands of tenets long.

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

You could do a custom oath based on their "code". Nothing too complicated just the basic Kill bad guys, don't allow others to impede you from your goal. It doesn't have to be a perfect code.

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

You could also have them swear an oath to follow the other party members on the clause that "If they make you do anything too dishonorable you will be forced to kill them"

[@gregoryfloriolli9031]

I’m fine with the social distancing format. I’m just happy to have some content to watch.

[@wyattperry4484]

Dungeons and distancing. Stay safe or become part of my undead army! Lol

[@adamkaris]

7:54 paladins prepare charisma mod + HALF your level rounded down.Theres not a ton of paladin spells i'd take, but that's an important distinction

[@abiggs4828]

I'm currently playing a Mousefolk (3rd party race, but pretty balanced imo) Oath of Ancients Dexadin. I was kinda nervous to try something non-optimal, but I got an AC18, a whip to smite at range, and the Protection fighting style to impose disadvantage at range as well. Squat Nimbleness lets me get past the slower speed of a smaller race, and Find Steed lets me go even faster. I may not do the most damage of the party, but DAMN is this a good build for battlefield control. One of my favorite characters I've ever played and we are only like 5 sessions deep into Decent into Avernus. My party went from wary of having their "tank" being Dex based, to absolutely loving her. Imo Dexadins are underrated, and the whip even more so. Seriously...getchu a whip in your next game and thank me later.

[@Th3RussianMob]

Im doing an Oath of Heroism Paladin rn, I quite enjoy it

[@peterterry7918]

Not to stir up controversy, but can we have a tour of each basement and even vote on which basement is geekier/cooler?

[@lt.branwulfram4794]

Looking to make a chaotic good assassin 7/vengeance paladin 11/fighter 2, blends feminine elegance and beauty with a masculine upbringing, slow to anger and generally chill most of the time, but an absolute terror when you manage to get her pissed. As far as stats, she’s much more of a dexadin and didn’t necessarily start off as a paladin (rogue). Small 2lvl dip into fighter for another fighting style Str - 14 (Need this to multiclass into paladin, but not too important for this build. She can lift, but she hits with dexterity) Dex - 20 (Started off as a rogue, so this was mandatory) Con - 16 (Can take a few hits, but she’s all about damage, not defence) Int - 16 (I personally don’t like playing stupid characters) Wis - 20 (Detail oriented, to the point of OCD) Cha - 20 (Introverted, but when she speaks, everyone listens. Only charisma skills are intimidation and deception.) She’s a drow who wants revenge on her own people for the unceremonious death of a close high elf friend and the betrayal of her trust.

[@rayk5785]

Thanks guys!!!

[@pitmaninja]

the perfect time cause im looking at making a "lawful good" conquest paladin remember lawful good can still be classed as an evil character because for holy righteousness reasons. their actions are for their god

[@patrickbuckley7259]

If by that you mean a charecter who is Lawfull Good can be Classified as Evil: No that doesn't check out... In DnD Good implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. This means that a Good Aligned character is concerned with the rights of other intelligent beings. Once you start violating those rights on a regular basis, even if your intentions are earnestly altruistic, your alignment will slowly shift to evil because you aren't showing respect for life or the dignity of other sapient beings. I mean it kind of says it on the Tin, Good=/=Evil, in fact they are kind of polar opposites. If you mean you can still take a conventionally evil class and play it with a good alignment: Yes and no, it can be a fine line to walk, it's easier to do than playing a conventionally good alighned class this way (unless you are blatantly misinterpreting the class and it's general mind set). I suppose you might be able to pull it off with the Conquest Paladin, if not for that squelch all hope nonsense, as that basically dictates your character has to violate that whole respect for the life and dignety of all sapient beings thing, so extinguishing the embers of hope is kind of a big no, no for a good alighned charecter. Not to say you couldn't deliberately twist that little dity into something like "extinguishing all hope in the hearts of evil men of any kind of victory over goodness and justice!" Basically the only way I could see it working is if you just played the guy like he was Batman... You may argue that a Good Alighned charecter could still do evil for a Good Alighned god, however that does not Pan out to well in DnD, as a Good Alighned character would not follow a god that demanded that of them, and if they did they would eventually cease to be good alighned. While a Good alighned god in DnD would never demand something like that of their subjects, and if their subjects did it anyways the god would punish them by cutting off contact, at least until some kind of amends where made. Even if you argue that so long as you have not broken your oath you get to keep your powers, if you are going against the entity that you swore the Oath to, they might just start sending servitors after you in order to try and fix the mistake they made of trusting you with that power.

