Irrespective of any tactical advantages, any paladin who fails to smite on a critical hit when able to do so shall become an Oathbreaker - Paladin Tenet #1

I love my Sorcadin character, especially with the addition of Shadow Blade. I have been able to dump insane amounts of damage with a beefed-up Shadow Blade and stacking Divine Smites on top of it when I crit. I get advantage in darkness/dim light, and I can use Vow of Emnity for enemies in light or enemies resistant/immune to psychic. It is very difficult for my Sorcadin to lose concentration. I started with 2 levels of Paladin, then 4 levels of Aberrant Mind Sorc to get Shadow Blade and Resilient: Constitution. And from there, 6 more levels of Vengeance Paladin for 8 in Paladin. From there, I am focusing on Sorcerer until I am at 11 sorcerer, and finishing with a 9th Paladin to cap. Presently, my Byakko is lv 4 Aberrant Mind Sorc and lv 8 Vengeance Paladin, with my stats at 18 STR, 16 CON, and 18 CHA, witn INT being my dump in 8, though my newly acquired Headband of Intellect just got that covered up to 19.

I'd like to see your analysis comparing the multiclass options for Paladin. The 3 Charisma casters and their subclasses give it a lot of flexibility.

I love the practical guide to smiting. I wish I could get my paladins to think about what they’re doing when they burn all their slots and get upset they don’t have anymore for the rest of the day.

I mean, yeah. The 5th reason to smite can be summarized as such: spell slots are worth nothing if you're dead lol. I've found myself in a situation where I had to spend all my spell slots smiting on the first encounter of the day. We were a three people party and the rogue scouted out too far and got caught with his pants down. Dude was at 0 on turn 1 and we were soon facing tpk. Good old times

I really appreciate these in-depth videos recently that take a scalpel to components of multiclassing/character building. A lot of times, character build content anywhere on the internet sort of feels like restating the obvious once you've gotten an intermediate grasp of things. Challenging specific approaches like the Paladin 2 / Sorc X thing is very useful to me because it specifically asks "what is it that you think this accomplishes?" Maybe I'm just not tuned in to the right places, but it feels like there's often a layer of fuzz over everything that makes it hard to see exactly what the goal is in people's builds, or what their precise metrics for success are, and I think this video demonstrates how to refine that conversation.

Double post? Thanks for the great vids Treantmonk

As far as an early "Cast Bless and stay ranged" a ranger/cleric multiclass actually makes sense. Ranger will give you martial abilities and range as well as some subclass features, and cleric can give you spell slots and other goodies.

I was just thinking of the Soradin last night, so the timing made me smile. Good observations and advice, as always. My mind wandered last night to Soradin because I was thinking of a hypothetical Eladrin "Fey Warden" Hexadin, and I had to focus past the thought, "But Soradin..."

The point you made of a two level dip of Paladin on a Swords Bard... That's basically my current Swords Bard, took two levels of Paladin after Swords Bard 6, though mostly for in-game reasons. He's ended up taking a bit of a psuedo-frontline role, with control spells to deal with large groups if need be. Doesn't hurt that he got the magic item Prayer Beads with access to Bless as a bonus action, so that tends to be what he casts and concentrates on right now. Have plans to take Holy Weapon as a magical secret in the future. Fun character, there's nothing he *can't* do. Except maybe move heavy objects, but we have a barbarian for that. He can keep up with our rogue in stealth, outdamage our hexblade and even synergize *with* the hexblade because Blind Fighting lets him benefit from the darkness spell, has access to a variety of useful buff and debuff spells, even has a ranged option with Firebolt through his Magic Initiate feat, which also gives him Shield in a pinch, though it is only once per long rest it has saved his butt a few times already. In tandem with Defensive Flourish he can hit AC in the 30s easily.

I'm playing a soradin (sorcadin?) in a campaign where we typically only have one combat encounter per day. My character has established a reputation for dealing huge amounts of damage despite his baseline damage being completely shitty (2d8+8 per turn) just because I can afford to smite on so many of my attacks. Recently picked up shadow blade and I'm shocked by how efficient it is when cast at 3rd level. It adds the equivalent of a 1st level smite on every attack and equals a 3rd level smite in extra damage after landing just twice. If you don't have a good magic weapon, shadow blade is a fantastic option.

Very cool. I love the combo Devotion/Shadow sorc,it has flavor,a little bit of edgy and with the Hound you impose disadvantage on the spell Hold person/monster for devastating crit-smiting

Nice build and I have some thoughts... a 16 str is more important than charisma for a low level pally. I just don't see saving throws coming up as often as attack rolls or skill checks. For me, a soradin is about leveraging action economy. Using quicken spell to booming blade or to activate spirit guardians or haste. To that end I'd go var human, take paladin to 3, sorcerer 1, paladin 4, scoop up polearm mastery and warcaster, then sorcerer to 4-5, boost charisma, bounce back to paladin to 12 and finish up with sorcerer.

