Help me build my Bard/Sorc/Paladin triple class

[Diceling]

I'm playing a D&D campaign where we're currently at level 5, and my character has gotten involved with the resident goddess of Chaotic Goodness and one of her angels. As such, and to balance an otherwise non-tanky party, I've decided to take levels in Paladin.

Right now, he functions as sort a all-round combatant. His spellcasting hurts enemies and heals allies, he can use his rapier to deal fair amounts of damage and he can use his bardic talents to buff allies and nerf enemies. The paladin levels are mostly to give him more tankiness (as that is sorely needed in the party) and due to roleplaying issues (when the equivalent of a valkyrie asks you to serve, you can only refuse for so long).

So, lend me your wisdom and give me your best Bard/Sorc/Pala builds.

Character stats:
Name: Sariel Nalidon
Current Levels: Lore Bard 3 / Divine Soul Sorcerer 2
Race: Wood Elf
Abilities:*STR 11, DEX 18, CON 15, INT 18, WIS 14, CHA 18
Skill profs (expertise in italics):*Deception, History, Insight,Investigation, Perception, Performance,Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Background: Criminal/Spy.

Character Background:
Sariel is the grandson (or maybe great-grandson) of the union between the Angel Kara (basically a Valkyrie) and an Elf. He was brought into the Knights of Kara, and order of Knights devoted to the tenets and principles of the Angel Kara, at an early age and everyone expected great things from him (as he is a literal descendant of the orders raison d'etre). He hated it and ran away as soon as he was old enough to get by on his own. A human noble took him in and put him to use as a spy, both for enemies of the nation and rivals among the nobility.

He was caught by one such rival noble roughly two years before the campaign started, but instead of getting executed, he was put to use, again as a spy.

Recently (two weeks ago, in-game) he heard Kara's voice inside his head (for the first time in like 80 years) and when he visited her temple to pray, the priest was expecting him.



(Yes, I know the abilities are bonkers. I had exceptional luck with my rolls).

Notes
* The DM has waived the MC requirement for paladin.

[CheddarChampion]

Technically you need 13 strength to multiclass into Paladin.

With that out of the way, you have 2 levels of sorcerer but how many of lore bard?
What oath fits your character?

To get really good at frontlining you'll want sword+board, extra attack, aura of protection, war caster (or resilient Con), and metamagic.

I say get one more level of sorcerer then shoot for paladin 6, maybe 7. More advice after there's more character info to work with.

[Diceling]

Technically you need 13 strength to multiclass into Paladin.

Right, forgot to add that the DM has waived that requirement. Fixed in original post.

With that out of the way, you have 2 levels of sorcerer but how many of lore bard?

Oops, missed that. Level 3 Bard. Also added it to original post.

What oath fits your character?

Devotion, Ancients or [insert your recommendation from other sources].

Go get really good at frontlining you'll want sword+board, extra attack, aura of protection, war caster (or resilient Con), and metamagic.

I say get one more level of sorcerer then shoot for paladin 6, maybe 7. More advice after there's more character info to work with.

Alright, sounds excellent. I'll update with a bit more character info.

[Nagog]

If you're looking to tank, nothing tanks quite like an Ancients Paladin. Could also work with the Chaotic bend, as Ancients is heavily fey-focused. Considering the multiclassing rules for spellcasting, you probably will not be learning many higher level spells, but you'll have spell slots for it, so I'd look into grabbing spells you can upcast with those higher slots. Warlock Spell List is a good reference for that, considering, but I don't think Warlock overlaps much with Bard or Paladin besides smiting.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Well, honestly I think the answer depends on how far the campaign might go. You're already at 5th level with your first two classes, and that's a lot of delay to hold out for extra attack and the paladin auras. Since I've yet to see a game make it past 13th level, I'm a little leary of builds that only come online in tier 3 play.

I'm currently playing a pala/bard who's the party's (underwhelming) main front liner. The idea is to imitate a cleric (sort of), but with a charisma build. Your character sounds sort of similar, so I thought I'd weigh in.

