Finding myself really having fun obliterating bosses in a couple of turns with a polearm master pally. I made a Devotion Paladin, and gave him polearm master at level 4. Can start with any glaive/polearm but I really started melting things when I got the polearm from
rescuing the grove and going into the vault under it
and then subsequently hit level 5.
The playstyle is pretty straightforward. Works best with a caster in the party that can do Hold Person. I did 108 damage in 1 turn at level 5 to the commander
with this.
It worked as follows:
- Boss runs up to my pally and smacks him, when he enters attack range I get an Opp attack on him because of Polearm master. 1st level smite the opp attack. Free 20(ish) points of damage.
- Warlock casts hold person after a wisdom hex, boss failed the save (won't always happen, I know)
- Level 5 paladin gets you 2 weapon attacks, both of which you can smite on. Polearm master gives you a bonus attack that you can also smite on.
- Boss is held, melee attacks are auto-crits. Proceed to casually swing polearm at boss 3 times. Smite on all 3. ~90 damage later and boss has 3 hp.
-Have mommy Shadowheart run up and bonk him on the head for the remaining 3 hp.
ez clap.
My DM hates that I do this in my IRL campaign, and I can see why.
Happy Smiting!
