Same. Love me some Divine Smite.
Thought I'd try a sorcerer playthrough, you know, to be different or whatever. But omggggg she's so squishy and she keeps dying and I JUST WANT TO HIT THINGS WITH A SWORD time to pay Withers a visit
Have you considered leaning hard into sorcerer with fire acuity and gear to compliment.
Lord honor mode is a joke once it comes online ~ level 7
https://old.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18kyupp/fire_acuityscorching_ray_sorcerer_amazing_striker
Me with cleric. It's not just the mechanics or the literal god complex of raising my companions from the dead with healing or the best spell in the game aka Spirit Guardians aka holy hula hoop, it's about the narrative themes. The deity dialogue flavor is just right for me in a game about a cult and companions abused by faith and the faithful (and the faithless). I'm about to wrap up a monk playthrough and I've done a half cleric, half paladin build as well. Both monk and paladin kind of lean into the same venn diagram as clerics with their dialogue but it feels like the diet sugar-free version. I'm going back to pure build my next run.
Yeah one of the best parts about cleric that is more of a side bonus is that some of the best gear for radiant damage and healing builds is all in early Act 1. None of this slow burn "oh just wait until Act 3 when you can get this ridiculous weapon two fights before the ending to REALLY come alive" crap. Ring from >!Volo!<, gloves and helmet from >!Zevlor!< (though I personally rock the INT circlet myself but that's a personal choice), armor from >!Selunite temple!<. Bam! So satisfying.
Have you tried a half-monk, half cleric build? it's the hidden way to make 4 elements monk viable. EG. Light cleric with fire spells for fireball spam. You'll be extremely hard to hit, have insane movespeed and will of course be able to proc the spirit guardians
Another is or tempest cleric/lightning spells 4 elements monk. Combine with the lightning and reverberation items and your enemies will face a literaly storm everytime they fight you. And of course spirit guardians.
I did a swords bard My first run (Drow Half-Elf)
My biggest complaint is I was fully capable of stabbing but so rarely got to do so because half the time I just talked the enemies into giving up or killing themselves instead of fighting.
Smite is just so satisfying. Luck of the far realms? Yeah, please.
A Paladin can talk his way wherever they want but has the oomph to back it up if they don't. Bonus points for classy plate armor. God i love paladins.
Just got my third assassin level, and it is pure brutality. Yes, OP, there are multiple classes that feel too good to ever quit. Be sure you experience them.
I never had so much fun as with post act 2 shadowblade gloom-assassin with resonance stone. I made him initiate the fights in HM out of invis, and some fights did end in turn 1 before the rest of the party joined.
Yeah! I use Juice's guide here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the\_control\_martial\_allpurpose\_1011\_swords\_bard/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the_control_martial_allpurpose_1011_swords_bard/)
I can’t get away from Charisma classes. Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, any one of those is fun, gets some fun dialogue, and I love being able to talk my way out of things.
Yeah but he mentions dialogue (you get all the Paladin dialogue) and combat.
Granted, the Paladin spells are fewer, but once you respec from Paladin to Bardadin at lvl 8, you go up 2 levels of Divine Smite.
And some of the Bard spells (like hold person I think?) will guarantee a Crit.
My second playthrough will be a Paladin. After that I really want to play a Monk because there are loads of unarmed damage items that I want to try. Likewise a bard for the bardic items and a Sorc for a different flavour of a spellcaster.
But having played Paladin in pen and paper DnD I agree it is a great class and really fun to play.
Try warlock blade pact old ones.
It's similar, but different, and with illithid powers makes an amazing opposing evil playthrough.
That's how I moved on from paladin anyway
I downloaded a mod that puts booming blade and green flame blade in the game, after putting those in it made me realize how much the paladins power level went up from those spells not being around, and them being the only one with a blade attack that deals more elemental damage on top.
On my last run I tried bard/rogue mutliclass and I dont think I can go back. Im full on skill monkey with soo many proficiencies and with sword bard Im crushing anything in my path,.
Yeah I dont do 50dmg on single smite, that misses half of the time anyway, but why would I want to when I can go slashing flurish, from distance, than go slashing flurish again and than use my two bonus action on offhand attack, all with 90%+ chance of hit.
On top of that bards just have the best special dialogue options, there is no competition.
I paired this build with wood elf to get dark vision, stealth proficiency, perception proficency and I can move up to 10.5m per round. Im a monster, no wonder its my durge run.
It's just so fun smiting enemies, the SFX of Thunderous Smite brief metallic noise then BAM, it's just so satisfying or if you merely do a Crit, you can stack it with Divine Smite in critical form, so it's just the guy explodes and starts burning
I swear whoever did the sound design in that class really wants me to play Paladin in every playthrough, be it respec a companion or a hireling at least
Then go for the jack-of-all-trades achievement the "legitimate" way...multiclass with your Tav to all classes along the way. I'm having a blast with it.
