@@gonoroad2160 well the dm gave the barbarian a gem from the flame skull that went into his forehead and gave him a command word to cast certain spells he rolls to see which spell it is every day the die is a d8 on an 8 fireball
The barbarian paladin definitely deserves higher, far higher in my opinion. Yes, you cant cast spells, yes you can't concentrate, but cast spells are frankly what the paladin is known the least for. taking only two levels of barbarian and reckless attacking with smites is an awesome combo. simply two levels and you get more damage, far better tanking, and better crit range. If I know anything about paladins, those saucy boys save smites for crits and blow shit away.
Agreed, not to mention you get multiple rages, so if you really need to cast something you can drop rage, cast what you need, and rage next turn. If you're multiclassing into Barbarian, you are doing so for the rage and the subclass, may as well use your resources. (Also reckless plus smiting is scary.)
I completely agree, I would place them A tier personally. They lack the spell casting but in turn lean in on the martial side and can still manage some non spell based support. You’re losing a part of your tool kit to better specialize yourself, which is not always bad.
paladin spells are amazing, what do you mean? Smites are a backup tool when used optimally. Earlier levels you'll rely on bless more than smites, later levels things like destructive wave and circle of power become much more attractive options too. There's not a lot of room there for smites outside of specific situations, e.g one specific creature needs to die immediately, like one with possession or mind control magic, or one with feeblemind or even power word kill/divine word.
@@nonenone-hv5iq yeah some paladin spells are good but, destructive wave? in a party of level 17 characters? Wizards are dropping Meteor swarm. No, a paladin that late in the game is far better of offer decent support while dealing massive single-target damage while taking massive blows. Early game, yes dropping a bless🙏 is great, but so is gaining resistance against the physical damage types(Which is most likely what you are getting hit with at low levels), and dropping massive damage is undeniably also really good. I'm not saying paladin spell casting sucks, but going taking a few levels in barbarian is a VERY effective option.
I think the point of these is to make the class better at what it already does. For monks, that’s actually hard because everything they do revolves around ki, which scales only with your monk level and SO SLOWLY. There are certain classes that are worth losing out on ki points for, but not many. Ranger is a clear god tier because the stats line up perfectly, hunter’s mark on anything with extra attack is great (and monks make a lot of attacks), and the Gloomstalker Ranger is like the Hexblade Warlock for monks.
Peace cleric 1 monk x makes for fun support Druid 2 monk x is a good boost for wisdom based monk subclasses Fighter 2-3 monk x makes a great archer build Ranger 3 monk x has great sub and spell options Bladesinger 6 is the only thing I can think of and if most of your levels are still in monk you're already in high level play
I played a Paladin/Barbarian Tiefling in a campaign. Choosing between raging and concentrating on a spell is tough, but there’s more versatility than i think the build gets credit for. The amount of damage that you can get from a critical hit (and reckless attack to make that happen more often) makes the build so much fun! It might not be the most powerful build, but it fit the character I was playing, and what I was going for mechanically with the character. You basically feel like an anime protagonist if you take a greatsword and the GWM feat.
Honestly one of my favorite characters was a 13 str rogue/paladin. I went bugbear, assassin rogue (3 levels) starting for the extra skills and finesse weapons, then conquest paladin for the rest. Essentially I went rapier and shield dex pali, had expertise in stealth, and would generally never fail to surprise the enemy. This meant my attacks would crit, I’d get sneak attack (2d6), bugbear surprise (2d6), divine smite (2d8), and any bonus action smites, all with a guaranteed crit. Because surprise is basically a free turn where the enemies who were surprised are screwed, plus I went sentinel for even more lockdown, I would burst an opponent and if they survived the first turn of combat I would simply terrify them and keep them locked down. It was very fun
Don't forget: Warlock pact of the blade can double smite, which is frankly insane. If you went hexblade for that, and you're criting on a 19, add in some gimmick to get advantage and throw an extra... 20+ d8s on that vs. a fiend or undead? Good day sir.
The only real downside to getting double smite is it's pretty deep into warlock, since it's locked to warlock level 5. By then you've cut into paladin spell progression noticeably and warlock didn't give you any more slots (though they did get stronger).
@@TheEmperorGulcasa true but if you commit to warlock a little further you do end up with more powerful slots than those available at base to paladin (11 paladin/ 9 warlock) and if you are HB you get a wider variety of smite spells to play with
the problem is you need 5 levels of warlock the advantage is that you get hight slot to smite and they regen at short rest just add some levels ins sorcerer and you are done
I once made an armor artificer druid. The druid says, "Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature's shape and size". The artificer says, "The armor attaches to you and ... expands to cover your entire body". Because the armor shapes to you, you can greatly increase the AC of the beasts which normally have low ACs and higher MHP.
I started paladin at my first game, for exactly the reasons you listed! I can confirm it gave me a great understanding of the game. I was playing an oath of redemption paladin, so I was also able to be the face of the party after a few sessions. I ended up turning kind of evil and got to experience the oathbreaker subclass as well. Lots to love playing a paladin in your first ever campaign.
I love the barbarian/paladin combo as a purely offensive paladin. You lose out on defenses by ditching the plate armor, but having advantage on your attacks means more crits, and you can save your best smite slots to use on one of these crits. Running into a horde of fiends as a holy warrior with anger issues, landing a few crits and smiting the shit out of your enemies has never felt so good.
Well, if your playing like that, your charisma's just there for aura of protection, which is alright, but not necessary, so have a +2/3 in that, and focus on con/str/Dex so you have 20 ac and you destroy everything
While Bard is an easy multiclass that gives a lot of utility and slots, I feel like it's feature synergy is a fair bit lower than Sorcerer. It doesn't give con save proficiency, a lot of it's spells are concentration and base paladin is still very melee centric. You can use inspire to help but you will run out of inspires fast if you are taking hits frequently. Sorcerer doesn't give as many spells, but it can give you con save proficiency and more importantly quicken spell is such a powerful benefit to Paladin spell casting. Paladin's action is so much more valuable than most other easy Sorcerer pairings. It makes Paladin's normally awkward spell casting of having to stop being a dps no longer a problem. Divine soul also gives access to a lot of damage spells that the Paladin would like such as Spirit Guardians. Fighter I feel like has a lot of redundancy. Does give con saves, which is nice. But Paladin would already get all the armor and weapon options. Paladin already also gets a lot of the fighting styles that it would need for it's melee centric life already, so a second is nice but less useful (and paladin can't well leverage the stronger ones it didn't get like archery). Paladin also already has self healing. Unless you are going really deep into fighter, Paladin already had extra attack too. Action surge lets you nova even harder, but fighter is still limiting spell slot progression a fair bit so you are going to run out of gas ridiculously fast. You can also attack and cast the same turn with it like with sorcery points, but the default Paladin spell list isn't that impactful. Warlock's only disappointing aspect is that Hexblade's MAD reduction doesn't work with the best melee weapons unless you go fairly deep into Warlock. Double smite is hilarious though, especially with hexblade expanded crit range. Also a really kick ass ranged option is always something Paladin really wants.
Two things I will point out, I think these multiclass tier lists assume you start in the mentioned class so no con saves for Paladin. And counter point for Sorcerer, they are really freaking good on a Paladin but if you want the resources to do stuff you need a lot of levels in sorcerer and they have a d6 hit die which sucks. I pretty much agree with you for everything else.
@@spanishinquisition7623 Did he say that? I thought he just said that the tier list is for most levels being in the main class. He did mention con saves in a previous one and said he didn't weight them too heavily since you can pick up resilient con or warcaster. I will definitely agree that when you go Sorcerer, it is tempting to just keep going deeper in because of how rewarding it is. I'd assume given the premise of the tier list that for a 20th level build you're going at least 11 into Paladin, which is still plenty beefy though, especially with access to shield and absorb elements now. Sorcerer does give a bit up front with subclasses, like divine soul giving favored by the gods. Then you get your cantrips, which means a decent ranged option now, and access to the booming blade warcaster combo. Then the defensive spells. Then by level 3 you get metamagic, which means at least 1 use of quicken and like subtle. 5 levels gets you 2 uses of quicken and 3rd level spells, which is a more than reasonable stopping point.
Assuming you take at least 3 levels in a given class along with paladin. I'd probably rank the top 4 as warlock, bard, fighter, and sorcerer. Sorcerer: while you get your subclass early, I feel like only a handful are that impactful. And while you get the largest spell list, you have the fewest spells known, meaning you can really take advantage of it without investment. The d6 can also hurt your survivability if you play in melee, although starting as a sorcerer does give con saves, it comes at the cost of heavy armor. Fighter: You sacrifice spells for more short rest features, which can be clutch if you get to take them. Most of the subclasses are impactful even if they require 3 levels, and they often supplement melee well. The major downside is that extra attack does not stack. Bard: A full casters with a d8. You get more spells known allowing you to add to more utility then a sorcerer. A decent number of slots for smites, and inspiration, which blends well with auras. Most subclasses are also good, with blades even buffing your martial ability. The major downside is that inspiration is not a shot rest feature until level 5. Warlock: Hexblade gives you charisma as attack stat and hexblades curse(which scales with proficiency meaning its damage is not hindered by multiclassing. The extra attack is also an optional feature, so you can simply switch out later once you get a paladin's extra attack. And in just 3 levels you can use any weapon as your pact weapon But base warlock still gives you the best cantrips, short rest casting, and early subclass options. The only downside is that you have so few spells slots.
