Paladin is Broken | Dungeons and Dragons 5e Guide 

“It’s very rare for paladins to be evil” My gnoll paladin spreading the good word of the lord Yeenoghu(carnage and unyielding hellfire to all those who dare challenge his wrath) would like a word

“Restrict how you role play” that’s what role play is. Acting within character motivations and beliefs.

I think it depends on which Oaths you take. Oaths of Devotion, Redemption or the Crown? Yeah probably wanna hover around Lawful Good. Ancients, Conquest, and Watcher? Much more ambiguous. Especially Ancients which basically just wants you to respect nature and little else. Vengeance? Do whatever you want so long as you punish the wicked. Oathbreaker? No limits. Do whatever the hell you want.

I love Oath of the Watchers the most. That dark in the shade mystery, and hording information to fight forces from the living gate. So epic.

Yeyy, a new episode of "is Broken". Love it!

This was great. The Paladin in my game is a mix of Thor and Kronk and he cooks and has a horse. Such a good guy. Also, son of Aphrodite, so he's hot and has a rough love life. Oath of Ancients.

This has to be the best paladin video I've seen for d&d especially for new players like myself and my friends who are about to start our first d&d campaign I just want to thank you for this amazing explanation on the class that I'm going to be playing.

I wanted to get an opinion on my paladin's backstory as it helps explain why he changed from lawful good to true neutral. Having caught the head clergy he protected participating in debaucheries despite his projected kind nature ie hiring brigands(with donated gold) to attack rival religions, utilizing brothels and belittling/berating the poor and destitute that he should be helping, he has become disillusioned with his "betters." He hasn't given up his vows, but he chooses to leave the chantry that raised him and keeping the peace in his travels instead of just the town he grew up in, deciding for himself who to help and who to judge. Edit: Being a Sapphire Dragonborn, he has chosen to learn more of his gem ancestry and to carry the symbol of Sardior, a ruby with an inner glow. He had it inlaid into a ring for ease of wear and use.

You are such an underrated channel. I hope you blow up soon! These videos are all top quality and its obvious you put a lot of time and effort into them. Love the vids!

Excellent as always! Bravo! I am with the majority with the vengeance subclass. My Vanguard: Minamoto, Asuga , doesn't have a "god" but rather ancestral worship- Japanese. Vengeance because her father and Emperor were slain... she killed the murders and now is on a path to continue to eradicate the world of their kind. Being that she has ancestral armor and weapons we are using an alternative 5e rule book "Ancestral Weapons" to unlock the powers of her family heirlooms. My other paladin is dual-class. The Green Knight: Ancient Oath + Hexblade to the Raven Queen. No conflicts. The Queen is mother and he is greatful to her for his existence. He will dutifully honor and fight for her. He's sort of warforged. The only metal on him is the armor. His interior is stone. Stone bones covered with thick to thin vines mimicking human anatomy. His hair is vines that actively grow. He's basically green with the head of a jackal, color sandstone. His eyes glow white from an unknown source and his canines are metal plated and sharpened. He doesn't care about his past life; believes he was reincarnated. "Mother" brought him into existence so that's all that matters, the here and now and the burning question, "Do I have a soul?"

I think all martial classes should be well designed and powerful like the Paladin.

I guess my life is more chaotic than I realized. My favorite build and my favorite channel. Thank you so much!!!

Omg, I've been waiting for this one since voting on a poll ages ago!

Been waiting for this one Thankyou!! 👏🏼

Thank God, I've been waiting for this

Oh my god!!!! How ever did I miss this video. I don’t know if I should say thank you first or sorry.

For me, I am currently playing a Aasimar Paladin who is Oath do the Crown. Most people will look at that and think “Man he is just the golden retriever of a character aren’t they?” But that’s not the case. See my character comes from a Noble background and their oath to the crown is that for his own family’s house from where he is from. Meaning he follows the ideals that he grew up with and aren’t just black and white. He follows his family’s views on laws. One thing that makes Oath of the Crown interesting is there is a distinct part about their Oath. That is that you will be willing to do what it takes to allow for the law to stay in place. This allows you to get away with a lot of… questionable actions for a Paladin and not break their oath.