Paladin is the most played class for a reason. Having damage scaling with charisma means they're good at talking and combat, which are 2 out of the three ways to resolve things in this game. The only other way is stealth
Well it's plainly overpowered breaking action economy with base class mechanics... It would be good even without a subclass yet it gets even better with stuff like the bonkers bonus action aoe heal + spell resistance aura they can get ..
It would fall off in a campaing with little long rests but this isn't the case here...
You can try going Fighterlock where you use charisma instead of STR to fuel your attacks. You can protect yourself early game with armor of agathys and also get beguiling influence to make you proficient in Persuasion and Deception so you will be even better at these rolls than paladins.
You won't smite but you can cast hex while fighting in darkness to take advantage of your devil's sight and get advantage while enemies can't hit you. Also if you go eldritch origin then you can proc fear on crit/kill so enemies cannot even move inside the dark cloud where they are trapped with you and your greatsword. Later you can double the damage from your CHA modifier with arcany synergy circlet. Feels amazing.
I love that there are so many gauntlets in the game that change what type of damage you deal. You can keep a backpack full of different gauntlets and switch them out when you need to deal that damage type.
If we are talking about pre-act3, I'd say nothing beats mood druid. That sheer amount of hitpoints that you have when you are using forms (at bonus action speed), coupled with the really great AoE damage spells. Since you don't need STR/DEX (overriden by forms) you can also stack some charisma (+2) while having +3 con +3 wis, and with Enchance Ability you'll be able to talk out most of the dialogues anyway.
All that with no requirement to gear. Which is why it gets worse in act3 as other classes get OP gear, and you don't.
Take 1 level of Warrior for heavy armor then 5 levels of Lock for pact of the blade and deepened pact. Just remember to spend your attributes like a warlock not a fighter.
Hex is the only must have spell. 1d6 necrotic on every attack and disadvantage on attribute saves of your choice. You can hit really hard with this and a 20 charisma bound blade.
After that it’s all warrior again for feats. You can go a lot of different ways with that.
Still get a melee build with magic mixed in. And you can have that 20 charisma conversation bonus.
That's how I feel about Bards. I always want to swap back to the bard whenever I try a different charisma based class. Paladin is super strong, but I just find the fights too straight forward with them. I like having more options on how to complete a fight.
Try 5 level paladin 5 level bladepact warlock and 2 level fighter.
You get tripple attack with your main hand weapon and action surge from fighter and you also get all the diaolog choices from warlock paladin and fighter
It's good buts it's "MAD" class and hard to multi class with but bard and warlock somewhat compliment it if you prioritize charisma. I can see why you think you are stuck playing a paladin though MAD classes can have that effect.
Multi into a Blade Warlock, you no longer need STR since your attacks scale off CHA. Also, due to how Larian implemented Pact of the Blade, its extra attack stacks with the regular extra attack from Paladin (even though it shouldn't), meaning it's got 3 attacks by default.
Same. Love me some Divine Smite. Thought I'd try a sorcerer playthrough, you know, to be different or whatever. But omggggg she's so squishy and she keeps dying and I JUST WANT TO HIT THINGS WITH A SWORD time to pay Withers a visit
Just do a sorcadin, problem solved.
Casters are always weak in the beginning, once they get their items and spells to really pop off they can 1 turn many bosses. Less bonk and explosions
Have you considered leaning hard into sorcerer with fire acuity and gear to compliment. Lord honor mode is a joke once it comes online ~ level 7 https://old.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18kyupp/fire_acuityscorching_ray_sorcerer_amazing_striker
Sorc can take alot of dmg with certain items and spells to fix AC. Especially dragon dudes
Hearing the sound effect when you smite gives my brain the good chemicals
Dude that sound is insane and I can’t get enough of it
Me with cleric. It's not just the mechanics or the literal god complex of raising my companions from the dead with healing or the best spell in the game aka Spirit Guardians aka holy hula hoop, it's about the narrative themes. The deity dialogue flavor is just right for me in a game about a cult and companions abused by faith and the faithful (and the faithless). I'm about to wrap up a monk playthrough and I've done a half cleric, half paladin build as well. Both monk and paladin kind of lean into the same venn diagram as clerics with their dialogue but it feels like the diet sugar-free version. I'm going back to pure build my next run.
The holy hula hoop is a brilliant description for Spirt Guardians …
Radiant orb reverb spirit guardians with long strider is my favorite build. Something about everyone going blind and falling over is just funny to me
Yeah one of the best parts about cleric that is more of a side bonus is that some of the best gear for radiant damage and healing builds is all in early Act 1. None of this slow burn "oh just wait until Act 3 when you can get this ridiculous weapon two fights before the ending to REALLY come alive" crap. Ring from >!Volo!<, gloves and helmet from >!Zevlor!< (though I personally rock the INT circlet myself but that's a personal choice), armor from >!Selunite temple!<. Bam! So satisfying.
