I’m playing a V Human Paladin with a dip into Shadow Sorcerer in AL play, my feats are Fey Touched & War Caster (shield & absorb elements makes for a heck of a tank) I’m thinking of getting Shadow Touched to move Charisma 17 to 18 (Disguise Self & Invisibility really help when you are disadvantage on stealth in heavy armor) and may take Resilient Constitution to ensure concentration (War Caster Advantage, Con save proficiency and Paladin Aura have really good synergy). My build is more to tank enemies and buff my team over nova damage but I am tempted to take a hex blade warlock dip to get Charisma mod attack and damage to deal with the MAD issue.
That sounds like a powerful character! I tend to focus less on nova damage as a caster, so I'm all for buffing and supporting. Hexblade is so tempting; you get so much for a single level.
some underrated feats: Piercer big time for a dex paladin. I've been using darts and a short sword and critting with darts as 3d4 is insane as well as rerolling 1's Mobile for aura repositioning whether its ancients aura for resisted magic damage/redemption for damage absorption or +saving throws. Plus with multi attack you can disengage from two attackers or getting the frontlines or for lay on hands faster. Resilient in Con is always welcome. Skilled expert is a sleeper feat. +1 stat, skill and expertise. Expertise in intimidation or Persuasion or perception is amazing IMO. Healer is great because with starting equipment and backgrounds paladin can ahve alot of spare gold or grab a second martial weapon like greatsword and sell it for GP.
I always love the Mobile feat! The ability to reposition without sacrificing HP or attacks can be huge for a Paladin and the party. Piercer is great because it comes with a stat boost, making it easier to fit into a build. Thank you for the suggestions! And I'm pleased to hear that darts are being used :P
@@FlutesLoot The reason I use darts is because I can still hold my shield and they get my dex as damage opposed to javelins which get the STR. Plus darts are small enough that you can draw two for multi attacking opposed to only drawing a dagger to throw.
Yeah Shield Master is controversial. I forgot who said it but they specifically brought up this feat and the wording is meant to say you must perform that attack action then you get this bonus action. Had they left it more vague then we could use the action economy to get the benefit before we attack. However, your DM can change anything. So if they are kool with it then you pick up Expertise at some point and specialize in Athletics. Pretty broken actually.
That's exactly right; the controversy is the ruling that the bonus action to shove must be used after all attacks are resolved by the attack action as a condition. It's not like movement where you can move between attacks. I've not had a DM that ruled it that way, but it's the WotC guidance nonetheless.
My Current Paladin is Oath of Ancients Waters Gensis with background Pirate (Privateer) mixed with hermit form One D&D background. Set in a Saltmarsh based game. He warship Sekolah, Sahuagin god of the hunt, Seas, and Sharks because a servant of the god a megalodon saved him and his father was not a see elf but an Malenti Elf a Sahuagin that looks like a sea elf. He uses the The Magic Initiate Primal to get Thorn Whip Shillelagh and Good Berry all based on charisma. Between any leftover slot of good berries and the lay on hands we really need nothing for more healing. The Thorn whip is a Melee Attack so you can smite at 30ft and pull them 10ft I reskin it as a shaped water attack so it feels like a water bender
Hi John W, that's a great question! I don't have a fits-all answer, but for me, it often comes down to this train of thought: (1) I look at all the feats I want to grab for a character. (2) I consider the character level that is expected for a campaign. (3) Figure out if I can foreseeably get all the feats I want, and if I can't, I'll either keep it simple with ASIs or I'll settle for feats that are fun on their own without needing synergies. This may depend on how well a feat can boost damage output or defenses. The Polearm Master feat is excellent for immediately increasing damage output, and it can define a martial character's style. Honestly, this is often why I consider playing a feat-at-level-one human or custom lineage. It's not because I'm power gaming, in my mind, but because I'm trying to achieve a certain concept early enough to actually use it during the campaign. The composition of the party may matter, too. If we already have a striker in the party who can deal heaps of damage, I may be more inclined to play supportive with higher stats or supportive feats. Lastly, sometimes I look at stats and I realize they may not be as fun as feats. They often equal what I calculate to be a 5% boost to probability. Some classes and subclasses have abilities that become more useful because they boost damage with a stat-based calculation or can be used a number of times per long rest depending on a stat. I'm often tempted to boost Paladin Charisma for the saving throw aura, but I remind myself that I may have more fun with other things than a slight boost to spell preps, aura bonus, and whatever else a particular Pal may use Charisma for. I hope that helps! I've never been asked about my process for selecting feats, so I had to do soul searching, lol.
