Redemption Paladin - how does it play?

So I'm looking into various subclasses and I really like the theme of the Redemption Paladin. Normal smitey paladins haven't interested me that much, so the idea of a mildly-pacifist, persuasive, heavily armored peace-keeper to tank for the party seemed intriguing, especially considering he could still go Nova when absolutely necessary.

I made a build (half-elf, 16, 10, 14, 12, 8, 16) with proficiency in Persuasion. The RP skills seem good, especially with his channel divinity giving +5 to persuasion.

However, I was wondering how exactly this would work in combat. My first thought was to provide buffing spells (ie Bless) and tank enemies using the dodge action to draw aggro, and use the Aura of the Guardian to take damage from friendlies. But that has a number of problems: Why would the baddies attack me? Sentinel doesn't seem to fit the idea of a mild pacifist, so I can't lock them down that way. I could cast Sanctuary on one of the squishier allies in hopes that the enemies will miss them, but that's broken the moment one of them wants to make an attack.

It just seems like this paladin would play similarly to a Life Cleric. Lay on Hands, Auras, and +1 AC is certainly good, but hasn't sold me on this idea yet.

Any ideas on how to approach combat here?

I actually wrote a guide on the Redemption Paladin on these forums.

Careful not to reply to the thread though, it's well past the 45 day thread necromancy limit.

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Originally Posted by ProsecutorGodot

I actually wrote a guide on the Redemption Paladin on these forums.

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What level did your Redemption Paladin get to? and what kind of games? I can't see it being satisfying in modules written by WoTC (combat is too often the only solution)

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Originally Posted by ProsecutorGodot

Careful not to reply to the thread though, it's well past the 45 day thread necromancy limit.

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Good warning!! I wouldn't have thought of that...

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Originally Posted by ProsecutorGodot

I actually wrote a guide on the Redemption Paladin on these forums.

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Oh, I'm not sure how I missed that! Thank you!

Airless, what is drawing you to redemption?

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Originally Posted by NaughtyTiger

What level did your Redemption Paladin get to? and what kind of games? I can't see it being satisfying in modules written by WoTC (combat is too often the only solution)

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I'm still playing him, Roland Brakmore is currently 14th level, Redemption Paladin 12/Hexblade 2. Aura of Protection sees frequent use to maintain our Sorcerer's concentration on Haste.

I will say that opportunities to talk the NPC's we interact with down from combat is diminishing rather quickly. That's not much of an issue though, since the NPC's we're interacting with now are irredeemably evil.

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Originally Posted by NaughtyTiger

Airless, what is drawing you to redemption?

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I've never built a paladin before; I've wanted something more than a pure smite machine. And Redemption seemed to fill that niche, especially because it seems to make for some interesting RP opportunities. It seems like a fun challenge, I just want to ensure that a non-provocative force can make for a decent tank, I suppose.

I have one in my group, LVL 13 now. Plays Coowl he has combined it with cha build and inspiring leader which gives a nice boost to the party. The group was fighting cultist and he eventually got out of character permission to fight against the core, with them being fully corrupted.

Redemption effectively does these things:

• Keep allies from taking damage.
• Be good in social situations.

The thing is, though, that's ALL the Redemption Paladin does. If neither of those two things are valuable for your playstyle or your team, it might be better to go with another subclass. So you need to figure out how valuable those two things are.

A Redemption Paladin works great with a party of squishies, as he can absorb damage on their behalf and prevent a Concentration Saving Throw, or allow a melee combatant to feel comfortable on the front lines to deal heavy damage. Sentinel is redundant, as it effectively does the same exact thing (keep/punish enemies from hurting your allies). As a Redemption Paladin, you'll be taking a lot of damage (either by punishing enemies for attacking your friends, or by absorbing damage on your friends' behalf), so focus on improving your survivability, like through the Tough feat.

Here are the specialties of effectively each subclass, so you can get an idea of what niche each one fills:

• Ancients: Being the sole melee character, due to its abundant survivability.
• Crown: Enhancing a melee-heavy team.
• Devotion: Group buffs and damage
• Conquest: AoE and anti-swarm, good for protecting your back line.
• Redemption: Social interactions and protecting squishies.
• Vengeance: Single target damage and chasing nimble targets.

