Thanks very much! Appreciate the kind words :D

For me this is also the best bg3 channel, thanks for your great builds@@Cephalopocalypse

I think it would be cool to think for yourself and find things out on your own because that’s half the fun

@@dilhancongar-pn1ndbruh why are you watching a build video then?

This guy gets it lol. Throw GWM in there and ASI +2 Str and the +2 Str potion from Araj. And Titanstring bow. You’re cooking

Yeah. If only there were more of those around.

More ways to increase strength throughout bg3 as opposed to the very very few dex boosters

Tbh this is what I need for my most recent role play. I think I'll go with his build till can get these. Bless your soul.

Doesn't the oathbreaker aura for undead happen at level 7?

Thanks very much!

3 playthroughs and all of them are paladin. You must really like this class

The ranged version of this one is even more flexible, 1 fighter, 1 wiz, 10 swords bard It takes sharpshooter and does the dual crossbows until mid-late when titanstring takes over It stacks arcane acuity via flourishes w/ act 2 gear and as soon as early act 3 it gets to cast control spells with its bonus action Fighter gives con save proficiency, 1wiz lets you scribe spells from scrolls. Bard levels take hold person to guarantee crits for you and your martials and eventually Command as a magical secret. Command is non concentration and upcast can hit 5 enemies to prone or approach while concentrating on something else

@@grimlok3487 Does scribe scroll still work for higher level spells? I thought it was locked based on wizard spell level? Regardless, sword bard is really good with paladin. I played around a bit with it and it's extremely good. I like that it has a really good ranged option (ranged flourish), which paladins tend to lack. I recently stumbled onto a build that isn't super intuitive but works surprisingly well on Minthara specifically, and that is the paladin/thief. You lose spell slots, but double bonus actions for her unique Soul Branding ability (2D4+1 fire to next weapon attack) means she can double this up on her turn - either use both for herself or buff herself and another character. That second double bonus action just has so many uses too. Start combat, soul branding + vow of enmity - that is just a great start to most any fight. You also get dash as a bonus action without giving up either vow or soul branding, so ranged weapons matter a lot less for this build - there is almost nowhere you can't get to with a double move action. And you still have excellent burst (sneak + smite + soul branding on a crit is 100+ damage). It's my go-to build now for Minthara.

Yeah, that's also a great way to do it. One of the great things about this archetype (that's sadly kind of hard to convey in a build guide) is just how versatile it is. You can take basically any level split between 2-9 paladin and 3-10 bard, use any combo of weapons/shields and about 8 different feats, and all end up with an extremely strong build!

One of the great things about this archetype is that you can take pretty much anywhere between 2-9 paladin levels and between 3-10 Bard levels and end up with a great character!

@@Cephalopocalypse yes, luckily it is)

Thanks!

True! Great item choice if you want a 2-hander, and one I don't see mentioned that often. Good call!

Oh man that would be so good with GWM! Thank you

Would it be worth picking the Polearm-specific talents if you go with that one you reckon?

True! Excellent item for any smite build, especially alongside killer's sweetheart or luck of the far realms

Woah when do you get that legendary rapier?

@@Jakepf i believe he's talking about the one in act 3 after rescuing a child from auntie ethel. if you arent aware of that, apologies for the minor spoiler

@@zzFlare ohhh, I knew of that quest option. Thanks for letting me know. Glad I didn't miss it or anything haha

For sure! You can get a lot of extra flexibility with the stat items. That lets you pick up CHA for save DCs and also Savage Attacker, Alert, or Actor which can all be very nice for this build!

Very true! The barn one is a personal favorite :P

For sure! With stat items you can have better save DCs, allowing you to use Command and other powerful save effects. Always nice as well!

Good idea! I'll add that to the list

Exactly!

Didn't think about that, but she does also fit the obsessed aloof musician vibe too.

you know she was jammin' on her off time

@@threadbearr8866 Never got her in act 2 or what?

You don't need minthara for spider lyre. There's more than one way to play​@@mitchellwilliam95

Thanks very much!

Btw, what are your recommended items for this build?

I was wondering the same thing.what build would for those three work best together with this Tav build?

Thanks very much!

I am planning this for my honor run. Go dual xbows with sharpshooter and do the pally dip for melee nova. Helm of Arcane Acuity + Band of Mystic Scoundrel for some CC ability. Not the best at any one thing but truly good at everything.

For sure! Gith make excellent main characters for that reason imo, you can grab all the knowledge skills alongside the circlet of intellect and just have decent knowledge skills more or less for free. Bard gets half that bonus on all skills so it's *slightly* redundant for bards, but still very nice

@@Cephalopocalypse I call it the chosen one style main character because of how many skill checks you'll be able to pass on your own.

Crappy wiki screenshot borders and all!

good old Sightstone

Glad to hear it!

This should work just fine as an oathbreaker! The paladin levels are mostly for smites - whichever subclass is your favorite will work perfectly

@@Cephalopocalypse Thanks for answering! Have a good one.

why would you do that on a melee smite build?

