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

[Legimus]

Conquest Paladin 14/Long Death Monk 6

Oh man, thank goodness for multiclass stat requirements, because that would just be hysterical haha

[Zene]

By the way this would be the most MAD combo possible, but Conquest Paladin 14/Long Death Monk 6 for causing fear as an action every turn would be interesting. Maybe not effective given the fact that the fear only lasts one turn, you'd lose your expanded aura, and it's crazy MAD. But hey I just thought I'd toss it out in case it inspires someone

Oh man, thank goodness for multiclass stat requirements, because that would just be hysterical haha

Holy crap, what a 2-man team that would make though.

Monks with a Paladin aura backing them already basically auto-succeed every saving throw at high levels... and long death is pretty nuts as soon as it hits that "spend a ki point to not die" level... but with this fear synergy and the aura of conquest, they would just be insane together.

[Legimus]

Oh I wish. That would be the dream team right there. Unfortunately, Aura of Conquest only affects enemies that are frightened of you, not frightened in general. Otherwise, you could build an absolutely insane party. Though Way of the Long Death synergizes well with paladins in general, I think. Hour of Reaping frightens everyone in 30ft who can see you, but after level 10 Aura of Courage makes you and your party immune to fear, meaning your monk can scare mobs with impunity.

[Legimus]

You might be able to create some sort of Fear Machine multiclass though. It wouldn't be that strong, but it could be pretty fun with the right group. You go Oath of Conquest 12 / Way of the Long Death 8. That way you don't miss out on any ASIs, which are important cuz you're super MAD. 12 paladin levels gets you Aura of Courage to make your party immune to being frightened, and Improved Divine Smite for some bonus damage on your monk attacks (provided you use a weapon). 8 monk levels gets you all the way to Evasion, which seriously boosts your survivability.

Then in combat you just spam Hour of Reaping. Use Channel Divinity, Fear, or Wrathful Smite if you need to be more involved contribute extra damage. It's a pretty weak build overall, and near-useless if your foes are immune, but I think it's a pretty fun idea. You could be like the Scarecrow from Batman or something. You just live to scare people.

[Legimus]

Updated to include some commentary on general paladin class features and moved the discussion of prone from features to strategy.

[vonkraush]

I am a new player and my first character is a Conquest paladin which I am a huge fan of. I really like him and will likely keep him around for a while so I need some advice to optimize him since I'm new and don't know what higher levels entail. He's not fully optimized for this guide as he is a more aggressive great weapon fighting variant, I think I'd prefer to make him more offense oriented in general so the more consistent damage potential a build has the better, but he's still a team tank so if an option offers enough defense I'm willing to sacrifice offense for it.

Mainly I want to multiclass at least 3 levels in fighter because it brings so much to the table. I am not sure exactly what to choose though:

1. I've already chosen the two handed weapon fighting style. Would the defense style or the UA Tunnel fighter be a more powerful option. Both seem very strong in their own way.
2. Battlemaster fighter offers a lot of tools which makes my guy better at what he does directly (precision attack goes great with GWM and menacing attack is a very strong source of fear which doesn't require a spell slot or a bonus action) but I've heard that a lot of creatures are immune to fear at higher levels. Would it be optimal to choose battlemaster or instead opt for cavalier which doesn't rely on fear.
3. I rolled for stats and rolled well so I can get by with only 4 ASI. Assuming I want to max out my paladin level at 12 would it benefit my character to dip into 5 levels of bard for inspiration, skills and a bunch of slots, go a full 8 levels of fighter for additional feats, or just go 17 Paladin/3 fighter for access to level 4&5 spells?