Do not expect Redemption Paladins to be good at dealing damage, and they don't make especially good tanks. Preferably, you want to be the last resort when your back line has melted the majority of the enemy team, and SOMEONE needs to keep the Sorcerer/Wizard safe. You're a better tank than a Cleric, but only just.

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Originally Posted by Man_Over_Game

You're a better tank than a Cleric, but only just.

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This post has a ton of great information, both Redemption-specific and general-Paladin.
But I think this is where my issue is; I don't really see the Redemption Paladin being as good of a tank as a Life Cleric. Both get heavy armor, but Life Cleric gets Warding Bond and amply healing power, which can outshine Lay On Hands. The +1 AC from defensive fighting style is good, but hardly worth building the character around.

Then again, keeping/healing allies from damage and social situations are two things I tend to enjoy in this game, so maybe it's enough for me to give it a try.

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Originally Posted by airless_wing

This post has a ton of great information, both Redemption-specific and general-Paladin.
But I think this is where my issue is; I don't really see the Redemption Paladin being as good of a tank as a Life Cleric. Both get heavy armor, but Life Cleric gets Warding Bond and amply healing power, which can outshine Lay On Hands. The +1 AC from defensive fighting style is good, but hardly worth building the character around.

Then again, keeping/healing allies from damage and social situations are two things I tend to enjoy in this game, so maybe it's enough for me to give it a try.

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Don't forget about all of the other Paladin goodies, though. You DO get divine smite, an aura to buff allied saving throws, and a very exclusive spell list. The Redemption Paladin might be the worst Tank of the Paladins, but that does not mean that it's the worst Paladin.

Is the Knowledge Cleric bad, just because it doesn't interact in combat? Having a unique skill set doesn't mean it's bad. It DOES mean that you need to find a way to make it work. And if your party can't find a way to make the Redemption Paladin's combat abilities work (Punish enemies for attacking allies, make those attacks deal no damage when they hit anyway), then the Redemption Paladin will work just fine.

Do keep in mind, though, the Redemption Paladin works best when enemies are attempting to attack your allies, so make sure your allies are feeling comfortable being targets. In a way, the Redemption Paladin is a lot like the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian. Does nothing when the enemy wants to attack you, but is an excellent pick any other time.

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Originally Posted by airless_wing

This post has a ton of great information

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It's a wildly inaccurate analysis, missing the best uses of many of the Redemption Paladin's abilities.

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Originally Posted by LudicSavant

It's a wildly inaccurate analysis, missing the best uses of many of the Redemption Paladin's abilities.

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I'm sorry you feel that way. What do you feel is missing, and what do you suggest is the best way to use the Redemption Paladin's skillset?

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Originally Posted by LudicSavant

It's a wildly inaccurate analysis, missing the best uses of many of the Redemption Paladin's abilities.

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I don’t agree with “wildly inaccurate”, but I feel there is more to the Redemption Pally than MOG stated.

Rebuke the Violent is fantastic in combat, while Emissary of Peace is equally fantastic out of combat. Really good spell list (at least in my opinion). It’s aura is a good panic button to keep others up. It has Champion-like Regen abilities. Amazing capstone.

In terms of damage output, one well placed Rebuke the Violent per short rest may well out do damage output options available to the other subclasses. As a Reaction, it’s in addition to normal attacks/actions available to a Pally, and can drop an enemy off turn. If you factor in RtV, I think you’ll see Redemption is fine with damage output (it is, after all, still a Paladin).

Redemption is probably the most versatile Paladin when considering what the subclass can do out of combat/avoiding combat all together.

Granted, if you’re in a murder-hobo group, the RP element may be an issue.

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Originally Posted by Man_Over_Game

Do keep in mind, though, the Redemption Paladin works best when enemies are attempting to attack your allies, so make sure your allies are feeling comfortable being targets. In a way, the Redemption Paladin is a lot like the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian. Does nothing when the enemy wants to attack you, but is an excellent pick any other time.

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This is a bit of a misconception, you want the enemies to attack you more often than they're attacking your allies, you can only block one hit using your reaction. If you're able to prevent your allies from taking damage altogether then you're succeeded as a tank.

Your hit points are your best resource as a Redemption Paladin, you should be looking for every opportunity to spend them if it would save your allies some pain. I like to think of a Redemption Paladin as a short rest based Paladin, you're going to be using a lot of hit die.

