Here's something fun: when I was re-crunching numbers yesterday as per my rework of the build, I made a small error, which I've now caught and corrected. Thus, even the floating text for numbers at 6, 9, and 13 is ever so slightly off - but it’s even better at most enemy ACs. The spreadsheett should be accurate! Ugh. This one has been giving me fits. Thanks for your understanding :)
Really interested in the decision to NOT use a Greataxe, since Cleave is a weapon mastery you might actually use since you're already assuming advantage. At worst, it's a situational extra attack in exchange for a negligible difference in average damage
Searing Smite does more damage than Divine Smite from 2nd level slots and higher (except on a crit, then it’s not better until 6th level spell slots) because the first tick of burn happens at the start of their next turn, before they get an opportunity to save against it. If you go with the Celestial patron, by warlock 6 you can add your charisma modifier to both the initial searing smite damage and the damage they take at the start of their next turn. That’s a lotta damage!
22:45 Armor of Agathys is most definitely intended to work with other sources of THP. They very specifically changed the wording to allow exactly that. No way that was an accident. What I think *was* an accident, is Polymorph THPs remaining even after concentration on that spell lapses.
You’d think that, but it’s well known by now that the new PHB is full of weird errors that skew features to radically different sides of imbalance. As cool as it would be for AoA to work off any TempHP so you can keep it up long-term, I cannot believe that was intended. As a community, if we can recognise that Conjure Minor Elementals being absurdly good is a mistake, we can recognise that AoA being the one and only exception to the sources of TempHP rule is also a mistake.
Colby: "Okay guys can you give me name ideas for this next build where I combine a fighter and the paladin's smites and divine favor with some valor bard features?" Viewers: "Gore Fävor!" / "Shreddy Mercury!" / "The Smitesonian!" / "Tenacious D4!" / "Divine Glaiver!" / "Judge Shredd!" Colby: ".... mmm sorry guys I think this time I'm gonna have to go with Bob." (jk
When it comes to Paladin/Warlock, you should look at the way radiant soul (6th level Celestial Warlock) has been reworded. Now, it says "Once per turn, when a spell you cast deals Radiant or Fire damage, you can add your Charisma modifier to that spell’s damage against one of the spell’s targets." What's the difference? It now works with damage overtime effects like Searing Smite and Divine Favor! It works really well with Searing Smite, as you will at least have 2 radiant soul damage before the target even gets a saving throw!
20:28 My paladin of Asmodeus became a warlock of the Raven Queen for love. He met his future wife, a shadar-kai priestess of the Raven Queen, while visiting the Queen's court in search of knowledge on behalf of his employer (a spymaster of the Nine Hells). He made a pact in trade for his wife's life, sparing her from the decaying curse of the shadar-kai.
Fey is great if have a warlock dip and wizard/druid initiate fog cloud and blindsight. Since feylock also gets blink and reaction teleport making the finding a needle in a haystack/wack-a-mole even more fun. 😂😊
I have a Whispers Bard/Warlock and let me tell you, Psychic Blades is a very competent smite. It only costs a Bardic Inspiration use, so it's very low-cost. It scales with Bard level, so not good for a quick dip, but up to 8d6 damage for one of probably 5 BI uses that come back on a short rest (starting at level 5) means the Bard can do this all day and still have their full range of spellcasting. Of course, he used to have Banishing Smite to layer on top of Psychic Blades and Eldritch Smite, but Magical Secrets can't do that anymore. I also have a Sorcadin with Polearm Master, and the bonus action on Divine Smite does indeed make it basically unusable when I can quicken a True Strike or what have you. I also also have a character who's using Green Flame Blade with Agonizing Blast. I have a lot of characters.
Okay, so I've always seen you as a kind and wholesome individual, but your story about being a girldad at a Taylor Swift concert was just ridiculously heartwarming. I am so happy for your daughters, as they seem to have a genuinely great dad.
Paladins can learn and cast divine smite at level 1, but it becomes more efficient with the limited resources at level 2 For this reason, a single-level paladin dip is super powerful as a starting base for a blade pact warlock, and many of us never would play up to high enough level to go back to paladin at a later point anyway
I have always loved the idea of swearing an oath to an avenging divine (good) angel. Warlocks are traditionally "evil", but why? Angels can be just as "evil" as demons/devils, and it all depends on which side of their wrath you are on.
Just skimming the video so far, but you can do way better smites by going Celestial Warlock instead of Fiend. Fiend is really defense-focused with its abilities, while Celestial gets the ability to add its Charisma modifier to the damage of Radiant and Fire spells, which means it works for both Divine Smite and Searing Smite. A Paladin 1 / Celestial Warlock 9 build can deal an average of 141 damage with a single critical hit if they use both Pact slots on Divine Smite and Eldritch Smite.
@@sunsetsbane5758 It's +5 damage to Divine Smite, but at least +10 damage to Searing Smite, since Searing Smite deals its Fire damage a of 2 times spread out over 2 turns if the target succeeds on the saving throw. The average damage of a d8 is 4.5, so +5 damage is roughly similar to smiting with a higher level spell slot. In exchange for losing the ability to sometimes get a bonus to a saving throw. And that's not getting into the fact that Celestial gets its own defensive abilities, including the Aid spell, a bonus action heal that's effectively a ranged Lay on Hands, and its own way to generate temp HP that also buffs the rest of the party, while Fiend's defensive options only benefit the Warlock.
Eldritch smite on the other hand can work on a reaction, so you can eldritch smite more often than than divine smite, although you do also run out of slots a lot quicker.
I think the performance of your Mantis video is because people generally don’t like builds that feels like they rely on a specific Species choice. Especially when that Species is a BUG.
Came for the build, stayed for the second mortgage. And I totally agree with your homebrewing Divine Smite, that's exactly how I would change it. It's one of, if not the most egregious changes of 5.24, imo.
