Best Feats for Devotion Paladin 5e

by Prince Phantom

Yo, I heard you like Paladin, so we put more Paladin in your Paladin so you can Paladin while you Paladin. If you didn’t understand that reference, then this subclass is probably too old fashioned for you. Devotion is the box-standard Paladin oath, the standard by which all other oaths deviate from. This is the Paladin that cannot tell a lie, cheat, and always does what their parents tell them to do. Based on the selection rate of this subclass compared to other Paladin oaths, I’m sure I’ve probably already lost most of you. Don’t worry, Oathbreaker and all your other edgelord needs are on aisle 4.

For the two of you still reading, Devotion Paladins actually kinda rock. We get a huge buff to our accuracy if we can see combat coming or spare our first turn to set it up, we get the traditional turn undead channel divinity, straight up immunity to all charm effects to ourselves and those within 10ft of us at level 7, protection from a huge list of enemies at level 11 (who also happen to be the types of enemies you are most likely to fight at these high levels), and while our capstone is a bit lacking, who cares? Most of us will never see it anyway! This subclass is criminally underplayed all because everyone wants to be the cool kid playing the evil Conquest Paladin with a twisted past and so much edge that they have to be careful not to cut themselves on it. Feat selection is going to be pretty standard, but there are some feats that become even better thanks to these abilities.

Best Feats for Devotion Paladin 5e

Polearm Master/Great Weapon Master (ASAP): Sacred Weapon goes a long way in diminishing the accuracy decrease of Great Weapon Master, which is a problem that most other Paladin Oaths don’t have an answer for. You can also opt for a more defensive build, just taking Polearm Master and using a spear and shield, and with Dueling and smites you’ll find that you still deal good damage. Personally though I’m willing to take full advantage of the extra accuracy provided here and go full offense.
Fey Touched (Lv 8): Misty Step provides a huge mobility buff, and mobility is a big problem for most Paladin Oaths. What’s better is that we can share the spell with our Find Steed, teleporting both of us into or out of danger. Silvery Barbs is fantastic support for the full casters in our party who are forcing saving throws constantly, and increasing our Charisma score does a lot for this Paladin.
Sentinel (Lv 8): If you’d like to focus more on weapon use, Sentinel famously combos very well with Polearm Master and helps keep our enemies close to us, which is exactly where a Paladin wants their foes to be.
Inspiring Leader (Lv 12): As will all Charisma based classes, this feat represents a party-wide buff to survivability. Of course if your party already has a good source of temporary HP or someone else has this feat already, you can skip it for a different option.
Alert (Lv 12): Getting attacked by our enemies, spending a turn setting up Sacred Weapon, getting hit again, and only now being able to swing back is horrible, and Paladins are typically horrible at initiative. The other benefits are also nice, and being immune to surprise is very important.

Honorable Mention:

Crossbow Expert/Sharpshooter (ASAP): You want to know a dirty secret about Paladins? They actually function better as ranged attackers rather than melee most of the time. We lose the ability to smite, but smite is a highly overrated feature that blows through spell slots for often minimal gain. Being ranged allows us to make sure our most important allies are always in our aura, does comparable damage, still works with Sacred Weapon, let’s us pick targets much more easily, negates our problem of low mobility, and let’s us dive into the actually pretty amazing Paladin spell list. Don’t believe me that it’s great? Bless, Command, Aid, Locate Object, Aura of Vitality, Crusader’s Mantle, Find Steed, Find Greater Steed, Dispel Magic, Banishment, Circle of Power, and Holy Weapon would like a word, not to mention the spells we get from our subclass. I know that attacking at range is not the fantasy most people want for their Paladin, but the facts are that it is the optimal strategy.

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