It's a nice bonus that if you're the target of the attacks you can benefit from resistance. Although I don't particularly like it, Stoneskin is a good spell to use when in this situation.

I also don't agree with the idea that taking the Redemption subclass makes you any less of a powerhouse when you need to be. Sure you focus more on spellcasting, with such terrific spells as Bless and Hypnotic Pattern, but you're still a Paladin and you're still going to be using Divine Smite.

Redemption Paladin isn't really any worse at dealing damage than an Ancients or Crown Paladin, and in some cases Rebuke the Violent makes it capable of more damage than those two. Compared to the Life Cleric's Warding Bond, the Redemption Paladin's aura substitutes using your reaction on one attack per turn for a 2nd level spell slot that gives a +1 bonus and works on all attacks. With your limited spells and competition for smites, that's a fair trade off. It's an extremely competent, RP-rich subclass in the right hands.

The biggest knock on it is that it's arguably more MAD than even other Paladins as investing in CON/Tough becomes a bigger priority. Your spells are almost all save-based too, so CHA is crucial. A 16 is a perfectly good attacking stat considering all the competition.

One thing I'd like to note on the roleplaying side of things, the fluff specifically notes that Redeemers aren't pacifists. They wear arms for a reason, and know how to use them.

As such I recommend thinking less "mild pacifist" and more "Obi-Wan Kenobi." Prefers diplomatic solutions, seeks to turn people to the light, shows compassion for his enemies, and weighs the consequences of his actions, but once he's made the decision that he needs to resort to violence to protect people, he follows through, confident in the justice of his actions. Which is pretty much exactly what the fluff for the Redemption Paladin says. I think the linked scene is a good example of this. :smallsmile:

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Originally Posted by Rsp29a

In terms of damage output, one well placed Rebuke the Violent per short rest may well out do damage output options available to the other subclasses. As a Reaction, it’s in addition to normal attacks/actions available to a Pally, and can drop an enemy off turn. If you factor in RtV, I think you’ll see Redemption is fine with damage output (it is, after all, still a Paladin).

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Agreed. One more thing to add to this: Rebuke the Violent has an important "fishing" aspect. Since you can determine whether to use it after seeing the enemy's damage roll, you essentially can't waste the resource on a poor damage roll (let alone a miss). It can always be above curve. Combined with its good action economy, half of the damage being guaranteed, and more versatile trigger conditions than things like Riposte, it's arguably one of the better damage CDs available.

The upshot of this is that just being hit by a CR5 Bulette can outperform a 5th level slot upcast Hellish Rebuke.

Do you have a warlock (or bard) in the party with Armor of Agathys?


I might have been thinking to much about the meme build thread, but having a team mate who can take the damage while explicitly leaving all other effects in place could be a modestly amusing combination.


Do you have a warlock (or bard) in the party with Hellish Rebuke?


I have no excuse for this thought, but the synergy for a potentially enormous amount of reaction based damage makes for a similarly amusing image.


If you're down for conniving with your party for additional synergy, I think you can probably work something out that's mutually beneficial for everyone. Which seems pretty on brand for a redemption paladin. But with a little coordination between you and a player with a lore bard, you can play the heavily armored warrior who emerges from battle bruised and bloodied while your scholar friend plays the unarmored but for woad maniac screaming, "Hit me, you cowards!" But no one every seems to, even when he runs wildly through their ranks or leaps into the path of their blades. Or if they do, they just die as they're rent asunder by the forces of heaven and hell both. Meanwhile, enemies that try to engage you also have a rough time of it, between cutting words and liberal castings of vicious mockery from your woad coated bud. (Saving your valuable hit points for the rest of the party.)

Someone smarter than me could put together the 4 person party for you, but I don't know. This duo could be silly fun. There has to be a trio or quartet that rounds it out. Perhaps the addition of that whip/shield battlemaster/rogue to generate even more off turn shenanigans?

I will say that you're probably going to want to invest in a Periapt of Wound Closure sometime before 7th level and hope that the person comboing with you is actually a lore bard instead of a warlock so that song of rest kicks in.


Play a Fallen Aasimar for that rare combination of irony and synergy.

