Paladin Greatsword build?

[Coyote_Black]

I'm coming from DnD 5e and Baldur's Gate 3...I feel like I need an entire college course to make a build in this game. Anywhere I can look to get a good build for a Greatsword wielding paladin?

Or can someone like give me some bullet notes on a good build for one?

[Brother Santodes]

there is not much to it.
greatsword is a relative "bad" weapon type. greataxt is superseding them. even more so in this game. but it's playable.

get lung perception blind fight and you are fine. you need none of these BTW.

[Chan]

19Str/18Chr dump INT put the rest in Con and Wis. Take power attack, weapon focus, outflank, blind fight, improved crit, etc. Take all the feats that make you more lethal.

Also make sure you take a level before level 5 in a different mounted class otherwise you're stuck with a horse. I like horses, but I don't like horses in a fantasy setting where other cooler creatures are available personally. Also take boon companion when you can otherwise your mount won't reach max level.

[Deo]

Originally posted by DeadAF67:

I'm coming from DnD 5e

LOL.

[Brother Santodes]

that's not very nice leave that to the 5e community.

[Vertigo]

Originally posted by Deo:

Originally posted by DeadAF67:

I'm coming from DnD 5e

LOL.

I will never understand this mindset...

"Waaahhhh! They aren't making more games like Wrath!!!"
(A new member comes in from another P&P community)
"Casuals! We don't want you here! Get good at the game."
(Prospective new players leave)
"Waaah!! I just don't get why these games aren't more popular!!!"

I get some of the complaints on here are from people not making an effort to learn the game, but I will never understand this pretentious mindset.

[DeathStroke]

5E DnD is unfortunately extremely streamlined and basic compared to previous editions , while the pathfinder system is built off ideas from 3.5 . not 100% certain but i dont believe there are a lot of good greatswords in the game , but the wiki lists all the available weapons so might be worth having a read through if you are wanting to build around a particular weapon . the skills are pretty self explanatory as you can look at ALL skills while leveling ( not just which are actively available ) and it tells you what the prerequisites are and what it leads into. Paladin is probably one of the simpler classes to build.

[Aranador]

My recommendation for a Paladin - firstly understand that very early in the game you get another paladin companion, but you can make them full tank, so its OK.

Take one level in beastmaster cavalier before you get to the level in paladin that gives you your horse - this lets you get a riding animal that is more exotic. Mammoth and tiger are both good choices - you want the mounted combat stuff, so your pet can take the damage a bit for you, as you will not be using a shield. Also, the mount can move much further than you can in heavy armour. Once you get the paladin horse, you can elect to instead continue your current mount, and with a feat, bring that mount up to equal to your level. The Mammoth can be a bit tankier, and topple foes over, while the tiger can make a million attacks on a charge (actual number may be less than a million)

Then focus on feats that improve your greatsword - power attack, cleave, cleaving finish, and the feats that can make enemies scared of you when you power attack them or kill them. You want high charisma, and that lends itself to your intimidation checks.

Then, charge into enemies on your mount, and crush them !

[jonnin]

try taking the noble background that has greatsword (leader) and you will get a +1 with them right out the gate.
a 19 str is your starting point if the focus is weapon play.
for race, humans get an extra feat which helps feat starved paladin class (compared to a fighter). Assimir have +2 to two stats and no negative, which helps. Most of the other races are fine but nothing stands out for the class.

unlike D&D this game has many more hybrid classes. The warpriest and crusader cleric are more cleric like, less fighter like, if you had an interest in spells over melee.

cleave line is very good for the free hits when you kill things, more than for the 1 hit on everything aoe.

there is no monkey grip here. So no 1h greatsword use, if you expected that.
here your paladin will get a choice ... when it comes up, TAKE THE HORSE. Whether you ride it or just use it as a meat shield, its a powerful asset to the party.

There are heavy armors with more than +1 dex, but there are also + dex items that make this more or less moot. I recommend a 12 dex stat. If you want to use ranged weapons, just use a thrown one, and forget dex bow shooting.

Don't be afraid to embrace your magic. This game *specifically* has some perks associated with the story that let you get a LOT of spells per level, so even as you normally would have 1-2 level 1 spells you can kick that up to 5-6. The class has many unique, useful buff spells that normally you can use like once a day but with this game, much more often really opens them up a bit.

take a little time to look at the subclasses.