[Legimus]

1. I've already chosen the two handed weapon fighting style. Would the defense style or the UA Tunnel fighter be a more powerful option. Both seem very strong in their own way.
2. Battlemaster fighter offers a lot of tools which makes my guy better at what he does directly (precision attack goes great with GWM and menacing attack is a very strong source of fear which doesn't require a spell slot or a bonus action) but I've heard that a lot of creatures are immune to fear at higher levels. Would it be optimal to choose battlemaster or instead opt for cavalier which doesn't rely on fear.
3. I rolled for stats and rolled well so I can get by with only 4 ASI. Assuming I want to max out my paladin level at 12 would it benefit my character to dip into 5 levels of bard for inspiration, skills and a bunch of slots, go a full 8 levels of fighter for additional feats, or just go 17 Paladin/3 fighter for access to level 4&5 spells?

1. It depends on the makeup of your party. Since you have no shield, the extra 1 AC from Defense can add a lot. If you have a sturdy front line, I'd go with that. But Tunnel Fighter is really strong, especially if you are (a) facing a lot of enemies, and/or (b) have a squishy back line that needs protecting. Tunnel Fighter in combination with Polearm Master is incredible—unlimited opportunity attacks from 10ft. If you pick up Sentinel as well, you will just dominate groups of melee enemies. Its biggest drawback is it costs a bonus action every turn to maintain, while Defense is passive. Since it'll dominate your bonus action economy, I actually think Tunnel Fighter is the more "tanky" option. If you want more offensive power, go with Defense and keep your bonus actions free.

2. I like the Battlemaster a lot, and I think you'll get the most utility out of it. If you're only looking to put 3 levels into fighter, definitely pick Battlemaster over Cavalier. Again, though, it's all about what you're looking to accomplish. If you want to be tankier, Unwavering Mark is one of the best tanking features in the game, and nothing is immune to it. Just keep in mind that the special attack it offers (if your target hits someone other than you) costs a bonus action, so it won't synergize with Tunnel Fighter. Additionally, Unwavering Mark only works if the target is within 5ft of you, so it doesn't synergize with polearms. Battlemaster offers you a lot of versatility, offensive and defensive. Whether or not you'll be facing a lot of fear-immune enemies in the late game really depends on the campaign you're in. There are a lot of possible enemies that are immune to fear, but I can't tell you the likelihood that you'll actually face them. If you want offense and flexibility, go Battlemaster. If you want defense, go Cavalier.

3. I hate to sound like a broken record, but it all depends on what you want your role to be. If you want to be the party face—that is, the guy that handles all the social situations, is the "leader," etc.—then bard is fantastic for all those skills. But since you'll have high CHA anyways, I don't think it's that important. Bardic Inspiration is good, but it takes a bonus action and is more geared for support characters. You won't actually get extra spell slots either for going paladin 12 / bard 5. See the Player Handbook section on multiclassing for the table of spell slots you end up with. It could yield more slots if you had higher level spells, but you don't get 4th or 5th-level spells with that build, so it doesn't matter.

8 levels in fighter is terrific. You want to be a martial powerhouse with high stats, 8 levels in fighter will take you there whether your choose Battlemaster or Cavalier. That being said, I personally love the 4th and 5th-level spells that paladins get. The two Aura spells are very strong, Find Greater Steed gives you a flying mount, Geas has boundless options for abuse, Holy Weapon adds a lot of damage, and Destructive Wave is one of the best AoE spells in the entire game. Plus, getting those late-game spells really adds the feeling of playing a paladin, in my opinion. They make you feel like a holy warrior filled with awesome and terrible power. So I'd go for those full 17 levels. I think you'll find it's a lot more fun to have a distinct identity in the party.

[Sception]

It's already been brought up in the thread, but the Menacing feat from the Skill Feats UA probably deserves mention in the guide itself. +1 Cha might let you fit it into a build without giving up charisma advancement depending on your starting stats & racial bonus, and the benefit - trading one of your attacks for an intimidate check (most likely with twice proficiency) to cause a round of fear at will can let you lock down at least one target even when all your other resources for causing fear have been burned through. If there's only one enemy you need to lock down, this lets you cause your fear AND take a swing, without burning a bonus or standard action casting a spell or activating an effect.