OMG I LOVE THIS! I was going to head this round with the build I linked on the other video, but this is even better! Btw, idk if you had a chance to look, but in case not... here you go: @DnDDeepDive So Colby, I've "stolen" a bunch of your ideas from past videos, but this has somehow become the highest damage build I've ever come up with! Race: Thri-Keen Background: Go for an older one, grab "tough" origin feat and pick up a +2 in strength and a +1 in charisma. Ability Scores: 15 Strength, 13 Dex, 12 Con, 8 Int, 8 Wis, 15 Charisma Class and levels: First level: Sorcerer (con save proficiency, mind sliver, blade ward). In the early levels, it will be nice to have blade ward as protection! Pick your exact level progression as you like, but the end division of levels will be: 1 Sorcerer 7 Bard (Lore) 12 Paladin (Oathbreaker) Fighting Style: Two Weapon Fighting Masteries: Scimitar + PYF ASI: First: grappler feat (Strength) Second: dual wielder (Strength) Third: Strength & Dexterity Fourth: Charisma & Charisma Equipment: Half-plate, shield (big arm), scimitar (small arm), short sword (small arm). Once you reach bard 6, pick up shillelagh cantrip through magical discoveries and switch out your offhand for a club. You'll be upcasting "spirit shroud" to the highest level you're able to and concentrating on it, hence the con save proficiency. After your last ASI, you'll be adding a +9 ability modifier to every damage roll. You'll be upcasting spirit shroud at 7th level for 3d8 to every weapon attack. You'll have blessed strikes, another 1d8 bonus for every attack. You attacks will look like this: Spells running: shillelagh, divine favor ( 2024, no concentration), Spirit Shroud. (divine favor isn't critical, just a nice damage bump) 1. 4d8+1d6+1d4+9 2. 4d8+2d6+1d4+9 3. 4d8+2d6+1d4+9 4. 4d8+2d6+1d4+9 You can use innate sorcery and then cast mind sliver for a nice boost in save DC and reduction in later saving throw to set up a grapple. Mind sliver will force a reduction in their next saving throw, to prevent your grapple. On your next turn, your first attack will be an unarmed strike to grapple them. If they fail the save, you can now keep them grappled really easily. Anytime they make a successful athletics or acrobatics check, you can take a reaction, expend one of your bardic inspirations, and have them subtract it. By bard 5, your inspiration die is a d8. If you run low on inspiration, you can expend a spell slot, no action required, to restore one. While you have someone grappled, just attack them as often as possible. Don't bother with smite, spirit shroud is giving you lots of damage dice together with your blessed strikes! You're better off saving spell slots to convert those into bardic inspiration if you can't take a short rest restore inspiration dice! On a 10 AC enemy, you'll be doing 152.5 DPR on average! On an 18 AC enemy, you'll be doing 140.1 DPR on average! You'll obviously only have one 7th level spell slot, so this is your "hardest fight of the day" DPR. For up to 3 more fights you can rock the following DPR with 5th and 6th level spell slots: 10 AC: 133.1 DPR 18 AC: 121.9 DPR You could also achieve something awesome just picking up Eldritch blast, agonizing blast, and Jim's Magic Missile or Scorching Ray, but I've been working with Martial Characters a lot in the past few months, so I wanted to see what would come of a melee fighting build. Very happy with how it came out! If I could change one thing, I'd find a way to boost con saves more! Although if you force the enemy prone before grappling them, they'll already have disadvantage on attacks against your 17+ AC, so hopefully you'll be fine. I haven't chosen a full spell list, but this is a good start: www.dndbeyond.com/characters/137714431 I just noticed Shadow Blade would also be an option... a good one at that... So many choices! In all honesty, I still like spirit shroud better though! Cheers!
I stopped watching the outtakes a while back, just wasn’t my thing. But I can’t skip them anymore. Your son is so funny, I literally laugh out loud every video.
11:09 Correction- The Goliath's fire's burn trait doesn't have a 'once per turn' restriction. "When you hit a target with an attack roll and deal damage to it, you can also deal 1d10 Fire damage to that target." Still not as powerful as bugbear's surprise attack though ofc.
I am of the opinion we can have 2 video titles. The one in the title of the video and then the one in the video that you like best (Twice Smitten Once Dead was my favourite here!!). One pleases the Algorithm and one pleases Colby. Best of both worlds
I had this idea for a character in a different way! It was a warlock/pally/whispers bard that was a “one hit wonder”. Sort of like a charisma-based roguish character who didn’t take any rogue😂
That also works. Psychic Blades stacks with the other damage dice nicely. I pointed out to the Devs during the playtest that these bonus damage stacks needed clarifying. As it stands I totally agree that Paladin 1, then Warlock 9, then Bard 9 is very strong. I do like Paladin 1 then Bard all the way too. In that case you probably want Magic Initiate, Druid to get Shillelagh as well.
Great editing. Keep that editor of yours Also, great video. I would also like to supplement that there is so much RP through warlocks (and paladins) that ability checks will go through. They obviously won’t get measured when measuring Nova damage, but it can be a huge part of the game.
Great video! I agree with your final thoughts on smite. But I do think that the overall gameplay experience at the table will be better than when it was just off the chain. Also, to the other DMs out there: Just don't counterspell your paladin's smite even if it is going to send your big bad guy to Hell. That's the point of it. I absolutely love your idea of making smite like the sneak attack but with the resource cost attached since it is on demand. I might homebrew that. I also do think your build would still be fun even if its not broken like the old ones lol.
I’m currently playing a character with this same premise, albeit less optimized for damage, and it is a BLAST when you crit and double smite. You just get to roll ALL the d8s!
Just started video, but I'm assuming it'll be... Vengeance Paladin and Fiend Warlock. Prediction cast; if you have a table that lets you grab old stuff that wasn't reprinted, you can grab Whisper Bard to add another "smite" to your repertoire
I did a character that at lvl 20 they were Vengeance Paladin 3/Whisper Bard 5/Fiend Warlock 12 and the extra 3d6 is decent, plus the fact I have 3 attacks and 3 smites is aesthetically pleasing lol
You have shown me how fun it is to make builds in D&D. I have two in mind that I want to see you make. One is a Hexbow/Eldritch Blaster warlock using the Valor bard. The other is a bill that takes advantage of the wording in the Beastmaster Ranger, saying you can use an attack to command your Beast to make an attack. Maybe take a subclass that allows you to get another summon that you can command with a bonus action, like the wildfire spirit or steel defender?
A fun balance compromise I gave my players is to modify their Extra Attack thusly: "When you take the Attack Action, you can make two attacks instead of one, and the first time you hit with a weapon attack on that turn, you can cast one of the spells from your Paladin Smite feature as part of that action rather than as a Bonus Action." Essentially, Brutal Smites. I think WotC wind up dumping auto prepared Thunderous Smite and whatnot, but I would count those here. Functionally, it means that a Paladin that has their x/day no spell slot smite available can smite twice on a turn, and a dual wield paladin or any other non spell slot weaponized bonus action can still do their thing without giving up smite. It's a very tiny, simple buff/fix that can let us have our cake and eat it too. Smite spells are so much fun but could never compete with straight up smite, so I personally like combining the two with all the other changes to make them appealing. Subtly, this version also prevents Crit Fishing, since you have to use your action economy free smite on your first attack. Also, the trigger for casting a smite spell is immediately after you hit with a weapon attack, so you can't stack multiple smite spells together with this because casting another one of the same attack isn't possible (if you were to cast a second one, it would be immediately after casing the first one, which isn't a weapon attack ergo the BA is not available).