@@thefulcrum4466 For sorcerer, I feel like the subclasses aren't that important and more spell slots, sorcery points and spells are. If you're majority Paladin you're not a main spell caster really, so having a ton of spell variety isn't that important. It's more important to get a few very decisive ones, which Sorcerer has wide access to. For Bard my main issue is that it's focused heavily on casting without solving casting in combat the way sorcerer or fighter do. Bardic inspiration is nice but fights for bonus action, which can be rather busy for Paladin already. Fighter I'm about half way on subclasses. Some are definitely very potent. But some are very not and frankly I think are a waste of a level. Like the samurai's feature is solid but has so few uses. Champion expanded crit range is fine but I don't think worth the levels, especially when hexblade offers the same thing. Banneret gives you a limp bonus heal. Arcane archer is a ranged subclass. I'd say more than half of fighter subclasses are just not worthwhile. A few are very good and can be worth the lost spells though. Again, I will also say that action surge isn't that big on Paladin. Full casters can get big double spell casts, but base Paladin doesn't have such high impact spells or enough spell slots. Double attacks is nice but unless you smite on most of the hits it's weaker than fighter who has more extra attacks. Cast and attack is one of the best uses but you limited your spell progression with fighter. Warlock I feel like the spell slot number actually isn't very bad. For a 1-3 level dip with 2 short rests a day you are getting 3-6 spell slots a day. That's probably more than what you lost in paladin progression. The deeper you go into warlock the more it becomes a problem since they don't get another slot till 11th level, but there's not that much reason to go super deep into warlock other than like eldrich smite I guess at 5.
I agree, i've never played a Bard/Paladin but have imagined a few builds. I have played Hexadins and Sorcadins and found Sorcadins were the most dmg dealing and fun to play with personally speaking.
Surprised by barbarian. That was an easy, easy A for me. High saves, half damage, high ac, with a reckless smite for good fun? Easy A. The rest add up to me, too. Is s good list.
@@frungggg A paladin should be, yep. This ain't a paladin, it's a multiclass. I've played this combo twice, 2 different ways, and it was a monster in both cases. I watched another friend with 13 CHA play this combo, only cast spells outside of combat, and was an unstoppable smite machine/magnet for buff spells. Oh. AND you couldn't stop him from getting to a downed ally to lay them hands. Bear totem just ignored damage and let the paladin part work in peace.
*Paladin/ Bard slams spear tip first into the ground. The Sound of Warrant's Cherry Pie fills the air* "What's his oath to again?" "The streets." 🤣😂🤣 Seriously though, amazing list Offbeat!
I think you oversold Druid for one key reason: they won’t wear metal armor, says so in the PHB. All heavy armor and most medium armor is off the table now, meaning you need a high Dex score to boost your AC. Now you need high Dex, minimum 13 in strength, wisdom, and charisma, and a non-negative con score so you aren’t eaten alive. Yes, Druids are good on their own, but this armor caveat kills so many options with multiclassing by making it extremely MAD and lowering AC by so much. I would have ranked this top of C tier at best, the support options and spell slots being the only reason it doesn’t fall down to monk tier. For the next tier list, I would love to see Druid or monk. They both play great on their own, but they also don’t synergize with other classes very well. Druids’ aversion to metal armor, and monks to armor in general, makes them both alienate the martial classes like Fighter and Paladin, and monks’ MADness makes them annoying to pair with spellcasters. I’m curious to see how you lay out the tier list for these two classes.
@@irishlad4723 it just says they won’t wear metal armor. However, they lack proficiency in heavy armor, so they can’t cast spells in heavy armor. Medium metal armor I’m not sure of.
I would love to see a monk tier list even though they aren't my favorite class. It just seems like they (and ranger to an extent) are fairly stand-alone classes so seeing who works well with them as a base seems interesting to me. Much love
Paladin rogue is actually really nice, giving you expertise in skills, uncanny dodge and evasion for damage tanking, sneak attack... because it's busted, cunning action for bonus action disengage or dash for more utility, and several great subclass options like swashbuckler, thief, and soulknife. Plus if you're playing a dex paladin you won't even have to invest in a new stat!
For the most part, I solidly agreed! The only things we differ on is with the rogue possibly being a tier on the numbers game. Besides that, great list man!!!
If you are playing the Paladin as a support/tank character with nova dps may I offer the Watcher Paladin/Eloquence Bard multiclass. You're taking the first 8 levels in Paladin, to get up to your 2nd ASI. Then go into Eloquence Bard. You will hit 12th level to get the ASI. I'd suggest picking up Warcaster as a feat either at 4th or 8th level. The reason for Eloquence Bard is Unsettling Words at 3rd level primarily. You can use that to land some really good spells on single targets. Being able to land your spells consistently is major, and having the ability to subtract your Bardic Inspiration die from the result of the enemy's save is incredibly powerful. I like the Watcher's Aura at 7th level which gives your prof bonus on Initiative rolls. For a character that is almost certainly wearing heavy armour and a shield, and for whom DEX is often a dump stat, having a bonus to your Initiative can be really important. Stack that with Jack of All Trades, so you add another half of your prof bonus on top of that and you've now got +3-+6 on your initiative, and your allies within 10' get your prof bonus on their initiative, which is often excellent for casters who also don't have a great Dex. You should have an AC in the low 20's, a wide variety of spells you can use for support and battlefield control, both single target and AoE, the ability to attack twice and smite on your crits. This is an excellent off-tank/support character who can really shine in combat and social situations. You have a good Charisma and Expertise, so with Silver Tongue you can probably talk your way through anything and be a very good face for the party if needed.
Hexadin is one of my favorite builds I made recently. At first my DM looked at me funny when I rolled up with my lvl 1 paladin with only a 13 str and a 20 cha (we roll for stats). It all dawned on him once I got my first level increase
On the topic of Paladin/Rogue, a buddy of mine built a Vengeance Paladin + Assassin Rogue multiclass that he called “The Paladin of Angst”. He loved running this poor tormented character. Turns out that a guaranteed crit with Divine Smite at the start of combat is really strong.
funny thing is, I saw this and wondered about warlock. My kid brother went Vengeance Paladin/Hexblade Warlock in a Gestalt game run by a friend of ours. He slapped before Misty Stepping away to heal himself, letting my Battle Master Fighter/ Bear Totem Barbarian solo a group of wargs and goblins by becoming a turbine on them. The guy running it, who wanted to run a gestalt game in order to hone his DM skills, said our characters were OP. XD
No, they weren't OP. They were characters that were run effectively. Any DM worth the time would look at this as 1) his friends really enjoying the campaign, 2) an excellent challenge for his DM'ing skills, and 3) great ideas for future NPC encounters to challenge the players with. Having played D&D since the little white box in 1976, I've learned there is no such thing as an OP character; merely bad DM's. What's good for PCs is also good for NPCs.
Here's an interesting idea... animate objects, on a clutch of ten arrows, each with a ring of Spell Storing, Storing a supercharged fireball, from a ranger using rain of arrows. A dair bit of set up for ten simultaneously cast super fireballs
idk why, but whenever i listen to your videos while making a character they always end up as a walking incarnation of death by 6th level, so thanks for the free powerbuild generation method
Rage messing with spellcasting is the same problem I have with my College of Swords bard taking Tenser’s Transformation as a Bardic Secret at Lvl 14. But because I multiclass into Paladin, I just use my Bard spellslots for Smite. There’s a reason my Combat Bard is an absolute _nightmare_ to fight against. With the other party spellcasters to counter enemy mages, and a rampaging Bear Totem next to me, we absolutely tear through our enemies.
Barbarian is an A-tier multiclass for Paladins. All you need is two levels and you get rage and reckless attack. Rage is nice, but you don't need to rage if you're concerned about spells. What I'm really after is reckless attack to fish for crits to make my GWM attacks and smites even more effective. If you're okay skipping concentration spells, you can rage for damage resistance and a little bonus damage. Grab yourself a Paladin/Barb half-orc w/ GWF and GWM and a greataxe and you're looking at 1d12+17 twice per round with advantage. If you crit, that's 3d12+17 and you can reroll 1s and 2s if you get a bad dice, then you add your double dice smite damage.
Speaking as someone who loves the Armorer, I don't think that focusing on Int instead makes you much better as far as a primary Paladin goes. The reason the Hexblade is so good with Paladin is that it makes them way less MAD, and with a single level in Hexblade and Custom Lineage you can have 20 Cha by level 5.
Great video. I would like to see a top 10 to 15 list of the best sub-classes multi-classed with Paladin. Hexblade, bladesinger, etc. I’ve got a PC that’s been running a Paladin oathbreaker-7/ college of Whispers bard 6/ hexblade 1to great effect in combat and in social intrigue. It’s been fun to see.
Man, this makes me miss some of the Pathfinder 1e stuff like Nornkith Monk who could use CHA in place of WIS as a monk. I wish we had just a little more stuff like that in 5e, like an INT Warlock who actually studies under their patron like Faust, or a STR sorcerer who casts spells with their gains. Dragon monk easily could have been CHA based.
Druids not wearing metal armour is a big detractor for me - especially when most Paladin’s don’t have a great DEX. They need that chain and plate mail.
You can RAGE if you're wearing anything other than heavy armour. The heaviest you can wear whilst retaining RAGE is Half-Plate, which falls under the medium armour category. Edit: Going for the Rogue/Paladin build can work, especially if multi classing Rogue with Vengeance Paladin. Vow of Enmity gives your melee attacks automatic advantage, meaning that unless some pesky disadvantage mitigates that, Sneak Attack paired with Smite is a go.
For a paladin/barbarian, just go ahead and ditch the heavy armor and pick up some medium armor. Half plate works really well (although expensive) and makes you less MAD. I played an Oath of Vengeance Paladin/Bear totem barbarian, and was the undisputed powerhouse of our team.
And since Barb's cant cast spells while Raging, you can plan to use ALL your spell slots for Smites! And being able to use Healing Hands on yourself to heal yourself while Raging (which Barbarians don't really have the ability to do on their own) because Healing Hands isn't a spell..... That's fucking awesome!
@@kingwildcat6192000 I was more saying that because of Offbeat claiming it makes the build MAD, which I find objectively false. Odds are a paladin is going to already have a decent constitution, since they're on the front lines a lot, and most barbarians I see don't really care about getting hit due to their high hitpoints and resistances. (Especially the bear totem.)
I could see a tiny Monk dip having a part to play, in a straight up dex build, as it would allow you to make Longswords finesse. Making it a straight downgrade from Hexblade, but yeah.
I may be biased because warlock is my favorite class but Warlock/Paladin is probably the best Paladin multiclass. Divine smites that come back on a short rest is kinda nutty
In my homebrew world there a group of Paladin (consist of Glory and Watcher)/Rogue (Soulknife). They pair up and use Protection and then go in for some sneak attack + divine strike. Very useful.