I asked for it, you promised, and you delivered. Thanks man!!!

I did the math and I’d pick Resilient (Con) over War Caster. It’s statistically nearly equivalent in most circumstances but it really comes into its own after 6th-level aura kicks in, You also get the extra HP from the +1 Con and better Con saves vs spells.

My favorite character i have played, was a concept i had been toying with for a while but is MAD as hell. Goliath Paladin oath of Anchients, and Druid Circle of Land (mountain). Thematically i was going with a druidic priestly warrior. Mechanically i focused on melee combat with spells focused on buffs or aoe attacks despite a lower spell dc than i would have liked. But for stats i was super lucky rolling them out. Cause i needed Str, Con, Wis, and Cha in order to make it work.

I learned a ton here, I would actually love to see a similar video for the bard/paladin.

This actually really helped me even though the character I am building, is a fighter/sorcerer.

you can also do 1-2 P, 3-6 S, 7-10 P, continue w/ S. This allows you to play short or long campaigns as an actual multiclass rather than mostly P.

Boss killer - hold person/monster for auto crits on a quickened boom or green flame blade attack + Divine smite. Add 1 lvl of hexblade to be less MAD. Not only that, for hordes of enemies you can green flame blade twice per turn for 2 sorc points. To control the battlefield you can booming blade multiple opponents to hurt or have them stay in place. You can fireball, counterspell. At lvl 12 You can hold monster, quicken a GFB on a hexed longsword for 2d10 slash + 4d8 fire + 10d8 radiant. Your teammates can hex said boss and they're at disadvantage to get out of it and they can take auto melee crits... at worst if you have other casters in your party, you can make them burn legendary saves

Interesting takes! I'd have to say it really depends on the type of game you play. If you are running only a couple combats a day, this is the mightiest build to take to the front lines. However, if you have more than 4 combats in an adventuring day, you might find even a 2-3 level dip in hexblade is worth it for the short rest spell slots and immense utility you get as a warlock

This is a lovely video, thanks! I'd love to see this with Warlock instead of Sorcerer as I have a nice concept and I'd like to be able to play it effectively. When... when I get out of my Forever DM spot... which will happen any time now. Aaaany time now.

I have a Soradin build I'm playing myself, but the Sorcerer subclass is the UA Phoenix Sorcerery and it's been fun so far, the Paladin subclass is Vengeance

My DM had us roll random characters, and I have a Tabaxi Vengeance paladin that is faster and has a higher AC than anyone else at level 3. Looking to add some Divine Soul, so this was very timely. Thanks, Chris!

I'm playing a Clockwork Soul Tortle that I plan to multiclass into Paladin for 2 levels at level 9. Only takes spells that don't require saving throws and primarily invests in STR. Fun, slightly weird build that ISN'T optimal, but can deal out respectable damage, has amazing support spellcasting, etc. Absolutely able to hold its own.

I had quite some fun in a silly campaign with a Dex Sorcadin. Skub the Axebeak(Reskinned steed) riding Goblin Oath of the Ancients 'Paladin'. He got to Pally7/Sorc2 and would have kept going Sorc but the campaign died off. 'Bravely' longbowing his opponents from very far away and then switching to Rapier/Whip and Buckler for when they got close enough (He had a lance but never used it because they're very heavy for a little Gobbo. (Except for that one time with the windmill...) Shield of Faith got him to 20+AC and the Mounted combatant meant poor HeiHei didn't get immediately slaughtered. (Definitely not a blue and Yellow 'rooster' Axebeak). He hung back with the squishier party members to buff/protect and would sling various ensnaring shots to hinder anything that tried to get close before charging forth to intercept them. See Geraud Soulie's 'Goblin Rider' artwork for the visual inspiration. He was a rather fun, very mobile, and surprisingly tanky character to play. Heihei only got poofed once IIRC.

Other than misnaming the build. I love the in depth detail.

Considering the hexblade dip; it’s only affects one level of play in regards to extra attack, so it’s not slowing down damage there. For smiting, more attacks landing is more damage, so the extra attack bonus is worth it to me. You also pointed out that you’re not going to have room for great weapon master, sentinel and polearm master, so I’d rather go with the war caster/sentinel combo for all that free extra damage, which in the long run is probably going to do more than your smites. I’d also go 8 levels in paladin for the extra feat, so I’m contributing that extra damage earlier. I think it’s worth the level dip if you’re more focused on the smitadin than gish concept.

Aw yeah! My favorite multiclass!