@@FlutesLoot Honestly I wasn’t expecting a legitimate response so I appreciate it. I have changed my mind many times. Playing a Dragonborn Paladin. For level 4 I’m considering +2 str 16 to 18, +1con +1 cha (because they’re both odd, 13 and 17 respectively) resilient con, or sentinel. Now I’m also considering shield master and heavy armor master but less, because feel like heavy armor master will become less useful later on when enemies have magical attacks. Also my issue with resilient con is then I have my cha at an odd number and nothing else to increase with it so it would seem like a waste using a plus 2 to reach a 19, or a plus 1 on something that won’t increase.
@@JohnW-yv6yp Your train of thought sounds like my own when I'm weighing options, haha. It will come down to whether you're trying to optimize your character, and what you're optimizing toward (offense, defense, etc).
Agreed that paladins are MAD. personally, i try to always have a paladin with a hexblade 1 dip to align those stats so i don't have to pump str too high. i avoid heavy armor as much as i can as i value initiative bonuses (dex) and the capability to stealth as part of the general tactics of every character i play (heavy armor imposes disadvantage). this influences my top 5 feat selection: 1. fey/shadowtouched- round out an odd cha score while gaining access to spells paladins typically dont' have access to. 2. dragon fear- excellent for the conquest paladin and rounds out an odd cha score. 3. elven accuracy- excellent for crit-fishing hexblade paladins and rounds out an odd cha score. 4. great weapon master- one of the best ways to pump martial dmg. of course it'll be here. 5. polearm master- great way to improve your sustained dmg and gives you something to do with your reaction.
I used to use shield master until it was sage advice where you can only use the bonus action after the full attack because it is the qualifier. So my dex pally that is 14 and a human now uses his shield as an improvised weapon leading with a shove then off hand attacks with his short sword. My Current Paladin is Oath of Ancients Waters Gensis with background Pirate (Privateer) mixed with hermit form One D&D background. Set in a Saltmarsh based game. He warship Sekolah, Sahuagin god of the hunt, Seas, and Sharks because a servant of the god a megalodon saved him and his father was not a see elf but an Malenti Elf a Sahuagin that looks like a sea elf. He uses the The Magic Initiate Primal to get Thorn Whip Shillelagh and Good Berry. Between any leftover slot of good berries and the lay on hands we really need nothing for more healing. The Thorn whip is a Melee Attack so you can smite at 30ft and pull them 10ft.
Playing a paladin with a hexblade dip to be SAD. Dm gave us a free feat at lvl 6, oddly enough think mobile is my choice, or alert. Given struggles getting into range or having very low dex so low in initiative
No Telepathic on the list makes me sad. Plus one to your Cha, and the ability to silently talk to other party members. OK, they can't talk back the same way as with spells etc, but you can make up your own party specific form of cant to give basic replies. Like the first word out of their mouth the next time they speak as a yes / no reply. It's something the DM and party can work on via role-play over time as they develop their own way around this limitation. In the same way, historical orders of monks who were forbidden from speaking during daylight hrs or whatever came up with their own sign languages to get around that rule. You can also cast the detect thoughts spell once per long rest. Which should have a decent DC, since you will be buffing your Cha when you take this feat. Thematically, you could say it's the paladin being able to look into the souls of others. Albeit on a very surface level. It helps avoid the stereotype of the nice but dim paladin. The footpad who just tried to rob the party could be a cynical cut-throat. Or it could be because they have an ill child or other relation/friend. If it's the latter, and they are only doing it for the sake of somebody else, then the paladin may well decide the best way of stopping their life of crime is to go use lay on hands etc to help the afflicted relation/friend. And hey, if they are just a cynical cut-throat who would stab their own mother for her last few coppers, then you can hand them into the guard or whatever. Safe in the knowledge that there's one less scumbag on the city streets.
That's such an interesting idea that it makes me want to play a Conquest Paladin who can do this. I would want a high Charisma score on such a character, so a feat like Telepathic would align. Thank you for pointing this out! I'm going to add it to the honorable mentions in my article.
@@FlutesLoot Currently, playing an Aasimar (Fallen) Oath of Redemption paladin with the apostate background. He also has the crusher feat for the plus one to Con etc. You should definitely go for it, esp if you have a group willing to put in a little effort on the RP side. And it's useful for the DM if they want to drop a plot hook when you do read somebodies mind.