I went half-elf (SCAG Moon variant), and picked up booming blade that way (obviously, I'm not AL-legal). I presume you already have booming blade and spiritual weapon from your sorcerer levels? I dipped only 2 levels into paladin for the divine smite, bless, armor and fighting style, then went all lore bard. At bard 6, I'll take spiritual weapon and spirit guardians as magical secrets. Obviously, even this 2-class multiclass doesn't fully gel until character level 8, and I'll never get that extra attack. But unless your campaign has a great deal of staying power, you more or less won't either, or at least not for a very long time and even then not for much of the overall campaign. So, by going 2 levels into paladin, your main combat abilities (booming blade plus divine smite, running spiritual weapon with bonus action and spirit guardians with your concentration - AKA that typical cleric thing) should be mostly online by 7th, except for the spirit guardians at bard 6 or sorcerer 5, which is still 10th character level either way.

Doing a 3-class multiclass is hard! I'm very much feeling that 2 level delay from dipping paladin, to the point where I'm not sure it was worth it. I can only imagine that your own paladin detour will leave you smarting as well. I mean, if you go 5 paladin for the extra attack, you'll have only first and second level spells at 11th level, albeit with 4th level slots for smiting or upcasting or metamagicking. Giving up 3rd, 4th and 5th level sorcerer spells as you enter tier 3 sounds like a big price to pay for hitting 9-18 HP harder a few times per day.

[Diceling]

Well, honestly I think the answer depends on how far the campaign might go. You're already at 5th level with your first two classes, and that's a lot of delay to hold out for extra attack and the paladin auras. Since I've yet to see a game make it past 13th level, I'm a little leary of builds that only come online in tier 3 play.

It is of course inpossible for me to say how long the campaign will run, but both the DM and the entire party is committed to running it for a long time. Assume, for the sake of this thread, that it will runt to Level 16-20.

I'm currently playing a pala/bard whose the party's (underwhelming) main front liner. The idea is to imitate a cleric (sort of), but with a charisma build. Your character sounds sort of similar, so I thought I'd weigh in.

I went half-elf (SCAG Moon variant), and picked up booming blade that way (obviously, I'm not AL-legal). I presume you already have booming blade and spiritual weapon from your sorcerer levels?

I do not. No booming blade and not spiritual weapon. By your assumption, I infer that I should?

I dipped only 2 levels into paladin for the divine smite, bless, armor and fighting style, then went all lore bard. At bard 6, I'll take spiritual weapon and spirit guardians as magical secrets. Obviously, even this 2-class multiclass doesn't fully gel until character level 8, and I'll never get that extra attack. But unless your campaign has a great deal of staying power, you more or less won't either, or at least not for a very long time and even then not for much of the overall campaign. So, by going 2 levels into paladin, your main combat abilities (booming blade plus divine smite, running spiritual weapon with bonus action and spirit guardians with your concentration - AKA that typical cleric thing) should be mostly online by 7th, except for the spirit guardians at bard 6 or sorcerer 5, which is still 10th character level either way.

We do have a lot of staing power in the campaign. We've managed 18 sessions in one year, spread out regularly, with no signs of slowing down or of diminishing interest.

So, you suggestion is going 2 levels Pala for level 6 and 7 and then going back to either Bard 6 or Sorc 5?

Doing a 3-class multiclass is hard! I'm very much feeling that 2 level delay from dipping paladin, to the point where I'm not sure it was worth it. I can only imagine that your own paladin detour will leave you smarting as well. I mean, if you go 5 paladin for the extra attack, you'll have only first and second level spells at 11th level, albeit with 4th level slots for smiting or upcasting or metamagicking. Giving up 3rd, 4th and 5th level sorcerer spells as you enter tier 3 sounds like a big price to pay for hitting 9-18 HP harder a few times per day.

Yeah, I know, it's not an easy equation. However, almost all characters in the campaign are either already multiclassing or intend to do so shortly, so I think the DM will adjust the power level of our opposition accordingly. In fact, we already have a triple-classer in the party: a wizard/sorcerer/warlock, if memory serves.