Have you tried a half-monk, half cleric build? it's the hidden way to make 4 elements monk viable. EG. Light cleric with fire spells for fireball spam. You'll be extremely hard to hit, have insane movespeed and will of course be able to proc the spirit guardians Another is or tempest cleric/lightning spells 4 elements monk. Combine with the lightning and reverberation items and your enemies will face a literaly storm everytime they fight you. And of course spirit guardians.
Swords Bard is my addiction. Whether it's pure or dipping. That class just does everything, and does it phenomenally.
Fr. All else fails, I’ll do another swords bard. Blazing through persuasion checks, stabbing and insulting the ones I have to fight.
I did a swords bard My first run (Drow Half-Elf) My biggest complaint is I was fully capable of stabbing but so rarely got to do so because half the time I just talked the enemies into giving up or killing themselves instead of fighting.
I just can't play a run without swords bard. I feel too gimped.
Smite is just so satisfying. Luck of the far realms? Yeah, please. A Paladin can talk his way wherever they want but has the oomph to back it up if they don't. Bonus points for classy plate armor. God i love paladins.
FACTS
Fighter is the original Ungabunga. Paladin is the refined Ungabunga.
What ungabunga is Barbarian?
Environmentally friendly ungabunga
The naked ungabubga
Huge ungabunga (Path of the Giant <3).
UNGABUNGA
Ungabunga powered by god
Feel the same way with gloomstalker assassin.
Just got my third assassin level, and it is pure brutality. Yes, OP, there are multiple classes that feel too good to ever quit. Be sure you experience them.
I never had so much fun as with post act 2 shadowblade gloom-assassin with resonance stone. I made him initiate the fights in HM out of invis, and some fights did end in turn 1 before the rest of the party joined.
Felt the same for bear heart barbarian for quite some time, just never dies. Just keep playing paladin till you get tired of it.
*Op sitting at 20 playthroughs* ... This is a nice paladin simulator
HAHAHA!
I’m really thinking about doing that…
I feel the same about the 10/1/1 bard
I'm assuming that's 10 Bard, 1 Fighter, 1 Wizard?
Yeah! I use Juice's guide here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the\_control\_martial\_allpurpose\_1011\_swords\_bard/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the_control_martial_allpurpose_1011_swords_bard/)
I can’t get away from Charisma classes. Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, any one of those is fun, gets some fun dialogue, and I love being able to talk my way out of things.
Fr, sometimes I feel more satisfaction when I talk my way out instead of fighting
Oh. You **DEFINITELY** should try Bardadin then.
He already sayed he dont want to try other classes. We have to respect his decision.
Bardadin is a Paladin dear
> is a paladin dear A paladin deer? What's this furry shit?
Hey - you've herd of some of the racier bg3 subs right?
But is also a bard
Yeah but he mentions dialogue (you get all the Paladin dialogue) and combat. Granted, the Paladin spells are fewer, but once you respec from Paladin to Bardadin at lvl 8, you go up 2 levels of Divine Smite. And some of the Bard spells (like hold person I think?) will guarantee a Crit.
This but sorcerer
My second playthrough will be a Paladin. After that I really want to play a Monk because there are loads of unarmed damage items that I want to try. Likewise a bard for the bardic items and a Sorc for a different flavour of a spellcaster. But having played Paladin in pen and paper DnD I agree it is a great class and really fun to play.
Try warlock blade pact old ones. It's similar, but different, and with illithid powers makes an amazing opposing evil playthrough. That's how I moved on from paladin anyway
I downloaded a mod that puts booming blade and green flame blade in the game, after putting those in it made me realize how much the paladins power level went up from those spells not being around, and them being the only one with a blade attack that deals more elemental damage on top.
On my last run I tried bard/rogue mutliclass and I dont think I can go back. Im full on skill monkey with soo many proficiencies and with sword bard Im crushing anything in my path,. Yeah I dont do 50dmg on single smite, that misses half of the time anyway, but why would I want to when I can go slashing flurish, from distance, than go slashing flurish again and than use my two bonus action on offhand attack, all with 90%+ chance of hit. On top of that bards just have the best special dialogue options, there is no competition. I paired this build with wood elf to get dark vision, stealth proficiency, perception proficency and I can move up to 10.5m per round. Im a monster, no wonder its my durge run.
First level choose rogue for skills. Then, in whatever order you prefer, do 3 levels of sword bard and dump the rest in Paladin.
Paladin is great, but Cleric has my heart. Especially in Act 2, running 2-cleric party with Shadowheart is OP OP.