It’s not a good feat tho. Literally most of it u can get from a cantrip (which u can get from magic initiate). I seriously don’t see the point of this feat it’s so stupid. Telekinesis is a better feat (gives u a good use of your bonus action too).
Every class has like 3 stats they need to worry about tho. Having to worry about 3 stats is not mad. 4 or more yea that is definitely mad. Like for examples rangers have dex, con, and wis. Monks have dex, con, and wis. Wizards have int, dex, and con. Etc. Everyone needs con. Dumping con is never a good idea.
@@FlutesLoot What? No u said they have 3 stats they need to worry about (which is true) but every class has 3 stats they need to worry about. Any more then that is Mad.
@@FlutesLoot Every class just like I said in my first comment. And I gave examples too. It’s more then just Paladin that needs 3 stats to worry about. 3 stats is not MAD. 4 or more stats now that’s MAD lol.
@@davidstratton696 If you're saying MAD only refers to a need for four stats, I don't think any class is MAD by that definition. I'm asking you to explain what class fits your definition of MAD so I can understand; your definition doesn't fit the usual discourse on the topic.
Several crucial errors. Elven Accuracy does not work on strength attacks. Shield master cannot benefit yourself, you must first attack, the shield shove, only aiding your friends in that case. This is confirmed from Crawford.
If you look again, I said use Elven Accuracy if you want to use finesse weapons with Dex instead of Strength (it was practically the first thing I said about it). I also have overlay text during Shield Master about Crawford's ruling to require all attacks to resolve before shield shoving (I have never played with a DM who wasn't ok with ignoring that Twitter ruling).
My opinions have changed somewhat since I recorded this video. You can see changes in the article: www.flutesloot.com/best-paladin-feats-dnd-5e/?
I’m a new DnD player and have chosen to play a human Paladin. I really appreciate the tips on feats. Thank you!
Hi Jonathan, I'm glad this was helpful! Let me know if you have questions that I didn't answer in the video.
I’m playing a V Human Paladin with a dip into Shadow Sorcerer in AL play, my feats are Fey Touched & War Caster (shield & absorb elements makes for a heck of a tank) I’m thinking of getting Shadow Touched to move Charisma 17 to 18 (Disguise Self & Invisibility really help when you are disadvantage on stealth in heavy armor) and may take Resilient Constitution to ensure concentration (War Caster Advantage, Con save proficiency and Paladin Aura have really good synergy). My build is more to tank enemies and buff my team over nova damage but I am tempted to take a hex blade warlock dip to get Charisma mod attack and damage to deal with the MAD issue.
That sounds like a powerful character! I tend to focus less on nova damage as a caster, so I'm all for buffing and supporting. Hexblade is so tempting; you get so much for a single level.
some underrated feats:
Piercer big time for a dex paladin. I've been using darts and a short sword and critting with darts as 3d4 is insane as well as rerolling 1's
Mobile for aura repositioning whether its ancients aura for resisted magic damage/redemption for damage absorption or +saving throws. Plus with multi attack you can disengage from two attackers or getting the frontlines or for lay on hands faster.
Resilient in Con is always welcome.
Skilled expert is a sleeper feat. +1 stat, skill and expertise. Expertise in intimidation or Persuasion or perception is amazing IMO.
Healer is great because with starting equipment and backgrounds paladin can ahve alot of spare gold or grab a second martial weapon like greatsword and sell it for GP.
I always love the Mobile feat! The ability to reposition without sacrificing HP or attacks can be huge for a Paladin and the party. Piercer is great because it comes with a stat boost, making it easier to fit into a build. Thank you for the suggestions! And I'm pleased to hear that darts are being used :P
@@FlutesLoot The reason I use darts is because I can still hold my shield and they get my dex as damage opposed to javelins which get the STR. Plus darts are small enough that you can draw two for multi attacking opposed to only drawing a dagger to throw.
@@temetrex9324I respect the ingenuity!
Yeah Shield Master is controversial. I forgot who said it but they specifically brought up this feat and the wording is meant to say you must perform that attack action then you get this bonus action. Had they left it more vague then we could use the action economy to get the benefit before we attack. However, your DM can change anything. So if they are kool with it then you pick up Expertise at some point and specialize in Athletics. Pretty broken actually.
That's exactly right; the controversy is the ruling that the bonus action to shove must be used after all attacks are resolved by the attack action as a condition. It's not like movement where you can move between attacks. I've not had a DM that ruled it that way, but it's the WotC guidance nonetheless.