Sure! You'll want to take 17 starting dex, probably dropping 2 WIS, and then for feats the best options are Alert (just always excellent, especially for higher difficulties, though less important on this high dex character) or Savage Attacker, which rerolls your smite damage dice and increases your average damage enormously.

Kind of agree but im pretty sure that you dont use a spell slot unless you hit the attack.

That build definitely will work well! The levelling order here is very flexible. Smites are worth a ton of damage (usually more than Extra Attack without them) so I wouldn't worry too much about getting to that feature early - Bard 1 / pal 2 / bard 9 is my pick if you want to have the extra skills from bard. This definitely won't be as strong damage-wise as an archer bard, since as you say the ranged slashing flourish is broken (personally I wish they would change that, but c'est la vie)

@@Cephalopocalypse Agreed, there is a mod that changes it but with the way it is currently the damage is just insane. Even more so if you take X-box Expert and use the Bhalist armor. I used the Dualist Prog with bahlist armor. made act 3 a complete joke.

It definitely would! I think that party sounds great to me - I'd recommend getting sleight of hand if possible on the main character, just so you have that in the party, but that group has everything you need!

@@CephalopocalypseExcllenet thanks, wish me luck haha. I’ve done several Balanced runs but feel it’s time to dive into a harder difficultly.

Yes! I already have an oathbreaker lockadin build up ("Break the Lock(adin)") but will be doing a more straight-up version soon as well

Off the top of my head, Light Cleric using Radiating Orb stacking is probably the best solo honour cleric - cool idea though, I'll think about it more!

Thanks!

Going to be gimped on damage a little by not going straight fighter. Battlemaster gives you a wider variety of attacks compared to swords bard flourishes, and straight fighter gives you three extra feats compared to any other class. Mixing in bard for some more support probably means concentration spells, which are risky when you’re melee, especially if you’re not using a shield.

My work here is done

You can! This will work just fine as an oathbreaker

It definitely would!

I'd go with 17 dex, that way you can still hit 20 while saving a feat!

One of the great things about this build is it fits pretty well into any party - alongside a sorlock you've got a lot of your bases covered! My instinct would be to have this character be your lockpicker since it can also cover the dps role of a rogue, and go with a divine caster (cleric or druid) and a melee character - throwing would also work though!

@@Cephalopocalypse thx! I am very new to BG3 and Overall to D & D...learning a Lot . Fighter,Sorlock and a Cleric (thinking of the Tempest) should Work ..will give it a try in my Tactician-Run working on towards Honour

Sure! You give up a little AC and initiative if you use strength instead, but the build will still work fine - or you could use the gloves of dex or strength elixirs to reach pretty much the same stats.

Where can one find these stats?

@@gchristopherklugLarian has posted player stats a few times, probably on their website or Twitter? I’m not sure when the last class popularity thing was posted, so could be outdated.

@@gchristopherklug apparently my link got removed but larian posted the most recent stats on their twitter on december 5th

@@iAmEnenra thank you

My bad! I misremembered the stats. Woops

Definitely a good option! You can go bard 1 /pal 2 /bard 9 if you want better skill access. One small downside is you get dex save proficiency from bard rather than wis from paladin, which is overall a less useful save

It really depends on where you want your damage to come from. The bardadin uses charisma synergies and spells for damage by smites. A fighter bard would be looking for pure weapon damage, ergo focusing on either STR or DEX over CHA. You'd probably be better off looking at a completely different build rather than this one. One possible option would be 6 bard (swords)/4 rogue (thief)/2 fighter dual hand crossbow build, though that is I suspect rather less fighter than what you were looking for.

This is just an example - Minthara is one of the companions you can't recruit until later on

It does, and I definitely should have brought it up in the video. Savage attacker is great for this build's average damage, but I err on the side of hit chance and AC for this build. I find if you hit the target at all they almost always die regardless, so I prefer the extra hit chance, but if you want more damage SA over the ASI is great. Especially for the dual-wielding variant, as they have an extra chance to land a smite.

​​@@Cephalopocalypse I just left my question in the comments, but say I was able to max out my Dex with one feat because I got the Hag's Boon and needed to respec my stats to compensate. Would Savage Attacker be a good replacement?

Make sure smites are turned to ask in the reaction tab. I've never had it not work unless I've miss-aimed slashing flourish and not actually hit them in the cone.

For sure, you can definitely do that - or go pal 4 for Savage Attacker to boost your average smite damage significantly. I just really like the secret spell :P

That’s good until you get risky ring. Then bard 10 will end up being better.

I don't think there is a more lore friendly character for this build. Minthara is a paladin and she carries an instrument in-game. That said you could argue changing oaths isn't lore friendly but you could make a case for that storywise

@@apex1568 ooo what instrument was it ?

The Spider's Lyre​@@Kyubii01

@@Kyubii01She carries a lyre