Been waiting for this.

I recently played a Paladin in my current campaign, and I made him Oath of Vengeance. And here’s the fun part: I based him on Darth Vader, right up to the alignment. So this character was definitely not your average lawful good Paladin. I actually worked it out with my DM months in advance to have him play along with our group to achieve their goal until it was time for him to betray them. And it was so much fun. 🤩 It led to a fun chase scene and some great roleplay between me and one of the players whose character developed a close bond with mine; it’s still one of my favorite D&D moments. That character wound up becoming a recurring antagonist for a while in the campaign, which made it all the more delicious when that other player’s character dealt the final blow to him, killing him out of the campaign. So yeah, anybody who thinks paladins are strictly lawful good ain’t thinking deeply enough.

Some oaths are situational. Like an Oath of Devotion not displaying its full potential unless undead and fiends are common in the story. Still, even when your subclass isn't being used, the base class is strong enough to keep you relevant in a fight.

Ahh palidens, I recall a friend of mine being a conquerer vary.... yeah he lived by that oath many a times. False hydras, aboliths, giants. Guy was just diabolical in his problem solvings either in fights or puzzle traps. Said he devoted nearly twenty years to him in his ambitions towards becoming a " respectable " Tyrant

A return to greatness

Oh have I been waiting so long

During one of my games i played a cg oath of conquest paladin who had a rised to take back the land for his king after he was betrayed by his power hungry brother and my boy dealt the final blow with a crit 5 level divine smite to the face when the bbeg turned himself into some undead monstrosity

*Pokes someone with a stick I found on the ground* oops 5d8 radiant damage

I’ve been super busy trying to create the 12 classes of dnd as signs of the zodiac. It just so happens that my astrological sign, cancer the crab, is also my favorite dnd class, the paladin!

Hey Alex, got a question about the spell Thunderous Smite. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does the 2d6 thunder damage occur even if the target makes the Strength save, or does nothing happen if they make the save?

It's heree !!!!!¡!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

Dexadin a criminally underrated imo

They really are. They just do t have that much endurance. Almost all of their stuff besides their aura is active and has a number of uses and unlike fighters and monks they don’t come back on a short rest. They also have no real range options as all of their features want them to be in melee

I am a lawful evil player, assimar Dhampir Subclass Conquest Vengeance Oathbreaker Watchers

You were asking what's the most broken part of the base paladin class? I'd say that it's the Aura of Protection ability at level 6!! Your Charisma mod added to all saving throws(YES, including death saving throws!!)?!?! PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!!! Also, I've already played an Oath of Vengeance paladin. I might try the Oath of Conquest next!!

The Paladin is one of the two most role-play intensive classes in DnD. And unfortunately, many simply don't understand that paladins get their powers because they are exceptionally good people to begin with, not exceptionally religious. The powers are a support to be able to continue the previous way of life. Not a reward for fanatical zeal and certainly not a licence to mutate into a murder hobo. That's why I always tell my players in advance: do you want to play a character who is a protector and diplomat, who is also prepared to use the sword as a last resort to defend the weak, helpless and innocent, or do you want to play a warrior with a divine agenda? The first is the paladin, for the latter you should better play a fighter who is religious by background. A former temple guard or a cleric.

Doesn't say in the players handbook that paladins can be any aliment you want

Thinking of going conquest and 1 lvl in undead warlock. Big fear combo

They should DEFINITELY flop Aura of Courage and Aura of Protection as far as level placement goes. My DM hadn't had a paladin at the table before me, and let's just say that a barbarian/fighter, Monk, and Vengeance Paladin Swarming with a wizard in the back didn't go over well.