Great video! Likely going Soradin my next campaign. 6 lvls Conquest (for Spiritual Weapon) then the rest Divine Soul Sorcerer. Decent dmg from lvls 5 to 8 concentrating on either Divine Favor or Bless with extra attack and Spiritual Weapon. Then once 3rd lvl Sorcerer (lvl 9 overall) Shadow Blade upcast to 3rd lvl x 2 plus Spiritual Weapon for some nice dmg and good chance to crit smite in dim light. Then at Sorcerer 5 either keep Shadow Blade in dim light scenarios or Spirit Guardians for that nice tanky feeling of bringing baddies around me and watching them burn. Downside is takes a while to turn on but in the meantime just Paladin isn't such a bad thing. If your DM allows Shadow Blade and Booming Blade/Green Flame Blade, then if two enemies are beside eachother, 2x Shadow Blade and quicken spell Green Flame Blade is pretty powerful as well (and adding a smite a couple times too and thats big nova).

One thing I'd mention is certain paladin subclasses mitigate the spell progression issues you have somewhat, either a couple getting misty step at 7 for example. It's not the same as getting it at 3 for sure, but it's also better than getting them at 9 10 or 11 depending on 6 7 or 8 paladin first. I'm not saying it makes up for spellcasting overall, but I think for paladin oaths it's the main thing I consider since as you eluded to all the channel divinities and subclass features are relatively on par compared to the base class features.

I’d also add that smiting can be an excellent way to force a high DC concentration check, dropping a debilitating spell effect. Of course, an action surge will more likely succeed at that, but it doesn’t quite carry the same impact, and a Soradin has an awful lot more 4th spell slots to burn than a Fighter action surges.

I use a dex-based Protector Aasimar Vengeance Paladin 6/Clockwork Soul 10. Low Con score to get 13 strength for multiclass. I make up for it with high level Aid, Armor of Agathys, Bastion of Law, shield, absorb elements, high saves. In a pinch I can Lay on Hands to self-heal and still use a quickened green flame blade+smite to keep DPR up. Leveled up Shadow Blade is great thematically and works well enough mechanically on a high level "Clockwork Vengeance" Soradin.

7:10 Actually at the same level a full Martial would get Extra attack a Sorcadin who multiclasses out at level 2 would get quicken spell for bonus action blooming/green flame blades. You still want to come back for extra attack but I think it is worth mentioning.

The biggest downside of sorcadins is that they just come online so late. You want both aura of protection and metamagic to really feel like a sorcadin, which means you have to be level 9 minimum. Every sorcadin I try to plan ends up just being a vanilla paladin and never levelling up high enough to get the sorcerer levels :(

Love the video! Just as i was planning on playing one. It would be cool if you covered playing a ranger/cleric multiclass too! I cant quite figure out how to distribute my levels.

I'm very much interested in a bardic version of this. Maybe focused on a melee support role using Guidance from Blessed Warrior and Inspiration.

I like the shadow sorcerer for their shadow blade. It does 2d8 minimum and 5 max. Yeah it's concentration so you can get smacked out of it but that's what the con saves are for.

It's probably helpful to consider both a burst ability (e.g. you are travelling overland and are only likely to have one encounter that day) and sustained ability (e.g. clearing out the 50 room dungeon) as I tend to use both when I GM, albeit the burst ability becomes less relevant in mid levels when you get access to long range teleports and travel abilities and begin to outclass all but the most dangerous wandering monsters.

I think the most Interesting thing about taking Bard instead of Sorcerer, is that Magical Secrets would allow one to get high lvl Paladin spells back. For a Paladin 6 / Bard 14 that would not come online until lvl 16, but full on Paladins would not get their fifth lvl spells until lvl 17 either.

I'm making an 11 eldritch knight 5 clockwork soul for a level 16 short series, very excited

I'm playing a Divine Soul Sorcerer X/Paladin 2 currently finishing our campaign soon at level 20 now but I had lots of fun upcasting spirit guardians + booming blade + smite using metamagics. I also took the feat Eldritch Adept Devil's Sight to booming blade smite enemies with advantage. Now because we actually played till 20th level I have Wish.

not an optimized story, but fun story about paladin 2. I had a campaign once where we were told that it was ending around level 8ish, so I figured I could forgo extra attack if my build became fun super early. I'd have my fun early on, and then ride out the last bit of the campaign on the weaker side. so by the time we were fighting the big bad, I was paladin2/bard4(whispers)/sorcerer3(divine). We had ended up getting to level 9 and I had been kinda regretting my decision to not get extra attack, but the big bad was humanoid and this one moment made it all worth it haha. I had rolled super high on initiative and was the only party member going before the big bad, so I cast "hold person" on the big bad and then used "silvery barbs" to get him to fail a save he initially made, thinking to rob him of his turn. by some miracle and using all the random features i had collected to maintain my concentration through all the mob attacks, I managed to still be concentrating on hold person when my turn came up again...and my friends had cleared a path to the big bad, so I rolled up and cast booming blade and smited and used psychic blades on the auto-crit. I'm not doing the math again, but I remember I rolled over 10d8 and almost 10d6...and then did quickened spell and did everything again with my bonus action lol. That is, by far, the most dice I've ever rolled playing dnd haha. But in future campaigns, we've really started to love hold person and hold monster as a two person combo, where one is a paladin and one is a primary caster with access to those spells.