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Originally Posted by Man_Over_Game

The thing is, though, that's ALL the Redemption Paladin does. If neither of those two things are valuable for your playstyle or your team, it might be better to go with another subclass. So you need to figure out how valuable those two things are.

A Redemption Paladin works great with a party of squishies, as he can absorb damage on their behalf and prevent a Concentration Saving Throw, or allow a melee combatant to feel comfortable on the front lines to deal heavy damage. Sentinel is redundant, as it effectively does the same exact thing (keep/punish enemies from hurting your allies). As a Redemption Paladin, you'll be taking a lot of damage (either by punishing enemies for attacking your friends, or by absorbing damage on your friends' behalf), so focus on improving your survivability, like through the Tough feat.

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Emphasis mine.

Personally, I don't think Sentinel is redundant. Yes: it has a tanking purpose, but that's about it. Sentinel is key to Lockdown, which is more involved in crowd control. The Redemption Paladin, with Rebuke the Violent and Aura of the Guardian, is more of a Damage Redirection style of tank, where you simply move the damage from an ally towards you, and then from you towards an enemy (it can be one, or both). In the end, both are two forms of tanking (if we define tanking specifically as "having allies avoid damage by focusing on having the enemy target you, rather than your ally, and/or focusing on taking damage from allies"), but achieve them in different ways. If you have Sentinel, you're basically co-opting two forms of tanking; you lock down enemies and force them to fight you, but if they get too close to an ally, then you do DR and shift damage towards you, then potentially back to your enemy.

But yes: you want to be able to soak a lot of damage. High Constitution is just as good.

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Here are the specialties of effectively each subclass, so you can get an idea of what niche each one fills:

• Ancients: Being the sole melee character, due to its abundant survivability.
• Crown: Enhancing a melee-heavy team.
• Devotion: Group buffs and damage
• Conquest: AoE and anti-swarm, good for protecting your back line.
• Redemption: Social interactions and protecting squishies.
• Vengeance: Single target damage and chasing nimble targets.

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Ancients' Paladin has a ridiculous survivability (yes, Undying Sentinel means that, if someone doesn't disintegrate you outright, you remain alive and kicking), but it doesn't have a strong focus other than that. It has crowd control options (the Ensnaring Strike spell, Nature's Wrath, Turn the Faithless) and also a strong caster option (Ice Storm as one of the spells you can cast, which alongside Destructive Wave it basically encompasses all your AoE options; capstone lets you cast spells as bonus actions, and enemies get disadvantage on saving throws from your spells). With those traits, survivability is merely one of its obvious traits.

Crown and Redemption are rather similar, to the point that their 7th level ability is for all intents and purposes identical (Redemption has better range, though). How it "enhances" a melee-heavy team is beyond me; Crown is a bit more crowd-control focused. For one, it has aggro mechanics (Compelled Duel, Champion's Challenge) and spells that deal with area control (Spirit Guardians and Guardian of Faith). I'd dare say is one of the better tanks out there, since it can achieve all three ways (IMO) a character can tank (Aggro, Lockdown, Damage Redirection). It's also pretty decent as a healer, what with Turn the Tide and Aura of Vitality tacked in. It doesn't get a lot more credit than it should.

Conquest lacks AoE; in fact, Ancients has more AoE than Conquest. Conquest is pure Lockdown, since its main purpose is to keep enemies intimidated, so that they can't run away from you (through the Fear spell, its CD, and Aura of Conquest). Invincible Conqueror makes the Conquest Paladin absurdly resilient (resistance to all damage) and also brutal in combat. That said, most of its spells are worthwhile for Lockdown (Command to force enemies to Grovel, Hold Person to keep them in check, Fear to enable your Aura of Conquest) and debuffs (Bestow Curse, both Dominate spells, Cloudkill, and again Fear).

Devotion...it's a bit out there. Sure, with Sacred Weapon you can go for a Greatsword and GWM and do quite a bit of damage, and when you activate your capstone you end up dealing DoT, and Flame Strike is a great AoE spell (that happens to compete with Destructive Wave), but there's no focus. Beacon of Hope is the only real group buff; if anything, what it does is prevent and remove status effects. Freedom of Movement prevents many of the nastier disabling status effects, Lesser Restoration removes some others, and for the most part, its protective buffs are meant to cancel out various status effects. In fact, note at the 7th level and 15th level class features; they essentially ward you from charm, and eventually frighten and possession from those creatures.

