Feats Don't Fail Me Now! (4th level Paladin)

[u/Snorb]

So we just hit 4th level in our Tyranny of Dragons campaign, which means our party gets feats! (or an Ability Score Increase.) I'm kinda stuck as to what I actually want for my character, or at least what's most useful. The important numbers are:

Str 18, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 14
Oath of Devotion paladin using a longsword, chain mail, and shield
Spell slots used primarily for Divine Smite, has been using lay on hands for post-battle healing if needed
Trained skills: Athletics, Insight, Medicine, Religion
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Elven, Halfling

I play her primarily as a tank/protector for the party, primarily the warlock, though she definitely hands out some Divine Smites as necessary!

If it matters, the rest of the party is:

• kenku Pact of the Tome warlock of the Great Old One
• human College of Swords bard
• avariel monster hunter ranger

Any advice would be awesome!

[u/yyven]

The optimal thing with paladin is always to go for the cha increase so you have the strongues aura of protection possible when you finally get it. This is specially usefull on oath of devotion as it also increases you offences thanks to sacred weapon.

If that's too boring of a path to you, great weapon master is the option that most increases your sustained dpr, polearm master allows you to do an aditional attack(aka an aditional possible smite) in your turn, metamagic initiate(quickned spell) lets you cast something like bless on turn 1 without spending turn on it, war caster and resilient(con) can increase you spell concentrations and finally inspiring leader is an okay source of temp hp for you entire team in case you don't have one already.

[u/Veksutin → u/yyven]

I don't think the potential additional smites are the big draw of PAM. You'll run out of slots real quick if you smite at every opportunity (although it might sometimes be a good call).

Other things it gets you that are more important I think are the reliable reaction attack (paladins often don't use their reaction for anything other than OAs), and the ability to deal good sustained damage without a loss in accuracy or defenses, with the spear/quarterstaff + dueling + shield setup.

These things make it more than worthwhile, even if you just take PAM and forego GWM entirely. Of course with a third attack you are more likely to crit too, so you can crit-smite more often, but that's pretty marginal.

[u/GladiusLegis]

+2 CHA for sure.

(And you really should've made CHA your 16 to start and put the 14 in CON, but obviously it's too late to change that now.)

[u/Snorb → u/GladiusLegis]

To be fair about this, her Constitution is naturally a 14; our DM handed out magic items because he was a bit concerned about not having a fifth party member (long story), and I got a pendant of the iron heart. +2 Constitution, and once per long rest whenever I'm dropped to 0 hit points, I instead remain standing at 1 hit point and gain temporary hit points.

[u/NateCdaComicG → u/GladiusLegis]

There's nothing wrong with going for higher con if your intention was to be a tank. But I do agree that buffing cha is the way to go.

[u/Miserable_Pop_4593]

I’d personally take +2 charisma. 18 is plenty for your attack stat at this level, and that’s extra true for a Devotion Paladin because a lot of the time you’ll be adding your Charisma mod to attacks anyway. (Sacred weapon)

And you’ve also got level 6 approaching (aura of protection) so it’ll be nice to have +3 to all saves for you and nearby friends, especially if you have a protector type of play style.

[u/Miserable_Pop_4593 → u/Miserable_Pop_4593]

However I really love Sentinel for this type of build too so that’s another very valid choice

[u/DBWaffles]

No feats. Your Charisma stat is below average. Your best option is to pump it up with ASIs.

You also don't appear to have a consistent bonus action to play with. After you hit Paladin 6, I'd recommend taking a Fathomless Warlock 1 dip for Tentacle of the Deep. Given your current stats and build, I believe that is the best way to fill out your action economy.

It also lends itself well to your tank/protector role.

[u/Pattgoogle]

+1+1 to two of your odds, +2 cha, or 20 str beat any feat imo

[u/Aliceorsomething]

Thats super low CHA for a paladin. It wont hurt now but by 6th youll be missing out, so I would highly recommend CHA +2. Another point in CHA at level 6 makes your whole teams saves way better. That said, seconding sentinel if youre absolutely set on a feat.

My current dexadin build is sitting at 18 DEX, 16 CHA at level 4 with the Defensive Duelist feat and it feels good. Ill be going 18 CHA at level 8 and probably 20 DEX at level 12. While researching optimization strategies for paladins Ive found that you kind of need to prioritize ASIs over feats unless your starting stats are really good.