the 2 level paladin dip green flame blade build can work with draconic sorcerer's extra fire damage, with searing smite the dpr seems to match up pretty closely at least when using low level smites, and you will get more spell slots

I would add a 4th instance where you might want to smite, even if the other 3 conditions are not met: against enemy casters that are concentrating on spells. If you can up the damage of a single hit to inflate the CON save DC, you might be able to interrupt a spell you otherwise would have to deal with for an extended period of time. Most of these things require experience at reading the situations so I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment that it's not correct to have set in stone rules for when you are smiting. Anything that starts with "you always smite when..." Is a no-no, generally

If you roll for stats, you can get up to an 18 before racial bonuses, potentially getting a 20 in a stat if you use a racial +2, however, you will also roll lower than the minimum in point buy, so you will have some lower scores as well. Nothing is guaranteed as well. But having a sorcadin start at 20 charisma really helps with the feat hunger. Combine that with a race that gets a feat at level 1, and you have a potential to quench some of that feat hunger. Keyword potential, if you roll bad, maybe don’t make a sorcadin.

Booming Blade scales up to 3d8 + 4d8 if they move willingly. At high levels, Booming Blade and Quickened Booming Blade + Smite on both should be doing more damage than extra attack. You can also Twinned Spell Booming Blade to attack to creatures at once.

Having flashbacks to the 3.5 days of WIS-casting Paladin MAD shenanigans

i could see going 1 or 3 lvls into warlock hexblade for hex warrior feature allowing me to use my charisma for attacking and dmg and then 6 lvls into paladin for aura of protection and the rest into sorcerer like hexblade lvl 1/paladin lv 6(whatever you prefer)/clockword sorcerer lvl 13 allowing for high ac and decent dmg. also means i can focus on charisma and constitution.

Reason #6 to smite - When you *really* need to break an enemy spellcaster’s concentration. Concentration DC is half damage dealt, so even a Level 1 smite is, on rounded-down average, a +4 to that, which in this era of Banded Math is huge.

How about this? Custom Lineage - Feat War Caster 1. Sorcerer - Divine Soul - (Con Save Prof) 2. Paladin - Medium armor / Weapons (mostly attacking with booming blade / green flame blade) 3. Paladin - Smite 4. Cleric - War - Heavy Armor - extra attack using bonus action Wis bonus times per day. 5. Sorcerer out to 20... (Option take one more level of cleric for the channel divinity I don't think it is necessary but YMMV) eventually you will get 4 ability score improvements / feats. (I would go sword and board less feat dependent, but obviously less DPR) maybe it isn't exactly optimized, but sounds interesting.

I played a Saytr Crown Palidan6 multiclassed into the bard UA Satire subclass which had the tumble ability. The Tumble ability allowed for a dash & disengage as a bonus action where you thematically rolled around.

I would make a case for Pal 2 / Sor #. I’m playing one now and it is very effective. I will admit that I miss that second attack but if I really want to go all out I could always quicken booming blade. Not something you can do often but still fun. My hit points were low but I was able to offset that with upcasting False Life. But if I were asked the main reason to just do 2 levels of Paladin, it is that it allowed me to get the Soradin feel right away. I recognize that at higher levels I’m essentially going to revert back to being more of a caster, sort of like your advice on the Bladesinger, but I still had my Soradin fun for most of the campaign.

I have a character design I'm about to try out that is a soradin (and his name is Sora Din). I actually am able to start sorcerer because I've designed him as a dex based (his strength is 13 just so he can multiclass) paladin with draconic sorcerer giving him similar AC as full heavy armor while also being able to stealth. I'm able to do this as a half elf since they have a base +2 char, +1 in two stats. I love the concept and versatility of a soradin since you can gain spell slots for smiting or you can do some cool tricks with your sorcery points for like twin spell haste or other cool combos. I'm really excited to try him out!

I've been playing with a lot of MAD multiclassing build ideas recently. Best way around it I can see is going variant human or custom lineage and taking the tough feat so CON can be sacrificed. It's equivalent of gain 4 points in CON which can be all the difference. It sacrifices the saving throw, but for Soradin we can recover some of that through taking the sorcerer dip first. Of course this does also depend how feat hungry the build is.