Redemption and Vengeance, on the other hand...those are straight to the point. Vengeance is single-minded on its focus, and Redemption's purpose is to disable hostilities.

Which...leads to how a Redemption Paladin should play, and whether it's a pacifist or not. Now, the idea behind a Redemption Paladin is self-defense; that is, fighting to protect itself, or others. Someone who believes in self-defense won't fight anyone willingly, instead preferring to talk their way out. If, however, they see no other purpose than to fight (that is, the hostile creature starts attacking), they'll do everything they can to stop the fight, and this includes engaging in combat and using lethal force. That said; they should use lethal force as their last resort; perhaps they cast buffing spells, keep close and protect their allies, and so forth. The Peace and Wisdom tenets focus on this: Peace has violence as a last resort, and Wisdom actually considers the idea of killing if someone proves to be irredemably evil, with the advice of carefully considering your actions. Both of these are textbook examples of self-defense: persuade and calm the hostile first, then protect others from the wrath of the hostile, then disable the hostile, and if strictly necessary, kill the hostile.

The best way to play a Redemption Paladin is seeing a lot of wuxia movies. Their concept of self-defense is a solid example of how to play the nonviolence aspect of the Redemption Paladin. The other half is being merciful and forgiving.

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Originally Posted by T.G. Oskar

Ancients [...]

Crown [...]

Conquest [...]

Devotion [...]

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I tried not to put much stock in the level 14+ abilities, because they're rarely relevant for most players' real play, and they sometimes give off an improper feel for the build. For example, just basing the Redemption Paladin off of its level 20 feature would have you believe it's the tankiest of all the Paladins, yet it's probably the squishiest. I also don't put much stock in the spell list, from personal experience. I rarely see Paladins cast Paladin spells. I still consider the spells relevant, just not quite as much as the non-spell features.

Crown Paladin was listed as a melee-heavy option, because of the fact that:

• A Channel Divinity keeps enemies from running away (more relevant for melee combatants so that they can either dogpile the targets or so that they can engage other targets freely)
• A Channel Divinity heals nearby allies who are at half HP or less (which is much more likely to be true for melee combatants who are consistently taking damage than it is a ranged unit who may be out of range or only be hit 1-2 times per battle).
• The aura absorbs damage for adjacent allies (much more likely to be true with a melee heavy team, especially considering it's 5ft less than the Redemption Paladin's version).

All of the Crown's major abilities work better with melee allies, although it doesn't explicitly spell it out (like how Wolf Totem Barbarian's does).

I do agree that the Ancients Paladin has more than just tankiness, but I think that's the key reason you take it. If you wanted strict control, Crown or Conquest could do it better. If you wanted damage, Vengeance or Devotion could do it better. But if you want survivability, nobody trumps an Ancients Paladin.

There's a particular problem with Conquest Paladin, in that its primary features are all very niche, and often not effective against bosses. Many bosses have immunities or resistances to fear/charm effects, or just have a straight up high Wisdom save, so the Conquest Paladin often can't lock down the enemies most worth being locked down. Instead, they usually end up resorting to locking down an incoming swarm who AREN'T immune. While I agree that Conquest Paladins are best as a "lockdown" option, I don't think it's feasible as just that. An Enchanter Wizard is a Lockdown specialist, but the Conquest Paladin does it better against mooks. In a way, he's a mobile Hypnotic Pattern, and you usually don't use Hypnotic Pattern against a single target.

I played a dex based Tabaxi redemption paladin who was a diplomat in a one shot. It was really fun. Hold person, calm emotions. She also had the diplomat feat from ua, which was fun.
She mainly used a long bow, or rapier and shield. She had defense fighting style.

But I could tell the group I played with would not enjoy the character long term. Redemption can be too morally rigid for some groups based on their paladin tennants, make sure your group is ok with how you intend to play a character. Some may think you're ruining their fun by preventing them from doing amoral things.

When an assassin in the group wanted to kill our captive criminal, like a lawful person, my paladin protected the criminal. In her eyes they had to stand trial. In the party's eyes they were already deserving death for what they did. (As an example of the conflict)

I'm playing a lvl8 Redemption Paladin right now.

Gotta say, the DM is getting peeved (don't worry, he's a good DM) with just how tanky the party became since my character joined.