Combine with shield master, and you can menace an enemy to cause fear, shield bash to knock them prone, and take a swing at them with advantage, all without having burned a single spell slot or limited use ability. Heck, if that swing with advantage scores a crit, you can burn a spell smiting, comfortable in the fact that you're not relying on those slots to inflict fear in future rounds.

It won't always be ideal. I mean, obviously if there's more than one enemy you need to lock down, it's not going to do the job. And other, more resource intensive means of causing fear will last longer than a single round, freeing up your second attack in later rounds. Then again, this could prove a useful fallback option if, say, an enemy passes their save against wrathful smite or the like.

But it's a solid option to have, especially, again, if it happens to fit into your build without delaying cha progress. A half elf conquest paladin starting with 17 cha, for instance, might find this more useful than elven accuracy. Or for a dragonborn who started with cha 16 and already picked up the dragon fear feat pushing cha to 17 in the process.

[Legimus]

Good suggestion! I've been thinking something similar. I geared the guide towards non-UA material, but what I'm hoping to do next is add a portion that specifically goes over UA races and feats. There's a lot of great material in there that Conquerors could benefit from, I just haven't take the time to comb through all the UA materials and make notes yet.

[vonkraush]

Thanks for the advice! I think you're right, the paladin 4th and 5th level spells look great and I'm the only member of my team with good healing capability, so hitting level 17 seems more valuable than using bard spell slots for more smites (also we already have a bard so to be honest bardic inspiration is covered).

As for tunnel fighter: I honestly like it more since I'm not using a polearm so it doesn't compete with PAM for a bonus action. Outside of concentration-reliant spells like smites and the occasional GWM bonus how often would I use my bonus action? If I don't have that many uses for it I like having tunnel fighter to make sure I don't waste it, but if its generally going to be taken +1 armor might be better.

Lastly any recommendations for best 3 manuvers? I imagine tripping, menacing and precision are by far the best for this build, but I admit the extra damage riposte offers is tempting. Is it competitive with tripping (the other two are non-negotiable) or is it a trap?

[Legimus]

Regarding bonus actions, there's a lot of competition. You named a few, but also attacking with Spiritual Weapon takes a bonus action. If you're really focused on offense, you'll probably want to make liberal use of that spell. Cast at the 3rd level, it's almost as good as adding a third attack. That being said, you can fit Tunnel Fighter in there if you want to be a more active tank. My suggested strategy would be to not activate it until the very end of your turn, after you've done everything else and weighed whether or not you need it that round.

For maneuvers, don't worry about damage. With 3 levels in fighter your superiority dice will use a d6, and you're only going to have four of them. I think Trip Attack and Menacing Attack are perfect choices. Precision Attack synergizes with GWM, but you also have Guided Strike. With a d6 it's an average +4 to hit, and I think there are better options. I really like Goading Attack, as it's almost as good as Unwavering Mark. I'm also a fan of Feinting Attack and Riposte. They both give you opportunities to hurt enemies that aren't just your target.

[Sception]

One thing tunnel fighter does do is help lock down enemies at lower levels, before your aura comes on. A glaive using variant human paladin with sentinel as their bonus feat and tunnel fighter as their combat style essentially has a 10 foot 'you ain't goin' nowhere' aura as early as level 2. even non humans can have it going by level 4, still three levels earlier than the conquest aura.

Heck, w/ sentinel and tunnel fighter, you could justify delaying the proper aura by a couple levels by multiclassing, letting you start with 1 to 3 fighter levels for con saves and stickyness from level one (again assuming var human), or drop in an earlier than usual hexblade level.

bonus action competition is a serious hassle as you gain more levels, spells, and abilities, but then again, once you have your proper aura, its mostly a fallback option against fear-immune crowds anyway.

[daisychopper]

Hey dude, great guide! First things first, thank you for using the traditional color coding! Some guides use like, green or orange, and frankly, it's uncivilized!

Anyway, I am currently playing a Hex1/Conq5 paladin that I LOVE, and I thought it was interesting that you recommend mention waiting until level 8 before you take Hexblade - wouldn't that mean you're rolling around with 13 STR while still relying on it as your primary attack?