Paladin/Wizard is so good! Specifically Bladesinger. This is because you can smite with your wizard slots! Just taking two levels in paladin to get divine smite is so worth it for a bladesinger. You can dish out smites like it’s nothing!
@@PUNishment777 Agreed, you need a 13 in 3 stats where you’re better off multiclassing on a class that needs strength or charisma already. Perhaps a college of swords bard or a Paladin barbarian.
Barbarian2-3/Paladin6+ is easily one of the best, if not _the_ best, meatshields in the game; aura to protect the party, and high AC plus resistances to protect yourself. Paladins have enough non-concentration, long-duration, and/or non-combat spells to still find uses for their spell slots outside of smites. You can still always use Lay on Hands in a pinch. Plus you can always choose whether or not you think it's better to Rage for a fight or use one of your concentration spells. Basically just treat Rage as a concentration spell that grants the benefits of Rage.
A case can be made for any multi class build, even monk/paladin. The demon armor makes unarmed strkes count as weapon attacks, so you can divine smite 4 times a turn!
Also, due to the way that wildshape and the beast stat blocks are worded, you can divine smite with teeth, claws, and any other wildshape attacks. Finally, you get an extra attack, so you get that on any wildshape that doesn't have extra attack already. This is my favorite build
War Cleric is the best 1 level caster dip for a martial character other than Hexblade (situational on whether you have charisma). Free bonus action attacks and healing spells? Amazing
Fighter is indeed great...for combat. Exploration and social pillars leave a bit to be desired which is the only reason I hardly pick Fighter. A dip perhaps but always have trouble justifying it over other choices or staying with my primary
Depending what your wanting I recommend, fighter or sorcerer (highly receommend) or warlock (highly recommend) or barbarian. Best classes to go with your pally class. Bard is a bit meh as it goes against what pally wants to do and leads you to either be a tanky backliner or a squishier frontliner with too many actions to do.
You can still divine smite while raging technically since it isn’t a spell. So you have a few spells for out of combat as well as a plethora of smites available. Which would make Paladin a great spell castor class to pair with barbarian.
Half-Orc Paladin/Barbarian soloed EVERYTHING. Room full of assailants? Bonus action Champion Challenge, none of them could hit him and the one that crit did 5 damage. Locked in a room with three horned devils? No problem, rage, reckless, divine smite. Between armor, rage and high con saves their damage output was cut to about 1/8th. And then he just healed it off with lay on hands (not a spell, so you can do it while raging). And then the final boss, a spellcasting giant. Call lightning? Don't care. Giant magical greatsword? Don't care. Mass fear effect? Aura of courage. I will shrug off everything you throw at me and keep swinging till you die. Beg for mercy from the ultimate tank
Funny enough, I did instinctively pick a paladin for my first game because it was a dab of spellcasting, a dab of melee combat, a little tanky, etc. And i figured i'd learn all the major mechanics naturally. Hearing you say that makes me feel like my critical assessment skills are pretty good
>2nd lvl hexblade warlock, pact of the tome >7th lvl oathbreaker >20 cha >Hexblade's curse >Longsword, versatile >GWM Enjoy your +44 damage before smite after both attacks.
A paladin with sword and shield and chainmail armor, giving it an armor class of 18, on top of giving it a barbarian rage during a divine smite, it sounds terrifying
If you are something else and want to multiclass, monk is rarely a good option But what if you're monk and want to multiclass, what becomes good options? (Predictions follow after "see more") High tier: Ranger, Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Fighter Mid tier: Barbarian, Rogue, Bard, Artificer Low tier: Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock,
Divine soul giving you cleric spells with charisma. Spiritual weapon and spirit guardians go. 5 to 6 levels sorcerer depending if you want the lvl 15 paly subclass feature May even start with 1 level sorcerer for con saves, but you give up heavy armor, so I say resilient Con is better. And if you can fit it use meta magic adept feat for more Meta magics
I remember the day i have taken 3 levels in death domain cleric as 8 level paladin, oh boy the smite as hurting more than normal with the channel divinity
Sorcerer above Bard (Sorcerer just has all the spells you want as a melee character: shield, counterspell, even spirit guardians if you go divine soul sorcerer. Bard has like...none of the spells you want, so you really need to lean into magical secrets). Also, using quicken on a spell with your bonus action, and attacking with your action is very good action economy. There's a reason the community has a catchy name for sorcadin and not for...scorcabard? Mono-class paladin higher; A or even God tier. Paladin has a cluster of very good features around level 10-13 (aura of courage, improved divine smite, find greater steed), and an incredible feature at 18 (30 foot auras). Warlock...has an argument for #1 even ignoring hexblade. You can take 3 levels in any warlock, pick pact of the tome, and get CHA based Shillelagh. 2 levels for Eldritch Blast also just cleans up the main weakness of paladin (being melee only). Cleric should be a tier below wizard, and maybe even slightly below Druid. Just...too much overlap in the spell list, and channel divinity just has an explicit "multiclassing this doesn't give you additional uses of channel divinity" (much like extra attack). A lot of anti-synergy. By comparison, Wizard offers spells you don't have (like shield), and gives you back spell slots on a short rest with arcane recovery (more smites) and has better ritual casting. Druid...yeah, I'm not sure if Druid or Cleric is better, but Druid still offers some spells you don't have but want (like Goodberry and Absorb Elements), and wildshape is not channel divinity so it doesn't get slapped by multiclassing rules. Fighter...theoretically solid but...I rarely see people take fighter on paladin. 3 levels of no spell slot gain is just a tough sell. Levels tend to be really precious in paladin builds--you need so many levels in everything to make paladins work. Granted, Paladin->Wizards are also theoretically solid and also builds I rarely see, so fighter and wizard probably similar tier. I kinda want to bump rogue up to A cause at least I've seen it once or twice. Usually on those bad "take assassin and then get a suprise round and auto crit your smites" builds, but at least I've seen it. But even outside of that, 2 levels for cunning action? Sure, lets you do things like hit an enemy then move back to your team to provide aura. I would probably do (TIER 1, see these all the time, easy to justify) 1. Warlock 2. Sorcerer 3. Paladin (TIER 1.5, would probably be tier 1 if sorcerer didn't exist) 4. Bard (TIER 2, not popular, or needs weird stats, but I've seen them from time to time and you can make solid arguments for these having enough unique advantages to justify a build) 5. Wizard 6. Fighter 7. Rogue (maybe) (tier 3-5) everything else.
Another thing that makes Bard a god-tier multiclass for Paladin: Eloquence. With this multiclass, you are _the_ Face of your party. Now, let's assume you take three levels in Eloquence Bard, with at least two levels in Paladin, and we'll just say that you have a 14 in Charisma (low-balling, I know). Now, if you put that Expertise into Deception and Persuasion, then you absolutely _cannot_ roll below an 18 in those checks. Even a Nat-1 in Persuasion becomes an _instant_ Nat-18, because Eloquence, and it only goes higher from there. I feel like Rogue should have been ranked higher, due to Swashbuckler. At the very least, it should rank higher than Artificer. Swashbuckler gives you advantage against single targets, which gives you a lot higher of a chance to smite enemies (after all, no hit = no smite). It also boosts your Initiative equal to your Charisma modifier, meaning that (with Heavy Armor) you have more of a reason to simply dump Dex. If you're going with Medium armor instead, then you still have no reason to boost it up beyond 14. Plus, the evasiveness allows you to tank damage like a pro, as you mentioned. To me, this puts Rogue as being at _least_ the top of B-tier, if not low A-tier. Not godly, but definitely improves your melee capabilities. Sorcerer may be good, but to me, it's not too _great._ Everything Sorcerer can give Paladin, you can also get from Bard, for the most part. Sure, you can get Shield and Silvery Barbs, but if you should already be tanky enough with Full Plate (or Half Plate and 14 Dex) and a shield. Metamagic, while useful, will tax the number of spell slots that you're trying to supply, in order to mitigate Paladin's biggest weakness. After all, you'll have to decide if you're going to let your spell slots be drained by your _casting,_ or by your _smiting._ Obviously above A-Tier still, but not as high as Bard. And, of course, Warlock. You're not going Hexblade for Warlock. You're going Hexblade for Hexblade and Hexblade Accessories. That way, you can bring the most Pro-Pain. >:3 Seriously, what can I say about Warlock, that you haven't? Spell slots come back on a short rest, so you mitigate the Paladin's spell slot dependency (sometimes more so than going Bard or Sorc), Eldritch Smite, as you mentioned, lets you double-smite and cleave through enemies, Eldritch Blast is decent for sniping enemies that are outside of sword range, and (most importantly), you no longer depend on Strength for melee damage. After all, Hex Warrior lets you attack and damage enemies with your Charisma stat instead (on top of the bonus damage from Hexblade's Curse [On top of Paladin's Divine Smites {on top of Eldritch Smite }]). I'd also mention Lifedrinker, but that takes 12 levels in Warlock (which kinda means you'd be multiclassing into _Paladin,_ instead of the other way around). That, and I uhhh... I kinda ran out of types of parentheses and brackets there... Still. Hexblade Tier = Best Tier.
Pally as the best beginner class? Interesting take. I see where you are coming from and i can see some beginners that would like that exploration of different arch types like control, melee spell casting. I would have said fighter, rouge would be the easiest and i would say cleric because the access to the whole spell list. Of course barbarian probably god tier choice
I ended up with a wood elf Rogue (Swashbuckler) 3, Warlock (Hexblade) 2, Paladin (Vengeance) 10 for a 15th level character. Best character I've ever had and I've been playing D&D since the little white box first came out in the 70s. Too bad OneD&D is going to kill that combination.
Warlock and fighter are the 2 best classes for burst damage with paladin. Divine+Eldritch Smites and action surge means you can kill just about anything if you're willing to spend the resources
Actually a fan of this list, not a bad list, lot of cool options. Glad to know my concept for a Sorcerer Paladin is a good one, even if it probably isn't the most optimized build. It's been awhile but I think it was Oath of Conquest Paladin/Shadow Magic Sorcerer... if only for the 6th level ability to summon shadow hounds... Honestly... the initial idea was mostly for flavor as an inquisition kind of leader, hunter of dark beings to end them... dark being anything that threatens the status quo of the empire... eh, still seems like a fun idea actually.