My Current Paladin is Oath of Ancients Waters Gensis with background Pirate (Privateer) mixed with hermit form One D&D background. Set in a Saltmarsh based game. He warship Sekolah, Sahuagin god of the hunt, Seas, and Sharks because a servant of the god a megalodon saved him and his father was not a see elf but an Malenti Elf a Sahuagin that looks like a sea elf. He uses the The Magic Initiate Primal to get Thorn Whip Shillelagh and Good Berry all based on charisma. Between any leftover slot of good berries and the lay on hands we really need nothing for more healing. The Thorn whip is a Melee Attack so you can smite at 30ft and pull them 10ft I reskin it as a shaped water attack so it feels like a water bender
That is SO creative and inspiring. I love this concept. I'm a sucker for a good oceanic character.
Watching again , great video
Thanks again!
I'm a first time viewer and I just have to say the way you said flutes loot sounded like flute sloot hahaha straight up sounded dirty lol
I don't get that comment a lot, but I get it often enough to put a smile on my face 🤣
Good list. The hard part is how the hell do you choose when to take a feat vs an asi and in what order?
Hi John W, that's a great question! I don't have a fits-all answer, but for me, it often comes down to this train of thought:
(1) I look at all the feats I want to grab for a character.
(2) I consider the character level that is expected for a campaign.
(3) Figure out if I can foreseeably get all the feats I want, and if I can't, I'll either keep it simple with ASIs or I'll settle for feats that are fun on their own without needing synergies. This may depend on how well a feat can boost damage output or defenses. The Polearm Master feat is excellent for immediately increasing damage output, and it can define a martial character's style.
Honestly, this is often why I consider playing a feat-at-level-one human or custom lineage. It's not because I'm power gaming, in my mind, but because I'm trying to achieve a certain concept early enough to actually use it during the campaign.
The composition of the party may matter, too. If we already have a striker in the party who can deal heaps of damage, I may be more inclined to play supportive with higher stats or supportive feats.
Lastly, sometimes I look at stats and I realize they may not be as fun as feats. They often equal what I calculate to be a 5% boost to probability. Some classes and subclasses have abilities that become more useful because they boost damage with a stat-based calculation or can be used a number of times per long rest depending on a stat. I'm often tempted to boost Paladin Charisma for the saving throw aura, but I remind myself that I may have more fun with other things than a slight boost to spell preps, aura bonus, and whatever else a particular Pal may use Charisma for.
I hope that helps! I've never been asked about my process for selecting feats, so I had to do soul searching, lol.
@@FlutesLoot Honestly I wasn’t expecting a legitimate response so I appreciate it. I have changed my mind many times. Playing a Dragonborn Paladin. For level 4 I’m considering +2 str 16 to 18, +1con +1 cha (because they’re both odd, 13 and 17 respectively) resilient con, or sentinel. Now I’m also considering shield master and heavy armor master but less, because feel like heavy armor master will become less useful later on when enemies have magical attacks. Also my issue with resilient con is then I have my cha at an odd number and nothing else to increase with it so it would seem like a waste using a plus 2 to reach a 19, or a plus 1 on something that won’t increase.
@@JohnW-yv6yp Your train of thought sounds like my own when I'm weighing options, haha. It will come down to whether you're trying to optimize your character, and what you're optimizing toward (offense, defense, etc).
Agreed that paladins are MAD. personally, i try to always have a paladin with a hexblade 1 dip to align those stats so i don't have to pump str too high. i avoid heavy armor as much as i can as i value initiative bonuses (dex) and the capability to stealth as part of the general tactics of every character i play (heavy armor imposes disadvantage). this influences my top 5 feat selection:
1. fey/shadowtouched- round out an odd cha score while gaining access to spells paladins typically dont' have access to.
2. dragon fear- excellent for the conquest paladin and rounds out an odd cha score.
3. elven accuracy- excellent for crit-fishing hexblade paladins and rounds out an odd cha score.
4. great weapon master- one of the best ways to pump martial dmg. of course it'll be here.
5. polearm master- great way to improve your sustained dmg and gives you something to do with your reaction.
I can imagine Paladins taking any of those feats. They're fantastic.
I used to use shield master until it was sage advice where you can only use the bonus action after the full attack because it is the qualifier. So my dex pally that is 14 and a human now uses his shield as an improvised weapon leading with a shove then off hand attacks with his short sword.
