The Wall of Fear: A Complete Guide to the Oath of Conquest

[ShikomeKidoMi]

I would recommend removing or amending the bolded text. By the text in the DMG, they will still be frightened of you if you are, say, invisible; however, if you are unseen due to something impeding vision (Fog Cloud, Darkness, etc.) it will no longer apply. I was very sad to learn this as I was building my Shadow Sorcerer/Paladin cross.

Wait, Darkness breaks line of sight? That's kind of weird, given that invisibility doesn't.

[Xihirli]

Pretty good build advice, I think I'll try to make one of these for a mid or high level adventure if the party needs a tank.

One note though:
"Tortle: +2 STR is decent, though Natural Armor shoehorns you into taking the Defense fighting style to compete with plate-wearers."
The Defense fighting style only works when you're wearing armor.

[Legimus]

Pretty good build advice, I think I'll try to make one of these for a mid or high level adventure if the party needs a tank.

One note though:
"Tortle: +2 STR is decent, though Natural Armor shoehorns you into taking the Defense fighting style to compete with plate-wearers."
The Defense fighting style only works when you're wearing armor.

Ooh, good catch. I'll update it to reflect this. Thanks!

[ZakathBC]

First off, thank you so much for your guide!

I have made a Dragonborn Conquest paladin and we've just hit level 6. My stats are 15/10/16/8/8/18, I had taken the Dragonborn fear feat, but found we were having fewer harder encounters and wasn't getting much use out of it.

The party I am playing in already has a lot of damage with an arcane archer, swashbuckler, bladesinger, horizon walker, and a divination wizard, so I am looking to be the tankiest tank.

I am having a lot of trouble deciding whether to multi class more than just a level 1 hexblade dip or not.

The three options I have been looking at are,
Conquest 7/ Hexblade 13
Conquest 7/ Hexblade 1/ Sword bard 12
Conquest 7/ Hexblade 1/ Conquest x

I lean towards the Sword bard multiclass because it seems to offer me the best tanking value with defensive flourish and more spells/slots.

Any nudge in one direction or the other would be appreciated. :)

[8wGremlin]

At least get Hexblade 2 or 3 and pick a pact, regardless of what you finally go for.

[Davrix]

Problem is your delaying your lv 9 feature of lv 3 spells and fear which is your other BIG tool besides your lv 7 aura. As was pointed out to me, jumping out of conquest is a very costly thing to do as it always has something pretty useful just over the next level. You get fear at 9 you get the fear immune arua for the party at lv 10, improved divine smite is a big damage boost at 11 and so forth.

The dragonborn fear feat by the way is good to see if things are immune to fear or not. Its a good opener but not much else. Fear and wrathful smite are your big hitters and control mechanics on the battlefield. I mean to be honest if you want to be the tankiest tank look more towards feats. Sword and board with war-caster and shield master is very potent and stacking mage slayer on top you will ruin any of the DM's casters days if you get up in there face.

That being said your char is super high so the hex dip will be good for you providing your not using a 2h and you would defiantly want to hit lv 3 because Devil sight and darkness with your aura will just be fun. After that though just go back full conquest though your going to loose out on your 30ft aura at lv 18 which is really powerful for conquest but if your group doesn't make it that high then it matters little. The real choice basicaly is how much your willing to delay your other paladin perks over the multi-class.

[Satsujinki]

Magic initiate sound even more awesome now. Take MI warlock and take Cause fear and EB for even more control and fear effects

[Sception]

I disagree about definitely taking hex to 3. Oh, hex 3 or even more isnt bad by any stretch, its perfectly fine, but hexblade is very front loaded, and the majority of big gets - cha melee, cantrips, shield spell, hexblade's curse, a spell slot - are at level one. Hex 1, conquest 19 is totally valid, arguably more so than any hex/conquest mix that takes more than one level of hexblade.

Two extra hexblade levels gets you a second recharging slot, which is nice. It bumps those slots to level 2, which is ok but less helpful, since you're probably casting shield or wrathful smite with them, both level one anyway. it gets you a couple invocations, which, i mean, alright. Extra damage on your fallback ranged cantrip is nice, but you're not a blaster, or at leadt you aren't supposed to be. And devils sight is great if you lack darkvision otherwise but the darkness combo is less good for you than others. You're a fear user, you want to be seen, and an aura buffer/debuffer, you can't flit in and out of melee like a normal hexblade to keep your darkness from hassling your friends as much as your enemies, so there's honestly probably better invocations to pick even if you do take more than one level of hexblade. Finally you get your pact boon. Blade if you want dual handed weapons, or even just the option to switch between the damage of a longsword and the reach of a whip, but tbh most conquedins would prob get more out of the extra utility from book's cantrips or chain's familiar, especially once you find a magic weapon to be your pact weapon, and lise the ability to swap weapons around anyway.

And that's a good set of benefits, dont get me wrong. Hex 3 conquest x is fine. Heck, you could take hexblade further. 4 puts you back on asi schedule. 5 upgrades your short rest Shields to Fears, which is amazing, and the level 6 feature is just cool as beans.

But you have to remember the delayed conquest progression. Again, unlike most paladins, conquest has no dud levels. Hex 1 Conquest X compares favorably to Conquest X+1 for most of your career, only feeling a bit off at character levels 6, 7, 9, 18, and 20, but having a lot to show for the trade even at those levels, and not long to wait to pick up what they're missing regardless.

But Hex 3 Conquest X vs Conquest X+3? That's a much less favorable comparison. It's not that hexblade 2 and 3 are bad, just that they're nowhere near as generous as hexblade 1 (which is honestly a problem the subclass gets from trying to be a full pact and a bladelock fix at the same time), and in exchange You're taking a *much* greater hit to conquest progression.

[Legimus]

Echoing that, I think Hexblade 3 can work well if you're at the right place level-wise. Like most of the multiclassing, I'm pretty convinced that it's best to wait until after 9 with the Conqueror to start moving into other classes. Even then, I'd only put one level into Hexblade until Conquest 13. That way you secure your next ASI, Improved Divine Smite, Aura of Courage, and 4th level spells before adding more warlock levels. Because like Malisteen noted, Hexblade is very front-loaded in its benefits, but levels 2 and 3 aren't that game-changing compared to what the next couple levels in Conquest will get you. You will get more mileage by far from the level 1 benefits than any other Hexblade level.