If you keep making these for all the classes I'll keep watching them for all the classes. It's fun, always funny to see fighter go high but hey it ain't your fault they're good :P I'm excited to see one for Rogue, not a lot of MADcy with them only needing Dex (even that's negotiable in some builds) and being very flexible about their mental stats
Okay, hear me out: >5 levels Paladin because this is a Paladin build and you get extra attack and most of the essential Paladin abilities by 5th level >2 levels Fighter for Action Surge, proficiencies you get for just being a Fighter, etc. >3 levels Warlock for pact features, eldritch invocations, etc. That is my 10th level Paladin-focused build. You should also probably pick the Variant Human or Tiefling race because you can get extremely good utility with the feats of VH and innate magic of Tiefling. Variant Human with Magic Initiate is better than pretty much everything else in spades btw, you should probably pick Prestidigitation for one of your cantrips and either Shield or Find Familiar for your 1st level spell because Find Familiar is just about the coolest and best utility spell you can get, and Shield is basically just "oh, silly DM, you thought you could damage me?!" in spell form, but it works for literally every possible situation so long as you have a spell slot. Also, you can get Find Familiar as the Pact of the Chain feature, so if you plan to use the spell with that, then pick something other than Find Familiar for the feat option. After that, continue to level up Paladin. You will guarantee every ability up to level 15, which gives you enough juice to survive at 20th level, and a ton of cool DM-annoying abilities and party buffs, and some good Smite juice as both a leveling and spell slot gaining thing (you get two 4th level spell slots at 15th level).
@@duncanohio true. As I said, though, you should then continue to level up Pally for all those extra abilities, but *after* the others. I built it around the idea that all of your other abilities would compensate for not having an aura yet, which is why 2 levels in Fighter was first, because you get Action surge in one less level than the Warlock and it adds enough extra damage with Action Surge to compensate for bonuses, for the most part. The build also originally used Warlock instead of Sorcerer, with Metamagic Quickened and Twinned spell in mind. The 10 foot range really enforced this idea. Also, I decided it just wasn't worth taking the extra level and holding off the synergy for that long; while I do love the aura and agree with what you said, it just wasn't worth dipping for yet, in my mind. After I switched out Sorcerer with Warlock, the build mentally switched from semi-support to full DPS with a bit of healing, which lessened the value of the aura to me. Your feedback is appreciated though, I tweaked my personal build a bit from it and my plans changed slightly, so thanks.
I feel like barbarian got a little bit overlooked. Only a 3 level dip can give bear totem, so resistance to almost all damage, extra damage on attacks and advantage on all attacks with reckless. A melee focused paladin would be both a paladin that can rage and a barbarian that can smite. Admittedly losing the spellcasting is a blow, but you don't have to rage every time a fight breaks out 🤷🏻♂️
Conquest paladin with undead warlock is pretty good especially if you pick up shield master at 4th or 1st level. You only really need 3 or 4 levels in warlock to get the benefits.
Barbarian goes up to S tier since you can divine smite while raging, it's not technically a spell so it bypasses the rage restrictions. I was going to take two levels barbarian but messed up making dex my dump stat, I can't go down to medium armor because I have - 2 dex.
Though super niche and dm dependant, I've gotten a multiclass of 14 Monk 6 Paladin to work in a one shot. Our starting stats were based off an "empowered starting array" from dungeons dudes and the half elf race. My 8 was in Int and 10 in Con. Started with an 14 Charisma, 13 Strength, 18 Wis, and 16 Dex. Astral Monk with Vengeance Paladin. All of my unarmed strikes would be used with Wis, and my magic items included an Amulet of Health for Con= 19 and a +3 Longsword which I made a Monk/Dedicated weapon in case I wanted to smite. I maxed out Cha and Wis at 20 with my ASI, and was allowed the Manual to increase my Dex by +2. It was a powerful build for the one shot, but there is no way it comes together over the course of a real campaign organically.
I’d put the warlock above the bard even, as its spell slots are regained on a short rest, giving you two extra smites on a short rest with just one level of warlock.
I hate to be the one to say it, but I am still not convinced that any class is worth dipping into as a Paladin. However, I am coming from playing in multiple campaigns that started at level 1, had no set level cap that players knew about, and most certainly would not go to level 20. If I was creating one that would go all the way to level 20, especially if starting at a much higher level, I can certainly agree with alot more of this list. From where I am coming from though, any dip away from Paladin is a fairly big hit when you don't know if it will pay off or not. Of course, I also think the Paladin class is arguably the most balanced and complete class in 5e. Not the strongest, but just really thoughtfully put together...except for you divine sense!
the thing about raw is that there are only 4 types of attacks melee weapon, ranged weapon, melee spell, and ranged spell. unarmed strike counts as a melee weapon attack.
I think you are massively undervaluing Barbarian. Getting Reckless Attack and Rage are amazing and you can just use your spell slots for smites and casting Aid and Find Steed. I had a player play a Vengeance Paladin X/Zealot Barbarian 3 in a recent one-shot and it cleaned house.
strangely enough at level 20, a monk paladin is good enough (14 monk for prof in all saves, 6 paladin for aura of protection) you only need dex and wis 13, while you can have decent str and god chr (max out chr for the full benefit of AoP) go for the race human (standard) and (if using point buy) put points 14 13 9 9 12 15 (netting us 15 str for plate, 13 dex, 10 con, 10 int, 13 wis, and 16 chr) then two full asi for chr (putting us at 20 chr) you can now have a +11 in all saving throws (getting up to +16 in chr) and 21 ac (defense fighting style) hp won't be great, but you could have the item amulet of health (which boosts avg hp to 190)
Just came across your channel, i love your takes, excited to see ur thoughts on bard multiclasses as im currently playing one and am thinking of multiclassing but am not sure which way to go, maybe divination wizard 2 or 3 cause i have a 14 intelligence for some reason :D
currently running a Vengeance/Battlemaster Dragonborn paladrgn. she hits like a garbage truck full of Kerosene and lit sparklers. main weapon is a flame tongue greatsword.
Wait I distinctly remember the first smite you get you can since unarmed counts as weapon attacks, however the improved smite specifically calls for actual weapons to be used in the smite, or was that errata'd without my knowledge?
You should be able to flurry of blow + smite for you can use flurry of blows with monk weapons unless they both require action use. But I call it a Mr. Miyagi monk paladin.
I'm in a campaign that is currently level 14. Our Paladin has the set of 2 Fighter / X Paladin. With the Oath of Vengeance, this paladin can deal lots of damage. Outlaw isn't a simp for wanting to put the Fighter in God Tier. Action Surge on a Paladin is ridiculous.
Good intro, you had me hitting that like button in just 10 seconds. I'll take it back if there's too many shit takes though. (please don't make me take it back)
I think sorcerer is a tad bit better than bard for the paladin where the bard complements what a base paladin does certain subclasses of a sorcerer really let you hone that niche. For example divine soul sorcerer lets you have that cleric cake and eat it too having the cleric spell list on top of allowing it to be charisma instead of wisdom is a huge boon or a the shadow sorcerer with the hound of ill omen makes those paladin spells come in clutch like hold person
ive been thinking about this for the last couple videos of this but would you be willing to do a bloodhunter dedicated video like this and also show us where blood hunter would rate in the other classes?
What are your thoughts on the paladin/sorcerer/warlock multi class? I got a build going on now with conquest paladin 6, divine soul sorcerer 11, hexblade warlock 3. Can summon any weapon since its proficient in everything, metamagic, hexblades curse. It’s just so much fun
Definitely want to see a cleric multiclass thing. Definitely not just because I wanna make a Strength Domain cleric from Amonket Planeshift and want ideas for multi…
"Like the Armorer with their armor, or the Alchemist with their being bad" made me laugh way too hard.
i've played alchemist died in 1 session due to nat 1 on a fireball from the barbarian
@@alexmartin6014 I have several questions, for an example the barbarian fireball
@@gonoroad2160 well the dm gave the barbarian a gem from the flame skull that went into his forehead and gave him a command word to cast certain spells he rolls to see which spell it is every day the die is a d8 on an 8 fireball
😢
I made an artificer subclass for trailers based mostly off of the alchemist subclass that was pretty awesome.
The barbarian paladin definitely deserves higher, far higher in my opinion. Yes, you cant cast spells, yes you can't concentrate, but cast spells are frankly what the paladin is known the least for. taking only two levels of barbarian and reckless attacking with smites is an awesome combo. simply two levels and you get more damage, far better tanking, and better crit range. If I know anything about paladins, those saucy boys save smites for crits and blow shit away.
Agreed, not to mention you get multiple rages, so if you really need to cast something you can drop rage, cast what you need, and rage next turn. If you're multiclassing into Barbarian, you are doing so for the rage and the subclass, may as well use your resources. (Also reckless plus smiting is scary.)
just make sure that dex and con are decent, or at least dex for something like breastplate and shield maybe defense fighting style (14+2+2+1)
I completely agree, I would place them A tier personally. They lack the spell casting but in turn lean in on the martial side and can still manage some non spell based support. You’re losing a part of your tool kit to better specialize yourself, which is not always bad.
paladin spells are amazing, what do you mean? Smites are a backup tool when used optimally. Earlier levels you'll rely on bless more than smites, later levels things like destructive wave and circle of power become much more attractive options too. There's not a lot of room there for smites outside of specific situations, e.g one specific creature needs to die immediately, like one with possession or mind control magic, or one with feeblemind or even power word kill/divine word.
@@nonenone-hv5iq yeah some paladin spells are good but, destructive wave? in a party of level 17 characters? Wizards are dropping Meteor swarm. No, a paladin that late in the game is far better of offer decent support while dealing massive single-target damage while taking massive blows. Early game, yes dropping a bless🙏 is great, but so is gaining resistance against the physical damage types(Which is most likely what you are getting hit with at low levels), and dropping massive damage is undeniably also really good.
I'm not saying paladin spell casting sucks, but going taking a few levels in barbarian is a VERY effective option.