My Current Paladin is Oath of Ancients Waters Gensis with background Pirate (Privateer) mixed with hermit form One D&D background. Set in a Saltmarsh based game. He warship Sekolah, Sahuagin god of the hunt, Seas, and Sharks because a servant of the god a megalodon saved him and his father was not a see elf but an Malenti Elf a Sahuagin that looks like a sea elf. He uses the The Magic Initiate Primal to get Thorn Whip Shillelagh and Good Berry. Between any leftover slot of good berries and the lay on hands we really need nothing for more healing. The Thorn whip is a Melee Attack so you can smite at 30ft and pull them 10ft.
Bravo on the excellent character concept!
Playing a paladin with a hexblade dip to be SAD. Dm gave us a free feat at lvl 6, oddly enough think mobile is my choice, or alert. Given struggles getting into range or having very low dex so low in initiative
No Telepathic on the list makes me sad.
Plus one to your Cha, and the ability to silently talk to other party members. OK, they can't talk back the same way as with spells etc, but you can make up your own party specific form of cant to give basic replies. Like the first word out of their mouth the next time they speak as a yes / no reply. It's something the DM and party can work on via role-play over time as they develop their own way around this limitation. In the same way, historical orders of monks who were forbidden from speaking during daylight hrs or whatever came up with their own sign languages to get around that rule.
You can also cast the detect thoughts spell once per long rest. Which should have a decent DC, since you will be buffing your Cha when you take this feat. Thematically, you could say it's the paladin being able to look into the souls of others. Albeit on a very surface level.
It helps avoid the stereotype of the nice but dim paladin. The footpad who just tried to rob the party could be a cynical cut-throat. Or it could be because they have an ill child or other relation/friend.
If it's the latter, and they are only doing it for the sake of somebody else, then the paladin may well decide the best way of stopping their life of crime is to go use lay on hands etc to help the afflicted relation/friend.
And hey, if they are just a cynical cut-throat who would stab their own mother for her last few coppers, then you can hand them into the guard or whatever. Safe in the knowledge that there's one less scumbag on the city streets.
That's such an interesting idea that it makes me want to play a Conquest Paladin who can do this. I would want a high Charisma score on such a character, so a feat like Telepathic would align. Thank you for pointing this out! I'm going to add it to the honorable mentions in my article.
@@FlutesLoot Currently, playing an Aasimar (Fallen) Oath of Redemption paladin with the apostate background. He also has the crusher feat for the plus one to Con etc.
You should definitely go for it, esp if you have a group willing to put in a little effort on the RP side. And it's useful for the DM if they want to drop a plot hook when you do read somebodies mind.
I like this idea very much
It’s not a good feat tho. Literally most of it u can get from a cantrip (which u can get from magic initiate). I seriously don’t see the point of this feat it’s so stupid. Telekinesis is a better feat (gives u a good use of your bonus action too).
And like u said they can’t talk back so it’s actually worse then message. Just pick message.
Every class has like 3 stats they need to worry about tho. Having to worry about 3 stats is not mad. 4 or more yea that is definitely mad. Like for examples rangers have dex, con, and wis. Monks have dex, con, and wis. Wizards have int, dex, and con. Etc. Everyone needs con. Dumping con is never a good idea.
You don't think the Paladin is a MAD class with four stats to invest in (by your definition)?
@@FlutesLoot What? No u said they have 3 stats they need to worry about (which is true) but every class has 3 stats they need to worry about. Any more then that is Mad.
What classes do you consider to be MAD? Paladin is commonly considered MAD because it needs stats for attacks and stats for auras/spells.
@@FlutesLoot Every class just like I said in my first comment. And I gave examples too. It’s more then just Paladin that needs 3 stats to worry about. 3 stats is not MAD. 4 or more stats now that’s MAD lol.
@@davidstratton696 If you're saying MAD only refers to a need for four stats, I don't think any class is MAD by that definition. I'm asking you to explain what class fits your definition of MAD so I can understand; your definition doesn't fit the usual discourse on the topic.
👍🏻
Thank you, Dr.
Several crucial errors. Elven Accuracy does not work on strength attacks. Shield master cannot benefit yourself, you must first attack, the shield shove, only aiding your friends in that case. This is confirmed from Crawford.
If you look again, I said use Elven Accuracy if you want to use finesse weapons with Dex instead of Strength (it was practically the first thing I said about it). I also have overlay text during Shield Master about Crawford's ruling to require all attacks to resolve before shield shoving (I have never played with a DM who wasn't ok with ignoring that Twitter ruling).