Between Aura of the Guardian and Sentinel, he's just a wall of bad choices for the enemy - attack his high AC and get some damage mitigated by Heavy Armor Mastery, or attack an ally and get a) stabbed b) zapped or c) all damage shifted to someone who can take it.

That said, there are issues. Fireball Formation is a problem, and while Aura of Protection helps, monsters with AoE abilites are a pain. Still, the worst are the Huns ranged enemies with decent mobility - Rogues and their like. Poisoned Sneak Attacks hurt, as they're discrete chunks of damage (which hurt once) that can't be fully redirected (which hurts twice).
Against a smart caster (which in my experience, are 75% of all BBEGs) there's not much he can do - luckily, that's the party Monk's job.

As for the RP "requirements" of the Oath - well, we're taking a bit of an unorthodox approach, as we're using the Zendikar setting, roughly following the Battle for Zendikar storyline - my character is Lawful Evil. He feels the world has been so thoroughly [redacted]-up already that there's really no time to waste on the whole Redemption thing. The Hedrons must be restored, all other concerns are secondary - so if you're not helping (or at least, getting out of the way), then you're obviously Evil and will be crushed.

We just have one houserule regaring the setting - to match the character's personality, "Emissary of Peace" was renamed "Wit's End" and instead gives a bonus to Intimidation.

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Originally Posted by Justin Sane

I'm playing a lvl8 Redemption Paladin right now.

Gotta say, the DM is getting peeved (don't worry, he's a good DM) with just how tanky the party became since my character joined.

Between Aura of the Guardian and Sentinel, he's just a wall of bad choices for the enemy - attack his high AC and get some damage mitigated by Heavy Armor Mastery, or attack an ally and get a) stabbed b) zapped or c) all damage shifted to someone who can take it.

That said, there are issues. Fireball Formation is a problem, and while Aura of Protection helps, monsters with AoE abilites are a pain. Still, the worst are the Huns ranged enemies with decent mobility - Rogues and their like. Poisoned Sneak Attacks hurt, as they're discrete chunks of damage (which hurt once) that can't be fully redirected (which hurts twice).
Against a smart caster (which in my experience, are 75% of all BBEGs) there's not much he can do - luckily, that's the party Monk's job.

As for the RP "requirements" of the Oath - well, we're taking a bit of an unorthodox approach, as we're using the Zendikar setting, roughly following the Battle for Zendikar storyline - my character is Lawful Evil. He feels the world has been so thoroughly [redacted]-up already that there's really no time to waste on the whole Redemption thing. The Hedrons must be restored, all other concerns are secondary - so if you're not helping (or at least, getting out of the way), then you're obviously Evil and will be crushed.

We just have one houserule regaring the setting - to match the character's personality, "Emissary of Peace" was renamed "Wit's End" and instead gives a bonus to Intimidation.

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Don't forget that Counterspell is a Redemption Paladin spell.

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Originally Posted by Man_Over_Game

Don't forget that Counterspell is a Redemption Paladin spell.

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We're also using a custom Oath spell list, which does not include Counterspell - but either way, that would only be available next level.

Also, as an aside - I think I've spent more lvl2 slots on Locate Object than on Smites so far in this campaign.

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Originally Posted by Man_Over_Game

I tried not to put much stock in the level 14+ abilities, because they're rarely relevant for most players' real play, and they sometimes give off an improper feel for the build. For example, just basing the Redemption Paladin off of its level 20 feature would have you believe it's the tankiest of all the Paladins, yet it's probably the squishiest. I also don't put much stock in the spell list, from personal experience. I rarely see Paladins cast Paladin spells. I still consider the spells relevant, just not quite as much as the non-spell features.