I want to see Monk be the finale, where every class is God-Tier because adding any class to the monk makes it better
I think the point of these is to make the class better at what it already does. For monks, that’s actually hard because everything they do revolves around ki, which scales only with your monk level and SO SLOWLY. There are certain classes that are worth losing out on ki points for, but not many. Ranger is a clear god tier because the stats line up perfectly, hunter’s mark on anything with extra attack is great (and monks make a lot of attacks), and the Gloomstalker Ranger is like the Hexblade Warlock for monks.
Not so much the Barb, since a lot of Class features overlap
Peace cleric 1 monk x makes for fun support
Druid 2 monk x is a good boost for wisdom based monk subclasses
Fighter 2-3 monk x makes a great archer build
Ranger 3 monk x has great sub and spell options
Bladesinger 6 is the only thing I can think of and if most of your levels are still in monk you're already in high level play
@@alexpratt8533Gloomstalker ranger monk actually seems really really good (I know how late this is lol)
I played a Paladin/Barbarian Tiefling in a campaign. Choosing between raging and concentrating on a spell is tough, but there’s more versatility than i think the build gets credit for. The amount of damage that you can get from a critical hit (and reckless attack to make that happen more often) makes the build so much fun! It might not be the most powerful build, but it fit the character I was playing, and what I was going for mechanically with the character.
You basically feel like an anime protagonist if you take a greatsword and the GWM feat.
Honestly one of my favorite characters was a 13 str rogue/paladin. I went bugbear, assassin rogue (3 levels) starting for the extra skills and finesse weapons, then conquest paladin for the rest. Essentially I went rapier and shield dex pali, had expertise in stealth, and would generally never fail to surprise the enemy. This meant my attacks would crit, I’d get sneak attack (2d6), bugbear surprise (2d6), divine smite (2d8), and any bonus action smites, all with a guaranteed crit. Because surprise is basically a free turn where the enemies who were surprised are screwed, plus I went sentinel for even more lockdown, I would burst an opponent and if they survived the first turn of combat I would simply terrify them and keep them locked down. It was very fun
Don't forget: Warlock pact of the blade can double smite, which is frankly insane. If you went hexblade for that, and you're criting on a 19, add in some gimmick to get advantage and throw an extra... 20+ d8s on that vs. a fiend or undead? Good day sir.
The only real downside to getting double smite is it's pretty deep into warlock, since it's locked to warlock level 5. By then you've cut into paladin spell progression noticeably and warlock didn't give you any more slots (though they did get stronger).
@@TheEmperorGulcasa true but if you commit to warlock a little further you do end up with more powerful slots than those available at base to paladin (11 paladin/ 9 warlock) and if you are HB you get a wider variety of smite spells to play with
gimmick? So like.. oath of VENGEANCE?!
Triple Smite, Bonus Action Spell
the problem is you need 5 levels of warlock the advantage is that you get hight slot to smite and they regen at short rest
just add some levels ins sorcerer and you are done
I once made an armor artificer druid. The druid says, "Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature's shape and size". The artificer says, "The armor attaches to you and ... expands to cover your entire body". Because the armor shapes to you, you can greatly increase the AC of the beasts which normally have low ACs and higher MHP.
Ooo thats a cool RAW play. does that mean the bear also gets thunder gauntlets?! XD
well, RAW druids can't use metal armor, but that sounds very cool
@@timob1681 in RAW it’s not that they can’t it’s that they choose not to. Regardless my Druid had scalemail made from animal scales rather than metal.
@@BryantMoeller You clearly haven’t read the Arcane Armor ability.
@@BryantMoeller Still not how it works. Read the thing please
I started paladin at my first game, for exactly the reasons you listed! I can confirm it gave me a great understanding of the game. I was playing an oath of redemption paladin, so I was also able to be the face of the party after a few sessions. I ended up turning kind of evil and got to experience the oathbreaker subclass as well. Lots to love playing a paladin in your first ever campaign.
I love the barbarian/paladin combo as a purely offensive paladin. You lose out on defenses by ditching the plate armor, but having advantage on your attacks means more crits, and you can save your best smite slots to use on one of these crits. Running into a horde of fiends as a holy warrior with anger issues, landing a few crits and smiting the shit out of your enemies has never felt so good.
Unless you're a warforged and totem of the bear, doing that rn and that's fun
Well, if your playing like that, your charisma's just there for aura of protection, which is alright, but not necessary, so have a +2/3 in that, and focus on con/str/Dex so you have 20 ac and you destroy everything
While Bard is an easy multiclass that gives a lot of utility and slots, I feel like it's feature synergy is a fair bit lower than Sorcerer. It doesn't give con save proficiency, a lot of it's spells are concentration and base paladin is still very melee centric. You can use inspire to help but you will run out of inspires fast if you are taking hits frequently. Sorcerer doesn't give as many spells, but it can give you con save proficiency and more importantly quicken spell is such a powerful benefit to Paladin spell casting. Paladin's action is so much more valuable than most other easy Sorcerer pairings. It makes Paladin's normally awkward spell casting of having to stop being a dps no longer a problem. Divine soul also gives access to a lot of damage spells that the Paladin would like such as Spirit Guardians.
Fighter I feel like has a lot of redundancy. Does give con saves, which is nice. But Paladin would already get all the armor and weapon options. Paladin already also gets a lot of the fighting styles that it would need for it's melee centric life already, so a second is nice but less useful (and paladin can't well leverage the stronger ones it didn't get like archery). Paladin also already has self healing. Unless you are going really deep into fighter, Paladin already had extra attack too. Action surge lets you nova even harder, but fighter is still limiting spell slot progression a fair bit so you are going to run out of gas ridiculously fast. You can also attack and cast the same turn with it like with sorcery points, but the default Paladin spell list isn't that impactful.
Warlock's only disappointing aspect is that Hexblade's MAD reduction doesn't work with the best melee weapons unless you go fairly deep into Warlock. Double smite is hilarious though, especially with hexblade expanded crit range. Also a really kick ass ranged option is always something Paladin really wants.
Two things I will point out, I think these multiclass tier lists assume you start in the mentioned class so no con saves for Paladin.
And counter point for Sorcerer, they are really freaking good on a Paladin but if you want the resources to do stuff you need a lot of levels in sorcerer and they have a d6 hit die which sucks. I pretty much agree with you for everything else.
@@spanishinquisition7623 Did he say that? I thought he just said that the tier list is for most levels being in the main class. He did mention con saves in a previous one and said he didn't weight them too heavily since you can pick up resilient con or warcaster.
I will definitely agree that when you go Sorcerer, it is tempting to just keep going deeper in because of how rewarding it is. I'd assume given the premise of the tier list that for a 20th level build you're going at least 11 into Paladin, which is still plenty beefy though, especially with access to shield and absorb elements now. Sorcerer does give a bit up front with subclasses, like divine soul giving favored by the gods. Then you get your cantrips, which means a decent ranged option now, and access to the booming blade warcaster combo. Then the defensive spells. Then by level 3 you get metamagic, which means at least 1 use of quicken and like subtle. 5 levels gets you 2 uses of quicken and 3rd level spells, which is a more than reasonable stopping point.
Assuming you take at least 3 levels in a given class along with paladin. I'd probably rank the top 4 as warlock, bard, fighter, and sorcerer.
Sorcerer: while you get your subclass early, I feel like only a handful are that impactful. And while you get the largest spell list, you have the fewest spells known, meaning you can really take advantage of it without investment. The d6 can also hurt your survivability if you play in melee, although starting as a sorcerer does give con saves, it comes at the cost of heavy armor.
Fighter: You sacrifice spells for more short rest features, which can be clutch if you get to take them. Most of the subclasses are impactful even if they require 3 levels, and they often supplement melee well. The major downside is that extra attack does not stack.
Bard: A full casters with a d8. You get more spells known allowing you to add to more utility then a sorcerer. A decent number of slots for smites, and inspiration, which blends well with auras. Most subclasses are also good, with blades even buffing your martial ability. The major downside is that inspiration is not a shot rest feature until level 5.
Warlock: Hexblade gives you charisma as attack stat and hexblades curse(which scales with proficiency meaning its damage is not hindered by multiclassing. The extra attack is also an optional feature, so you can simply switch out later once you get a paladin's extra attack. And in just 3 levels you can use any weapon as your pact weapon But base warlock still gives you the best cantrips, short rest casting, and early subclass options. The only downside is that you have so few spells slots.
@@thefulcrum4466 For sorcerer, I feel like the subclasses aren't that important and more spell slots, sorcery points and spells are. If you're majority Paladin you're not a main spell caster really, so having a ton of spell variety isn't that important. It's more important to get a few very decisive ones, which Sorcerer has wide access to.
For Bard my main issue is that it's focused heavily on casting without solving casting in combat the way sorcerer or fighter do. Bardic inspiration is nice but fights for bonus action, which can be rather busy for Paladin already.
Fighter I'm about half way on subclasses. Some are definitely very potent. But some are very not and frankly I think are a waste of a level. Like the samurai's feature is solid but has so few uses. Champion expanded crit range is fine but I don't think worth the levels, especially when hexblade offers the same thing. Banneret gives you a limp bonus heal. Arcane archer is a ranged subclass. I'd say more than half of fighter subclasses are just not worthwhile. A few are very good and can be worth the lost spells though. Again, I will also say that action surge isn't that big on Paladin. Full casters can get big double spell casts, but base Paladin doesn't have such high impact spells or enough spell slots. Double attacks is nice but unless you smite on most of the hits it's weaker than fighter who has more extra attacks. Cast and attack is one of the best uses but you limited your spell progression with fighter.
Warlock I feel like the spell slot number actually isn't very bad. For a 1-3 level dip with 2 short rests a day you are getting 3-6 spell slots a day. That's probably more than what you lost in paladin progression. The deeper you go into warlock the more it becomes a problem since they don't get another slot till 11th level, but there's not that much reason to go super deep into warlock other than like eldrich smite I guess at 5.
I agree, i've never played a Bard/Paladin but have imagined a few builds. I have played Hexadins and Sorcadins and found Sorcadins were the most dmg dealing and fun to play with personally speaking.
