The Best and Worst Subclasses for the Paladin in D&D 5e

[@RingXross]

I'm not ashamed to admit, I hate the idea of an evil, dark vengeful Paladin. That's just a fallen paladin or what we used to call a Blackguard. But i have to admit, the Oath of Conquest has peaked my interest.

[@malmasterson3890]

Very interesting to see people have such different perspectives on the Paladin depending on what type of player they are. Imo, Paladin is the class with the least amount of variance in power between Subclasses, simply because of how limited CD are in 2014 Pally and the fact that every Paladin will still have the Top Tier features of Divine Smite & Aura of Protection. Two of the most powerful features in the game that aren't for spells. Picking out the best Paladin is definitely the harder of the two choices, as there's around 4 that can all be reasonably argued for. Conquest is certainly a reasonable choice, Vengeance seems like the one casuals are drawn to for the ADV channel Divinity. Others find Ancients Aura to be near invaluable. Even Crown can be tossed in from time to time for having access to Spirit Guardians. I am definitely gonna have to disagree with you on the worst though my friend. I understand you're reasoning on saying that most of Watchers features are 'niche', but the feature that matters is still just too good to pass up. In the encounters where you want it, an intellect Fortress buff to you and allies will be incredibly valuable & Abjure the Extraplanar still covers a lot of creature types. Really though, it's the Aura & Counterspell that makes it impossible for me to put it in last. A bonus of +3-4 in tier 2 to pretty much the entire parties initiative is an insane buff that easily eclipses any other Pally's Aura bonus. Simply put going first matters, as does action economy, and having the ability to shut down a debilitating spell in mid level combats is often a combat-winner. Personally I'd place it between Glory, Devotion, and Crown for last. If you know your game isn't gonna get to level 9 for a long time Crown is definitely the worst. Bad CD's, bad 7th level, problematic tenets if your DM's enforces them. Glory has a decent Aura, but it's very clunky to give out to Allies, and their CD's are both just okay. Devotion is only really good if you know you're running into a lot of powerful charm effects and your DM is very liberal with readied actions for combat. Even then, Devotion is still not as good as +3 to initiative for the entire party at level 7.

[@RingXross]

@@malmasterson3890 Crown was initially going to make the worst list. Spirit Guardians saved it, but it was close. This is one of those ones where if I researched the script on a different day, I might have made a different choice.

[@Pre-GenCharacter]

Paladin of the Oath of Ni!

[@deantitus9734]

I'd like to counterpoint your opinion of the Oath of Vengeance paladin!! At least, the Oath of Vengeance paladin follows its oath to the letter, unlike the Oathbreaker, and it follows its tenets of Fight the Greater Evil, No Mercy for the Wicked, By Any Means Necessary, and Retribution!! Besides, who wouldn't want advantage on ALL attack rolls on a creature for one minute? Also, the oath spell list(Bane, Hunter's Mark, Hold Person, Misty Step, Haste, Banishment, Dimension Door, etc.) is, if not one of, the best spell list for ANY character!! Seriously, what's the real beef with this subclass?!?!

[@RingXross]

@@deantitus9734 At no point will I disagree that the Vengeance Oath is very strong. I know for a fact that it is. The 1st Paladin I played in 5e was one. My biggest issue is what the Paladin is historically versus what the Vengeance Oath is trying to do. It just isn't a Paladin to me. Perhaps I'm just to old school in thought. I wish WOTC would follow Pathfinder 2e's footsteps and just rename the Paladin the Champion. It would make more sense to me and free players from the burden of Paladin lore.