That being said, it can change from campaign to campaign and with party composition. I think the only solid rule of thumb is to hit level 9 before taking Hexblade levels. For everything else, just make sure you have it planned out.

[Sception]

Imo, the first level of hexblade, if you're going to multi at all, can come any time you like, all the way down to first level outright if you've got the racial mods to use medium armor. There isn't really a 'too soon' for it, imo, nor is there really a 'too late', provided you haven't put any ASIs into strength.

The tradeoffs for multiclassing from conquest aren't really a problem. By multiclassing you sacrifice progression in your main class, becoming less good at your main gimmicks, in exchange for the added versatility of minor ability in some other class's gimmicks. Theoretically, that's how multiclassing is supposed to work. In practice, though, multiclassing discussion revolves around ways for multiclassing to make you better at your main gimmicks. 'Jumping off' points in classes where a key gimmick isn't improved, or improves only slowly, for the next several levels, and classes that share that same main gimmick that you can jump into to keep the gimmick progressing faster than it would have otherwise.

An archetypal example is paladins focused on melee burst damage multiclassing into sorcerer. Smite is a fantastic tool for such, but it scales pretty slowly. Once you grab your extra attack at fifth level, non-oathbreaker paladin melee damage doesn't really see another significant boost from class features until level 11, and after that none again until level 20 when most oaths see a damage boosting capstone. Instead most paladin damage improvements after level 5 come from using their slowly growing spell slot pool to smite with. So after level 5 (usually sticking around to 6 for aura of protection, though sometimes hopping out as early as level 2), paladins focused on burst damage, one of the primary paladin gimmicks, will actually see that primary gimmick scale faster if they multiclass out into a primary caster that will scale those smite slots higher and faster than a single classed paladin will. Sorcerer does this while also leaning into the paladins cha preference AND granting metamagic access for even more burst damage when needed.

That's the kind of synergy that optimized multiclassing is about.

Conquest Paladin, however, mostly does not have that kind of synergy, because unlike other paladins their primary offensive gimmick isn't burst damage, it's control, specifically fear-based control. And unlike pure damage, fear-based control is something paladin class features actually do support at higher levels. Most paladins don't really need their level seven oath aura. You do. most paladins could care less about third level spells known since they only want the slots to smite with. You actually want those spells. Most paladins don't care about the level 10 aura since fear isn't too common a thing and they have save boosts and low level spells to combat it on the rare occasion it pops up, but conquest paladins love that aura because they're throwing around unfriendly fear aoe's constantly, so party vulnerability to fear is a regular issue. most paladins would happily take the level 11 damage boost if they didn't have to take levels 7, 9, and 10 before it, but since you wanted those levels improved divine smite is pure gravey. And so it goes.


Right now, there are no classes or subclasses you can multiclass into that will make you better at your primary gimmick of fear-based tanking/control than just taking another level of conquest paladin, with the arguable exception of one and only one level of hexblade, since a single hexblade level solves your MADness issues letting you more freely put stat points and ASIs into charisma to pump your spell DCs. And even hexblade 1 is debatable, since you still kind of want a high strength score to shove with.


Again, this doesn't mean that multiclassing a conquest paladin is bad, just that it isn't really synergistic. It's the regular kind of multiclassing, sacrificing your primary talents for mechanical and thematic versatility, not the optimized form of multiclassing where you actually get better at the main thing you were doing to begin with. A fear-adin just doesn't become a better fear-adin by multiclassing the way a smite-adin becomes a better smite-adin.

At least, not yet.

That could easily change if other classes ever get their own fear-based subclasses. Which could easily happen - fear is a pretty thematically broad archetype after all, and there's plenty of examples from D&D's history of fear based classes & builds that might yet get revived in 5e. For example, if wizard were to get a 'dread witch' arcane tradition that allowed them to bypass fear immunity at level 6, then it could become a nigh-obligatory multiclass for Conquest builds despite requiring a 13 in what is otherwise the paladin's dumpiest dump stat.

[MrStabby]

I would agree with much of this. At the moment I am trying to explore if there are other multiclass options.

As you point out, most of them look pretty poor as this is the class that keeps on giving. The area that I am interested in is Rogue. This does match your "gimmic" approach - the theme is fear based control and shoving can be very much part of that (given the interaction between fear and movement). The multiclass stats are a bit of a pain, needing a 13 in dex but it is only a 1 level dip like hexblade. In addition to athletics expertise you get sneak attack and another expertise slot (intimidation springs to mind). Cunning action is then a second level away. Now cunning action doesn't seem to directly bolster the fear/control plan but it does have some synergy - better positioning of auras, better position to lay down spells with challenging shapes, like cone spells and is generally a great ability for flexibility as well.

I am considering this in part because I would like just a bit more flexibility when it comes to encounters - I am pretty sure that sooner or later I would be looking at some encounters where fear immunity was a feature and the control from being great at shoving would help ensure that this part of the party was covered.

Bard offers the same with three levels whilst also providing more smite-fodder. Three levels seems a HUGE investment though. Still I think the support role is very compatible with oath of conquest, bard offers a lot of spell options. Lore bard at third level can take cutting words to prevent recovery from wrathful smite, college of swords can allow mobile flourish, and glamour's mantle of inspiration allows reaction disengage from the party - great when fear stops enemies from making up the gap.

It is easy enough to find stuff that really adds to the class, really compliments it well - just pretty hard to say it is better than what the class itself gets.

[Sception]

While Conquest Pally has no good drop points, and three-or-more level sidetracks, while not inherently bad, do incur rather hefty delays in your primary abilities, I think there's a strong case to be made for a one or two level dip. Such a dip doesn't delay your paladin advancement too badly, and you can still pick up the aura expansion by level 20. In most senses, you'll still function like a full classed Conquest paladin, but with some extra tools that, while they mostly won't make you better at your main role than a single classed Conqueror, do enough to broaden your abilities or shore up your weaknesses to be worth the minimal delay asked.

