Best Feats for Redemption Paladin 5e
by Prince Phantom
Oh you thought the Devotion Paladin was a goody-two-shoes? My sweet summer child, you haven’t seen anything yet. Meet the Paladin that literally only uses violence as a last resort, sees the good in everyone, and has infinite patience. Aka, the exact opposite of your average D&D player. If somehow you are still interested, I think you’ll find a subclass that really rewards all that patience it asks of you. The biggest winner here is our expanded spell list. Banger after banger, including Hold Person, Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern, Resilient Sphere, Hold Monster, and even Wall of Force, a spell I’m still happy about grabbing even if I have to wait until level 17.
Our actual abilities are a bit less exciting, but the biggest standout by far is our channel divinity, either letting us act as a very effective party face, or cause an enemy to take all the damage of their own attack (or half on a save), which is best used after a particularly devastating crit. Our aura is nearly identical to the Oath of Glory’s, and I actually like it on this Paladin a bit more. I’m much less high on our 15th level feature as has so many caveats that you’re unlikely to ever actually see much healing from it, but the capstone is both wonderfully flavorful and mechanically powerful.
This leads to a very defensive feeling Paladin focused on battlefield control and support for its allies, and while that’s not the typical playstyle most people associate with the class, I feel it can sometime be a more powerful strategy than the typical striker. Feat selection will reflect this defensive focus, but we still want to make sure that when the time comes we can deal effective damage.
Best Feats for Redemption Paladin 5e
Crossbow Expert/Sharpshooter (ASAP): I alluded to this in the Devotion Paladin feats list, but I believe this of all Paladins is the best suited for ranged combat rather than melee. This Paladin is focused on defense, support, and control, and has amazing spells at all levels that will basically always be more effective than wasting those slots on smites. Staying at range makes it easier to place spells, protects our concentration, let’s us pick which enemies to attack more easily, negates our poor mobility, makes us good at initiative and Dex saves, makes it easier to keep allies in our aura, and does basically the same damage. Smite is literally the only thing we lose out on, and we’ve got plenty of great spells to make up for that.
War Caster (Lv 8): I’m fine with waiting until level 8 for this if we are committed to ranged combat as that in and of itself will protect our concentration in a lot of combats. Enemies start to have ranged options and higher mobility at these levels, meaning investing into our concentration checks is necessary if we want to take full advantage of the awesome spells our oath provides.
Fey Touched (Lv 8): If you find that your concentration isn’t being consistently challenged, this is a good option if you want to expand your spellcasting a support even further. Paladins don’t get teleportation of any kind, so Misty Step is a huge boon, and Silvery Barbs can really help some of our own spells stick when we need them to. All this while increasing our Charisma.
Inspiring Leader (Lv 12): All Charisma based characters should take a look at this feat around this level and see if it’s a good fit for them and their party. If you don’t have a source of party-wide temporary HP and no one else has or is taking this feat, this is a great option to buff our entire party’s durability. Don’t forget to include pets, summons and steeds in the mix too, as there is no limit on how many times we can use this.
Tough (Lv 12): If your party already has a good source of temporary HP, take this instead. With our ability to take hits for our allies, we really benefit from more HP to work with. Taking this is sorta like adding HP for our whole party.
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