Problem with the build for me is, our group just uses 2024 content. So a)species and b) spells do make some differences. And if every aspect is different from your assumptions, it doesnt feel the same. I need to see how it works out with pure 2024
"When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon that you are holding with two hands, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property to gain this benefit." The way that's written, I'd rule that it DOES apply to other damage, given the "for an attack" language. Also, it says "on *a* damage die" rather than "on the weapon damage die." (Plus, it's such a terrible fighting style that it needs all the help it can get.)
On the topic of Devotion with Fiend: I remind you that Amadeus is, in fact, a deity. No one ever said you have to be devoted to goodness. Putting the Lawful peanut butter into the EVIL chocolate deliciousness , baby!
I’m doing a Archfey Pact of the Blade warlock right now using AoA, I got fiendish vigor for 12 THP and the misty stepping also comes in handy. I never knew the new AoA spell was conventional.
I've been tinkering with a bugbear monk X / fighter 2. Gets 2 attacks at level 1, 4 at level 3, 5 at level 6, and 6 at level 11. Bugbears adds 2d6 on the first round to each attack. I'd also switch between a light, nick weapon, the club, and a quarterstaff to take advantage of all weapon masteries gotten from Fighter (Nick, Slow, Topple). Take the Alert feat to try and get ahead in combat, the Fey-touched feat for Hex, and the mobile feat to stay away from the enemy with the long arms. If played in a level 20 campaign, you could become super MAD and go fighter 1, Long Death Monk 11, warlock 1, and bladesinger 7. It's super MAD, but it just might be crazy enough to work.
Love this one! I've been thinking of a bugbear build in the 2024 rules, and was leaning toward the new champion fighter (adv on initiative at level 3, inspiration always, + lots of attacks). I'd be curious to how the champion damage compares to this build - yours has lots of added utility with spells, of course.
I personally love the idea of a somewhat antagonistic relationship between a warlock and their patron. Makes for great role play to work with/against the DM to deduce your patron’s motives and machinations, and work towards getting the upper hand in the bargain, yet there is also that understanding that both warlock and their patron need each other for something, so they don’t become completely antagonistic to one another out of necessity. My very first character incorporated this idea (as a Hexblade) and the patron was a dark god involved in a cosmic turf war with his “son,” a deity of unfettered chaos, which was the central plot point of the campaign. It gave my DM the excuse to be a smarmy asshole instead of a Glynda Good Witch kind of patron.
I always like the idea of a sentient Holy Avenger as the warlock patron for a Paladin/PoB Warlock multiclass. The Holy Avenger contacts you at early level, grants you some of its power and the end goal of the character is to find and claim the Holy Avenger as your own.
Also you can't use a smite spell, like wrathful smite, or branding smite with divine smite. Some of them require a bonus action to cast and require concentration. Doing a tonne of damage that way was a lot of fun to play.
Potential backstory for this character: I forget who it was, but historically there was a Pope who on his death bed claimed that after being rejected by a woman he fancied, a succubus appeared to him and offered him power if he would be hers. He agreed, she arranged for him to become Pope and he swore not to share his bed with a woman thus he had power, but could only share his bed with his sleep paralysis demon. So it seems you can indeed be a holy man with a demon on the side.
I think when they created the 2014 rules they didn't consider all the combinations creative people would come up with to accelerate burst damage as well. As much as people dislike 4th edition, it really did solve a lot of problems we are still trying to deal with as DMs today.
I'll be kinda honest, I like that Divine Smite is considered a spell. When Barbs used DS, it always felt like a loophole the same way using Action Surge to cast another spell did. Moreover, if an enemy drops a 3rd level slot to counter my smite that would be a great trade as far as I'm concerned, especially since with the new rules it doesn't even cost my slot.
Thanks for the vid and the build. It's probably too late to edit, but Fiendlocks get Fire Shield and Wall of Fire at level 7. just a small miss that probably won't do anything for the build.
Random idea here: would you and the dungeon dudes ever consider doing a podcast? Maybe a “we’ll react to your build ideas” thing. I think it would be really fun and I’d tune in religiously!
With my players, we migrated our current campaign characters to DnD 2024 yesterday. One of them is a paladin, about the divine smite nerf, I kept the "one smite per turn" rule but removed the fact it's now a spell and use a bonus action.
Also, given that the 2024 rule book specifies that warlocks now don’t fully know who their patron is when making the pact at level 1 and you don’t fully understand their nature until level 3, it is extremely plausible that a paladin would enter into a pact with a Fiend and be utterly clueless about that until the rug is pulled out from underneath them and the patron reveals themselves fully to “collect what is owed.”
From PHB 2024 on Temp HP: Temporary Hit Points can’t be added together. If you have Temporary Hit Points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 Temporary Hit Points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22. So that means if I have 1 temp hp and I gain 12 temp hp from say a warlock evocation such as Fiendish Vigor I can decide to keep the 1 temp hp or gain the new ones. So I've never actually lost my temp hp, I've only changed the amount I have. So Armor of Agathys doesn't end because I was never at 0 temp hp, I was at 1 temp and then that changed to 12 temp. The 1 temp doesn't leave before I gain to 12. At least in my mind.
I'm currently playing a similar character. I went sword and board instead of great weapon to get more survivability, but still similar. He's a paladin of Sune who depends completely on his charisma for attacking, so he prays to Sune, but works with an angel of hers to "train" in Hexblade. (At least that's the story I've worked out with the DM at the start. If I've been tricked, I've been tricked! :-) As I said, I'm a little more Charisma heavy, so I suggest the wizard origin feat, not only for shield but also True Strike to use Cha at level one for attacks, and Booming Blade as discussed. The use of Booming Blade is also great with a warhammer and its mastery so I push them away after a hit and make them take more damage when they come in. By taking Hexblade as a subclass, you can get the hex for 19-20 crits. I enjoy that. I'm pally 2/warlock 4 now and can't wait for Warlock 5. Wish I saw your editor's note back when I started. :-)
Hmmm......the nerfs to divine smite are really sorta annoying. Making it a spell and using a bonus action are definitely bad feeling. Especially since you can't do a righteous fury build anymore, as stated in the video. Just a simple once per turn or once per action limit would have been good enough
I still say the only thing they needed to do was change the rule to "you may not expend more than 1 spell slot per turn." That takes care of that confusing wording. Then, if they want, they can add wording to select spells or features saying "You may do this and expend a spell slot as normal this turn."
Yup I came to the same conclusion a while ago. Lucky no table I’ve played in, Dm’ed for or have even heard of uses divine smite rules as written. The common fix’s are all the smites are not spells, they don’t take a bonus action and the free smite given with Paladin smite is cast at the highest level slot you have. Usually capping at 5th level, but not always.
Two build ideas that came from the early comments on this on: Max Fireball! What's the most you can get a fireball to hit for in the new rules? And a Barbarian/Pally multi class. Maybe a tank or a modular fighter?