One feat I do want to mention that you've left out is Resilient Constitution. I'm playing a paladin right now, I'm fairly high level (16). I took this at level 8 and it has been an absolute life saver. Yes you don't have the ability to case with your hands full, but that doesn't matter because you can drop weapon -> cast spell -> pick up weapon on your turn with no chance of it being interrupted (unless the DM starts readying actions, which should have a visible note to it, so you can just start dropping stuff behind you). It allows you to use some of those absolutely fantastic buff spells, ensure they're up 99% of the time (Currently I have to take 28 damage from a single instance of damage to even have to roll, and that only fails on a 1). Add in bless, add in bardic inspiration, perhaps favored from the gods if you're a divine soul sorcadin. Sure, you don't quite get the same raw damage that say, polearm master gets you, or the ability to reaction spellcast, and it means buffing one saving throw by a large amount rather than all saving throws by 1. But it, in my opinion, is well worth it both on paladin and even sorcadin

Interesting video, there's some good points in it for sure! I think there's a little more wiggle room on a lot of these points than the argument made in the video, but it's always nice to see a strong argument. Where I particularly stray would be: Paladin 2/Sorc X: I think this is a fine build for many campaigns - it works fine for a melee sorcerer, especially if it's a campaign where there might be fewer fights in a day (so the nova damage from smites is a significant bonus). It slows down sorcerer spell progression a bit, but unlike the paladin 6 version it allows getting sorcerer spells relatively timely in most campaigns (eg, in my experience most campaigns usually end up being mostly in the lvl 3-11 range, where the paladin 2 version gets 3rd level spells at lvl 7, and ends with 5th level spells known. Vs the paladin 6, which barely gets 3rd level spells known at lvl 11. One will feel a lot more like a spellcaster with melee capabilities than the other - and even at high levels, getting a 9th level spell is also tempting. Aura of protection is amazing, but I don't think the other one is wrong). Hexblade dip: The hexblade dip is nice if you want to keep fighting in melee at higher levels. There it really depends on the level range we're playing in - but a 1-2 level warlock dip relieves a *lot* of pressure on the ASIs for high level (the first making it so you don't have to worry about bumping STR, the potential 2nd one giving you advantage on CON saves. That's not always going to be worth it, but if it's with a generous DM for sword and board casting and it's going to be at higher levels, I think it could make sense. Like a lvl 12 character with paladin 6/sorcerer 4/warlock 2 can get 20 CHA, 20 on its attacking stat, and the warcaster adv on saving throws - whereas without the hexblade dip, you'd need 3 more ASIs to get all of that. It's definitely more situational/I wouldn't use it as a baseline, but it's got some usefulness.

Ive played a lot of sorcadins. I actually prefer going 1 paladin, 5 sorceror as a lvling order first, before going back into paladin. Especially as a divine soul.. This gets you spirit guardians and twinned/quickened cantrips, and thats worth more than extra attack and even (arguably) aura

For Soradin that is more tanky I like Sentinel over Warcaster, as a lot of DM's will waive the empty hand for Shield spell or if using a two handed weapon you have a free hand anyway. What you can do with Sentinel is quicken mirror image and then if one of the mirror's get attacked it triggers an opportunity attack. Did that with my pre Tasha Oath of Vengeance, Divine Soul combo and it was a lot of fun.

You were saying 6 was a good jumping point, but I would suggest jumping at 6, then jumping back when you have 8 levels of sorcerer (if you get that far in a campaign). At 20th levels, the combos that make the most sense are p6s14, p8s12, p11s9, p12s8. I think the first 2 are the best ones, but some might just want that extra damage on a hit. Personally I feel drawn to taking 6 paladin then 8 sorcerer then 2 paladin then sorcerer again, just to round out with all the asi's. If I didn't need any more feats I'd probably go 6.

"The obvious Sorcerer choices are Aberrant Mind, Clockwork Soul, and Divine Soul" I'm here awkwardly chuckling with my Wild Magic/Devotion multiclass. I have a particular concept in mind, and I'm hoping this video would help optimise it.

In AL a lvl 2 pal/lvl x sorc sorcadin (I've always seen sorcadin, not soradin) is quite viable. You go variant human + PAM feat to get 2 attacks per round, and at some point you can rebuild to get another feat because you can use meta magic to booming blade twice per round. In AL modules rarely have more than 2 significant fights per gaming day, so you usually will have plenty of slots and/or sorc points. You don't get warcaster, but you're using a 2h weapon and don't need it - except we'll lose concentration more often (which can be a problem). This char can often move in and out of melee because of the reach of the polearm (some monsters have 10' reach, however). But you don't have to melee: you can cast spells, instead. You get someone to run a module that drops Gauntlets of Ogre Power, and you play in that ASAP. That way your base str score can be 13, but w the magic item: 19. Put 16 in Cha and 16 in Con - and push Cha to 20 as you level up. Do this for caster reasons. It's a weird class concept. Hit points are kind of low to be on front line, but again with reach, this may not be an issue. I'd only pick this if I really wanted specific things from being a strong caster. This build gets wish, if it goes way up high. But losing the aura is painful.

If you are going into T2 or T3, level 6 pally is kinda optimized. being a bless bot. Hex dip for EBABRB for ranged DPR. then sorce levels.

Extra attack with 2 smites at 5d8 One attack with 1 smite at 5d8+3d8 from booming blade. Although you are getting slightly less damage, you get more if you guarantee the enemy movement. Fear, or simply using your find steed mount to disengage from an enemy will proc the extra 4d8 damage from booming blade making it higher in the end. I'd say the balance out fairly well tbh.