I took Hex ASAP (level 2) and it was a bit painful, esp. at level 5 when everyone else was getting second attack, but I'm not sure I could have survived 8 levels of +1 attack. In hindsight I might have waited until level 3 to take it so I had spellcasting/divine smite, but at such low levels the +3 attack/damage sure did right by me.

I also like that your build focuses on CHA over STR (regardless of Hexdip); having a really high chance of successfully landing spells really changes the flavor of the class for me; whenever I've played a traditional paladin I've always felt like offensive spellcasting could be a bit of a gamble, depending on the spell, and ended up sticking with Bless, etc. It's nice to get away from the "Slots are for Smites" mentality.

Kudos!

[Legimus]

Thanks! I'm glad you're finding it useful.

To your comment about level progression, you're right, if you put off Hexblade until after level 7 or 8 you're relying on STR for damage while trying to build CHA, and that sets you back a bit. I've got two things in response to that. First, you actually want to start with 15 STR if possible, or at least make sure you have it by level 4 (e.g. start with 14 STR and 17 CHA, put a point into both), because you want to be able to wear plate. So you'll get +2 on your attacks and damage, which I think is pretty reasonable at lower levels.

Second, just keep in mind that the Conqueror's job is tanking, not damage. Paladins are probably my favorite class because they can do both simultaneously, but for this oath you should probably be prioritizing battlefield control over killing power. If you get Hexblade early, yes, you'll get that extra damage and you'll probably have some of the best output in your party at low levels. The synergy is just incredible. But your single most powerful tool, the thing that brings the whole oath together, is Aura of Conquest, and putting that off by even a single level seriously pushes back your ability to tank. The moment you get the aura you become a totally different brand of paladin, and in my opinion it's one of the best AoE control abilities in the game. You'll have something that no one else in the party can offer. By all means, it's not the end of the world if you put it off by a level. For me, though, level 7 is just when the class comes to life. That's when you really start to feel like a Conqueror.

[alchahest]

those going hex/pal for cha reliance, what are you doing for your AC? light armor and high dex? is there a benefit to this that heavy armor and high strength doesn't give you?

[Naanomi]

those going hex/pal for cha reliance, what are you doing for your AC? light armor and high dex? is there a benefit to this that heavy armor and high strength doesn't give you?

Medium armor and 14 DEX is AC 17; Heavy Armor and 15 STR is AC 18... sometimes for a very MAD build the loss of 1 AC is worth the slightly easier stat requirements

[hellgrammite]

Clear advantage to not having a high strength? Not sure. I think the traditional advantages of a Dex build apply.

My backup build right now in an underdark campaign is a Conquest 4/ Hexblade 1.
Race = Drow and primary weapon = WHIP.

Breastplate + Shield = 18 AC.

Dex at 16, Stength at 12 and Charisma at 18.

Dueling taken as fighting style.

For my character this build fits theme, not focusing on optimization. But stealth in this campaign is highly recommended. That said, has an 18 AC, a +7 to hit, and a one handed reach weapon. Granted a whip isn't the most damage dealing, but Dueling offsets some of that in a shield build.

The dexterity build is more to allow the character to sneak around with a higher Initiative, which has its advantages.

[alchahest]

Medium armor and 14 DEX is AC 17; Heavy Armor and 15 STR is AC 18... sometimes for a very MAD build the loss of 1 AC is worth the slightly easier stat requirements

That does make sense, though I feel like it's just a matter of preference - going str/cha with con secondary and no dip lets you get to higher level things like the aura faster.

[ZZTRaider]

My backup build right now in an underdark campaign is a Conquest 4/ Hexblade 1..
...
Dex at 16, Stength at 12 and Charisma at 18.

Remember that, without house rules, you need 13 Strength to be able to multiclass in or out of Paladin. If your DM lets you ignore that requirement, fantastic, but in the general case, that does kind of push multiclass Paladins more towards Strength builds than Dexterity.

