Tactical playthrough with Human paladin

[Apocalipse]

So i just started a 2nd playthrough yesterday As a human paladin on Tactical. Are there any hints or tips and tricks, knowing i finished the game on 1 difficulty lower (medium).

So far i took a thunderous smite, along with a fiery and fire one. Obviously focused on healing and protection next to these.

I'm thinking about having a warrior, stealth and Wizard or flex spot.

So far i liked not being restricted to druid or cleric for serious heals with only fire bolt and radiant type attacks on that last.

If i should multiclass, what are some good combos?
Also who should get worms in the brain for psychic Powers?

[Raz]

Thunderous Smite is one of your better Smites. The others are decent, the problem is their requirement of Concentration. I played an Oath of Vengeance into Oathbreaker, so the need of Concentration on the Smites interfered with me needing Concentration on things like Hold Person, Divine Favor, Darkness (once I became an Oathbreaker), or Concentration spells I'd cast from Scrolls.

The other benefit of Thunderous Smite is to use it to knock enemies off cliffs. If they resist the push, they at least take a chunk of damage and can be killed through the normal way. Good ol' fashion stabbin'.

I primarily used Smite, Thunderous Smite rarely, the other Smites even rarer because a dead target is not something I have to worry about putting Frighten on, or hurt with damage-over-time. If I need to put a damage-over-time effect on enemies to help chip them, that is what my Mages are for (hell, coast my Paladin's weapon in poison before the fight if I truly need chip) if such an effect is worth the spell slot over just... sealing them with Hold Person/Monster to assure a critical hit, or things like Fear to make them drop their weapons and run the opposite direction, Command to force them on their knees, so-on-and-so-forth.

Multi-class options, Paladin plays nice with pretty much every class in the game because everyone enjoys being able to add a random 1d8 of Holy damage to their hits on a reaction they can determine when to fire. Usual class spreads are as follows;

Paladin Lv2 / Warlock Lv5 (Pact of the Blade)/ Sorcerer Lv5
Paladin Lv5 / Sorcerer Lv7
Paladin Lv6 / Sorcerer Lv6
Paladin Lv2 / Warlock Lv5 (Pact of the Blade) / Bard Lv5 (College of the Sword)
Paladin Lv2 / Warlock Lv3 (Pact of the Blade) / Bard Lv7 (College of the Sword)
Paladin Lv2 / Fighter Lv3 (Champion) / Bard Lv7 (College of the Sword)
Paladin Lv2 / Cleric Lv2 (War Cleric) / Bard Lv8 (College of the Sword)
Paladin Lv2 / Cleric Lv2 (War Cleric) / Lv5 Warlock (Pact of the Blade) / Sorcerer Lv3

All of these are assuming using a 2H Weapon for the most part as it deals the most damage for any Paladin setup with zero exceptions (not to say you cannot be a Dual Wielder, I always my Paladin as such and never run them as a 2H and she does just fine in combat). Mind you, these options are just the tip of the iceberg 'cause I haven't even gone through the options that make use of Rogue (Thief or Assassin can be nasty work with Smites and a War Cleric dip) or a Druids use of Shilleligh, combinations with Fighter for the Maneuvers, or Barbarian (Rage may stop you from using Spells so you cannot directly cast Smite, but you can still use Smite as a reaction while Raging, quite a funny interaction).

[Apocalipse]

I did my first playthrough with a drow Druid on circle of the spores, but i would switch alot into owlbear because of the Massive damage and assured knockdowns.

Circle of spores had symbiotic entity which would give extra HP and deal 1d6 necrotic damage and damage would increase in some lvls. Along with spellcasting, it gives a crazy amount of damage.

Was it a perfect combo? Well in a first playthrough what do y want :D but the story and character seemed to fit in with the darker drow personality that plays with something off the beaten path but still Strong because of spellcasting and Wild shape.

[Apocalipse]

As to what i plan on doing or like to evolve.

Make myself a beefy paladin tank that can heal and deal some decent mid-range damage and knockdown.

As a second member i would probably use astarion, and give him the psychic abilities and assassin style play. Pushing baddies back when not sneaking around.

My third member, usually i use gale As Wizard. Thunder, lightning elements, Sleet storm and companion abilities like minor elemental etc.

The last member is a kind of flex spot. It would be good to have another party member that can take punches in Melee. I was thinking on using lae'zel but As to multiclass yes or no.

Especially for Gale and Lae'zel what are some good multiclass options?

[Raz]

Originally posted by Apocalipse:

As to what i plan on doing or like to evolve.

Make myself a beefy paladin tank that can heal and deal some decent mid-range damage and knockdown.

I would say go Lv6 Paladin / Lv6 Cleric for beefy Paladin tank with heals, some decent mid-range damage. Light Cleric. Gives you Fireball at Lv5 Cleric and Scorching Ray. Lv6 Paladin gives you Aura of Protection. You can use your Concentration for Guardian Spirits; Radiant Damage and just run into the thick of things hurting them by just existing while bashing them with a melee twice a turn. Access to heavy armor, can get War Caster to get Advantage on keeping your Concentration up.

Originally posted by Apocalipse:

Especially for Gale and Lae'zel what are some good multiclass options?

If you're keeping them their base class and not fully changing them, Lae'zel works going Warrior/Barbarian or Warrior/Wizard for another tanky control Fighter. Would be Lv5 Eldritch Knight / Lv7 Abjuration Wizard or Lv7 Eldritch Knight / 5 Abjuration/Evocation Wizard. Fighter is one of those classes that just mixes with anything just fine. Could even do Lv3 Fighter (Battle Master or Champion) / Lv5 Warlock (Great Old One, Pact of the Blade) / Lv4 Sorcerer.

For Wizard, honestly, I do not use Gale much so don't generally build him up. That, and my Gale is using modded stuff so my advise there is quite limited.