I'm playing an Oath of Conquest 3 / Divine soul 1 based on the ultimate spellsword build from your videos chris. and the Catch 22 build by Colby of d4: D&D Deep Dive. It is easily the most powerful multiclass I've seen in terms of damage. I've kept clerics up, after they went down three times with lay on hands...and i'm the best tank many times i play with different parties. So a video like this is right up my alley!

I like 4 levels in warlock with hexblade as an option. You take blade pact, eldritch mind, improved pact weapon, and great weapon Master. You cant cast as a reaction and obviously you don't really get many sorcerer levels unless the campaign is really long. This means your more of padlock with a sorcerer dip at the end. It also makes you more of a smite build than a fish build. Still pretty good though

Fantastic video. Really enjoyed the nuanced takes - especially when there's been a lot of "clickbaity" insights nowadays like "why you should never smite", etc. Selfishly too, it's very validating because I had a lot of similar thoughts. Super curious as to what combo you'll go with for the build, but if I had to guess... if we're splitting at 6, Vengeance/Clockwork? A very good mix of offensive and utility capabilities IMO. I'm guessing Vengeance because the channel divinity is highly useful and misty spell comes off as probably the premium Oath spell to have as a melee character.

My personal favorite sorcadin build is dex based pally ( any subclass really) /Draconic sorcerer. The sorcerer dip gives 13 + dex ac so equivalent to plate while also grabbing shield spell. Allows Dueling fighting style for even greater damage with minimal loss to defensive options. Plus, you have higher initiative, stealth and dex saves which are traditionally a weakness for pally.

Warlock is nice for being less MAD. I like a single level dip in warlock, 2 levels if you want the strongest ranged cantrip in the game to compete with your melee damage.

This is why i think paladin lvl 2/sorcerer X is the best way to go, if you want the extra attack just quicken a booming blade/green flame blade, this will allow you to fulfill that gish role much faster, You can still get 2 attacks per turn, eventually cast 9th level spells, and cast higher level divine smites way earlier. Add in a single level of hexblade to make the character less MAD and add replenishing sorcerer points with spell conversion.

Always wanted to make a Paladin/sorcerer gestalt character since I’ve tended to play in smaller groups.

First, I usually go for a 3 paladin 17 sorcerer sorcadin because it gives access to wish and smite. For this or a 6 paladin I would probably level in order of paladin 2 > sorcerer 5 paladin 6 > sorcerer 14. I find the tiefling variant for winged is often overlooked, as it could make a good choice for this character build. While it does have the heavy armor limitation this means you could buy 13 Str 14 Dex for medium armor, multiclass, and racial +2 to charisma score. This is probably hex blade 1 > paladin 6 > sorcerer 13 however.

Ooooooh. Now I just need the Hexadin.

Combining booming blade with smite as a 2 level paladin dip works well for me.. its 4d8 vs 5d8 extra damage and does not cost 2 smite costs.. works also very well with 18 levels of sword bard, which gives you two attacks and a total of 19 spell levels…. But i stick to sorcerer, as i mostly choose paladin for the extra defense and the smite is just a very nice extra option when in melee..

I think more people should think about Lore Bard. The early Magical Secrets can give you Spirit Guardians, and it brings a lot of skills and versatility. You lose Quicken Spells, but trying to balance that with the Divine Smite spell-sink was probably a headache anyway.

I played a set of Drow twins in the Avernus campaign. They were born to the house Xorlarrin. One of the twins was a 3rd born. He was to be sacrificed to Llolth. Since he was a twin, the Matron Mother decided he had to not only be sacrificed, he had to be flayed alive. His father was okay with the sacrifice but not the flaying. He arranged for Bregan De'arth to make a false attack against the House of Xorlarrin. The attack was a bit late so the 3rd born was partially flayed, but not dead. The ruse worked and the father and his 2 sons escaped. They were escorted to Silverymoon and became devotees of Elistrae. They learned that they had innate magical abilities and became Divine Soul sorcerers. The problem was that one was a sworn sacrifice to Llolth. He is a mix between Divine Soul and Shadow Sorcerer. He gets the best benefit available. He gets to choose the best spells or benefits from either subclass. The problem is that Llolth has added a bit of chaos to the mix. He has a 20% chance that his spells have the opposite effect. Heals will hurt, etc. During the Arkhan The Cruel section a sacrifice had to be made. Normally it would be Lulu or the Unicorn. My character volunteered, but was denied because he was tainted. His twin volunteered and was accepted. The tainted brother said that his sacrifice would not be in vain and swore an oath of vengeance. Currently 8th level Sorcerer/1st level Paladin. I guess my point is that sometimes circumstances make for a better character than planning it out.

I would like to amplify those other people who would like to see if you could discuss sword and shield (aka sword & board) and why it's suboptimal and any possibility to make it more optimal.