[daisychopper]

Thanks! I'm glad you're finding it useful.

To your comment about level progression, you're right, if you put off Hexblade until after level 7 or 8 you're relying on STR for damage while trying to build CHA, and that sets you back a bit. I've got two things in response to that. First, you actually want to start with 15 STR if possible, or at least make sure you have it by level 4 (e.g. start with 14 STR and 17 CHA, put a point into both), because you want to be able to wear plate. So you'll get +2 on your attacks and damage, which I think is pretty reasonable at lower levels.

Second, just keep in mind that the Conqueror's job is tanking, not damage. Paladins are probably my favorite class because they can do both simultaneously, but for this oath you should probably be prioritizing battlefield control over killing power. If you get Hexblade early, yes, you'll get that extra damage and you'll probably have some of the best output in your party at low levels. The synergy is just incredible. But your single most powerful tool, the thing that brings the whole oath together, is Aura of Conquest, and putting that off by even a single level seriously pushes back your ability to tank. The moment you get the aura you become a totally different brand of paladin, and in my opinion it's one of the best AoE control abilities in the game. You'll have something that no one else in the party can offer. By all means, it's not the end of the world if you put it off by a level. For me, though, level 7 is just when the class comes to life. That's when you really start to feel like a Conqueror.

Those are some great points. My thinking was: fear already gives attackers disadvantage, so I can put off on picking up 15 STR until my Pal-8 ASI. As you say, Aura of Conquest is where tanking really comes online because you can actively force yourself to be the only viable target through the root, but it's only one level after that to get the STR 15 ASI. I figured damage would be the best thing I could offer until I get AoC.

[daisychopper]

those going hex/pal for cha reliance, what are you doing for your AC? light armor and high dex? is there a benefit to this that heavy armor and high strength doesn't give you?

I considered going DEX and wearing medium armor, shorting my CON at 13 and making it up with Resilient: Con (point buy var. human) because it would give me a bonus to initiative and dex saving throws. Ultimately I stayed with STR because I wanted Shield Mastery.

EDIT: The other drawback is that Half-Plate is 750 GP, so it would be a while before I got my hands on any of that. That left me with the same 16 AC that Chain gets me with no DEX investment.

[alchahest]

wanting to multi out of Paladin also adds to the MADness because even if you're going Dex/Cha, you need at least 13 str. and you probably already have 14 or so con.

[Sception]

Yeah, single classed dexadins - and a paladin that uses dex for AC is still somewhat a dexadin even if you get to cha to offense - work fine, but once you multi out that Str13 requirement is just a lot of a hurdle to get over. If you're rolling stats it can work, and I kind of wish that had thought of that with my current hexadin, where I did roll the stats enough that I could have done it, but for point buy I just wouldn't.

As for the reasons you might want to try - Initiative is very nice for a character with the sort of crowd control a conquest pally has access to. On top of that, medium armor & stealth-without-disadvantage can work well for a dark knight/dark jedi sort of type that tyrants and especially tyrant/hexblades can lend themselves to.

It's far from necessary, though. One character can't do everything.

[alchahest]

you don't get cha to offense without multi-ing though. The dream of reducing MAD by taking a level of hexblade doesn't work that well, because you've got high cha, high dex, at least 13 strength, and as a paladin you probably have a decent con, too.

[Sception]

My phrasing was bad, but I was trying to say that dexadin doesn't multiclass well, and multiclassing into hexblade doesn't completely fix it, because if you're using dex for AC, even with medium armor, then you're still in a significant sense a dexadin.

The fundamental point, that I believe we agree on: hexblade is a /fantastic/ dip for a conquest paladin, but only if you're wearing heavy armor. Or if you roll above average stats in a points buy game, where throwing a 13 in strength doesn't come at the cost of lowering your AC, HP, or worst of all Cha mod.

getting back to UA options, and while we're discussing dexadins more generally, It's worth remembering the Mariner fighting style. For conquest dexadin, it's objectively better than defense style, which is otherwise probably the best printed option. You still get the AC boost, and you get a climb and swim speed to shore up what is otherwise probably a lacking athletics skill.