This post is looking into some of those in a bit more detail. Some of this is repeating points I've made in previous posts in the thread, and some of this is repeating points from the multiclassing section of the Legiumus's guide itself, but I feel that section focused on more extended multiclassing with sample builds and class discussion focusing on features that show up at level 3 or later of a class. Again, longer forays into any of these classes can absolutely make for valid enjoyable characters, but the delays to Conquest advancement start to become much more noticeable.

...

But before that, a word on Concentration. As I've gained more experience playing Conquerors, this issue keeps coming up. Especially after you pick up Fear at level nine. Almost all frighten effects are concentration based, including the two very best sources of frighten for conquest paladins: the spells Wrathful Smite and Fear. These are the best because of the mechanics for shaking them. If a target fails the initial save, Wrathful Smite only lets the target break free with Wisdom checks, which will be made at disadvantage due to the frighten condition itself, making it very difficult to escape - unless you fail your concentration. Fear is even more extreme. Targets that fail the initial save can only attempt another if they break line of sight to you, which will typically be impossible for them to do while you have them trapped in your aura of conquest, so targets that fail the initial save cannot escape at all - again unless you fail your concentration.

The risk of failed concentration checks is your primary tool for motivating enemies trapped in your aura to attack you instead of your allies, but while you want to dangle that hope in front of your enemies, you do not ever actually want to fail these saves. Nothing is worse than losing control of three or more enemies that you just locked down because you flubbed a concentration save.

Con 14 to 16 and Cha 20 with aura of protection gives you a decent con save by default, but this is not good enough given the overwhelming importance of maintaining your frighten effects on enemies. IMO shoring up your concentration saves is almost as critical as raising your spell DCs, to the point that "typical", single-classed Oath of Conquest paladins should consider Resilient: Constitution to be a near mandatory feat at level 12. Level 16 at the latest if you haven't picked up a magic weapon with a to-hit bonus by level 12 and find your melee attacks missing a bit too often to tolerate.

IMO, resilient Con is the ONLY feat that I would rate gold for this build. Even Sentinel, amazing as it is, should probably take a back seat.

Warcaster provides an interesting alternative. In general, Resilient: Con provides a better bonus, at least at the level your most likely to pick it up, and comes with +1 con which might help your stat distribution. If, however, you've managed to pick up the Booming Blade cantrip (amazing if you can use it for opportunity attacks, not especially worth bothering with for you otherwise), or any significant somatic-but-not-material-component spells (a casting focus covers somatic-and-material spells, but oddly enough not somatic-only spells), then Warcaster becomes a better choice. In practical terms, this means Warcaster is better if you're planning to multiclass into hexblade or sorcerer.

...

WARLOCK (Hexblade)

The most obvious dip for Conquerors is, of course, hexblade warlock, for hex warrior, curse, eldritch blast, booming blade, shield, and a short rest slot at level one, with maybe a second level for a second recharging slot and a couple invocations. The first level here offers just a tremendous amount of power and utility, more that one level of almost anything, including whatever the next level of conquest is in most cases. This is a result of the hexblade patron being designed as both a fully functional patron in and of itself AND as a stealth fix for the blade pact boon, which means the first level patron feature, fully good enough to stand on its own, comes with an improved version of the third level blade boon for free.

You can honestly dip Hexblade at any point, even all the way down to first level if you have the stats to support medium armor use: 13 strength, 14 dex - instead of 15 strength for heavy armor. A medium Armor Hex-Conqueror faces a heavier initial stat investment, but it might be worth it for aesthetic reasons, or in a party where every member is reasonably stealthy and you don't want to be the odd one out ruining group infiltration efforts, or if you're playing a variant human and want to take Warlock at first level so you can grab Warcaster as your bonus feat (first level paladins aren't spellcasters yet, so they don't qualify to take it). Usually, though, if you dip hexblade it'll either come at level 2, for the earliest dip that preserves heavy armor proficiency, or at level 8, waiting until after aura of conquest.

PROs:

• reduce MADness with Hex Warrior
• Strong ranged fallback from Eldritch Blast (even without invocations)
• Booming Blade is good fallback tanking for fear immune enemies
• ESPECIALLY when combined with Warcaster
• Shield is a phenomenal defensive spell, though it will also require warcaster
• Hexblade's Curse is amazing for boss encounters, which are often resistant if not immune to fear
• Even just one short rest spell slot does a lot to even out the paladin's otherwise very daily-oriented resource pool

CONs (apart from delayed access to Conquest features):

• Hex Warrior only works with one weapon, so reduced MADness comes at the cost of losing the versatility of swapping between sword, whip, & halberd
• Booming Blade and Shield, two key gains from the dip, only come fully online after taking the Warcaster feat, which means either delaying Cha advancement or delaying full use of these spells
• It also means taking Warcaster at all, when otherwise a Conqueror would probably prefer Resilient Con for shoring up concentration. Not a huge setback, advantage is almost as good as proficiency here, and one or the other is strongly recommended regardless.
• Less MADness frees you up to invest less points in strength over your career, which in turn means lower Athletics checks and reduced ability to use the Shove maneuver. This is especially the case for medium armor builds. That said, thanks to frighten your target will generally have disadvantage, so proficiency alone should be enough to get some use out of shoving.

If dipping one level of hexblade, you can do so at any point after first level, though you may prefer to wait until after Oath of Conquest at paladin 7. That said, even a 1st level dip is possible, if you have the stats for medium armor. If you opt to take a second level, it should probably wait at least until after Fear at Paladin 9, and probably until after the level 12 asi. Earlier is still viable, though, if you feel you need some particular invocation for thematic or aesthetic reasons.

Re: other Warlock patrons. They're alright, but Hexblade just offers so much more, while also being a natural thematic fit with Conquerors, so why would you pick anything else? That said, if you have some pressing narrative reason to pick something else, other warlock patrons are still alright dips. You miss Hex Warrior, Curse, and Shield, but still get Booming Blade, eldritch blast, the short rest slot, and whatever your chosen patron grants at level one. Telepathy from Great Ones has some tactical value. The fiend & fey traits are fine. If UA is allowed, Raven Queen basically gets an improved familiar at level 1, which is cool.