Great weapon fighting really needs to apply to smite dice, otherwise there's virtually no reason not to just go 1H and shield and have almost the same amount of damage output but with up to +5 AC. Hell even with smite rerolls the shield is probably still more valuable but at least this makes 2H weapons have at least some cool appeal for ensuring those crits are almost certainly gonna slap

The Silver Flame enters the comments. They're they most morel grey ones you'll come across.

I have a problem with the Oath system. I do want to try a paladin sometime but I don't like playing a purely good character and feel like the Oath system is very limiting. I've talked to several people about this and some of them have said that I should think of the Oath of the Paladin as a guideline and not as ironclad rules that the paladin has to follow all the time. Side note My buddy in our homebrewed Saltmarsh campaign plays a paladin and he is thirstier than our bard Npc. Also, he plans on taking levels in bard soon. The thing that scares me is his reasoning for this is well I feel like taking the bard class as a currently level five paladin speaks for itself.

0:26 i havent seen the rest of the video yet. But everytime people say "Paladins must be lawfull good" This is just rubs me the wrong way. I will watch the video till the end and probably add more to this later... But just those few lines deserve the rant below. (no hate to the creator, its my beef with the book) I am currently playing a lawful evil paladin. His personal/family goal is to reunite the shattered kingdom of guillion in which his family holds a noble house. So here is the thing, he believes that the unification of the kingdom is the greater good. And so i will do that by ANY means necessary. Also in general, most paladins are "noble", that means that you are an aristocrat. Insulting noble/royal bloodline is punishable by death for commoners... That doesnt sound to "good" but it is acording to the law. Basically the only thing you MUST do as a "GOOD" paladin is vanquish evil, undead, fieds, tieflings.... Because it would be pretty difficult to tell your god that you are friends with his enemies. But there really is no need to play the goody two shoes as a paladin. You can do plenty of evil stuff if you do it for the right reasons. Remember the crusades? Yeah those were basically "paladins" of the real world. That event is hardly labled as "good". And on the guise of religion you can go far... Witch hunts, burning people at the stake, forcing pety criminals to repent in ways that they couldnt possibly do. Killing heretics, who is a heretic, literally anyone who doesnt follow your god. Hell... or Heaven... even those who do follow your god but dont follow him enough in your eyes. You can do SO MUCH EVIL as a paladin in the name of "good" it really is amazing. I mean yeah, you cant really be a murder hobo unless ur vengeance or oathbroken.... But even as a Conquest paladin (which i currently am) you can still kill people by the number when for example you are claiming an area in the name of your king/religon/god. EDIT: Ok so he did mention this to some degree... im happy :)

Oath of Glory is top tier imo

I am a paladin in a group of a bard, a rogue, a ranger and sorcerer… they all hide while I am there taking the heat on my own. I literally have no stealth and no dexterity. Last time when we were taking on 15 cultists who 8 of them were surrounding me and all of them were hiding in the bushes, I couldn’t move… all I could do was hit people with my axe. (Yes, not the long sword but the sorcerer gave it to me) … and then they complained I didn’t hide lol..

In my experience, most people really have a hard time playing a good person with a just heart and either over play the paladins abilities or the lawful good alignment

I'm a noob... and I'm trying to put together a chaotic evil Paladin. 😂 would be my first Paladin ever 😂

Sadly I found pure paladin builds unremarkable in combat outside of the moments where smites happen or saving throws are rolled. If however one gets some levels in hexblade and or Divine soul...

I play a Glory Paladin but making super-low damage. Never rolling those 20s, so Smite does barely any damage. Not really feeling OP at all. Doing mere 7-12 damage while the hunter ranger deals 50+ damage.

You changed something. A roll has more noise in it...hmm

So my friend wants to make a Bretonnian Paladin for DND. Which Oath would be the most appropriate?

I’ve played non-good paladins 5e has no alignment restrictions for paladins I’ve played numerous evil campaigns and unlike the trope they have been the tightest most dependable parties I’ve even been in.

