Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Paladin Build

Hello, what are your best ideas to build a BG3 Paladin?
I'm testing this setup :

Human
Background : Noble or Soldier
Strength 12
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 9
Wis 14
Cha 16

I sacrificed a bit in strength because the Paladin is supposed to be way more useful for the group later on with his Charisma-based powers (auras...) and to get nice results in dialogs (Intimidiation, bargaining...) and I put a decent score in Dex/Con/Wis for the reccuring saving throws. So far I'm happy with the results.

With the Diadem of intelligence on the Ogre, my Int goes to 17, but I'm not sure to keep it for the tough fights, as it would be better to have a critical hits protection.

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My question for you is what do you choose as a fighting style? It's a bit confusing for me.
I notice 2 options for tank (Defence, Protection) and 2 offensive (Dueling for 1H, Great Weapon Fighting for 2H)
[Edit : this is the french translation that was confusing me, in english it's clearer ^^ they did not specify clearly which kind of weapon was boosted]

In https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/paladin/ they state for Defense that "Not very exciting, but since AC scales so little in 5e a +1 can be a big difference." and that the other options are not crazy and don't compensate for the difference.

For one Paladin that is not willing to act as the main tank, what do you advice ? (I'm unsure yet if I will go 2 handed or 2 weapons or 1 handed weapon and shield, I think I'll switch sometimes according to the fight difficulty)
For Early Access, there aregreat options for 2-handed weapons that 1-handed, but there are decent 1-H weapons as well. I'm curious to know your experience in D&D 5th edition.

If you like switching weapons often, then Defence is the way to go. Always on no matter what.

At level 6 paladins get divine grace, their charisma modifier to their saves + allies within 10'. Boosting charisma is the most efficient way to have high saves for a paladin.

Str12 is going to cause you a lot of frustration against the higher (17+) ACs. I suppose if you boost Dex and go duel-wielding or finesse weapons, you'll do fine. Then again, if you're okay with befriending Auntie Ethel, you'll have a steady supply of Hill giant strength potions, and it won't matter.

[Edit]
I went human: Str16, Dex14, Con14, Int9, Wis12, Cha14. Gale's my friend and shores up knowledge skills.

You should be soldier to get intimidation / persuasion / atlethic and another one of your choice.

Human :

Str : 16
Dex : 10 (11?)
Con : 14
Int : 10
Wis : 10
Cha : 16

Duelyst combat style , shield , with Lv6 aura you get +3 to all saving throw (and for your team). You can use bless to get +1D4 attack and +1D4 to all saving throw (with your paladin or priest).

Use Shield of faith to get +2AC and go on close combat to stick your enemie.

Paladin of ancient is the best to tank against all spell.

for a "good" Paladin build
Int : no higher then 8
Wis : 8 or 10 no higher

depending on your kind of build str or dex you can leave the other stat on 8 or 10 too
so you will end up with :

str / dex : 15 / 10
con : 14 or 16
chr : 15

you don't have to worry about saves since at 6th Level ( not in EA ) you will get an ability that adds your chr mod to all of your saves
if you go for dex, you can cover the lockpicking Stuff with your MC and don't need that stu**** Astarion. As in the EA there are no decent
heavy armors at all, dex will also end up with better AC

in EA the Oath's don't do any big differences, since the best that ancients has to offer, will be at 7th Level
Background : criminal ( if you are dex )

FS: if you are going to be the tank of the party take defensive, if you are going to be on offensive ( either dueling if dex or Great Weapon if 2h )

also since WarCaster is not available as a feat right now, i wouldn't cast shield of faith on myself, but rather use Shadowheart to buff it, since she can stay out of combat and avoid getting hit and loosing concentration

A half drow paladin can have the following level 1 stats:
STR: 16
DEX: 12
CON: 14
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 16

That’s quite solid from the get-go. Plus, your race grants you Dancing Lights at level 1 and Faerie Fire at level 3, which is always nice.

At level 4 I went with +2 CON and been happy with it, though I could see arguments for +2 STR, +2 CHA or +2 DEX. I suppose the best option will depend on party composition and what you want out of your paladin.

Edit: Haven’t reached level 5 yet.

Charisma 15 & Intel 11 takes advantage of a certain item and I agree that low str misses the point of a Pally ... You could use the club to bring it up to 15 but you don't get it until the tower so I'd still drop Dex and wear heavy armour

The way Larian made a Pally is for the front line

Actually, the heavy armor you can buy from Roah Moonglow the merchant in the Shattered Sanctum is reasonably decent for getting through Act 1. I don't think you would expect better than that so early in the game.

the Duergar Lurgan drops chain mail armour of 16 + 2-3 shield and +1 if you take defence thats 20

it is possible to make a 17 but by then act 1 is finished

Not sure if anyone mentioned this and it is a bit meta gamey. I would take that Chr and drop it to 15 and bump your str to 14. Let Volo gouge your eye out . Your int will drop to 8 (8 & 9 are basically the same anyway). That wil bump you Chr to 16. You lose one ASI value but gain 2 ASI value when your Chr bumps to 16.

Also, if you take Ethels Boon, add that one point to str. Str is the only odd number value that has any use from what I can tell. It will add 10 pounds to your lift total. More carry weight means less inventory management when at shops. It’s a QOL stat at this point.

Has anyone checked whether doing a deal with Ethel has any impact on a paladin’s oath? I suspect it might not given other gaps, but feel that it should, though would accept that the consequence might be debatable for different scenarios and oaths.

Interesting but the specific starting Paladin Armor is 14CA + bonus Dex up to 2
So for a 14 Dex Paladin it's the same and we can keep the cool look!

For the stats, I wonder if there will be tomes of caracteristics like in BG1 that give +1 to each stat.
But I don't think there is such a thing in D&D 5th edition.

16 strenght, 16 Cha, 14 con. 2 handed weapon fighting, fire resist tiefling for the improved fire smite (+extra weapon attack, intimidation cantrip). Looks great with everburning blade.

Oath of the ancients seems vastly better than Oath of devotion currently. Unfortunately, you'll get your sweet 17 AC armour fairly late.

Yes there are; Tomes and Manuals for all the ability scores. They're legendary, so hard to find.