.............................

FIGHTER

The second strong contender for 1 to 2 level dips, the Fighter's biggest selling point is Con save proficiency. Take fighter at level 1, and you can be proficient in Constitution saves from the get go. You also gain a second fighting style, letting you grab dueling and defense. You also get second wind, which is nice at level one but trails off even faster for you then it does for a single classed fighter. A second level picks up action surge, which is just awesome. Honestly, it could be a capstone feature. If you dip fighter at level one, and then just go straight pally for the rest of your life, I'd suggest taking fighter 2 over pally 19 as your final level.

I don't have much to say here that Legimus didn't already say in the multiclassing section of the main guide, other than to emphasize that Con save proficiency is a big, big deal, and dipping fighter at level 1 is the easiest and fastest way to get it.

PROs:

• CON Save Proficiency
• second combat style (ie, +1 AC)
• an impressive second level feature, even if you save it for level 20

CONs (apart from delayed Conquest progression):

• None, really. What you get doesn't look like as much as some other dips (though, again, CON proficiency is huge), but other then a slight delay to your main class features you don't really lose anything here.
• I guess if I had to list something, it would be that the dip must come at level one, so the build defining Aura of Conquest will be among the features that suffer that one level delay.

If you dip fighter, you take the first level at level one, no questions asked. Con save proficiency is too important, it's the main reason to dip fighter at all. If you take a second level, imo it should wait at least until you've grabbed Fear at Paladin level 9.

..........................

BARD

If you want to dip into a casting class for cantrips, but don't want to play a hexblade, then Bard is your go to option. Probably not as strong an option as Hexblade, but Bard offers considerably different flavor and features.

As a caster dip, it suffers somewhat from not granting access to Booming Blade or Shield, but then again lack of those spells means you shouldn't feel compelled to take Warcaster (though you'll still eventually want Resilient: Con to shore up concentration saves). That said, you do get Vicious Mockery, which is, if anything, an even better fallback ranged cantrip for you than Eldritch Blast. Less damage, but it contributes to your whole debuffing/control gimmick, in particular letting you impose disadvantage on an enemy that saved against one of your fear AOEs while still positioning yourself to impose your aura on those that failed. Plus it just fits thematically into your whole 'browbeat the enemies into submission' routine.

Bardic Inspiration, even as just a plain d6 roll, is a fantastic use of your bonus action, and with your high Cha you'll get plenty of uses of it. Honestly, Bardic inspiration might be the biggest gain here, it really expands and accentuates the battlefield commander role that many Conquerors take on. As with Vicious Mockery, Bardic Inspiration has a good range, allowing you to lock down a crowd of enemies with Fear and Aura of Conquest, while still handing out buffs to party members who prefer to maintain a safe distance, and as a result miss out on your Aura of Protection.

As an added bonus, multiclassing into Bard lets you grab a skill of your choice, which can help round out your non-combat abilities. A Bard dip should probably be one level or nothing, as the second level features, while fluffy, don't add all that much. Longer divergences into bard are certainly viable, but again this post is only looking at 1 to 2 level dips which won't dramatically compromise your Conquest progression.

PROs:

• Viscious Mockery is a fantastic fallback ranged cantrip
• Bardic Inspiration is a fantastic bonus action
• Free skill proficiency

CONs (apart from delayed Conquest progression):

• no Shield
• no Booming Blade

If you're dipping bard, I'd just do one level, and I'd probably wait until after you've grabbed Aura of Conquest at paladin 7, though honestly it can slot in at any level after first reasonably well.

..........................

A Word on Double Dipping

If I think a Conqueror can reasonably manage a two level dip, and single level dips of Hexblade, Fighter, and Bard are all viable, then what about a double dip, with one level each of any two of the above?

Honestly, I think that could work out pretty well, on par with a two level hexblade or fighter dip, and paced about the sam. Of the various double dip options, I think one level of fighter plus one level of either bard or hexblade works out the best, as there's a bit of redundancy between bard and hexblade (curse & inspiration competing for bonus actions, blast and mockery competing for ranged fallback). I would personally pace it with the fighter dip at level one for con proficiency and the second dip after Fear at paladin 9. So something like Fighter 1/Paladin 9/Hexblade-or-Bard 1/Paladin+8.

............................

That's kind of it for the dips I think are good. Since I banged on about Constitution saves a bunch, Barbarian might be worth bringing up just to mention how terrible it is. Unlike other paladins, you actually cast and concentrate on spells. Like, all the time. So raging is no good for you. Forcing you into medium armor if you want to get con save proficiency out of it is just insult to injury.

Sorcerer is perhaps an even more surprisingly terrible dip for Conquest Paladins. Oh, it's perfectly viable as a more extended multiclass. If you're going to take at least 3 levels of it, then booming blade, any ranged damage cantrip, shield, and metamagic together make for a great package. But at that point you've invested heavily enough in your secondary class that your primary Conquest abilities have been pretty significantly set back. A first level dip might at first seem viable for Booming Blade, Shield, and Constitution Save proficiency, but that puts you in medium armor with borderline unusable melee attacks. You could dip a level into hexblade as well to fix the attack stat issue, but hexblade already gives you booming blade and shield, plus a better ranged attack cantrip than sorcerer offers, so what are you getting from the sorcerer/hexblade double dip that a fighter/hexblade double dip wouldn't be doing even better?

Again, Sorcerer is a fine multiclass option for Conquerors, if not quite as good as it is for other paladins, but imo it's just not a good option for dipping.

Divination wizard might also be worth mentioning just because of how good the level 2 feature is from divination, especially for a character who really appreciates the ability to force enemies to roll poorly on their saves. But good as the ability is, it's kind of situational - you might not roll usable portents on the days you really need them - so it isn't really good enough to justify the two level dip & a 13 in your dumpiest dump stat. That said, if you really want a familiar for narrative reasons but don't want to burn an ASI on magic initiate, a wizard dip is your only published option, and a two level dip into divination won't be completely useless to your primary combat strategy.