[zendingo]

Others have said most of this already but I'll just add my 2 cents.

Paladins have 2 abilities that really scale off of charisma. Smite Evil, which you get automatically at level 1, scales your hit chance off of your charisma bonus. Divine Grace, which you get automatically at level 2, scales your saving throws off your charisma bonus. Smite Evil also scales bonus damage off your Paladin level, but keep in mind that this ability is limited use, so it's mostly going to be used on tough enemies and bosses. At level 11, you can share the smite evil bonuses with your entire party with Mark of Justice. Charisma is also your casting stat. For these reasons, charisma is your most important stat. You don't need stats that buff individual saving throws (like wisdom) as much as other classes since charisma buffs ALL your saving throws. Even strength is less important than for other melee classes since you get damage and hit bonuses from smite evil, but strength is still really good since it stacks with those and, like I said, smite evil has limited uses per day. Strength should be your second most important stat.

Since paladins don't get any bonus feats, your build should focus narrowly on your strengths (high charisma and strength). As others have said, power attack, cleave, and cleaving finish are good. You'll mostly leave cleave deactivated unless you are playing turn based and want to micro manage it. Otherwise, it's just a pre-requisite for cleaving finish which passively gives you an extra attack whenever you kill something.

You'll also likely want to focus on feats that key off of charisma like Cornugan smash and dreadful carnage. These abilities intimidate individual and groups of enemies, respectively. Being intimidated makes them vulnerable to shattered defenses feat, which let's you and your party members who also have shattered defenses ignore the enemies' dex bonus to AC, making them easier to hit. These abilities can be buffed with Intimidating prowess, which adds your strength bonus to your charisma bonus for intimidate checks.

Other general feats to take are outflank (take it on all your melee characters and animal companions. It's effectiveness scales the more of your team has it). Dazzling display is also a needed pre-requisite skill that you probably won't ever use manually. Dreadful carnage will auto-cast it as a free action whenever you score a kill once you get it.

A basic progression might be:
Level 1: Weapon Focus: Greatsword and Power attack (human bonus feat)
Level 3: Dazzling Display
Level 5: Outflank
Level 7: Cornugan smash
Level 9: Shattered Defenses
Level 11: Dreadful Carnage
Level 13: Improved Critical: Greatsword
Level 15: Cleave
Level 17: Cleaving Finish
Level 19: Intimidating Prowess

Paladins don't get a lot of skill points, so athletics and persuasion are standard picks and persuasion buffs all your intimidate abilities. Also makes you the face of the party.

The weakness of paladins is they don't have many good ways to scale their AC. This doesn't matter as much on lower difficulties, and the horse mount you can get at level 5 helps if you ride it, since enemies will attack your mount rather than your paladin as long as it's alive. You can also address this with multi-classing depending on your preferences and difficulty level.

This build would make a high damage 2-handed build with great saving throws and some nice immunities who specializes against the toughest evil enemies (in a campaign against demons), buffs the party with auras and mark of justice, and has some nice buff spells to further enhance their own damage and defenses.

[Mathias Giovanni]

I would say get a horse when you get the option and heavy armor. This allows you to move the map fast. You can also take some team feats that give you chance to swing again. With team feats like Outflank and maybe a horse that knocks people down on attacks you can hit them extra times with crits, when they get up and so on.

I guess you can check out the Cavalier class in the character creator as well to see how they mounts work.

There is a lot you can do. I tend to focus on combinations of character build and team. You can increase your threat range with the greatsword with crit focus and keen weapons. Again it depends how you build.

Give your horse outflank. You could do precision and others. They should stack with the horse if they have the skill so if the horse crits on a kick when you attack you get to attack again and so on.

You end up just pummeling bad guys.

[Philemon]

Greatswords are not bad but the best greatsword is a specific wapeon you can get in act 3 and you just use greater magic wapeon on it. its not bad. dont let people tell you how to play like that.

[Green Spartan]

I finished a normal playthrough as a rager with greatsword.
There aren't many greatswords in the game but you will start to find some in act 3 after you reach drezen.And you can carry those till the end of the game.