I'd love to see an Artificer tier list. Small mounted battlesmiths are god tier + on flavor alone
I second this! It seems people are torn on the Artificer so I’d love to see an in-depth tier list about it
Surprised by barbarian. That was an easy, easy A for me. High saves, half damage, high ac, with a reckless smite for good fun? Easy A.
The rest add up to me, too. Is s good list.
a pal should always be concentrating. while your damage may ramp up any support beyond ur auras is off the table.
@@frungggg A paladin should be, yep. This ain't a paladin, it's a multiclass. I've played this combo twice, 2 different ways, and it was a monster in both cases. I watched another friend with 13 CHA play this combo, only cast spells outside of combat, and was an unstoppable smite machine/magnet for buff spells.
Oh. AND you couldn't stop him from getting to a downed ally to lay them hands. Bear totem just ignored damage and let the paladin part work in peace.
*Paladin/ Bard slams spear tip first into the ground. The Sound of Warrant's Cherry Pie fills the air*
"What's his oath to again?"
"The streets."
🤣😂🤣
Seriously though, amazing list Offbeat!
You're the best! I watched your short content for a long while. Keep up the good work and don't forget to be awesome.
I think you oversold Druid for one key reason: they won’t wear metal armor, says so in the PHB. All heavy armor and most medium armor is off the table now, meaning you need a high Dex score to boost your AC. Now you need high Dex, minimum 13 in strength, wisdom, and charisma, and a non-negative con score so you aren’t eaten alive.
Yes, Druids are good on their own, but this armor caveat kills so many options with multiclassing by making it extremely MAD and lowering AC by so much. I would have ranked this top of C tier at best, the support options and spell slots being the only reason it doesn’t fall down to monk tier.
For the next tier list, I would love to see Druid or monk. They both play great on their own, but they also don’t synergize with other classes very well. Druids’ aversion to metal armor, and monks to armor in general, makes them both alienate the martial classes like Fighter and Paladin, and monks’ MADness makes them annoying to pair with spellcasters. I’m curious to see how you lay out the tier list for these two classes.
They can just ask ur dm the metal armor is purely fluff
Came to comments to say that as well. Druids can't use their magic if they wear metal armor, right?
@@irishlad4723 it just says they won’t wear metal armor. However, they lack proficiency in heavy armor, so they can’t cast spells in heavy armor. Medium metal armor I’m not sure of.
@5:20- JoCat called, he wants his meme back...
I would love to see a monk tier list even though they aren't my favorite class. It just seems like they (and ranger to an extent) are fairly stand-alone classes so seeing who works well with them as a base seems interesting to me. Much love
Fighter, Cleric, Druid, and maybe Rogue. Everything else is kind of meh imo.
Rogues. With Soulknife they get psychic damage with the scaling martial arts die
Paladin rogue is actually really nice, giving you expertise in skills, uncanny dodge and evasion for damage tanking, sneak attack... because it's busted, cunning action for bonus action disengage or dash for more utility, and several great subclass options like swashbuckler, thief, and soulknife. Plus if you're playing a dex paladin you won't even have to invest in a new stat!
For the most part, I solidly agreed! The only things we differ on is with the rogue possibly being a tier on the numbers game. Besides that, great list man!!!
Really looking forward to the Rogue video for this series.
If you are playing the Paladin as a support/tank character with nova dps may I offer the Watcher Paladin/Eloquence Bard multiclass.
You're taking the first 8 levels in Paladin, to get up to your 2nd ASI. Then go into Eloquence Bard. You will hit 12th level to get the ASI. I'd suggest picking up Warcaster as a feat either at 4th or 8th level. The reason for Eloquence Bard is Unsettling Words at 3rd level primarily. You can use that to land some really good spells on single targets. Being able to land your spells consistently is major, and having the ability to subtract your Bardic Inspiration die from the result of the enemy's save is incredibly powerful.
I like the Watcher's Aura at 7th level which gives your prof bonus on Initiative rolls. For a character that is almost certainly wearing heavy armour and a shield, and for whom DEX is often a dump stat, having a bonus to your Initiative can be really important. Stack that with Jack of All Trades, so you add another half of your prof bonus on top of that and you've now got +3-+6 on your initiative, and your allies within 10' get your prof bonus on their initiative, which is often excellent for casters who also don't have a great Dex.
You should have an AC in the low 20's, a wide variety of spells you can use for support and battlefield control, both single target and AoE, the ability to attack twice and smite on your crits. This is an excellent off-tank/support character who can really shine in combat and social situations. You have a good Charisma and Expertise, so with Silver Tongue you can probably talk your way through anything and be a very good face for the party if needed.
Hexadin is one of my favorite builds I made recently. At first my DM looked at me funny when I rolled up with my lvl 1 paladin with only a 13 str and a 20 cha (we roll for stats). It all dawned on him once I got my first level increase
I think my favorite part about fighter as a dip for a paladin is you actually have a reason to go into melee, it's not a good reason but it's a reason
On the topic of Paladin/Rogue, a buddy of mine built a Vengeance Paladin + Assassin Rogue multiclass that he called “The Paladin of Angst”. He loved running this poor tormented character. Turns out that a guaranteed crit with Divine Smite at the start of combat is really strong.
These tier list videos have been helping me to figure out what my first shot at a multiclass should be to ease into it.
funny thing is, I saw this and wondered about warlock.
My kid brother went Vengeance Paladin/Hexblade Warlock in a Gestalt game run by a friend of ours. He slapped before Misty Stepping away to heal himself, letting my Battle Master Fighter/ Bear Totem Barbarian solo a group of wargs and goblins by becoming a turbine on them.
The guy running it, who wanted to run a gestalt game in order to hone his DM skills, said our characters were OP.
XD
No, they weren't OP. They were characters that were run effectively. Any DM worth the time would look at this as 1) his friends really enjoying the campaign, 2) an excellent challenge for his DM'ing skills, and 3) great ideas for future NPC encounters to challenge the players with.
Having played D&D since the little white box in 1976, I've learned there is no such thing as an OP character; merely bad DM's. What's good for PCs is also good for NPCs.
Here's an interesting idea... animate objects, on a clutch of ten arrows, each with a ring of Spell Storing, Storing a supercharged fireball, from a ranger using rain of arrows. A dair bit of set up for ten simultaneously cast super fireballs
Can't wait for the monk multi-class tier list.
*puts everything in D-tier*
idk why, but whenever i listen to your videos while making a character they always end up as a walking incarnation of death by 6th level, so thanks for the free powerbuild generation method
Rage messing with spellcasting is the same problem I have with my College of Swords bard taking Tenser’s Transformation as a Bardic Secret at Lvl 14. But because I multiclass into Paladin, I just use my Bard spellslots for Smite. There’s a reason my Combat Bard is an absolute _nightmare_ to fight against. With the other party spellcasters to counter enemy mages, and a rampaging Bear Totem next to me, we absolutely tear through our enemies.
Barbarian is an A-tier multiclass for Paladins. All you need is two levels and you get rage and reckless attack. Rage is nice, but you don't need to rage if you're concerned about spells. What I'm really after is reckless attack to fish for crits to make my GWM attacks and smites even more effective. If you're okay skipping concentration spells, you can rage for damage resistance and a little bonus damage. Grab yourself a Paladin/Barb half-orc w/ GWF and GWM and a greataxe and you're looking at 1d12+17 twice per round with advantage. If you crit, that's 3d12+17 and you can reroll 1s and 2s if you get a bad dice, then you add your double dice smite damage.
3 Levels of Armorer is pretty juicy on the Paladin. It also functionally allows you to ignore Str outside of the 13.
Speaking as someone who loves the Armorer, I don't think that focusing on Int instead makes you much better as far as a primary Paladin goes. The reason the Hexblade is so good with Paladin is that it makes them way less MAD, and with a single level in Hexblade and Custom Lineage you can have 20 Cha by level 5.
@@SavageGreywolf For sure! I was just saying it makes the MADness less severe
Great video. I would like to see a top 10 to 15 list of the best sub-classes multi-classed with Paladin. Hexblade, bladesinger, etc. I’ve got a PC that’s been running a Paladin oathbreaker-7/ college of Whispers bard 6/ hexblade 1to great effect in combat and in social intrigue. It’s been fun to see.
Man, this makes me miss some of the Pathfinder 1e stuff like Nornkith Monk who could use CHA in place of WIS as a monk. I wish we had just a little more stuff like that in 5e, like an INT Warlock who actually studies under their patron like Faust, or a STR sorcerer who casts spells with their gains. Dragon monk easily could have been CHA based.
They had kinda a constitution based sorcerer in UA but it never made it to print
love your videos outlaw funny as hell egerly waiting for a monk tier to get new spicy build ideas
I hope you do a Monk multiclass video soon, I’m curious to see what goes well with them if anything.
Same here
Druids not wearing metal armour is a big detractor for me - especially when most Paladin’s don’t have a great DEX. They need that chain and plate mail.
You can RAGE if you're wearing anything other than heavy armour. The heaviest you can wear whilst retaining RAGE is Half-Plate, which falls under the medium armour category.
Edit: Going for the Rogue/Paladin build can work, especially if multi classing Rogue with Vengeance Paladin. Vow of Enmity gives your melee attacks automatic advantage, meaning that unless some pesky disadvantage mitigates that, Sneak Attack paired with Smite is a go.
For a paladin/barbarian, just go ahead and ditch the heavy armor and pick up some medium armor. Half plate works really well (although expensive) and makes you less MAD.
I played an Oath of Vengeance Paladin/Bear totem barbarian, and was the undisputed powerhouse of our team.
And since Barb's cant cast spells while Raging, you can plan to use ALL your spell slots for Smites! And being able to use Healing Hands on yourself to heal yourself while Raging (which Barbarians don't really have the ability to do on their own) because Healing Hands isn't a spell..... That's fucking awesome!
Well its not mad, you just cant benefit from rage while in heavy armor so if your wanting to use rage you gotta drop the heavy.
@@kingwildcat6192000 I was more saying that because of Offbeat claiming it makes the build MAD, which I find objectively false. Odds are a paladin is going to already have a decent constitution, since they're on the front lines a lot, and most barbarians I see don't really care about getting hit due to their high hitpoints and resistances. (Especially the bear totem.)