[Aaramis]

Another interesting combo is UA's Flail Mastery which has a chance of knocking a target prone on an OA.
Combined with Sentinel and your aura...

[Iron Frog]

Another interesting combo is UA's Flail Mastery which has a chance of knocking a target prone on an OA.
Combined with Sentinel and your aura...

As a flail wielder, I am highly inclined towards this pick at 12th level, since Shield Master's "nerf" by Papa Jerry.

[strangebloke]

As a flail wielder, I am highly inclined towards this pick at 12th level, since Shield Master's "nerf" by Papa Jerry.

In what situation does Jerry's advice matter, but the UA doesn't?

[Sception]

Combined with Sentinel and your aura...

is too much. If your aura's in play, they aren't provoking opp attacks from you in the first place, and two feats is two much to invest in backup plans for when your aura doesn't apply. Maybe if one or both were half feats with charisma, but they're not. Even Vuman only grabs this combo at level 12 at the earliest if they're not delaying charisma progression, and at that point they're choosing to play all the way to level 16 with a starting 16 attack stat and only aura of protection to prop up their concentration saves. Even with a hexblade dip, warcaster is a much higher priority, so you're still waiting until level 17 for this to come on, for a vuman, and that's just too long, imo.

Sentinel's still good if you can fit it, honestly more for the reaction attacks then the move cancelling opp attacks since your aura mostly has that covered (though it's nice to help you feel tankier at lower levels before you get the aura), but I wouldn't take any other feats that serve primarily to combo on top of it, apart from maybe polearm master, and even then that looks like over-investment to me.

And as for knocking enemies prone on opp attacks in general, again, there is little to no synergy with your aura there. If they're under your aura, then they probably aren't provoking opp attacks from you in the first place, and if they aren't then they can just stand up anyway.

[Iron Frog]

In what situation does Jerry's advice matter, but the UA doesn't?

The DM'S whim may very well be a situation.

Anyway, I appreciate your words of wisdom.

[Garokson]

Check out the dragon masks from horde of the dragon queen. Attuning one of these legendary masks changes your dragonborns breath weapon cooldown from once per short rest to once every 6 rounds essentially making a fear machine out of him. The red dragon masks effect seems especially good. This let's you set someone or something on fire if you hit him with fire damage. The fire has to be doused by taking an action or the creature burns for 1d6 fire dmg per round. This should let you hinder fearless enemies by fire dragon breathing or destructive waving them. The other mask effects, amongst those are darkvision, resistence and legendary resistence, also sound quite neet.

[Sansic1]

So how would a pally of the oath handle Oathbreakers, what would or wouldn’t work?

[Davrix]

So how would a pally of the oath handle Oathbreakers, what would or wouldn’t work?

Im not sure what your asking, how would the conquest paladin handle an oath-breaker of their oath or someone else's oath?

[1Pirate]

So how would a pally of the oath handle Oathbreakers, what would or wouldn’t work?

It's a little hard to say without more details. Levels matter a lot with this match up since at 10+ a lot of the features of both classes don't work on either of you since aura of courage blocks all the fear effects. Also is it 1v1 or is the Oathbreaker going to be bringing some undead friends? Do you have any magic weapons?

Im not sure what your asking, how would the conquest paladin handle an oath-breaker of their oath or someone else's oath?

I think he means the Oathbreaker paladin from the DMG.

[Sception]

Mechanically, as in how would you fight them? Or narratively, as in how would you react to them?

[raelik]

Almost every build I see takes Conquest to 9 to get Fear. How is this better than multiclassing with Hexblade and getting that to at least 5th to get Fear as a Warlock spell instead? Sure, you're delaying access to Fear, but getting 3rd level Warlock slots means you can use it every short rest.

[Iron Frog]

Almost every build I see takes Conquest to 9 to get Fear. How is this better than multiclassing with Hexblade and getting that to at least 5th to get Fear as a Warlock spell instead? Sure, you're delaying access to Fear, but getting 3rd level Warlock slots means you can use it every short rest.

It's not about only getting Fear at 9th. Aura of Conquest plays a major role (if not the central role) for this Oath, and since one came all the way to 7th, it's not a big of a stretch going all the way to 9th.

[Sception]

Almost every build I see takes Conquest to 9 to get Fear. How is this better than multiclassing with Hexblade and getting that to at least 5th to get Fear as a Warlock spell instead? Sure, you're delaying access to Fear, but getting 3rd level Warlock slots means you can use it every short rest.

Conquest Paladin with Warlock 5 for Fear on a short rest timer is an amazing combo. But it's also one that doesn't come on until level 12 at the earliest, and that's considerably later than the level 9 needed to get fear as a normal daily spell with Conquest Paladin on its own, or even the level 10 needed to pick up Fear from Conquest Paladin after dipping a single level of Hexblade.

And when the combo does come online at level 12, you're behind on asi progression as well, having only 2 instead of 3.

And having gone that deep into warlock, you'll never get the aura expansion at paladin 18. plus other earlier paladin features worth picking up, like aura of courage or improved divine smite or cleansing touch or scornful rebuke either aren't coming to you at all or are arriving much much later than they otherwise would.

You do get a lot of other nice stuff from warlock, it's not an invalid build by any stretch. But it's not one you can call objectively superior to getting fear from conquest paladn the normal way, especially at levels 9, 10, and 11, when a single classed conqueror has Fear already, but you don't.

[raelik]

Conquest Paladin with Warlock 5 for Fear on a short rest timer is an amazing combo. But it's also one that doesn't come on until level 12 at the earliest, and that's considerably later than the level 9 needed to get fear as a normal daily spell with Conquest Paladin on its own, or even the level 10 needed to pick up Fear from Conquest Paladin after dipping a single level of Hexblade.

And when the combo does come online at level 12, you're behind on asi progression as well, having only 2 instead of 3.

And having gone that deep into warlock, you'll never get the aura expansion at paladin 18. plus other earlier paladin features worth picking up, like aura of courage or improved divine smite or cleansing touch or scornful rebuke either aren't coming to you at all or are arriving much much later than they otherwise would.