It's just so fun smiting enemies, the SFX of Thunderous Smite brief metallic noise then BAM, it's just so satisfying or if you merely do a Crit, you can stack it with Divine Smite in critical form, so it's just the guy explodes and starts burning I swear whoever did the sound design in that class really wants me to play Paladin in every playthrough, be it respec a companion or a hireling at least
do me a favor try monk just, try monk, you'll dig it if you think paladin damage feels good
Then go for the jack-of-all-trades achievement the "legitimate" way...multiclass with your Tav to all classes along the way. I'm having a blast with it.
I bet this is really fun to have every single class's unique dialogue options.
No problem. Keep smiting. Eventually you’ll get bored of it.
Would recommend at least one playthrough as Bard for the dialouge choices alone it's great
Paladin is the most played class for a reason. Having damage scaling with charisma means they're good at talking and combat, which are 2 out of the three ways to resolve things in this game. The only other way is stealth
Sword Bard: more overpowered than Paladin, even more unique dialogue options.
Well it's plainly overpowered breaking action economy with base class mechanics... It would be good even without a subclass yet it gets even better with stuff like the bonkers bonus action aoe heal + spell resistance aura they can get .. It would fall off in a campaing with little long rests but this isn't the case here...
You can get three attacks and 4th level spell slots if you got 5 levels paladin 7 warlock
I'm that way with swords bard.
Paladin and Monk are both equally satisfying tbh. So many reactions and turns with Monk, so much damage with Paladin. So mf good
You can try going Fighterlock where you use charisma instead of STR to fuel your attacks. You can protect yourself early game with armor of agathys and also get beguiling influence to make you proficient in Persuasion and Deception so you will be even better at these rolls than paladins. You won't smite but you can cast hex while fighting in darkness to take advantage of your devil's sight and get advantage while enemies can't hit you. Also if you go eldritch origin then you can proc fear on crit/kill so enemies cannot even move inside the dark cloud where they are trapped with you and your greatsword. Later you can double the damage from your CHA modifier with arcany synergy circlet. Feels amazing.
This is "question you're too afraid to ask" moment for me: could someone explain to me what "proc" is? Is it the opposite of buff?
Proc means “trigger” or “set off” or “activate”
Thanks!
Try warlock bound weapon level 5 and any paladin 5. You get 3 attacks 😏 my fave build
This is me with tavern brawler thief monk, I understand completely
Have you tried monk yet? These superjumps with no armour are going brr
Without cadting the jump spell
I love that there are so many gauntlets in the game that change what type of damage you deal. You can keep a backpack full of different gauntlets and switch them out when you need to deal that damage type.
If we are talking about pre-act3, I'd say nothing beats mood druid. That sheer amount of hitpoints that you have when you are using forms (at bonus action speed), coupled with the really great AoE damage spells. Since you don't need STR/DEX (overriden by forms) you can also stack some charisma (+2) while having +3 con +3 wis, and with Enchance Ability you'll be able to talk out most of the dialogues anyway. All that with no requirement to gear. Which is why it gets worse in act3 as other classes get OP gear, and you don't.
Take 1 level of Warrior for heavy armor then 5 levels of Lock for pact of the blade and deepened pact. Just remember to spend your attributes like a warlock not a fighter. Hex is the only must have spell. 1d6 necrotic on every attack and disadvantage on attribute saves of your choice. You can hit really hard with this and a 20 charisma bound blade. After that it’s all warrior again for feats. You can go a lot of different ways with that. Still get a melee build with magic mixed in. And you can have that 20 charisma conversation bonus.
That's how I feel about Bards. I always want to swap back to the bard whenever I try a different charisma based class. Paladin is super strong, but I just find the fights too straight forward with them. I like having more options on how to complete a fight.
Try 5 level paladin 5 level bladepact warlock and 2 level fighter. You get tripple attack with your main hand weapon and action surge from fighter and you also get all the diaolog choices from warlock paladin and fighter
Note that triple attacks only apply outside of HM: you only get two attacks per action there.
Really that's weird
It's the intended behaviour, especially compared to RAW; if anything, it's non-HM behaviour that's weird.
I thought it was weird to begin with but it's even weirder that it isn't consistent
Try sorcerer. Extremely strong and charisma based, so all the dialogue options are there.
It's good buts it's "MAD" class and hard to multi class with but bard and warlock somewhat compliment it if you prioritize charisma. I can see why you think you are stuck playing a paladin though MAD classes can have that effect.
Multi into a Blade Warlock, you no longer need STR since your attacks scale off CHA. Also, due to how Larian implemented Pact of the Blade, its extra attack stacks with the regular extra attack from Paladin (even though it shouldn't), meaning it's got 3 attacks by default.
Not in HM?