Along with conquest paladin, it works really nice as a pirate captain sort leveraging his intimidating presence to keep the crew in line and terrify his enemies. It works suprisingly well for that, given that 'paladin' isn't usually the first go-to for 'pirate captain'.

[Cynthaer]

getting back to UA options, and while we're discussing dexadins more generally, It's worth remembering the Mariner fighting style. For conquest dexadin, it's objectively better than defense style, which is otherwise probably the best printed option. You still get the AC boost, and you get a climb and swim speed to shore up what is otherwise probably a lacking athletics skill.

Along with conquest paladin, it works really nice as a pirate captain sort leveraging his intimidating presence to keep the crew in line and terrify his enemies. It works suprisingly well for that, given that 'paladin' isn't usually the first go-to for 'pirate captain'.

To be fair, that's part of the point of the Mariner fighting style—it lets you translate Fighter/Paladin builds that would otherwise use Heavy Armor into a setting where that would be weird because you're constantly at sea.

Honestly, I think that character sounds brilliant. No other class comes close to (mechanically) capturing the idea of the pirate captain who brings everyone to gibbering terror merely by stepping onto the deck of a seized vessel.

[alchahest]

For those familiar with the Iron Kingdoms, Skarre, the pirate queen of the Satyxis WONDERFULLY fits as a tiefling Paladin of Conquest with the mariner fighting style.

[Sception]

I noticed a lot of the sample multiclass builds stop at paladin 8. While that makes sense for ASI's and abilities, I think it's underselling the importance of access to third level spells for fear. Without fear, your options for aoe frighten become very limited, just one per short rest by default.

Vuman and 1/2 Elf Conquest Paladins in particular really want those couple of daily castings of fear to fall back on when Conquering Presence is on cool down. Fallen Aasimar or Dragon Born with the Dragon Fear feat might make do without, but even they would rather have the spell than not have it. If the only thing you'd have to sacrifice out of your secondary class or classes is one more ASI, then I think taking one more level of conquest paladin is the way to go. Especially if your multiclass choice already shores up ASI problems with either extra ASIs like fighter, or by reducing your MADness issues like hexblade.

For instance, I think your 'Knight Tyrant' build would be better off with 9 levels of paladin and 11 levels of cavalier, and your 'Hell Guard' build would be better off with 9 levels of paladin and 3 levels of hexblade, leaving the 8 levels of battle master unchanged.

EDIT: or else 9 levels of paladin, 4 levels of hexblade, and 7 levels of battle master. Particularly if you're taking them in more or less that order.

[alchahest]

One intensely frustrating thing is that the new spell cause fear is not on the list of spells for conquest paladin.

HOWEVER. Magic Initiate (Warlord) lets you use it, and get a couple of cantrips (like Booming Blade and Toll the Dead, for example) and key off your charisma for it.

[Sception]

For those familiar with the Iron Kingdoms, Skarre, the pirate queen of the Satyxis WONDERFULLY fits as a tiefling Paladin of Conquest with the mariner fighting style.

A hexblade dip is a particularly good fit here, thematically as well as mechanically.

One intensely frustrating thing is that the new spell cause fear is not on the list of spells for conquest paladin.

HOWEVER. Magic Initiate (Warlord) lets you use it, and get a couple of cantrips (like Booming Blade and Toll the Dead, for example) and key off your charisma for it.

While a decent enough spell, cause fear isn't a very good substitute for fear proper, as it targets only one enemy per slot level. Still something to consider picking up, but I'm not sure it's worth burning a feat on, particularly as I don't think the spell from magic initiate can be cast with normal spell slots, only the feat's own 1/long rest ability. The UA skill feat 'Menacing' would probably go a lot further, if you're looking for feat-based ways to inflict frighten.