You do get a lot of other nice stuff from warlock, it's not an invalid build by any stretch. But it's not one you can call objectively superior to getting fear from conquest paladn the normal way, especially at levels 9, 10, and 11, when a single classed conqueror has Fear already, but you don't.

Well, being behind on ASI assumes that you stopped Conquest at 7 instead of 8. I was initially thinking Conquest 8 / Hexblade 12, as you can get a LOT of utility from all the Warlock spells and invocations... but you do give up a ton to get there. Maybe Conquest 15 / Hexblade 5 is a better idea. You're giving up an ASI, the improved auras, a 4th level daily and 2 5th level dailys in exchange for the pact boon, 4 more Warlock spells, an extra short rest timer spell slot (so 2 3rd level ones instead of 1 1st level one), and 3 invocations. Assuming you went blade pact, you could get Eldritch Smite for double smite goodness. Not sure which is better though.

[Davrix]

Well, being behind on ASI assumes that you stopped Conquest at 7 instead of 8. I was initially thinking Conquest 8 / Hexblade 12, as you can get a LOT of utility from all the Warlock spells and invocations... but you do give up a ton to get there. Maybe Conquest 15 / Hexblade 5 is a better idea. You're giving up an ASI, the improved auras, a 4th level daily and 2 5th level dailys in exchange for the pact boon, 4 more Warlock spells, an extra short rest timer spell slot (so 2 3rd level ones instead of 1 1st level one), and 3 invocations. Assuming you went blade pact, you could get Eldritch Smite for double smite goodness. Not sure which is better though.

They made it very difficult to jump out of conquest. Trust me I tried for so long to think of a good spot to get into hexblade with mine. Your just better off going straight conquest. If anything you take just the 1st lv in hex to nab the char based weapon and the shield spell with your hex and call it a day.

[BrusLi]

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While Conquest Pally has no good drop points, and three-or-more level sidetracks, while not inherently bad, do incur rather hefty delays in your primary abilities, I think there's a strong case to be made for a one or two level dip. Such a dip doesn't delay your paladin advancement too badly, and you can still pick up the aura expansion by level 20. In most senses, you'll still function like a full classed Conquest paladin, but with some extra tools that, while they mostly won't make you better at your main role than a single classed Conqueror, do enough to broaden your abilities or shore up your weaknesses to be worth the minimal delay asked.

This post is looking into some of those in a bit more detail. Some of this is repeating points I've made in previous posts in the thread, and some of this is repeating points from the multiclassing section of the Legiumus's guide itself, but I feel that section focused on more extended multiclassing with sample builds and class discussion focusing on features that show up at level 3 or later of a class. Again, longer forays into any of these classes can absolutely make for valid enjoyable characters, but the delays to Conquest advancement start to become much more noticeable.

...

But before that, a word on Concentration. As I've gained more experience playing Conquerors, this issue keeps coming up. Especially after you pick up Fear at level nine. Almost all frighten effects are concentration based, including the two very best sources of frighten for conquest paladins: the spells Wrathful Smite and Fear. These are the best because of the mechanics for shaking them. If a target fails the initial save, Wrathful Smite only lets the target break free with Wisdom checks, which will be made at disadvantage due to the frighten condition itself, making it very difficult to escape - unless you fail your concentration. Fear is even more extreme. Targets that fail the initial save can only attempt another if they break line of sight to you, which will typically be impossible for them to do while you have them trapped in your aura of conquest, so targets that fail the initial save cannot escape at all - again unless you fail your concentration.

The risk of failed concentration checks is your primary tool for motivating enemies trapped in your aura to attack you instead of your allies, but while you want to dangle that hope in front of your enemies, you do not ever actually want to fail these saves. Nothing is worse than losing control of three or more enemies that you just locked down because you flubbed a concentration save.

Con 14 to 16 and Cha 20 with aura of protection gives you a decent con save by default, but this is not good enough given the overwhelming importance of maintaining your frighten effects on enemies. IMO shoring up your concentration saves is almost as critical as raising your spell DCs, to the point that "typical", single-classed Oath of Conquest paladins should consider Resilient: Constitution to be a near mandatory feat at level 12. Level 16 at the latest if you haven't picked up a magic weapon with a to-hit bonus by level 12 and find your melee attacks missing a bit too often to tolerate.

IMO, resilient Con is the ONLY feat that I would rate gold for this build. Even Sentinel, amazing as it is, should probably take a back seat.

Warcaster provides an interesting alternative. In general, Resilient: Con provides a better bonus, at least at the level your most likely to pick it up, and comes with +1 con which might help your stat distribution. If, however, you've managed to pick up the Booming Blade cantrip (amazing if you can use it for opportunity attacks, not especially worth bothering with for you otherwise), or any significant somatic-but-not-material-component spells (a casting focus covers somatic-and-material spells, but oddly enough not somatic-only spells), then Warcaster becomes a better choice. In practical terms, this means Warcaster is better if you're planning to multiclass into hexblade or sorcerer.

...

WARLOCK (Hexblade)

The most obvious dip for Conquerors is, of course, hexblade warlock, for hex warrior, curse, eldritch blast, booming blade, shield, and a short rest slot at level one, with maybe a second level for a second recharging slot and a couple invocations. The first level here offers just a tremendous amount of power and utility, more that one level of almost anything, including whatever the next level of conquest is in most cases. This is a result of the hexblade patron being designed as both a fully functional patron in and of itself AND as a stealth fix for the blade pact boon, which means the first level patron feature, fully good enough to stand on its own, comes with an improved version of the third level blade boon for free.

You can honestly dip Hexblade at any point, even all the way down to first level if you have the stats to support medium armor use: 13 strength, 14 dex - instead of 15 strength for heavy armor. A medium Armor Hex-Conqueror faces a heavier initial stat investment, but it might be worth it for aesthetic reasons, or in a party where every member is reasonably stealthy and you don't want to be the odd one out ruining group infiltration efforts, or if you're playing a variant human and want to take Warlock at first level so you can grab Warcaster as your bonus feat (first level paladins aren't spellcasters yet, so they don't qualify to take it). Usually, though, if you dip hexblade it'll either come at level 2, for the earliest dip that preserves heavy armor proficiency, or at level 8, waiting until after aura of conquest.