I keep wishing they made the 2024 backgrounds work like the ones in The Book of Many Things, Rewarded and Ruined. You have a choice of three beginning feats to choose from with each of those: Lucky, Magic Initiate, or Skilled for Rewarded and a choice between Alert, Skilled, or Tough for Ruined. It really allows for the flexibility of character creation I think they were trying to go for with the 2024 rules.
An idea for a Lockadin is someone with a strong to magical belief in oaths and reciprocity. They believe that magic comes from agreements with the mystic outsider of some variety or another, and use a connection to it to invoke their powers
I'm homebrewing a rule for paladins that do something similar to what you're suggesting for smite. Completely agree that it should have gotten the rogue class treatment. It's funny that you talk about how another class (warlock) does smiting better than the smite class, paladin. I feel the same way about the vengeance paladin with hunter's mark vs. the ranger.
I’m thinking this while listening to the intro, but it really would be so much more interesting for smite to be a spell w a special casting time (when you hit with a melee weapon or unarmed strike), because than it could still be once per turn UNLESS you find ways to cast it without spell slots. So your one free smite from lvl two wouldn’t just feel silly, you can use it to double smite once per day! Also, it would be a real reward for getting gold, because you could spend it on smite scrolls! So you’re getting double smite, but at a much higher cost, so it feels like it was worth your time Also also, enspelled weapon of divine smite !!! Would truly become the paladins holy weapon
If you do want to do the Hold Monster version of this build, you can skip dipping Sorcerer and just go Great Old One for Patron instead of Fiend, they get automatic subtle spell on Enchantment and Divination spells which includes Hold Monster. I don't think anything Fiend gets you over GoO is better than just not needing to take an otherwise meh dip for two whole levels.
You are releasing this video as I am about to start a campaign in 2 hrs and play a paladin warlock ( devotion + undecided ). Starting at lvl 5. Let's see how you can inspire me
My personal homebrew rule for my table (we transitioned to 2024 rules mid-campaign and I didn't wanna nerf my player's Paladin *completely*) is: - One Divine Smite per round (not a bonus action) - cannot be used on the same attack as a Smite spell (but can use a Smite spell on another attack during that turn) - Smite spells *do* require a bonus action, but do not require concentration (so just the new rules) I have no rules against grabbing Eldritch Smite and doubling up, though, because if you want to invest that many levels into Warlock to Eldritch Smite twice, go for it 🤷
Probably should have just re-recorded this one brother. It became incredibly confusing trying to keep track of the errors and changes. Love ya though. Keep up the great work.
As a DM, I'm wholly endorse limiting paladins to one smite per round. I had already house ruled that in my games (though part of that also stemmed from my use of spell points, which gives casters a lot of flexibility).
While double Smites are cool and all, I wonder if just going Sneak Attack might be better? With so many easy ways to get advantage, with a 5 warlock 12 Rogue split, you could be Sneak Attacking every round for 6d6 with no additional cost. The Lucky feat can give advantage on demand, and teammates could potentially set you up as well, and there's no cost to your bonus action or spell slots, and you could still use Eldritch Smite.
Not the build I was expecting, but that tracks. Next time you do a paladin build I would love to see a dual wielder build that makes use of the Paladin 11 feature!
The hill that I die on is having an action economy that plays well with all the base classes, which Paladin Bonus action bloat does not achieve. My (dream) wishlist for a future optional rule update for the Paladin baseclass: 1. Lay on Hands replaces an attack during the attack action. 2. At 9th or higher level feature that has Divine Smite (& friends) cast as a part of the attack itself, like, Eldritch Knight. 3. Reverting Sacred Weapon / VoE going back to the BA. Bonus actions should always be used for menial damage attack or a buff / transformation, not everything unique the Paladin does till level 9. *steps off box*
The way I interpret the mechanics surrounding magic and magic related abilities in the new rules is that it takes more focus and effort to draw upon magic than it does pulling off a stunt or maneuver like pure martials can. That's why the Magic action is stricter than before, why you can't cheese double casting with Action Surge anymore, why paladins need to use a BA to smite. It's not intuitive or easy to pull off as something that is purely of the body. Sorcerer and Warlock being the exceptions because their mechanics let them "cheat" the system in a way, which I find fun. Half casters and full casters should NOT be able to step in the arena of pure martials and be better or really comparable in most cases. If they want to be, it SHOULD absolutely take work for them to do so.
Bugbear Sneak attack is vs target that has not gone yet. Not just 1st round. You might want ALERT due to low DEX and you need to go before target to get Sneak Damage. ALSO DO not need CHA for Pact of the blade (Like you said) SO can just focus on Invocations. 3 Attacks with Pact Weapon and a bit of damage and healing once per turn.) With no Fighter levels.
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 2](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/af0phKxitX8/mqdefault.jpg)
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Thank you Sir. You are the anti-nerf.
Here's something fun: when I was re-crunching numbers yesterday as per my rework of the build, I made a small error, which I've now caught and corrected. Thus, even the floating text for numbers at 6, 9, and 13 is ever so slightly off - but it’s even better at most enemy ACs. The spreadsheett should be accurate! Ugh. This one has been giving me fits. Thanks for your understanding :)
“It’s 10% what happens and 90% what you do with it.” You must have Advantage then… 🤔
Really interested in the decision to NOT use a Greataxe, since Cleave is a weapon mastery you might actually use since you're already assuming advantage. At worst, it's a situational extra attack in exchange for a negligible difference in average damage
Searing Smite does more damage than Divine Smite from 2nd level slots and higher (except on a crit, then it’s not better until 6th level spell slots) because the first tick of burn happens at the start of their next turn, before they get an opportunity to save against it.
If you go with the Celestial patron, by warlock 6 you can add your charisma modifier to both the initial searing smite damage and the damage they take at the start of their next turn. That’s a lotta damage!
Don't forget Elemental Adept: Fire (or even Flames of Phelegethos), for all the enemies that resist fire damage.
Build number 195: "SMITE ME, OH MIGHTY SMITER!" 😂
I'm not normally one for blasphemy, but that one really got me.
This
Rule 34.
Smiter: 😬 OK! 🙂↕️🎇
Smiter is a good job, mate.
POV: huge burst damage nerf
Colby: Hold my holy symbol
22:45 Armor of Agathys is most definitely intended to work with other sources of THP. They very specifically changed the wording to allow exactly that. No way that was an accident.
What I think *was* an accident, is Polymorph THPs remaining even after concentration on that spell lapses.
You’d think that, but it’s well known by now that the new PHB is full of weird errors that skew features to radically different sides of imbalance. As cool as it would be for AoA to work off any TempHP so you can keep it up long-term, I cannot believe that was intended. As a community, if we can recognise that Conjure Minor Elementals being absurdly good is a mistake, we can recognise that AoA being the one and only exception to the sources of TempHP rule is also a mistake.
Colby: "Okay guys can you give me name ideas for this next build where I combine a fighter and the paladin's smites and divine favor with some valor bard features?"