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Redemption Paladins are tanky. Do note that "tankiness" doesn't have to depend on your own damage mitigation; it's something implied, as if you're going to take a ton of damage, you should be able to withstand it. The Bear Totem Barbarian and the Ancients Paladin are quite resilient, but they don't have anything to either "pull aggro" (like what the Crown Paladin can do, and if you squint a bit, the Ancestral Guardians' Barbarian), keep an enemy locked and only able to face you (like what the Conquest Paladin can do, and so does the Cavalier Fighter) or just siphon damage from the enemy (like what the Crown and Redemption Paladins do). That said, I wouldn't say the Redemption Paladin is the squishiest; it has access to Counterspell and eventually Stoneskin. Conversely, the Ancients' Paladin (which should be the one that withstands the most), while it also gets Stoneskin, only reduces damage from spells. That means the breath weapons of dragons are still fair play, as well as poison attacks, damage from magical weapons, and similar moves. Note that I'm not mentioning the capstone in any way, and while Stoneskin is gained at 13th level (and is a spell), the fact that the other Paladin Oaths aren't any more resilient (again, the Ancients' Paladin notwithstanding, and even then, their best features are locked beyond the range where you claim are rarely relevant, so the Ancients' Paladin isn't that impressive either by that metric).

That said, the notion that Paladins are worth because of their nova damage makes spellcasting a risky proposal. Do I go all-out on Smites, or use spells? Paladins get great spells. A Divine Favor spell may not seem much at 3rd level, but after 5th level, it's great on tough enemies you want to batter down. Sure, you could deal 2d8 damage (avg. of 9 points extra damage), but you could just as well go for the same slot and spread out the damage a bit (1d4, avg. of 2-3 points per hit, so you need 4 hits to do what a Smite does) and then get that damage boost up and running. It's a matter of timing.

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Crown Paladin was listed as a melee-heavy option, because of the fact that:

• A Channel Divinity keeps enemies from running away (more relevant for melee combatants so that they can either dogpile the targets or so that they can engage other targets freely)
• A Channel Divinity heals nearby allies who are at half HP or less (which is much more likely to be true for melee combatants who are consistently taking damage than it is a ranged unit who may be out of range or only be hit 1-2 times per battle).
• The aura absorbs damage for adjacent allies (much more likely to be true with a melee heavy team, especially considering it's 5ft less than the Redemption Paladin's version).

All of the Crown's major abilities work better with melee allies, although it doesn't explicitly spell it out (like how Wolf Totem Barbarian's does).

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• I see Champion's Challenge more as Lockdown than a debuff. Sure, they can go to the edges of the effect and not engage you, but if you're the only target, might as well do so. It depends on the map itself. Note that the good healing spells (Healing Spirit, Healing Word, Heal) have twice that range, so you can have your healers focus on keeping you alive. A Rogue using Cunning Action to Hide, then use a Longbow, can take any enemy with SA pretty easily. A Warlock can pelt enemies with Eldritch Blast, and make them get closer to you with Repelling Blast. And so on. Melee benefit because the enemy can't run away; Ranged benefit because they can't get to them, and Casters benefit because the enemy is relatively close..
• Turn the Tide is much like LoH; an emergency heal. Melee will benefit the most because they're nearby, but that doesn't mean others can't benefit. Again, this is more of a concept of map range; a 30-ft radius is pretty large. Preserve Life is very similar.

I'll give you the Divine Allegiance one, because of the range. However, I don't really see them as melee-heavy; as you can see, I have a different perception of what they can do. Also: spells are major features, and Warding Bond (my favorite spell) most definitely isn't for melee allies. (It's for that Wizard, though it has to be at a "medium" range of 60 ft.; but then again, depends on map range.)

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I do agree that the Ancients Paladin has more than just tankiness, but I think that's the key reason you take it. If you wanted strict control, Crown or Conquest could do it better. If you wanted damage, Vengeance or Devotion could do it better. But if you want survivability, nobody trumps an Ancients Paladin.

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Again: I don't see survivability as its main grab. In this case, it's more of a feature being so heavily promoted, it might as well cause the Oath to be renamed (Aura of Warding). As you mentioned earlier, you place no importance on high-level abilities, so you should pretty much ignore Undying Sentinel and the capstone as traits. Again: if you see the key traits, it has:

• A Channel Divinity with the sole purpose of keeping an enemy in check. As a physical restraint, it means the enemy can't run away unless it counters with physical might or dexterity.
• A Channel Divinity that drives certain enemies away; in this case, fey and fiends. As it stands, the idea is to separate the wheat from the chaff, therefore allowing you to focus on the stronger enemies
• An aura that reduces damage you and other allies take from spells. Not breath weapons, not melee or ranged attacks from weapons or the creature's appendages; spellls. Oh, and the range is pretty small at first.