PROs:

• reduce MADness with Hex Warrior
• Strong ranged fallback from Eldritch Blast (even without invocations)
• Booming Blade is good fallback tanking for fear immune enemies
• ESPECIALLY when combined with Warcaster
• Shield is a phenomenal defensive spell, though it will also require warcaster
• Hexblade's Curse is amazing for boss encounters, which are often resistant if not immune to fear
• Even just one short rest spell slot does a lot to even out the paladin's otherwise very daily-oriented resource pool

CONs (apart from delayed access to Conquest features):

• Hex Warrior only works with one weapon, so reduced MADness comes at the cost of losing the versatility of swapping between sword, whip, & halberd
• Booming Blade and Shield, two key gains from the dip, only come fully online after taking the Warcaster feat, which means either delaying Cha advancement or delaying full use of these spells
• It also means taking Warcaster at all, when otherwise a Conqueror would probably prefer Resilient Con for shoring up concentration. Not a huge setback, advantage is almost as good as proficiency here, and one or the other is strongly recommended regardless.
• Less MADness frees you up to invest less points in strength over your career, which in turn means lower Athletics checks and reduced ability to use the Shove maneuver. This is especially the case for medium armor builds. That said, thanks to frighten your target will generally have disadvantage, so proficiency alone should be enough to get some use out of shoving.

If dipping one level of hexblade, you can do so at any point after first level, though you may prefer to wait until after Oath of Conquest at paladin 7. That said, even a 1st level dip is possible, if you have the stats for medium armor. If you opt to take a second level, it should probably wait at least until after Fear at Paladin 9, and probably until after the level 12 asi. Earlier is still viable, though, if you feel you need some particular invocation for thematic or aesthetic reasons.

Re: other Warlock patrons. They're alright, but Hexblade just offers so much more, while also being a natural thematic fit with Conquerors, so why would you pick anything else? That said, if you have some pressing narrative reason to pick something else, other warlock patrons are still alright dips. You miss Hex Warrior, Curse, and Shield, but still get Booming Blade, eldritch blast, the short rest slot, and whatever your chosen patron grants at level one. Telepathy from Great Ones has some tactical value. The fiend & fey traits are fine. If UA is allowed, Raven Queen basically gets an improved familiar at level 1, which is cool.

.............................

FIGHTER

The second strong contender for 1 to 2 level dips, the Fighter's biggest selling point is Con save proficiency. Take fighter at level 1, and you can be proficient in Constitution saves from the get go. You also gain a second fighting style, letting you grab dueling and defense. You also get second wind, which is nice at level one but trails off even faster for you then it does for a single classed fighter. A second level picks up action surge, which is just awesome. Honestly, it could be a capstone feature. If you dip fighter at level one, and then just go straight pally for the rest of your life, I'd suggest taking fighter 2 over pally 19 as your final level.

I don't have much to say here that Legimus didn't already say in the multiclassing section of the main guide, other than to emphasize that Con save proficiency is a big, big deal, and dipping fighter at level 1 is the easiest and fastest way to get it.

PROs:

• CON Save Proficiency
• second combat style (ie, +1 AC)
• an impressive second level feature, even if you save it for level 20

CONs (apart from delayed Conquest progression):

• None, really. What you get doesn't look like as much as some other dips (though, again, CON proficiency is huge), but other then a slight delay to your main class features you don't really lose anything here.
• I guess if I had to list something, it would be that the dip must come at level one, so the build defining Aura of Conquest will be among the features that suffer that one level delay.

If you dip fighter, you take the first level at level one, no questions asked. Con save proficiency is too important, it's the main reason to dip fighter at all. If you take a second level, imo it should wait at least until you've grabbed Fear at Paladin level 9.

..........................

BARD

If you want to dip into a casting class for cantrips, but don't want to play a hexblade, then Bard is your go to option. Probably not as strong an option as Hexblade, but Bard offers considerably different flavor and features.

As a caster dip, it suffers somewhat from not granting access to Booming Blade or Shield, but then again lack of those spells means you shouldn't feel compelled to take Warcaster (though you'll still eventually want Resilient: Con to shore up concentration saves). That said, you do get Vicious Mockery, which is, if anything, an even better fallback ranged cantrip for you than Eldritch Blast. Less damage, but it contributes to your whole debuffing/control gimmick, in particular letting you impose disadvantage on an enemy that saved against one of your fear AOEs while still positioning yourself to impose your aura on those that failed. Plus it just fits thematically into your whole 'browbeat the enemies into submission' routine.

Bardic Inspiration, even as just a plain d6 roll, is a fantastic use of your bonus action, and with your high Cha you'll get plenty of uses of it. Honestly, Bardic inspiration might be the biggest gain here, it really expands and accentuates the battlefield commander role that many Conquerors take on. As with Vicious Mockery, Bardic Inspiration has a good range, allowing you to lock down a crowd of enemies with Fear and Aura of Conquest, while still handing out buffs to party members who prefer to maintain a safe distance, and as a result miss out on your Aura of Protection.

As an added bonus, multiclassing into Bard lets you grab a skill of your choice, which can help round out your non-combat abilities. A Bard dip should probably be one level or nothing, as the second level features, while fluffy, don't add all that much. Longer divergences into bard are certainly viable, but again this post is only looking at 1 to 2 level dips which won't dramatically compromise your Conquest progression.

PROs:

• Viscious Mockery is a fantastic fallback ranged cantrip
• Bardic Inspiration is a fantastic bonus action
• Free skill proficiency

CONs (apart from delayed Conquest progression):

• no Shield
• no Booming Blade

If you're dipping bard, I'd just do one level, and I'd probably wait until after you've grabbed Aura of Conquest at paladin 7, though honestly it can slot in at any level after first reasonably well.

..........................

A Word on Double Dipping

If I think a Conqueror can reasonably manage a two level dip, and single level dips of Hexblade, Fighter, and Bard are all viable, then what about a double dip, with one level each of any two of the above?