I would like to see you do one on the paladin/bard Multiclass (this is my favorite build)

Idk, this is my WarloSorcAdin build and I think it looks pretty good: Hexblade 2, Vengeance Oath 8, Divine Soul 8, Hexblade 2. Elven Accuracy @ Paladin 4. Polearm Master @ Paladin 8. Resilient: Constitution @ Sorcerer 4. +2 Cha @ Sorcerer 8. Crusher @ Warlock 4. Str 14 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 8 Cha 20 Hex Weapon Quarterstaff +11 1d6+6 (+ Extra Attack). Polearm Master activates Relentless Avenger. Blind Fighting to ensure Vow of Enimity. Vow of Enimity & Crusher activate Elvish Accuracy. Hexblade's Curse d19-20 activates Crusher. Smite (Harness Divine Power & Convert Sorcery Points) Agonizing Blast Divine Magic < Spirit Guardians Favored by the Gods Eldritch Mind Resilient Constitution Quickened & Twinned Metamagic Magical Guidance Aura of Protection

Great breakdown! Can we expect to see a new build video for a Soradin after this breakdown, similar to what you did with the bladesinger? Or do you not plan on doing that?

A big factor in lv2 paladin 18 sorcerer is that you get wish at lv19. This lets you cast simulacrum which can double your dmg output and on the next day cast a twin true polymorph on. This makes you a monster at high level play. Also booming blade can be quickened or twinned letting you still do 3 smites in a good round, or 1 smite and a twinned disintegrate With a dip into hex blade at lv3 before sorcerer you can also have Eldridge blast and leave str as 15 to just focus on Charisma and Constitution, being fully online by lv4, and a god at lv20

ב"ה Another good opportunity to smite is when you hit a spellcaster concentrating on a big spell and it is really important to break his concentration ASAP. You want big hits so the concentration DC would be high. Usually the soradins and palabards I see multiclass into sorcerer after 5 levels of paladin and take the 6th level of paladin only after 5 levels of sorcerer or bard because getting the spell progression up to 3rd level spells (and bardic inspiration back on a short rest for bard) is really significant while 3rd level spells can often already be upcast to good use (like spirit guardians) or just really good without upcasting (like fear) so the full caster levels become less urgent. I mean, the aura is nice and all, but often there are just not many character in that aura, and most enemies at levels 6-10 don't force saving throws, so for that +3 against a dragon's breath that give 15% higher chance per character in the aura to take only half damage (and player character often spread out anyway against such enemies because it is better not to be targeted than to be targeteted and have a bonus to save) it could be delayed to level 11. Obviously, everything depend of the enemies you face at your tables, so the best path might change from table to table. Also, In my table magical (polearms and hand crossbows) are rare compared to magical sword and axes (and bows) so people are skipping polearm master and stay with just great weapon master and a two handed sword anyway, which is powerfull for soradins that cast spells with their bonus action on turns they don't drop an enemy to 0 hit points or crit through the quickened spell metamagic.

In a rolled stats game I played a Dex soradin. 6 Vengeance Paladin/ 12 Shadow Sorcerer-he was made a demi-god and became an NPC. I loved playing with cool spell selections and being so mobile. After he left the party, I played an Artificer. Let’s just say, damage output from the party dropped immensely… our DM had to throw monsters with easily over 1000 HP to last more than 2-3 rounds against us, after my Soradin ascended, those 1000 HP monsters became a lot harder to beat. My character was more survivable but definitely lost damage output.

personally im thinking of making a protector aasimar divine soul sorcerer oath of redemption paladin all about using control spells and being pretty much a full caster with i will probably use firearms actually as my form of attack to allow me to stay at a bit more range to help stop my concentration from being broken in the event i cant stop all enemies movements or force them to take time to recover from say a spell stun or something. honestly the oath of redemption just fits my general ethos pretty god damned well and mixed with divine soul for some healing magic paired with full access to the cleric selection of spells just sounds fucking perfect to me :D

1 level in Hexblade right after Paladin combined with Custom Lineage and a half feat lets you "start" with an 18 Charisma. You are indeed boosting Charisma in comparison to not going Hexblade.

On the when to smite: I would hazard a guess that if they are vulnerable to radiant damage (certain undead) you would also want to smite, it's a bit like rolling a crit. (and god forbid if you do both)

I think that a Variant Human Oath of Devotion Paladin would be good here instead of a Warlock dip. I'm playing one with 16 Charisma and 16 Strenght to start. If you invest in Charisma and then use your Charisma modifier to up your chance to hit, you'll have a better chance to crit. Believe you can start using your Charisma modifier at level 3. Personally I choose to add a Strenght saving throw because Strenght and Dex saves are more common and because I wanted a Strenght boost.

Another point for your hex warrior section is that if you don’t put 15 into str you won’t want to wear that heavy armor.

I think the Paladin 2/Sorcerer X build works well with the Crusher+Booming Blade combo. Losing extra attack doesn't matter quite as much when you get that secondary damage more often. I prefer this build for campaigns going to 10 levels (like curse of strahd) as you get everything good pretty early: Crusher with variant human using a maul, booming blade lvl 2, 19 AC with Defense style at lvl 3, and then just get a bunch more spells for the rest of the campaign. I rolled well for stats though and didn't have to worry about ability increases for ASIs so that always helps.