I never played a paladin since i've got a paladin companion,but i know i focused most on my ability point increases on STR while using belts and buffs to enchance her STR and CON, and it worked well. If i had any means to buff her CHR i would do so but it is my lowest priority.

[pete3great]

Originally posted by zendingo:

Others have said most of this already but I'll just add my 2 cents.

Paladins have 2 abilities that really scale off of charisma. Smite Evil, which you get automatically at level 1, scales your hit chance off of your charisma bonus. Divine Grace, which you get automatically at level 2, scales your saving throws off your charisma bonus. Smite Evil also scales bonus damage off your Paladin level, but keep in mind that this ability is limited use, so it's mostly going to be used on tough enemies and bosses. At level 11, you can share the smite evil bonuses with your entire party with Mark of Justice. Charisma is also your casting stat. For these reasons, charisma is your most important stat. You don't need stats that buff individual saving throws (like wisdom) as much as other classes since charisma buffs ALL your saving throws. Even strength is less important than for other melee classes since you get damage and hit bonuses from smite evil, but strength is still really good since it stacks with those and, like I said, smite evil has limited uses per day. Strength should be your second most important stat.

Since paladins don't get any bonus feats, your build should focus narrowly on your strengths (high charisma and strength). As others have said, power attack, cleave, and cleaving finish are good. You'll mostly leave cleave deactivated unless you are playing turn based and want to micro manage it. Otherwise, it's just a pre-requisite for cleaving finish which passively gives you an extra attack whenever you kill something.

You'll also likely want to focus on feats that key off of charisma like Cornugan smash and dreadful carnage. These abilities intimidate individual and groups of enemies, respectively. Being intimidated makes them vulnerable to shattered defenses feat, which let's you and your party members who also have shattered defenses ignore the enemies' dex bonus to AC, making them easier to hit. These abilities can be buffed with Intimidating prowess, which adds your strength bonus to your charisma bonus for intimidate checks.

Other general feats to take are outflank (take it on all your melee characters and animal companions. It's effectiveness scales the more of your team has it). Dazzling display is also a needed pre-requisite skill that you probably won't ever use manually. Dreadful carnage will auto-cast it as a free action whenever you score a kill once you get it.

A basic progression might be:
Level 1: Weapon Focus: Greatsword and Power attack (human bonus feat)
Level 3: Dazzling Display
Level 5: Outflank
Level 7: Cornugan smash
Level 9: Shattered Defenses
Level 11: Dreadful Carnage
Level 13: Improved Critical: Greatsword
Level 15: Cleave
Level 17: Cleaving Finish
Level 19: Intimidating Prowess

Paladins don't get a lot of skill points, so athletics and persuasion are standard picks and persuasion buffs all your intimidate abilities. Also makes you the face of the party.

The weakness of paladins is they don't have many good ways to scale their AC. This doesn't matter as much on lower difficulties, and the horse mount you can get at level 5 helps if you ride it, since enemies will attack your mount rather than your paladin as long as it's alive. You can also address this with multi-classing depending on your preferences and difficulty level.

This build would make a high damage 2-handed build with great saving throws and some nice immunities who specializes against the toughest evil enemies (in a campaign against demons), buffs the party with auras and mark of justice, and has some nice buff spells to further enhance their own damage and defenses.

This is a solid build that will get you there, and takes advantage of the paladin's higher than usual for a melee character's CHA, though I'd put off the cleave stuff to take intimidating prowess much earlier.

[jonnin]

Originally posted by DestinyCallsYou:

Greatswords are not bad but the best greatsword is a specific wapeon you can get in act 3 and you just use greater magic wapeon on it. its not bad. dont let people tell you how to play like that.

I don't disagree, but picking something else saves wasting spells, and act 3 is a long time to wait for a decent weapon. The itemization in this game is horrid; you don't even SEE a SINGLE copy of multiple weapon types in most of the game. I don't think, for example, a monk can get nunchucks other than generic junkers off a vendor, until act 4! Making a build around nonexistent weapons is extra punishing, while you get 3 or 4 glaives (for example) by the end of act 1 alone! There are other oddites too, you can't easily make a sohei monk-weapon user, because... they can get monk weapon training, but don't get the weapon profs! A fair number of entire builds (around weaponry) just do not work in the main game (but work in like midnight isles).