Honestly, I think that could work out pretty well, on par with a two level hexblade or fighter dip, and paced about the sam. Of the various double dip options, I think one level of fighter plus one level of either bard or hexblade works out the best, as there's a bit of redundancy between bard and hexblade (curse & inspiration competing for bonus actions, blast and mockery competing for ranged fallback). I would personally pace it with the fighter dip at level one for con proficiency and the second dip after Fear at paladin 9. So something like Fighter 1/Paladin 9/Hexblade-or-Bard 1/Paladin+8.

............................

That's kind of it for the dips I think are good. Since I banged on about Constitution saves a bunch, Barbarian might be worth bringing up just to mention how terrible it is. Unlike other paladins, you actually cast and concentrate on spells. Like, all the time. So raging is no good for you. Forcing you into medium armor if you want to get con save proficiency out of it is just insult to injury.

Sorcerer is perhaps an even more surprisingly terrible dip for Conquest Paladins. Oh, it's perfectly viable as a more extended multiclass. If you're going to take at least 3 levels of it, then booming blade, any ranged damage cantrip, shield, and metamagic together make for a great package. But at that point you've invested heavily enough in your secondary class that your primary Conquest abilities have been pretty significantly set back. A first level dip might at first seem viable for Booming Blade, Shield, and Constitution Save proficiency, but that puts you in medium armor with borderline unusable melee attacks. You could dip a level into hexblade as well to fix the attack stat issue, but hexblade already gives you booming blade and shield, plus a better ranged attack cantrip than sorcerer offers, so what are you getting from the sorcerer/hexblade double dip that a fighter/hexblade double dip wouldn't be doing even better?

Again, Sorcerer is a fine multiclass option for Conquerors, if not quite as good as it is for other paladins, but imo it's just not a good option for dipping.

Divination wizard might also be worth mentioning just because of how good the level 2 feature is from divination, especially for a character who really appreciates the ability to force enemies to roll poorly on their saves. But good as the ability is, it's kind of situational - you might not roll usable portents on the days you really need them - so it isn't really good enough to justify the two level dip & a 13 in your dumpiest dump stat. That said, if you really want a familiar for narrative reasons but don't want to burn an ASI on magic initiate, a wizard dip is your only published option, and a two level dip into divination won't be completely useless to your primary combat strategy.

@Malisteen

I see you have had your fair share of playtime with Conquest, so I 'm looking forward to some advice.
In the following months I should be creating a new character, retiring the old one, so I will be starting from level 8, maybe 9..

I 've read trough the whole thread and came to understand that dips delay a lot for conquest paladin.
In a great scheme of things how do you view the following:

1.lvl 1 fighter dip for CON prof, 8th lvls of Conquest for ASI and max CHA, 9th lvl Hexblade dip, wearing medium armor for flavour.

2. either fighter or hexblade only dip

Long story short, are two 1 level dips, going to break conquest, would you do it with your character or do you prefer playing it pure or maaaaybe with 1 lvl dip max? Would you do something different if you had the chance to start over your conquest paladin?

Since D&D ain't that popular in my country and we don't have AL,we have to plan accordingly :P

[Sception]

Long story short, are two 1 level dips, going to break conquest, would you do it with your character or do you prefer playing it pure or maaaaybe with 1 lvl dip max? Would you do something different if you had the chance to start over your conquest paladin?

No, two levels of dipping will not break conquest, though any more then that I would consider to be an 'extended multiclass'. To be clear, extended multiclass builds are perfectly viable using conquest paladin. There's a lot more noticeable trade-offs than with other paladin oaths multiclassing, but as long as your build eventually gets aura of conquest and the fear spell, you'll be fine long term.

Fighter one... I mean, you do eventually want that con save proficiency, and an extra fighting style isn't going to hurt either. At the same time, though, if you're taking the warlock dip, you'll eventually want War Caster regardless, and once you get warcaster (level 12 if not before), you might eventually find proficiency on top of advantage and aura of protection might be a bit overkill. So in the long run, it might not be needed, and it does delay things, but it's not invalid.

The build you're proposing is one I've looked at, and might eventually come back to play, though to date I've always passed on it in favor of either pure conquerors or, more frequently, conquerors with that single level hexblade dip.

If you do go for the one level dip, I don't think there's a 'best level' to take it at. 2, 8, 10, and 13 (soonest while keeping heavy armor, after second asi, after fear, after third asi) look and feel best to me. In particular, I've played with the dip at level 2 and level 10 myself, and both felt fine.

Even hexblade at level one can work, but imo only for half elves, who have the abundant racial stat bonuses to handle both medium armor and 13 strength without too much difficulty while still maximizing charisma. You do have to drop to a +2 con mod, but it can work, and it's very stylish. I've done that myself, but that was also on a character who intended to take more hexblade at higher levels. Half-shadar-kai Hexblade 1, Conqueror 8, Hexblade +11, aiming for Hexblade 12, Conqueror 8. Sadly, that game didn't run long enough to get him back into hexblade, so I don't know how that would have worked out for him.


To be clear, the "best" conquest paladin is probably the single classed version, but your build should work just fine in practice, especially from level 11 onward, and I'd be curious to hear how it goes.

[BrusLi]

To be clear, the "best" conquest paladin is probably the single classed version, but your build should work just fine in practice, especially from level 11 onward, and I'd be curious to hear how it goes.

There are certain things I know for sure atm, I will be playing dragonborn and I will roll for stats.

Because of the flavor, I won't be taking hexblade, even though it's mechanically strong,SAD etc.

It goes against how I envisioned my character as huge, menacing dragonborn that is very strong but overall with big heart.

I can see that having prof in CON from fighter 1 being strong boon for conquest, leaving the ASI at 13 for something else like, sentinel,str or shield master and maybe that small dip ain't that bad for giving up on "potential" godlike capstone.

I guess it all goes down to how patient I am. Being naturally inclined towards optimization, we want everything NOW, more power, more this or that. Taking dips in this or that, offers some of the things much earlier rather than later, usually with a sacrifice.
That being said, in the end I might end up rolling pure conquest and perhaps take resilient CON on 12lvl, Sentinel on 16lvl and maxing STR on 19lvl.

At least that's my opinion for now, it may change once I research more..and who knows.. maybe i end up with conquest 12/ X class 8 XD