[Bloodcloud]

So, any more than 2 levels of paladin leave you with nothing but low level spells for a while. Your real option becomes somethnig like hold concentration on bless and burn everything else in smites.

Do you already have booming/greenflame blade? That's a must to scale your at-will damage. Metamagic is one level away and could be very usefull, as is hold person and spiritual weapon, wich would help tremendously. ASI are not too necessaryu in your case.

Lore Bard 5 gets you short rest bardic inspiration, which is good, 6th level is magical secret, but you already have a wide access to spell list.

Paladin 3 is the oath, 5 is extra attack, 6 is the aura, and 7 might get your magic resistance. Given divine soul already helps you with saving throw, the aura is less critical.

Sorcerer 3 is metamagic, and then it's all about sorcery point and more powerfull spells. I,d go quicken and subtle, cause you've probably got some bard spells for sheananigans

Bard 3, sorc 3, pal 2 gives you quickened hold person - crit smite blade cantrip, a powerfull burst option. On more staying power, you get blade cantrip/spiritual weapon with bless active, a fairly low cost option that you can maintain regularly.

Bard 3 / Pal 2 / Sorc 15 gets you 8th level spells, angelic wings, and lots of sorcery point for quickened hold/crit smite combo. It's a big glass cannon combo.

Bard 5 / Pal (ancient) 7 / Sorc 8 is the tankier combo. You got decent hp, high saves all around and plenty of options to raise your ac/saves or reduce enemy attack through sr bardic dices. You can still combo hold spells and smites (and with extra attack can stack more smites), but for a while it's gonna be very infrequent.

Parsonnally i'd go sorc 3 for metamagic, then grab two levels of paladin and decide at that point where to go next. Metamagic is great, and you don't need the first paladin level for armor, so you can delay that a bit.

[Guy Lombard-O]

I do not. No booming blade and not spiritual weapon. By your assumption, I infer that I should?

Sorry, that was myopic of me, just based upon my own experiences with playing. There's no requirement that you have either one, certainly. It's just that it's a good and effective combination that's easily available to the DS sorcerer. I'm sure there's plenty of other good builds that are fun and effective, too.

So, you suggestion is going 2 levels Pala for level 6 and 7 and then going back to either Bard 6 or Sorc 5?

Yes, that's probably what I would do, if I was set on doing the paladin dip at all. Unless you are sure that you want to (slowly) transform yourself into a mainly melee-oriented combatant, I think it'll be the easiest way to sort of half-ass it as a front line character, without paying too steep a price.

That said, if you're actually going to all the way to level 16, maybe taking 5, 6, or 7 paladin is truly what you want to do? If so, I think Bloodcloud covered the options pretty well.

[Diceling]

Sorry, that was myopic of me, just based upon my own experiences with playing. There's no requirement that you have either one, certainly. It's just that it's a good and effective combination that's easily available to the DS sorcerer. I'm sure there's plenty of other good builds that are fun and effective, too.

No worries at all, I took no offense. :) Thanks for saying, though. And I'll definitely look into picking up said spells.

Yes, that's probably what I would do, if I was set on doing the paladin dip at all. Unless you are sure that you want to (slowly) transform yourself into a mainly melee-oriented combatant, I think it'll be the easiest way to sort of half-ass it as a front line character, without paying too steep a price.

That said, if you're actually going to all the way to level 16, maybe taking 5, 6, or 7 paladin is truly what you want to do? If so, I think Bloodcloud covered the options pretty well.

Yeah, I think I (and the rest of the party) will paly with the intention of reaching Level 16-20, so I'll prepare for that.

To fit with the story of the character (actually swearing an oath to his great-grandmother), I've been encouraged by the DM to do at least three levels of paladin (to get the oath). Currently, I'm thinking either going
Sorc 3 -> Pal 1 -> Pal 2 -> Pal3,

or Pal 1 -> Pal 2 -> Pal 3 -> Sorc 3

for levels 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Getting Sorc 3 and Pal 2 brings Quickened Hold Person + Green-Flame Blade + Divine Smite online, and would be great to have as early as possible (Level 8), but story-wise, I kind of want to take my oath as soon as possible. Decisions, decisions.