I could see a tiny Monk dip having a part to play, in a straight up dex build, as it would allow you to make Longswords finesse. Making it a straight downgrade from Hexblade, but yeah.
Can't wait too see this guy dealing on the monk multiclass tierlist
I may be biased because warlock is my favorite class but Warlock/Paladin is probably the best Paladin multiclass. Divine smites that come back on a short rest is kinda nutty
In my homebrew world there a group of Paladin (consist of Glory and Watcher)/Rogue (Soulknife). They pair up and use Protection and then go in for some sneak attack + divine strike. Very useful.
Paladin/Wizard is so good! Specifically Bladesinger. This is because you can smite with your wizard slots! Just taking two levels in paladin to get divine smite is so worth it for a bladesinger. You can dish out smites like it’s nothing!
super stat hungry
@@PUNishment777 Agreed, you need a 13 in 3 stats where you’re better off multiclassing on a class that needs strength or charisma already. Perhaps a college of swords bard or a Paladin barbarian.
You can smite with any full spellcaster slot. Wizard doesn't offer anything that bard or sorcerer could give.
@@fasterpet Except for bladesinger stuff. This is talking about making a bladesinger better by dipping into paladin
Awesome video outlaw, keep up the great work. Can't wait to see what your thoughts on the cleric multiclass tier list.
Barbarian2-3/Paladin6+ is easily one of the best, if not _the_ best, meatshields in the game; aura to protect the party, and high AC plus resistances to protect yourself. Paladins have enough non-concentration, long-duration, and/or non-combat spells to still find uses for their spell slots outside of smites. You can still always use Lay on Hands in a pinch. Plus you can always choose whether or not you think it's better to Rage for a fight or use one of your concentration spells. Basically just treat Rage as a concentration spell that grants the benefits of Rage.
A case can be made for any multi class build, even monk/paladin. The demon armor makes unarmed strkes count as weapon attacks, so you can divine smite 4 times a turn!
Also, due to the way that wildshape and the beast stat blocks are worded, you can divine smite with teeth, claws, and any other wildshape attacks. Finally, you get an extra attack, so you get that on any wildshape that doesn't have extra attack already. This is my favorite build
War Cleric is the best 1 level caster dip for a martial character other than Hexblade (situational on whether you have charisma). Free bonus action attacks and healing spells? Amazing
Fighter is indeed great...for combat. Exploration and social pillars leave a bit to be desired which is the only reason I hardly pick Fighter. A dip perhaps but always have trouble justifying it over other choices or staying with my primary
Yeah the very small fighter utility abilities feel kinda like consolation prizes.
I’ve been looking for a class to use with paladin. Thanks!
Depending what your wanting I recommend, fighter or sorcerer (highly receommend) or warlock (highly recommend) or barbarian. Best classes to go with your pally class. Bard is a bit meh as it goes against what pally wants to do and leads you to either be a tanky backliner or a squishier frontliner with too many actions to do.
You can still divine smite while raging technically since it isn’t a spell. So you have a few spells for out of combat as well as a plethora of smites available. Which would make Paladin a great spell castor class to pair with barbarian.
Half-Orc Paladin/Barbarian soloed EVERYTHING.
Room full of assailants? Bonus action Champion Challenge, none of them could hit him and the one that crit did 5 damage.
Locked in a room with three horned devils? No problem, rage, reckless, divine smite. Between armor, rage and high con saves their damage output was cut to about 1/8th. And then he just healed it off with lay on hands (not a spell, so you can do it while raging).
And then the final boss, a spellcasting giant. Call lightning? Don't care. Giant magical greatsword? Don't care. Mass fear effect? Aura of courage. I will shrug off everything you throw at me and keep swinging till you die. Beg for mercy from the ultimate tank
Funny enough, I did instinctively pick a paladin for my first game because it was a dab of spellcasting, a dab of melee combat, a little tanky, etc. And i figured i'd learn all the major mechanics naturally. Hearing you say that makes me feel like my critical assessment skills are pretty good
>2nd lvl hexblade warlock, pact of the tome
>7th lvl oathbreaker
>20 cha
>Hexblade's curse
>Longsword, versatile
>GWM
Enjoy your +44 damage before smite after both attacks.
Druid barbarian paladin. Walk around as a raging brown bear smiting people with the power of the gods.
A paladin with sword and shield and chainmail armor, giving it an armor class of 18, on top of giving it a barbarian rage during a divine smite, it sounds terrifying
If you are something else and want to multiclass, monk is rarely a good option
But what if you're monk and want to multiclass, what becomes good options?
(Predictions follow after "see more")
High tier: Ranger, Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Fighter
Mid tier: Barbarian, Rogue, Bard, Artificer
Low tier: Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock,
As a fellow fighter simp this made me smile.
I built a paladin druid multiclass who essentially was a stoner and champion of the sick rager. Lotta fun with him
Divine soul giving you cleric spells with charisma.
Spiritual weapon and spirit guardians go. 5 to 6 levels sorcerer depending if you want the lvl 15 paly subclass feature
May even start with 1 level sorcerer for con saves, but you give up heavy armor, so I say resilient Con is better.
And if you can fit it use meta magic adept feat for more Meta magics
Can't wait to see the Monk Teirlist's Skit
I remember the day i have taken 3 levels in death domain cleric as 8 level paladin, oh boy the smite as hurting more than normal with the channel divinity
Sorcerer above Bard (Sorcerer just has all the spells you want as a melee character: shield, counterspell, even spirit guardians if you go divine soul sorcerer. Bard has like...none of the spells you want, so you really need to lean into magical secrets). Also, using quicken on a spell with your bonus action, and attacking with your action is very good action economy. There's a reason the community has a catchy name for sorcadin and not for...scorcabard?
Mono-class paladin higher; A or even God tier. Paladin has a cluster of very good features around level 10-13 (aura of courage, improved divine smite, find greater steed), and an incredible feature at 18 (30 foot auras).
Warlock...has an argument for #1 even ignoring hexblade. You can take 3 levels in any warlock, pick pact of the tome, and get CHA based Shillelagh. 2 levels for Eldritch Blast also just cleans up the main weakness of paladin (being melee only).
Cleric should be a tier below wizard, and maybe even slightly below Druid. Just...too much overlap in the spell list, and channel divinity just has an explicit "multiclassing this doesn't give you additional uses of channel divinity" (much like extra attack). A lot of anti-synergy. By comparison, Wizard offers spells you don't have (like shield), and gives you back spell slots on a short rest with arcane recovery (more smites) and has better ritual casting. Druid...yeah, I'm not sure if Druid or Cleric is better, but Druid still offers some spells you don't have but want (like Goodberry and Absorb Elements), and wildshape is not channel divinity so it doesn't get slapped by multiclassing rules.
Fighter...theoretically solid but...I rarely see people take fighter on paladin. 3 levels of no spell slot gain is just a tough sell. Levels tend to be really precious in paladin builds--you need so many levels in everything to make paladins work. Granted, Paladin->Wizards are also theoretically solid and also builds I rarely see, so fighter and wizard probably similar tier.
I kinda want to bump rogue up to A cause at least I've seen it once or twice. Usually on those bad "take assassin and then get a suprise round and auto crit your smites" builds, but at least I've seen it. But even outside of that, 2 levels for cunning action? Sure, lets you do things like hit an enemy then move back to your team to provide aura.
I would probably do
(TIER 1, see these all the time, easy to justify)
1. Warlock
2. Sorcerer
3. Paladin
(TIER 1.5, would probably be tier 1 if sorcerer didn't exist)
4. Bard
(TIER 2, not popular, or needs weird stats, but I've seen them from time to time and you can make solid arguments for these having enough unique advantages to justify a build)
5. Wizard
6. Fighter
7. Rogue (maybe)
(tier 3-5)
everything else.
Another thing that makes Bard a god-tier multiclass for Paladin: Eloquence. With this multiclass, you are _the_ Face of your party.
Now, let's assume you take three levels in Eloquence Bard, with at least two levels in Paladin, and we'll just say that you have a 14 in Charisma (low-balling, I know). Now, if you put that Expertise into Deception and Persuasion, then you absolutely _cannot_ roll below an 18 in those checks. Even a Nat-1 in Persuasion becomes an _instant_ Nat-18, because Eloquence, and it only goes higher from there.
I feel like Rogue should have been ranked higher, due to Swashbuckler. At the very least, it should rank higher than Artificer. Swashbuckler gives you advantage against single targets, which gives you a lot higher of a chance to smite enemies (after all, no hit = no smite). It also boosts your Initiative equal to your Charisma modifier, meaning that (with Heavy Armor) you have more of a reason to simply dump Dex. If you're going with Medium armor instead, then you still have no reason to boost it up beyond 14. Plus, the evasiveness allows you to tank damage like a pro, as you mentioned. To me, this puts Rogue as being at _least_ the top of B-tier, if not low A-tier. Not godly, but definitely improves your melee capabilities.
Sorcerer may be good, but to me, it's not too _great._ Everything Sorcerer can give Paladin, you can also get from Bard, for the most part. Sure, you can get Shield and Silvery Barbs, but if you should already be tanky enough with Full Plate (or Half Plate and 14 Dex) and a shield. Metamagic, while useful, will tax the number of spell slots that you're trying to supply, in order to mitigate Paladin's biggest weakness. After all, you'll have to decide if you're going to let your spell slots be drained by your _casting,_ or by your _smiting._ Obviously above A-Tier still, but not as high as Bard.
And, of course, Warlock. You're not going Hexblade for Warlock. You're going Hexblade for Hexblade and Hexblade Accessories.
That way, you can bring the most Pro-Pain. >:3
Seriously, what can I say about Warlock, that you haven't? Spell slots come back on a short rest, so you mitigate the Paladin's spell slot dependency (sometimes more so than going Bard or Sorc), Eldritch Smite, as you mentioned, lets you double-smite and cleave through enemies, Eldritch Blast is decent for sniping enemies that are outside of sword range, and (most importantly), you no longer depend on Strength for melee damage. After all, Hex Warrior lets you attack and damage enemies with your Charisma stat instead (on top of the bonus damage from Hexblade's Curse [On top of Paladin's Divine Smites {on top of Eldritch Smite }]).