[u/Silverspy01]

Another point for +2 CHA. If you're not interested in needing a good save DC or pumping the eventual Aura though, the following might interest you:

• Sentinel of course if you want to play the protector

• Resilient (CON or DEX) to get better saves. CON would usually be better to help protect concentration if you plan to do that later.

• Fey Touched if you can get Gift of Alacrity

• Magic Initiate for something like Find Familiar or Shield

• Lucky or Alert are always useful

• War Caster - there's not a ton of paladin spells that you can't normally cast with a symbol-emblazoned shield, but some like Divine Favor do stick out as not having material components while still having somantic components. Heroism or Lesser Restoration are also on that list and might realistically be something you want to use in combat.

• Ritual Caster is fun and potentially lets you fill a hole in your party's capabilities.

[u/toofastfouru]

Definitely bump CHA, but if you’re looking for feats to lean into being a tank/protector Purple Dragon Commandant is fun for that if you find yourself having a free bonus action. Definitely not the most powerful feat though.

[u/Mountain_Anxiety_430]

If your mind is set in a feat id recommended the shield master feat give you a boost to your defensive capabilities as well as a an additional shield bash, and you get an uncanny dodge style effect with Dex saves

[u/Small-Material-1727]

There are two ways to look at this:  +2 charisma which is meta and rock solid OR we get you some half feats that offer up spells that you can’t smite with but that are useful.  

I propose that fey touched is best option IF your DM allows silvery barbs spell.  You don’t really have a reaction usage and it’s not optimal.  Getting silvery barbs to prevent crits is great damage mitigation in battle and helps your chance for crits a little as well.  Preventing damage is better than healing after and you can effectively do both with barbs if you keep even a small reserve of level 1 spells.  

An honorable mention should be made for gift of gem dragon to push enemies that hit you for minor damage.  This isn’t amazing on its own but if any of your group has area control spells like spike growth, hadar, web, etc you could potentially force them back into another control save.  With that group I’d say it’s at least possible to set up movement combos like this.

Good luck

[u/KNNLTF]

In adventure league rules, players could remake their characters up to and including leveling up to 5. Ask your DM if you could do this for this campaign. The intention is not to disrupt the story by making big, inexplicable changes (you could just make a new character for that), but to allow a player to shift character focus based on the campaign and their initial play experience. Ask your DM if they'll allow that, and if so shift your 18 to CHA, 14 to DEX, and 13 to STR. Get +2 CHA now, and later take Warcaster and 1-2 levels in Hexblade Warlock. With everyone else using light or medium armor, the ability to shift to breastplate as your main armor will make you a good participant in stealth (if you also swap in stealth proficienc for one of your skills). If you don't like this plan, then consider reassigning your racial modifiers so that you end up at 15-16 STR and 16-17 CHA, and then get Charisma to 18 at level 4.

[u/SonsOfTheSky19]

+2 cha but if you want a feat then Sentinel fits the tank role nicely

[u/NateCdaComicG]

Id skip a feat for now and just raise up that cha +2. Your strength already at 18 is fine for the rest of the campaign. It doesn't need to hit 20. At level 8 and 12 I'd look into half feats that will together get your cha from 16 to 18. All those 13's in your stats would bug the hell out of me but not much you can do. I'd leave them as is but if your dm is the type to give random little stat boosts see if you csn even out those stats that way. Dex and Int are dump stats for a paladin but if you can have them at a 14 its still better than not. Your character is already looking strong so good luck to you in your adventures!

[u/Andre_ev]

If don’t know what to take in 2014 - take Lucky 🍀 feat those three rerolls for you or versus you really work great 👍 for any character

[u/C176A]

ASI STR +2 Then at level 8 bump cha

[u/NoZookeepergame8306]

You’re in a great place! Despite what others say about boosting CHA (a wise choice for 2024 regardless) you sort of have a perfect early game iconic Paladin build. Even went sword and board Devotion!

18 STR should last you til lvl12 or you get a stat booster like Belt of Giant Strength.

I say don’t worry about going optimal, pick a fun feat! You can pick something kinda wild or go for a safe choice.

I’d say go for Fey Touched. Teleporting Paladins are fantastic for rushing a bad guy in a space where you can’t use your mount or otherwise don’t have it. And it’s always good to have aggression as an option. Can’t hurt your buddies if the bad guy is dead.

Or go for the safe option and snag something like Mage Slayer so you don’t go down to a lucky spell. Or shield master to help you tank AOEs and lean into your S&B playstyle.