Viewers: "Gore Fävor!" / "Shreddy Mercury!" / "The Smitesonian!" / "Tenacious D4!" / "Divine Glaiver!" / "Judge Shredd!"
Colby: ".... mmm sorry guys I think this time I'm gonna have to go with Bob."
(jk
“Shreddey Mercury\” 🤣
When it comes to Paladin/Warlock, you should look at the way radiant soul (6th level Celestial Warlock) has been reworded. Now, it says "Once per turn, when a spell you cast deals Radiant or Fire damage, you can add your Charisma modifier to that spell’s damage against one of the spell’s targets." What's the difference? It now works with damage overtime effects like Searing Smite and Divine Favor! It works really well with Searing Smite, as you will at least have 2 radiant soul damage before the target even gets a saving throw!
really, that seems awesome
Okay, but Colby looking HUGE in a Bluey 'girl dad' shirt is a life goal
As a girl dad, the first thing was to pause the video and search for a store to get one too. 😅
I like the idea that the fiend looking for redemption is Michael (Ted Danson) from "The Good Place" and the PC is Chidi constantly correcting him.
Lots of mileage to get out of a 6,000-foot tall fire squid.
It's freaking hilarious that because of the nerfs to paladin warlock is straight up better at smiting now
20:28 My paladin of Asmodeus became a warlock of the Raven Queen for love. He met his future wife, a shadar-kai priestess of the Raven Queen, while visiting the Queen's court in search of knowledge on behalf of his employer (a spymaster of the Nine Hells). He made a pact in trade for his wife's life, sparing her from the decaying curse of the shadar-kai.
Waiting for a Fey-lock build. I love the teleporting shenanigans.
Fey is great if have a warlock dip and wizard/druid initiate fog cloud and blindsight. Since feylock also gets blink and reaction teleport making the finding a needle in a haystack/wack-a-mole even more fun. 😂😊
Honestly choosing to take 5 levels of warlock to help a paladin smite things just shows how dirty they did divine smite
Colby has a Cold = Coldby
Not gonna lie the Bluey shirt just gave me another why I enjoy you and your channel. Keep killing it
I just arrived home, both literally and figuratively, love the show!
Someone made a great name suggestion for the build on your short. Witch knight, I believe.
I have a Whispers Bard/Warlock and let me tell you, Psychic Blades is a very competent smite. It only costs a Bardic Inspiration use, so it's very low-cost. It scales with Bard level, so not good for a quick dip, but up to 8d6 damage for one of probably 5 BI uses that come back on a short rest (starting at level 5) means the Bard can do this all day and still have their full range of spellcasting.
Of course, he used to have Banishing Smite to layer on top of Psychic Blades and Eldritch Smite, but Magical Secrets can't do that anymore.
I also have a Sorcadin with Polearm Master, and the bonus action on Divine Smite does indeed make it basically unusable when I can quicken a True Strike or what have you.
I also also have a character who's using Green Flame Blade with Agonizing Blast. I have a lot of characters.
Okay, so I've always seen you as a kind and wholesome individual, but your story about being a girldad at a Taylor Swift concert was just ridiculously heartwarming. I am so happy for your daughters, as they seem to have a genuinely great dad.
Paladins can learn and cast divine smite at level 1, but it becomes more efficient with the limited resources at level 2
For this reason, a single-level paladin dip is super powerful as a starting base for a blade pact warlock, and many of us never would play up to high enough level to go back to paladin at a later point anyway
I have always loved the idea of swearing an oath to an avenging divine (good) angel. Warlocks are traditionally "evil", but why? Angels can be just as "evil" as demons/devils, and it all depends on which side of their wrath you are on.
Just skimming the video so far, but you can do way better smites by going Celestial Warlock instead of Fiend. Fiend is really defense-focused with its abilities, while Celestial gets the ability to add its Charisma modifier to the damage of Radiant and Fire spells, which means it works for both Divine Smite and Searing Smite.
A Paladin 1 / Celestial Warlock 9 build can deal an average of 141 damage with a single critical hit if they use both Pact slots on Divine Smite and Eldritch Smite.
But I want to Hurl Through Hell :)
You cant use two spell slots in the same turn anyways regardless of class
Eldritch Smite isn't a spell
adding +5 damage to smites instead of having 1d10 to saves cha ability times a day seems like a bad trade off
@@sunsetsbane5758 It's +5 damage to Divine Smite, but at least +10 damage to Searing Smite, since Searing Smite deals its Fire damage a of 2 times spread out over 2 turns if the target succeeds on the saving throw. The average damage of a d8 is 4.5, so +5 damage is roughly similar to smiting with a higher level spell slot. In exchange for losing the ability to sometimes get a bonus to a saving throw.
And that's not getting into the fact that Celestial gets its own defensive abilities, including the Aid spell, a bonus action heal that's effectively a ranged Lay on Hands, and its own way to generate temp HP that also buffs the rest of the party, while Fiend's defensive options only benefit the Warlock.
Let’s goooooo! I’ve been waiting for this video all day!
The only thing Smite spells have over Eldritch Smite is that you can use non-pact slots to cast them, so you can do it more than twice in a combat
Eldritch smite on the other hand can work on a reaction, so you can eldritch smite more often than than divine smite, although you do also run out of slots a lot quicker.
I think the performance of your Mantis video is because people generally don’t like builds that feels like they rely on a specific Species choice.
Especially when that Species is a BUG.
Came for the build, stayed for the second mortgage. And I totally agree with your homebrewing Divine Smite, that's exactly how I would change it. It's one of, if not the most egregious changes of 5.24, imo.
OMG I LOVE THIS! I was going to head this round with the build I linked on the other video, but this is even better! Btw, idk if you had a chance to look, but in case not... here you go:
@DnDDeepDive So Colby, I've "stolen" a bunch of your ideas from past videos, but this has somehow become the highest damage build I've ever come up with!
Race: Thri-Keen
Background: Go for an older one, grab "tough" origin feat and pick up a +2 in strength and a +1 in charisma.
Ability Scores: 15 Strength, 13 Dex, 12 Con, 8 Int, 8 Wis, 15 Charisma
Class and levels:
First level:
Sorcerer (con save proficiency, mind sliver, blade ward).
In the early levels, it will be nice to have blade ward as protection!
Pick your exact level progression as you like, but the end division of levels will be:
1 Sorcerer
7 Bard (Lore)
12 Paladin (Oathbreaker)
Fighting Style: Two Weapon Fighting
Masteries: Scimitar + PYF
ASI:
First: grappler feat (Strength)
Second: dual wielder (Strength)
Third: Strength & Dexterity
Fourth: Charisma & Charisma
Equipment:
Half-plate, shield (big arm), scimitar (small arm), short sword (small arm).
