Tips for paladin/warlock multiclass

[Friends with Benedicts]

It's not that I want to min max this mf, but I know for a fact you can pretty much ruin your toon if you multiclass wrongly enough.

So here I am, asking the community what are your personal takes on this matter.

Obs: I never played even the early access. I was waiting for the full release to play with these friends of mine.

[WeenerTuck813]

Start Paladin - you don’t get the heavy armor/martial weapon proficiencies if you start warlock.

Go 8/4 one way or the other. You’ll want your ASIs.

[MeldinX2]

Originally posted by Friends with Benedicts:

It's not that I want to min max this mf, but I know for a fact you can pretty much ruin your toon if you multiclass wrongly enough.

So here I am, asking the community what are your personal takes on this matter.

Obs: I never played even the early access. I was waiting for the full release to play with these friends of mine.

First 2 levels Paladin.
Then 3 levels Warlock for Pact of the blade.
Then 3 more levels into Paladin for extra attack.
Then 1 more level into Warlock for ASI or Feat
Then the final 3 levels into Paladin.

[fulf]

Start as Paladin for the proficiencies (unless Larian homebrews the multiclass proficiency rules)
Go 3 levels into Warlock for Pact of the Blade (Which is being homebrewed to let you use CHA for weapon attacks)
Either get Paladin to 5 for extra attack or Warlock to 5 for Thirsting Blade (which does the same thing)
Play the rest by ear but it'd be best to end up with an 8/4 split if you care about Feats/ASIs

[Danyel]

IMO only multiclass if you use a mod to go beyond the current lvl cap.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

Start Paladin - you don’t get the heavy armor/martial weapon proficiencies if you start warlock.

Go 8/4 one way or the other. You’ll want your ASIs.

Respectfully disagree, I think preserving the ASIs is a trap.

Three levels of Warlock will eventually give the paladin that nice SAD scaling, which is sweet with respeccing since we can dump strength at that point, but level 9 paladin gets level 3 spells and slots, and that should not be passed up for an ASI. For both scasting and smiting, that's too big a power spike to leave on the table.

[MeldinX2]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

Start Paladin - you don’t get the heavy armor/martial weapon proficiencies if you start warlock.

Go 8/4 one way or the other. You’ll want your ASIs.

Respectfully disagree, I think preserving the ASIs is a trap.

Three levels of Warlock will eventually give the paladin that nice SAD scaling, which is sweet with respeccing since we can dump strength at that point, but level 9 paladin gets level 3 spells and slots, and that should not be passed up for an ASI. For both scasting and smiting, that's too big a power spike to leave on the table.

I think it also depends on what gear you can get in the game. Maybe you can find alot of ability boosting items. Making ASI's even less valuable.

[Lamiosa]

Paladin to level 8, then respec to Paladin 5 and Warlock 3 pact of blade, then you can put points from strength to charisma, since you do not need strength anymore. I would suggest wait till 8, because you need level 5 Paladin für the extra attack.

[Agent Chieftain]

You can go 7 Paladin / 5 Warlock as a viable alternative to 8/4, depending on your chosen subclasses. You can choose Pact of the Blade on any Warlock subclass, making strength unnecessary, so ability score increases aren't as needed.

Fiend Warlocks get Fireball at level 5, which is strong enough to consider giving up a feat for. You also get an eldritch invocation at level 5, which is like a warlock unique feat itself.

If going Oath of Vengeance, you could even ignore the level 7 feature, as it's pretty meh (unless they changed it significantly for the game) And go 6/6 instead. 6 Warlock gets you another patron feature.

[Goose]

I would start paladin first and run it to 6 so you have your fighting style, subclass, extra attack, and bonus saving throw aura. Then invest warlock as you will to 3 or 4 (if you want the ASI) so you have your invocations and pact boon

Splitting up the levels will stagger how the class plays as you progress, badly

For ASI's, you could take the ability score increases and put them into strength (if you want a melee attacker) or charisma (if you want to use more spellcasting and attack at a range with eldritch blast). Some good feats would include war caster, tough, or warlock magic initiate if you just really want eldritch blast as a ranged option before investing warlock levels

Alternatively, you could go dex paladin and use archery, but unless Larian has changed the smite rules from RAW, you cannot smite with a ranged weapon- or eldritch blast for that matter

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Lamiosa:

Paladin to level 8, then respec to Paladin 5 and Warlock 3 pact of blade, then you can put points from strength to charisma, since you do not need strength anymore. I would suggest wait till 8, because you need level 5 Paladin für the extra attack.

With respec on the table, this is where I'd lean to as well. Being stuck without two attacks until level 8-ish is going to really hurt otherwise.

I'm also still waiting until 1.0 to know for sure what the deal is with heavy armor in this game.

[MeldinX2]

I would also consider the time it takes to get to higher levels. It's probably better to just wait until level 8 and then respec. But is that the most fun? Maybe you want the Warlock lore and have both classes earlier for roleplay. Then it's fine to delay Extra attack.

[Clive Hawkins]

I disagree. Paladin/Warlock should only take 6 levels of Paladin maximum (for Aura of Protection.)

You might say "Paladin 6 is not perfectly divisible by 4 and therefore you will get one less Feat." While this is true you must remember that a Paladin/Warlock can set their STR to 8 and instead attack with their CHR modifier. Heavy Armor also has no STR requirement in BG3. There are other benefits too such as: Since you get Extra Attack from Paladin you don't need to take Thirsting Blade on Warlock and can therefore take something like Devil's Sight instead which means you can play a Race that doesn't have Darkvision etc etc etc.

What does this mean?
A Paladin 6 / Warlock 6 only needs two Feats to max their Charisma to 20 and they are done forever. This can be done by Level 8.

A Paladin 12 requires four feats to achieve the same power. Taking their STR from 17-20 and then CHR from 16-20. This isn't possible until Level 16 which is not possible.

Therefore, a 6/6 split is actually one Feat ahead of a PLD 12, and NOT one Feat behind so you can easily afford one less Feat with this multi-classing combo.

[Friends with Benedicts]

So this pact of the blade is a must for using charisma to hit with warlock... Starting as paladin also seems like the best idea... Im also very inclined to try the 6/6 strategy. Doesnt seem bad at all. I understand what it entices when not reaching class lvl 8. Great suggestions everybody, thanks for all your input.

[iRaged]

If you already have a front fighter then starting Warlock then going into the multiclass is smarter. If you don't have a front fighter then obv start Paladin. This decision depends on your party comp.

[Friends with Benedicts]

Originally posted by iRaged:

If you already have a front fighter then starting Warlock then going into the multiclass is smarter. If you don't have a front fighter then obv start Paladin. This decision depends on your party comp.

Ill keep that in mind. Although we might have a good front line with probably a figher and a monk, idk if I will want to start as a warlock as roleplaying wise the opposite feels more logical to me, a paladin that later allies himself with a devil. Pretty corrupt if you ask me, seems like the type of roleplay I want for this run.