Bonuses of taking a dip in 1 level of Hexblade: Using charisma for attack and damage and using Eldritch Blast for ranged attacks instead of a crossbow. It's worth a 1 level dip and limiting paladin leveling to only level 2 with the rest in sorcerer. Just my opinion. Oh, and always roll ability scores instead of point buy. Cause point buy sucks. Race of choice for me was aasimar. Level 1 was paladin, level 2 was hexblade, level 3 was paladin, and the rest has been sorcerer. He's a baller as of level 8. Out meleeing the bladesinger and keeping up with spell throwing as well.

No Aasimar in the list for Races? Protector Aasimar gets +2 CHA, and can shift +1 WIS to STR. They get Radiant Soul for flight, extra damage @lvl3 and some extra healing.

I play a level 17 Sorcadin with 6 levels of Paladin in a party where I'm the only multiclasser. I can easily keep up or surpass the damage of all others, besides the rogue. I went Mountain Dwarf oath of Devotion & Storm Sorcery. Gish play-style where I smite mostly only on crits, and choose stormy/thundery spells for flavour. It's a super super fun character. With a fighter, barbarian, rogue and ranger, I went mostly Sorcerer so that our Bard wasn't the only good caster in the party. Also, I've never ever failed a concentration check.

Be custom lineage -> 18 cha then 6 paladin -> 20 cha then 2 hexblade -> eldritch mind (no warcaster needed) + agonizing blast/... then sorc

Would like to see a comparison of gish vs pure hexblades and bladesingers. Seems like they’d make a stronger gish from spell leveling and ASIs.

There is also Winged Variant Tiefling for flight and Charisma

Yeah for this build I prefer Shield and Longsword. I don't have to spend any feats on anything for using a two handed weapon then. Much easier to be a crowd control Sorcdin / Pally / Divine Sorcerer. I usually got Paladin of Vengeance so I can get Misty Steps, and Sometimes I go to 7 Levels but usually it's 6 so I can get my hands on a 9th level spell slot and save it for a much needed Counter Spell on someone's Power Word Kill.

I really like this "mastery" series. It really tees up the mechanics and playstyle. I wish you would do one for the sorlock.

the hexblade dip is not just equivaent to your contitution bonus. the 1 level hexblade dip also give you: your ASI at each 4 level, becuase you are Hexblade they basically give you the same bonus as if you had 2 ASI as a straight paladin. 1 hexblade dip for all intented purposed gave you 2 extra ASI. a hexblade1/paladin4 that put it's ASI in Charisma, will increase his attack roll, damage roll spell DC, (ad at paadin 6, save bonus) The straight paladin need to wait level 8 to put a ASI in strenght AND in Charisma for the same bonus. the 1 level in hexblade also give that hexblade curse (crit on 19, add proficency on damage roll) and Im sure this more then compensate the difference between a 1d10 longsword (which you have to option to hold in one hand and equip a shield if need be) compare to the 2d6 great sword. Then again going 3 level hexblade is not the end of the word neither, 2 evel 2 spell that you regain on a short rest, 2 invocation, giving you a decent range weapon (eldritch bast) AND if you take the eldrtich blast invocation to pull target you can even bring them back inside your guardin spirit making them enter on a turn, then start their turn in it. I understand that you loose and delay a lot of spell casting option doing this, but as you said sorcadin are feat starved, so removing the need of 2 ASI (bringing your strenght from 16 to 20) kind of negate the spell level drawback. Yes the theorically mega Nova burst where you action surge, haste great weapon fighting deal 9 attacks using level 5-4-4-4-3-3-3-2-2-2 spell slot might not be reachable... but after each short rest you got at least 2 2nd level spells you can us to smite if need be. But I would be interested to compare the Nova potential, DPR and utility for a: - straight 20th level paladin (would be the baseline I would assume since the concept of multiclassing is to improve the 20th straight paladin, has you said, the first 6 level contain more goodies then the 14 lasts) - 1 hexblade dip, 19th level paladin - 3 hexblade dip, 17th level paladin - 3 hexblade dip, 2 fighter, 15 paladin - 3 hexblade dip, 2 fighter, 6 paladin, 9 sorcerer - 3 hexblade dip, 3 fighter (battlemaster or rune knight, not everyone can use setting specific stuff like Echo Knight), 6 paladin, 8 sorcerer Maybe not showing us the level by level build, but the final build with what is can achieves. With a prioritization on nova burst first, DPR second and utility/defensive as a 3rd important component (we are still going paladin 6 for that utility/defense aura)

I would like to point out that the first two features you get from sentinel applies to all opportunity tax.

I want you to talk about gestalt optimization. I know you only ever to get play these types of games like once, but it would a fun video