Once you reach bard 6, pick up shillelagh cantrip through magical discoveries and switch out your offhand for a club. You'll be upcasting "spirit shroud" to the highest level you're able to and concentrating on it, hence the con save proficiency. After your last ASI, you'll be adding a +9 ability modifier to every damage roll. You'll be upcasting spirit shroud at 7th level for 3d8 to every weapon attack. You'll have blessed strikes, another 1d8 bonus for every attack. You attacks will look like this:
Spells running: shillelagh, divine favor ( 2024, no concentration), Spirit Shroud. (divine favor isn't critical, just a nice damage bump)
1. 4d8+1d6+1d4+9
2. 4d8+2d6+1d4+9
3. 4d8+2d6+1d4+9
4. 4d8+2d6+1d4+9
You can use innate sorcery and then cast mind sliver for a nice boost in save DC and reduction in later saving throw to set up a grapple. Mind sliver will force a reduction in their next saving throw, to prevent your grapple. On your next turn, your first attack will be an unarmed strike to grapple them. If they fail the save, you can now keep them grappled really easily. Anytime they make a successful athletics or acrobatics check, you can take a reaction, expend one of your bardic inspirations, and have them subtract it. By bard 5, your inspiration die is a d8. If you run low on inspiration, you can expend a spell slot, no action required, to restore one.
While you have someone grappled, just attack them as often as possible. Don't bother with smite, spirit shroud is giving you lots of damage dice together with your blessed strikes! You're better off saving spell slots to convert those into bardic inspiration if you can't take a short rest restore inspiration dice!
On a 10 AC enemy, you'll be doing 152.5 DPR on average!
On an 18 AC enemy, you'll be doing 140.1 DPR on average!
You'll obviously only have one 7th level spell slot, so this is your "hardest fight of the day" DPR. For up to 3 more fights you can rock the following DPR with 5th and 6th level spell slots:
10 AC: 133.1 DPR
18 AC: 121.9 DPR
You could also achieve something awesome just picking up Eldritch blast, agonizing blast, and Jim's Magic Missile or Scorching Ray, but I've been working with Martial Characters a lot in the past few months, so I wanted to see what would come of a melee fighting build. Very happy with how it came out! If I could change one thing, I'd find a way to boost con saves more! Although if you force the enemy prone before grappling them, they'll already have disadvantage on attacks against your 17+ AC, so hopefully you'll be fine.
I haven't chosen a full spell list, but this is a good start: www.dndbeyond.com/characters/137714431
I just noticed Shadow Blade would also be an option... a good one at that... So many choices! In all honesty, I still like spirit shroud better though!
Cheers!
The last couple minutes of this video are great! Love to hear your ramblings!
I’m really curious about this build. Looking forward to watching the video.
I suppose with a crit, it would really be someone's "Last Christmas". Warlock and Paladin will forever be my favorite multiclass.
"Gee Billy, you're mom lets you have TWO smites?"
I stopped watching the outtakes a while back, just wasn’t my thing.
But I can’t skip them anymore. Your son is so funny, I literally laugh out loud every video.
11:09 Correction- The Goliath's fire's burn trait doesn't have a 'once per turn' restriction. "When you hit a target with an attack roll and deal damage to it, you can also deal 1d10 Fire damage to that target." Still not as powerful as bugbear's surprise attack though ofc.
Once per turn was Strike of the Giants.
That's the gift that keeps giving the whole year round, Clarkie.
That it does, Edward.
When I heard fiend warlock and paladin my mind immediately jumped to Ashrah from Mortal Kombat.
I am of the opinion we can have 2 video titles. The one in the title of the video and then the one in the video that you like best (Twice Smitten Once Dead was my favourite here!!). One pleases the Algorithm and one pleases Colby. Best of both worlds
I had this idea for a character in a different way! It was a warlock/pally/whispers bard that was a “one hit wonder”. Sort of like a charisma-based roguish character who didn’t take any rogue😂
Whispers bard is a subclass that I only recently came to appreciate
That also works. Psychic Blades stacks with the other damage dice nicely. I pointed out to the Devs during the playtest that these bonus damage stacks needed clarifying. As it stands I totally agree that Paladin 1, then Warlock 9, then Bard 9 is very strong. I do like Paladin 1 then Bard all the way too. In that case you probably want Magic Initiate, Druid to get Shillelagh as well.
Great editing. Keep that editor of yours
Also, great video. I would also like to supplement that there is so much RP through warlocks (and paladins) that ability checks will go through. They obviously won’t get measured when measuring Nova damage, but it can be a huge part of the game.
I will say I used your bladelock at level 13 but started with 1 level of fighter and it was ridiculously fun and strong.
Great video!
I agree with your final thoughts on smite. But I do think that the overall gameplay experience at the table will be better than when it was just off the chain. Also, to the other DMs out there: Just don't counterspell your paladin's smite even if it is going to send your big bad guy to Hell. That's the point of it.
I absolutely love your idea of making smite like the sneak attack but with the resource cost attached since it is on demand. I might homebrew that.
I also do think your build would still be fun even if its not broken like the old ones lol.
Feel better, man! Merry Christmas!
I’m currently playing a character with this same premise, albeit less optimized for damage, and it is a BLAST when you crit and double smite. You just get to roll ALL the d8s!
Just started video, but I'm assuming it'll be... Vengeance Paladin and Fiend Warlock.
Prediction cast; if you have a table that lets you grab old stuff that wasn't reprinted, you can grab Whisper Bard to add another "smite" to your repertoire
Adding Whispers would be a 3-level investment for only 2d6 damage, though. I wouldn't recommend that for builds that aren't primarily Bards anyway.
I did a character that at lvl 20 they were Vengeance Paladin 3/Whisper Bard 5/Fiend Warlock 12 and the extra 3d6 is decent, plus the fact I have 3 attacks and 3 smites is aesthetically pleasing lol
Ooooo… been wanting a build like this for awhile!! Thank you!!
You have shown me how fun it is to make builds in D&D. I have two in mind that I want to see you make. One is a Hexbow/Eldritch Blaster warlock using the Valor bard. The other is a bill that takes advantage of the wording in the Beastmaster Ranger, saying you can use an attack to command your Beast to make an attack. Maybe take a subclass that allows you to get another summon that you can command with a bonus action, like the wildfire spirit or steel defender?
Thanks Colby! 👊
48:30 Love the “Check please.”
A fun balance compromise I gave my players is to modify their Extra Attack thusly:
"When you take the Attack Action, you can make two attacks instead of one, and the first time you hit with a weapon attack on that turn, you can cast one of the spells from your Paladin Smite feature as part of that action rather than as a Bonus Action."
Essentially, Brutal Smites. I think WotC wind up dumping auto prepared Thunderous Smite and whatnot, but I would count those here.
Functionally, it means that a Paladin that has their x/day no spell slot smite available can smite twice on a turn, and a dual wield paladin or any other non spell slot weaponized bonus action can still do their thing without giving up smite.