[@paulgeoghegan7617]

I'm playing a chaotic good conquest paladin and I'm rping it as someone who is trying to do good but may not do it in the best way He is all for the greater good and left alone he is fine but if you interfear or threaten him things change This could eventually lead him down the path of evil but so far that hasn't happened I wouldn't play lawful good with this oath as unless you're going to ignore the provided theme which is an option I din think it allows you to do justice to this oath

[@pitmaninja]

@@patrickbuckley7259 I see where your getting at but where I was getting at was in the times of Christian dark ages they were killing thousands of people cause it was for the Lord. They were thought to be the most holy and good but what they were really doing was committing mass genocide

[@patrickbuckley7259]

@@pitmaninja I won't argue too much with that, but these men wherent exactly blessed with divine power where they, heck most of the people to whom Christians did attribute such thaumatugy (meaning Miracle working) have such powers where pretty swell historically speaking. I think a lot of people seem to forget that certain kins of magic come from a source in DnD, so the question is what Good aligned entity would ever accept such a vow? Especially considering that many of the qualified entities would not just be Good Aligned but straight up entities of pure good. If not that, what evil alighned entity would offer you the chance to make such a vow before them, if they know you will just try to use it for good, and why? Now neither of thse are pure deal breakers heck I am sure you could find a Lawfull Neutral entity to hear you out if you wanted to go the boring rout, but really think about the context of the idea within the DnD cosmology, and how it works overall. Just beceause their are corrupt priests in real life, does not mean a Good alighned diety would continue granting literal divine power to a kiddy diddler. Now their is still the argument that the Paladin get's their power from the Oath itself, and not the entity that hears witnesses the Oath, it's even implied no witness may be necessary in some rare cercomstances, but I personally never like that interpretation, as that's not really how Oaths work in general... Typical you need to make an Oath to someone or soemthing that can hold you accountable, on top of that if your getting powers out of it, it can't be an Oath to yourself (unless you charecter is secretly the mortal incarnation of some higher power and doesn't know it) and even if the Oath has some kind of intrinsic power, that means it's more like a kind of spell, whcih means someone had to have created it, and they might have a vested interest in seeing their spell is not misused (at least form their perspective) the power has to come from somewhere.

[@jeffreybomba]

Please do protect those who are vulnerable Dave!

[@markdasaro9045]

I think she should have mentioned the Spells they get pacifically for the oath of the crown. Oath of Vengeance gets good spells and so does oath of redemption.

[@shallendor]

Library Bards HYPE!!!!

[@Tentin.Quarantino]

Would social distancing still be needed if you could self-cast otiluke's resilient sphere?

[@adamkaris]

Only if it's at will!

[@matthewhironymous837]

Love to hear Dresden references

[@MarkProjMgr]

I like the discussion and opinions, but I wonder why we get rules quoted to us.... RTB!

[@varkesh456]

The biggest issue i have with the paladins is how little people really role play them (there are certainly those out there who do a great job though) and this is where 5th edition has not helped with it's more flexible approach. All the order/flavour stuff could be taken by anyone as it is now backgrounds and traits, the oaths carry no penalties for breaking and they have little mechanically speaking to help them outside of the combat pillar. I actually had more fun with paladins when there was potential consequences now they seem more like a single target dps fighter by there mechanics alone. That being said when you can find someone who can role play a paladin anywhere from ok to great they start getting a lot more fun.

[@crabmaster8174]

I think the conquest paladin is a holy general.

[@roberthall763]

I know this is off topic but why did you and the save or dice crew stop making videos or broke up?

[@Nerdarchy]

We've all got our own things going on. Nerdarchist Dave

[@roberthall763]

@@Nerdarchy I understand I just really enjoyed watching y'all work/play together. And I would like to see you and Ted play some d&d in that format with a VTT or just y'all and a group of friends.

[@roberthall763]

@@Nerdarchy and thank you for responding. Keep the vids up I enjoy the tips and tricks.

[@Torthrodhel]

Did she get the power to jump into books, by jumping into the books she's a character in? That would be very meta. :D

[@codyxkeith]

How about a build for a sorcadin?

[@gregheiden9986]

Charisma is the most important ability for a Paladin. Aura of Protection is the best ability in the game. Change my mind.