Without working the spells (Ensnaring Strike helps with Lockdown, Misty Step with movement, Protection from Energy and Stoneskin with resilience, and Ice Storm for AoE damage), it's more control than resilience.

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There's a particular problem with Conquest Paladin, in that its primary features are all very niche, and often not effective against bosses. Many bosses have immunities or resistances to fear/charm effects, or just have a straight up high Wisdom save, so the Conquest Paladin often can't lock down the enemies most worth being locked down. Instead, they usually end up resorting to locking down an incoming swarm who AREN'T immune. While I agree that Conquest Paladins are best as a "lockdown" option, I don't think it's feasible as just that. An Enchanter Wizard is a Lockdown specialist, but the Conquest Paladin does it better against mooks. In a way, he's a mobile Hypnotic Pattern, and you usually don't use Hypnotic Pattern against a single target.

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True: their spell list has some nice goodies (Spiritual Weapon comes to mind), and their Guided Strike Channel Divinity is meant for the mother of all nova strikes (cast a Smite spell, spend a 4th level spell slot, use the GWM trade-off, and use Guided Strike to essentially not fail; consequentially THIS is what you want for a boss fight). However, much like Aura of Warding has defined for many what an Ancients' Paladin does, the Aura of Conquest defines a lot of what the Conquest Paladin does. (And, between the Fear spell and their Conquering Presence CD, they have ways to work that out).

However, consider the following. Have that Conquest Paladin take Sentinel and Polearm Master. For extra funsies, if UA is allowed, take Tunnel Fighter. You have two methods of Lockdown (physically, through opportunity attacks, and supernaturally, through fear effects). All other classes have access to the first one, but not the second. An Enchanter Wizard can lock them just as effectively, but doesn't have the same way to punish the locked enemies. (Evard's Black Tentacles doesn't count; that is a spell available to all Wizards, and it has its own lockdown factor.) When I say the Conquest Paladin is an expert on Lockdown, it's because it has a built-in method of Lockdown with its own punishing factor (psychic damage), while it can get another method when the first one doesn't work.

In the end, it's mostly a matter of perception; you and I perceive the subclasses quite differently, and resume them in different ways. For example: we can agree that the Ancients Paladin is pretty tough, but your appreciation is mostly because of Aura of Warding, and not as a whole; I agree because I also consider Stoneskin, and Undying Sentinel, and even the capstone. I see Crown with a focus on tanking because of Divine Allegiance and Warding Bond, thus gaining a limited form of controlling the flow of damage; you, on the other hand, focus on the "close" range of many of its abilities, and perceive that the subclass works best if you have a lot of melee allies. Neither of the two perspectives are wrong, but neither have more merit than the other. That extends to the Redemption Paladin; I agree with your perspective of the class being either "social interaction" or "protecting squishies", but I focus on the second one a bit more, and specifically because of how it does so. (The only thing I don't like is that they lack Warding Bond, but humans in Eberron have a way to bypass that.)

I have a warforged redemption paladin at level 4 and... kinda not feeling it. But I think it may be that I feel overshadowed by the party's spore druid. DM gave them 3x "spore hulk more" per short rest so they got tons of (T?)HP, and shilelagh lets them only need to focus on boosting WIS, aaannnd they're a full caster that can heal more. Feels like they do everything I want to do but better. Maybe this will change when I get the aura ability but I feel at a perma disadvantage because of MAD v SAD.

That said... I usually draw enemy focus just by wading up to them and blocking them from reaching the others. I took the brawny feat so I can grapple and make sure they stay put, grappling seems like a less-violent approach to me. I've had a couple times using grappling and Emissary of Peace to make an enemy surrender. Ooorrr sometimes I just dangle enemies around like piñatas for the rest of the party to hit (teeeeeechnically I am not being the violent one?).

Redemption paladins are a class begging for the prodigy feat. Having a +12 to persuasion checks at level 1 is fun all on its own. If you are a half-elf you can take it at level 4. With your stats you'd have +14 to persausion by level 5.

Spending a round trying to talk the enemy down might not be a bad idea. Your average persuasion roll is a 24, which is almost enough to pass very hard persuasion checks, and with almost a 25% chance to roll 30+ this could convince even the most stubborn foes. If you can get advantage on the roll with the help of a teammate impossible rolls would practically become the norm.