It's a very tiny, simple buff/fix that can let us have our cake and eat it too. Smite spells are so much fun but could never compete with straight up smite, so I personally like combining the two with all the other changes to make them appealing.
Subtly, this version also prevents Crit Fishing, since you have to use your action economy free smite on your first attack. Also, the trigger for casting a smite spell is immediately after you hit with a weapon attack, so you can't stack multiple smite spells together with this because casting another one of the same attack isn't possible (if you were to cast a second one, it would be immediately after casing the first one, which isn't a weapon attack ergo the BA is not available).
Problem with the build for me is, our group just uses 2024 content. So a)species and b) spells do make some differences. And if every aspect is different from your assumptions, it doesnt feel the same. I need to see how it works out with pure 2024
Haha... "Cold-by"... anywho, get well soon, and thanks for the awesome content!
Yes, please. Smite damage was always a highlight to me :D .
I want to roll every d8 I got 😆
You guys are gonna love what we’re cooking. I just know it.
"When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon that you are holding with two hands, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property to gain this benefit."
The way that's written, I'd rule that it DOES apply to other damage, given the "for an attack" language. Also, it says "on *a* damage die" rather than "on the weapon damage die."
(Plus, it's such a terrible fighting style that it needs all the help it can get.)
On the topic of Devotion with Fiend: I remind you that Amadeus is, in fact, a deity. No one ever said you have to be devoted to goodness. Putting the Lawful peanut butter into the EVIL chocolate deliciousness , baby!
Wanna make Paladin Smites good? Play a Warlock!
The build is interesting, and food for thought. Always a pleasure to listen in.
I’m doing a Archfey Pact of the Blade warlock right now using AoA, I got fiendish vigor for 12 THP and the misty stepping also comes in handy. I never knew the new AoA spell was conventional.
I've been tinkering with a bugbear monk X / fighter 2. Gets 2 attacks at level 1, 4 at level 3, 5 at level 6, and 6 at level 11. Bugbears adds 2d6 on the first round to each attack. I'd also switch between a light, nick weapon, the club, and a quarterstaff to take advantage of all weapon masteries gotten from Fighter (Nick, Slow, Topple). Take the Alert feat to try and get ahead in combat, the Fey-touched feat for Hex, and the mobile feat to stay away from the enemy with the long arms.
If played in a level 20 campaign, you could become super MAD and go fighter 1, Long Death Monk 11, warlock 1, and bladesinger 7. It's super MAD, but it just might be crazy enough to work.
Love this one! I've been thinking of a bugbear build in the 2024 rules, and was leaning toward the new champion fighter (adv on initiative at level 3, inspiration always, + lots of attacks). I'd be curious to how the champion damage compares to this build - yours has lots of added utility with spells, of course.
I personally love the idea of a somewhat antagonistic relationship between a warlock and their patron. Makes for great role play to work with/against the DM to deduce your patron’s motives and machinations, and work towards getting the upper hand in the bargain, yet there is also that understanding that both warlock and their patron need each other for something, so they don’t become completely antagonistic to one another out of necessity. My very first character incorporated this idea (as a Hexblade) and the patron was a dark god involved in a cosmic turf war with his “son,” a deity of unfettered chaos, which was the central plot point of the campaign. It gave my DM the excuse to be a smarmy asshole instead of a Glynda Good Witch kind of patron.
I always like the idea of a sentient Holy Avenger as the warlock patron for a Paladin/PoB Warlock multiclass.
The Holy Avenger contacts you at early level, grants you some of its power and the end goal of the character is to find and claim the Holy Avenger as your own.
This build just makes it clear Eldritch Smite needs to be errata-ed into a bonus action spell with the rest of the Smites for 2024.
Also you can't use a smite spell, like wrathful smite, or branding smite with divine smite. Some of them require a bonus action to cast and require concentration.
Doing a tonne of damage that way was a lot of fun to play.
22:52 I have no need to argue. It's just my favorite spell in the game, and I will take any buff to it that I can get. My bias will be known😅
Potential backstory for this character: I forget who it was, but historically there was a Pope who on his death bed claimed that after being rejected by a woman he fancied, a succubus appeared to him and offered him power if he would be hers. He agreed, she arranged for him to become Pope and he swore not to share his bed with a woman thus he had power, but could only share his bed with his sleep paralysis demon. So it seems you can indeed be a holy man with a demon on the side.
I think when they created the 2014 rules they didn't consider all the combinations creative people would come up with to accelerate burst damage as well. As much as people dislike 4th edition, it really did solve a lot of problems we are still trying to deal with as DMs today.
I'll be kinda honest, I like that Divine Smite is considered a spell. When Barbs used DS, it always felt like a loophole the same way using Action Surge to cast another spell did. Moreover, if an enemy drops a 3rd level slot to counter my smite that would be a great trade as far as I'm concerned, especially since with the new rules it doesn't even cost my slot.
Thanks for the vid and the build. It's probably too late to edit, but Fiendlocks get Fire Shield and Wall of Fire at level 7. just a small miss that probably won't do anything for the build.
Random idea here: would you and the dungeon dudes ever consider doing a podcast? Maybe a “we’ll react to your build ideas” thing. I think it would be really fun and I’d tune in religiously!
With my players, we migrated our current campaign characters to DnD 2024 yesterday. One of them is a paladin, about the divine smite nerf, I kept the "one smite per turn" rule but removed the fact it's now a spell and use a bonus action.
Also, given that the 2024 rule book specifies that warlocks now don’t fully know who their patron is when making the pact at level 1 and you don’t fully understand their nature until level 3, it is extremely plausible that a paladin would enter into a pact with a Fiend and be utterly clueless about that until the rug is pulled out from underneath them and the patron reveals themselves fully to “collect what is owed.”
Nova smiting using all your spell slots in 2014: ✋️
Heavy machine gun smiting with Divine smite and Eldritch smite in 2024: 👍
From PHB 2024 on Temp HP: Temporary Hit Points can’t be added together. If you have Temporary Hit Points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 Temporary Hit Points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.
So that means if I have 1 temp hp and I gain 12 temp hp from say a warlock evocation such as Fiendish Vigor I can decide to keep the 1 temp hp or gain the new ones. So I've never actually lost my temp hp, I've only changed the amount I have. So Armor of Agathys doesn't end because I was never at 0 temp hp, I was at 1 temp and then that changed to 12 temp. The 1 temp doesn't leave before I gain to 12.
At least in my mind.