I'd also mention Lifedrinker, but that takes 12 levels in Warlock (which kinda means you'd be multiclassing into _Paladin,_ instead of the other way around). That, and I uhhh... I kinda ran out of types of parentheses and brackets there...
Still. Hexblade Tier = Best Tier.
I love paladin thank you
Paladin as a class on it's own warrants A tier but Respect
Pally as the best beginner class? Interesting take. I see where you are coming from and i can see some beginners that would like that exploration of different arch types like control, melee spell casting. I would have said fighter, rouge would be the easiest and i would say cleric because the access to the whole spell list. Of course barbarian probably god tier choice
I ended up with a wood elf Rogue (Swashbuckler) 3, Warlock (Hexblade) 2, Paladin (Vengeance) 10 for a 15th level character. Best character I've ever had and I've been playing D&D since the little white box first came out in the 70s. Too bad OneD&D is going to kill that combination.
Warlock and fighter are the 2 best classes for burst damage with paladin. Divine+Eldritch Smites and action surge means you can kill just about anything if you're willing to spend the resources
Excited for a Sorcerer version of this.
Actually a fan of this list, not a bad list, lot of cool options. Glad to know my concept for a Sorcerer Paladin is a good one, even if it probably isn't the most optimized build. It's been awhile but I think it was Oath of Conquest Paladin/Shadow Magic Sorcerer... if only for the 6th level ability to summon shadow hounds...
Honestly... the initial idea was mostly for flavor as an inquisition kind of leader, hunter of dark beings to end them... dark being anything that threatens the status quo of the empire... eh, still seems like a fun idea actually.
If you keep making these for all the classes I'll keep watching them for all the classes. It's fun, always funny to see fighter go high but hey it ain't your fault they're good :P
I'm excited to see one for Rogue, not a lot of MADcy with them only needing Dex (even that's negotiable in some builds) and being very flexible about their mental stats
Okay, hear me out:
>5 levels Paladin because this is a Paladin build and you get extra attack and most of the essential Paladin abilities by 5th level
>2 levels Fighter for Action Surge, proficiencies you get for just being a Fighter, etc.
>3 levels Warlock for pact features, eldritch invocations, etc.
That is my 10th level Paladin-focused build. You should also probably pick the Variant Human or Tiefling race because you can get extremely good utility with the feats of VH and innate magic of Tiefling. Variant Human with Magic Initiate is better than pretty much everything else in spades btw, you should probably pick Prestidigitation for one of your cantrips and either Shield or Find Familiar for your 1st level spell because Find Familiar is just about the coolest and best utility spell you can get, and Shield is basically just "oh, silly DM, you thought you could damage me?!" in spell form, but it works for literally every possible situation so long as you have a spell slot. Also, you can get Find Familiar as the Pact of the Chain feature, so if you plan to use the spell with that, then pick something other than Find Familiar for the feat option.
After that, continue to level up Paladin. You will guarantee every ability up to level 15, which gives you enough juice to survive at 20th level, and a ton of cool DM-annoying abilities and party buffs, and some good Smite juice as both a leveling and spell slot gaining thing (you get two 4th level spell slots at 15th level).
But… never stop pally levels at 5. Aura is at 6, best passive ability in the game.
@@duncanohio true.
As I said, though, you should then continue to level up Pally for all those extra abilities, but *after* the others. I built it around the idea that all of your other abilities would compensate for not having an aura yet, which is why 2 levels in Fighter was first, because you get Action surge in one less level than the Warlock and it adds enough extra damage with Action Surge to compensate for bonuses, for the most part. The build also originally used Warlock instead of Sorcerer, with Metamagic Quickened and Twinned spell in mind. The 10 foot range really enforced this idea.
Also, I decided it just wasn't worth taking the extra level and holding off the synergy for that long; while I do love the aura and agree with what you said, it just wasn't worth dipping for yet, in my mind. After I switched out Sorcerer with Warlock, the build mentally switched from semi-support to full DPS with a bit of healing, which lessened the value of the aura to me.
Your feedback is appreciated though, I tweaked my personal build a bit from it and my plans changed slightly, so thanks.
I enjoy playing paladin/cleric most of the time it is very practical
I feel like barbarian got a little bit overlooked. Only a 3 level dip can give bear totem, so resistance to almost all damage, extra damage on attacks and advantage on all attacks with reckless. A melee focused paladin would be both a paladin that can rage and a barbarian that can smite. Admittedly losing the spellcasting is a blow, but you don't have to rage every time a fight breaks out 🤷🏻♂️
Conquest paladin with undead warlock is pretty good especially if you pick up shield master at 4th or 1st level. You only really need 3 or 4 levels in warlock to get the benefits.
Don't forget that Warlocks can give you regenerating Spell Slots. That alone is why I would give them the S Tier :D
as someone who just started playing a Ancients Paladin/Rune Knight Fighter, Paladin Fighter is god tier
Barbarian goes up to S tier since you can divine smite while raging, it's not technically a spell so it bypasses the rage restrictions. I was going to take two levels barbarian but messed up making dex my dump stat, I can't go down to medium armor because I have - 2 dex.
Though super niche and dm dependant, I've gotten a multiclass of 14 Monk 6 Paladin to work in a one shot. Our starting stats were based off an "empowered starting array" from dungeons dudes and the half elf race. My 8 was in Int and 10 in Con. Started with an 14 Charisma, 13 Strength, 18 Wis, and 16 Dex. Astral Monk with Vengeance Paladin. All of my unarmed strikes would be used with Wis, and my magic items included an Amulet of Health for Con= 19 and a +3 Longsword which I made a Monk/Dedicated weapon in case I wanted to smite. I maxed out Cha and Wis at 20 with my ASI, and was allowed the Manual to increase my Dex by +2. It was a powerful build for the one shot, but there is no way it comes together over the course of a real campaign organically.
Ok but that is a monk multiclassed into paladin not a paladin multiclassed into monk
Reborn Warlock Paladin: As a paladin were killed by lich and raised to serve them, but after they were defeated centuries ago you come back undead
I’d put the warlock above the bard even, as its spell slots are regained on a short rest, giving you two extra smites on a short rest with just one level of warlock.
I hate to be the one to say it, but I am still not convinced that any class is worth dipping into as a Paladin. However, I am coming from playing in multiple campaigns that started at level 1, had no set level cap that players knew about, and most certainly would not go to level 20. If I was creating one that would go all the way to level 20, especially if starting at a much higher level, I can certainly agree with alot more of this list. From where I am coming from though, any dip away from Paladin is a fairly big hit when you don't know if it will pay off or not.
Of course, I also think the Paladin class is arguably the most balanced and complete class in 5e. Not the strongest, but just really thoughtfully put together...except for you divine sense!
the thing about raw is that there are only 4 types of attacks melee weapon, ranged weapon, melee spell, and ranged spell. unarmed strike counts as a melee weapon attack.
I think you are massively undervaluing Barbarian. Getting Reckless Attack and Rage are amazing and you can just use your spell slots for smites and casting Aid and Find Steed. I had a player play a Vengeance Paladin X/Zealot Barbarian 3 in a recent one-shot and it cleaned house.
Bladesinger Wizard + Paladin (Any Oath) was my favorite multiclass I have ever done.\
strangely enough at level 20, a monk paladin is good enough (14 monk for prof in all saves, 6 paladin for aura of protection)
you only need dex and wis 13, while you can have decent str and god chr (max out chr for the full benefit of AoP)
go for the race human (standard) and (if using point buy) put points 14 13 9 9 12 15 (netting us 15 str for plate, 13 dex, 10 con, 10 int, 13 wis, and 16 chr) then two full asi for chr (putting us at 20 chr)
you can now have a +11 in all saving throws (getting up to +16 in chr) and 21 ac (defense fighting style)
hp won't be great, but you could have the item amulet of health (which boosts avg hp to 190)
Just came across your channel, i love your takes, excited to see ur thoughts on bard multiclasses as im currently playing one and am thinking of multiclassing but am not sure which way to go, maybe divination wizard 2 or 3 cause i have a 14 intelligence for some reason :D
currently running a Vengeance/Battlemaster Dragonborn paladrgn. she hits like a garbage truck full of Kerosene and lit sparklers. main weapon is a flame tongue greatsword.
Wait I distinctly remember the first smite you get you can since unarmed counts as weapon attacks, however the improved smite specifically calls for actual weapons to be used in the smite, or was that errata'd without my knowledge?
You should be able to flurry of blow + smite for you can use flurry of blows with monk weapons unless they both require action use. But I call it a Mr. Miyagi monk paladin.
this man and his warriors man
I'm in a campaign that is currently level 14. Our Paladin has the set of 2 Fighter / X Paladin. With the Oath of Vengeance, this paladin can deal lots of damage. Outlaw isn't a simp for wanting to put the Fighter in God Tier. Action Surge on a Paladin is ridiculous.
I can't wait to see the artificer multiclass tier list
Good intro, you had me hitting that like button in just 10 seconds.
I'll take it back if there's too many shit takes though. (please don't make me take it back)
I think sorcerer is a tad bit better than bard for the paladin where the bard complements what a base paladin does certain subclasses of a sorcerer really let you hone that niche. For example divine soul sorcerer lets you have that cleric cake and eat it too having the cleric spell list on top of allowing it to be charisma instead of wisdom is a huge boon or a the shadow sorcerer with the hound of ill omen makes those paladin spells come in clutch like hold person
Back before the crawfish says we couldn’t use smites on unarmed strikes. Monk/paladin was fun as hell
Crayfish is wrong. Melee strikes count as melee weapon attacks for Monk. >>
ive been thinking about this for the last couple videos of this but would you be willing to do a bloodhunter dedicated video like this and also show us where blood hunter would rate in the other classes?
What are your thoughts on the paladin/sorcerer/warlock multi class? I got a build going on now with conquest paladin 6, divine soul sorcerer 11, hexblade warlock 3. Can summon any weapon since its proficient in everything, metamagic, hexblades curse. It’s just so much fun
Definitely want to see a cleric multiclass thing. Definitely not just because I wanna make a Strength Domain cleric from Amonket Planeshift and want ideas for multi…