I disagree with the ‘yuck’ on the tenets. Restrictions can often foster more creativity than limitless freedom. If you’re character is playing a religiously devote person who draws powers from their ideals, you should have rules those ideals impose.

Booyah

I'm playing Paladin for the first time and my group is making me nervous. I picked Oath of Glory as it fits my guys backstory/personality but the group was pretty critical about it. Claiming there are much better options and I should consider being an Oathbreaker. Honestly I felt insulted by the suggestion xP

5

Paladins are funny as they are as broken as you and your DM let them be. Point 1 - RP as the Pal(adin). Remember that in older editions Paladins had to police the party and that is NEVER the way to play them now. It was wrong then and is now. No matter how good your Paladin is - or not - it is best you lead by example. If the Rogue steals that is his issue let the cleric wag the finger. Next time you see the bad guy steal something a snide remark about he steals too should be avoided. But if he asks why you are not happy when the others do then maybe you say that there was another way IF THERE WAS ONE. If there was no other way, maybe shake your head and say so. But you never turn them over to the guard because you are devotion paladin . If you can you make amends you do because you can’t be a Paladin unless you are first a “Pal” to your party. Point 2. Paladin capstones are an “attractive hazard”. The paladins are mostly great for the capstones but you are almost never going to get there. Ask you dm for the honest truth if you will or not have a 90% chance of getting to level 20. If so then mutliclassing is off the table - trust me being a Paladin level 20 is a RPGer capstone too. But if not… Point 3. Consider the moment you will multiclasses and how and plan that at the beginning of your session 0. There is no great time to leave but consider 2 a min, 6 is optimal and 7 is a watcher’s perfect time to go. Fighters are great multi class options (at least two levels but getting Samurai or Echo Knight are worth the 3 level) They also work great with Bards (focusing in on party support), Sorcerer (because you can smite more with full caster slots) or Hexblade…I mean warlock (okay I meant Hexblade so you can be more Single attribute dependent and have 2 short rest smites). Point 4. DMs often forget to make sure Paladin players have the eyes of the world on them - but some do only when you mess up. Try to keep you oath on a card at the table write a short phase to remind you under your character name. Some DMs love tripping up players in that thinking this is how they will balance the power but you as player can RP better and avoid this issue with this tip. Point 5. Smites and mounts. This is the place where all DMs hate me telling you something important- get your mount and make sure they are large. Even though you have few ASI get the Mounted Combatant feat. This does a) get you to the enemy to smite b) when you get there if they are smaller then your steed (often true) you get advantage. Now with your attack you can attack twice for a total of 4 dice. On your first set you have about 20% of a critical (perfect for smiting) if you do this three times you get about a 60% (58%) of the same. General rule on smiting, smite early but not often (BBEG and dragons always smite). The idea is you don’t want to use a smite and to 30pts on an injured Kobold if there is not good reason for that. If your dm runs few combats or you know you can retire to a long rest go for it but try not to over kill and have something in the tank for the next fight. I know it is long, again but these are the points I think a Paladin should consider when they pick up the class. Of course, background is very important and heck of you can manage to pick up a feat extra or two it is always a great idea Great weapon master, Heavy armor master and inspiring Leader all help a lot too) and species picks like Aasimar can be sweet when you need to fly up to an enemy and smite them down). So many options but just one thing never changes that oath!

"The Class loosely suggests some guidelines for you to follow, that you're free to ignore at your table. Yuck, how dare they."😂😂😂😂😂Think up a cool, compelling backstory for why your character isn't Lawful good, ignore the lore, or play any of the zillion other options (Including some of the Oaths who's tenets are not necessarily good or lawful), but don't bash the cool lore that's necessary for decent world building. If you want absolutely no guidelines for Character creation, then your choices are to ignore the lore of whatever setting you use, or have really crappy lore.

🆗️🎁🤔🕵🕵‍♀️🕵‍♂️🕵‍♀️

You don't even need to do a video for this. Everybody knows Paladins are broken. ;)

Everything about 5e is broken.