[@Alik156]

I don't really think that Oath of Conquest has to necessarily be evil. Yeah, it is hard as heck to make it less of a literal edgelord but it is manageable. Yeah, the oath tenants mention freaking "dousing the flames of hope" and such. But it does not specify to whom you are doing that. Vast majority of DnD worlds include Nine Hells and the Abyss. Some kinds of fiends (devils, demons and yugoloths) are literally made out of evil. Damned souls, extraplanar aberrations and whatnot. You can be a tyrant to those. That would still make you a morally eh character but you can aim your wrath, conquest and borderline totalitarian control against beings that are, quite literally, beyond redemption. It is a stretch but it technically does not break the Oath and allows you to cooperate with less intense characters. Think Doomslayer but a bit more talkative (or not, your choice).

[@sentryward8744]

you can still be lawlful good with Oath of Conquest, the oath is like 80% lawlful and 20% good "if that 20% good is necessary" the oath said "douse the flames of hope" and not "kill everything". If they submit then there are no reasons to kill them also most angels are actually behave like this, since there jobs are to command but not to aid pc "if you are against their cause, they will kill you and resurrect when they finished their word". If that can still be counted as LG then its definitely a way to make your conquest paladin LG as well

[@Andromeda7Music]

Does the Resistance to spell damage granted by Aura of Warding? really stack with Other resistances Like Ted says in the video? I have been debating this for a while with my group. Luckily it hasn't actually come up in game. My Aasimar Ancients Paladin Has resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage. She is also a Scourge Assimar so I feel like Flavour wise it makes sense for a spell that does radiant damage to just be absorbed. Likewise Necrotic damage just to not effect her because of the Radiant energy inside her. But Mechanically speaking, the rule is resistance doesn't stack the example given is the dwarf who is resistant to poison damage wearing a belt of Dwarvern kind that also grants Poison resistance Resistance to spells is not another source of Radiant or Necrotic Resistance? and I don't think it is comparable to the above example. Soo?

[@Nerdarchy]

No I believe he's saying with making your saving throw. Nerdarchist Dave

[@Andromeda7Music]

@@Nerdarchy Thanks for the reply!

[@martaneon5310]

Idea for a paladin: A goblin or orc paladin with a negative modifier for intelligence who is an oathbreaker because they are so stupid that they actually forgets their original oath.

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

That's probably going to take a healthy int of 5-6. I pray he never meets an intellect devourer.

[@martaneon5310]

@@SirStanleytheStumbler oh yeah that would spell the end of that paladin even at 20th level

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

@@martaneon5310 Unless they keep as far away as they can and kill it with range attacks.

[@martaneon5310]

@@SirStanleytheStumbler a ranged paladin?! Blasphemy! Lol jk i actually had a player who was a ranged paladin. Had to homebrew a magic sentient bow that he could smite with. The bow had the spirit of a drunk in it. Oh he hated that bow with a passion lol

[@abiggs4828]

I'm playing a Mousefolk Oath of Ancients Paladin with a -1 to Int. It was very hard to explain to my party why I actually WOULDN'T be the best for those religion checks lol

[@TimothyMReynolds]

🔥🔥🔥

[@donaldking5791]

DnD and Social Diistancing.... love it.

[@BigManStan]

Be careful with the C word ive seen channels get hit with the youtube hammer

[@Tentin.Quarantino]

Hydro Crow Chy-na?

[@Nerdarchy]

Thanks for the heads up. Hasn't been a problem so far. Nerdarchist Dave

[@00784865]

Paladins should be restricted to the lawful alignment, because you are bound to your oath for when you break it you either have to attone for your sins, or become an oathbreaker.

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

Conquest Paladins are going to have a tough time with this. Vengeance too.

[@jonathanrobinson319]

the trwe paladin "carlo magno paladin" is the batbarian oat o zealot sacred fanatic fury in the name of god

[@nonplayercharacter596]

Dungeons and Virtue Signaling

[@kevinweaver9312]

Any alignment paladins are munchkin garbage

[@RoundRobin0]

WRONG! Page 82 of the Players handbook reads: "The Paladin swears to uphold JUSTICE (lawful) and RIGHTEOUSNESS (good); to STAND WITH the GOOD things of the world AGAINST the encroachim darkness, and to HUNT the forces of EVIL wherever they lurk. This basically means the the Paladin Archetypes besides Oathbreaker must be Lawful Good.

[@krunchyfrogg]

I'm sorry, but you're incorrect. Even if one were to go by your guidelines for requirements of alignment, this is from the Oath of the Ancients: "This oath emphasizes the principles of good above any concerns of law or chaos" and the Oath of Vengeance is no where near LG.

[@kevinweaver9312]

Any alignment paladins are munchkin garbage