I'm currently playing a similar character. I went sword and board instead of great weapon to get more survivability, but still similar. He's a paladin of Sune who depends completely on his charisma for attacking, so he prays to Sune, but works with an angel of hers to "train" in Hexblade. (At least that's the story I've worked out with the DM at the start. If I've been tricked, I've been tricked! :-) As I said, I'm a little more Charisma heavy, so I suggest the wizard origin feat, not only for shield but also True Strike to use Cha at level one for attacks, and Booming Blade as discussed. The use of Booming Blade is also great with a warhammer and its mastery so I push them away after a hit and make them take more damage when they come in. By taking Hexblade as a subclass, you can get the hex for 19-20 crits. I enjoy that. I'm pally 2/warlock 4 now and can't wait for Warlock 5. Wish I saw your editor's note back when I started. :-)
Hmmm......the nerfs to divine smite are really sorta annoying. Making it a spell and using a bonus action are definitely bad feeling. Especially since you can't do a righteous fury build anymore, as stated in the video. Just a simple once per turn or once per action limit would have been good enough
I still say the only thing they needed to do was change the rule to "you may not expend more than 1 spell slot per turn." That takes care of that confusing wording. Then, if they want, they can add wording to select spells or features saying "You may do this and expend a spell slot as normal this turn."
Yup I came to the same conclusion a while ago. Lucky no table I’ve played in, Dm’ed for or have even heard of uses divine smite rules as written. The common fix’s are all the smites are not spells, they don’t take a bonus action and the free smite given with Paladin smite is cast at the highest level slot you have. Usually capping at 5th level, but not always.
Two build ideas that came from the early comments on this on: Max Fireball! What's the most you can get a fireball to hit for in the new rules? And a Barbarian/Pally multi class. Maybe a tank or a modular fighter?
Smiter is a good job, mate.
I keep wishing they made the 2024 backgrounds work like the ones in The Book of Many Things, Rewarded and Ruined. You have a choice of three beginning feats to choose from with each of those: Lucky, Magic Initiate, or Skilled for Rewarded and a choice between Alert, Skilled, or Tough for Ruined. It really allows for the flexibility of character creation I think they were trying to go for with the 2024 rules.
An idea for a Lockadin is someone with a strong to magical belief in oaths and reciprocity. They believe that magic comes from agreements with the mystic outsider of some variety or another, and use a connection to it to invoke their powers
I'm homebrewing a rule for paladins that do something similar to what you're suggesting for smite. Completely agree that it should have gotten the rogue class treatment.
It's funny that you talk about how another class (warlock) does smiting better than the smite class, paladin. I feel the same way about the vengeance paladin with hunter's mark vs. the ranger.
I’m thinking this while listening to the intro, but it really would be so much more interesting for smite to be a spell w a special casting time (when you hit with a melee weapon or unarmed strike), because than it could still be once per turn UNLESS you find ways to cast it without spell slots. So your one free smite from lvl two wouldn’t just feel silly, you can use it to double smite once per day!
Also, it would be a real reward for getting gold, because you could spend it on smite scrolls! So you’re getting double smite, but at a much higher cost, so it feels like it was worth your time
Also also, enspelled weapon of divine smite !!! Would truly become the paladins holy weapon
Ultimate Flex thumbnail, nice :D
It could be a paladin of light, embracing shadow, a lot of games will do this where you had light and shadow together, etc etc. Sounds legit
Just wanted to say, I am a huge fan or your new editor 😂😂😂😂😂
If you do want to do the Hold Monster version of this build, you can skip dipping Sorcerer and just go Great Old One for Patron instead of Fiend, they get automatic subtle spell on Enchantment and Divination spells which includes Hold Monster. I don't think anything Fiend gets you over GoO is better than just not needing to take an otherwise meh dip for two whole levels.
You are releasing this video as I am about to start a campaign in 2 hrs and play a paladin warlock ( devotion + undecided ). Starting at lvl 5. Let's see how you can inspire me
This build makes perfect sense if you ever Simped for Mizora from BG3. Devoted to a Fiend
My friend will love it if you pull this off 🎉
My personal homebrew rule for my table (we transitioned to 2024 rules mid-campaign and I didn't wanna nerf my player's Paladin *completely*) is:
- One Divine Smite per round (not a bonus action)
- cannot be used on the same attack as a Smite spell (but can use a Smite spell on another attack during that turn)
- Smite spells *do* require a bonus action, but do not require concentration (so just the new rules)
I have no rules against grabbing Eldritch Smite and doubling up, though, because if you want to invest that many levels into Warlock to Eldritch Smite twice, go for it 🤷
Probably should have just re-recorded this one brother. It became incredibly confusing trying to keep track of the errors and changes. Love ya though. Keep up the great work.
As a DM, I'm wholly endorse limiting paladins to one smite per round. I had already house ruled that in my games (though part of that also stemmed from my use of spell points, which gives casters a lot of flexibility).
While double Smites are cool and all, I wonder if just going Sneak Attack might be better? With so many easy ways to get advantage, with a 5 warlock 12 Rogue split, you could be Sneak Attacking every round for 6d6 with no additional cost. The Lucky feat can give advantage on demand, and teammates could potentially set you up as well, and there's no cost to your bonus action or spell slots, and you could still use Eldritch Smite.
Not the build I was expecting, but that tracks. Next time you do a paladin build I would love to see a dual wielder build that makes use of the Paladin 11 feature!
The hill that I die on is having an action economy that plays well with all the base classes, which Paladin Bonus action bloat does not achieve.
My (dream) wishlist for a future optional rule update for the Paladin baseclass:
1. Lay on Hands replaces an attack during the attack action.
2. At 9th or higher level feature that has Divine Smite (& friends) cast as a part of the attack itself, like, Eldritch Knight.
3. Reverting Sacred Weapon / VoE going back to the BA.
Bonus actions should always be used for menial damage attack or a buff / transformation, not everything unique the Paladin does till level 9.
*steps off box*
The way I interpret the mechanics surrounding magic and magic related abilities in the new rules is that it takes more focus and effort to draw upon magic than it does pulling off a stunt or maneuver like pure martials can. That's why the Magic action is stricter than before, why you can't cheese double casting with Action Surge anymore, why paladins need to use a BA to smite. It's not intuitive or easy to pull off as something that is purely of the body. Sorcerer and Warlock being the exceptions because their mechanics let them "cheat" the system in a way, which I find fun.
Half casters and full casters should NOT be able to step in the arena of pure martials and be better or really comparable in most cases. If they want to be, it SHOULD absolutely take work for them to do so.
From the Home Brew Files: The Gun Smiter. Bang BANG!!!
I feel like Colby’s always trying hard not to say, “If old or custom backgrounds aren’t allowed at your table… LEAVE THE TABLE. Your DM is a jerk.”
Bugbear Sneak attack is vs target that has not gone yet. Not just 1st round. You might want ALERT due to low DEX and you need to go before target to get Sneak Damage. ALSO DO not need CHA for Pact of the blade (Like you said) SO can just focus on Invocations. 3 Attacks with Pact Weapon and a bit of damage and healing once per turn.) With no Fighter levels.