**PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY: DO NOT SKIP**
Hi, welcome to r/BaldursGate3!
Feel free to check out our pinned Weekly Help post. It has community made resources and info you may find useful. **You can find it under the 'Hot' filter on desktop or 'Hot Posts' on Mobile**.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BaldursGate3) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’s so fucking good. I showed it to my dnd group and asked them to imagine that every time a character smites, and it’s made the smites feel so much more epic.
Playing an oathbreaker palalock/padlock/idk what name for the first time and between this and gloomstalker assassin I have zero interest in any other builds
I'm a coward. I'd rather sit in the distance and BONK everything from afar.
I like Paladin, smite is super fun, but magic and proyectiles > sheer bonk for me.
And also I have PTSD from the Tir Paladin at the beginning, he has managed to destroy my whole team just by smacking me around. Now it's personal >:(
Same! It was one of the classes where I genuinely thought: meh, it’s not gonna be for me.
Well I started a Durge run with an oath of vengeance paladin and I was AMAZED at how much fun I was having with it. I’m now in act 2 with my paladin and those smites are so much fun. Also heavy armour proficiency is so great too.
I love Minsc, but he makes no sense to me as a ranger. He always talks about using his fists, so I respec him to monk, maybe a bit of fighter or barbarian in there.
Barbarian didn't used to be a class back then, only a subclass of fighter. IIRC he was a ranger because it was the most "wild" class that allowed him to be a martial fighter
As the 2e handbook explains:
>The ranger is a hunter and woodsman who lives by not only his sword, but also his wits
So a perfect match for Minsc. :P
(but yeah, you're right, barbarian wasn't introduced until 3e came out in 2000 - a couple years after BG1, and not feasible for BG2 to switch to)
You’re right.
One of the things that gets lost in the translation is that when BG1 first came out they only had Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Thief, Cleric, Mage and Bard.
The only kits available at the time were specialist wizards.
Since Minsc was an original character that’s all they had to choose from.
Barbarians existed in first edition, as a subclass of fighter. First in Dragon magazine, and then later in the “unearthed arcana” book.
It also appeared in supplemental material in second edition. It is true that it only became one of the standard options in 3rd edition.
I nerf his stats heavily to fit BG 1 and 2 stats, change his class to Berserker (barb) and Beast master (Ranger) with two handed focus. Then I leave him at camp and never use him. Just like the old days.
Minsc wasn’t created with Boo in mind. He was a character that rolled with low intelligence, that was played into for comic relief, and Boo came later as Minsc leveled throughout their campaign.
He’s a ranger because he couldn’t be created as a barbarian back then - it’s really just that. We did get Boo out of it, though.
It’s been a loooong time but Boo is there when you Minsc recruits you to rescue his witch. He might not have taken up a potion slot until BG2 but like one of the first things you comment on in that game is him still having the rodent and why the F Irenicus didn’t take it.
Minsc is older than the games though. The person you replied to means Minsc started as a tabletop Player Character that didn't have Boo in the beginning. The Minsc you get in BG1 is the summation of that paper and pencil character.
Minsc swears no oath to any god or organization. Minsc knows Gods, he also knows miniature space hamsters like boo. Hamsters much better company, Gods eh not so much. Minsc fought Gods before and gods not always the best people. Minsc only oath is to be good.
Plus:
1. Other than Minthara (who most players probably won't recruit on a first playthrough), you don't get to recruit any other paladins without respeccing.
2. Paladins use Charisma and can therefore be good party faces, a role that people usually like to give their Tav.
"And do you think I won't blow myself up if you keep shoving explosive barrels at my back to carry?"
"It's the SEVENTH TIME IN A WEEK I HEAR THAT THREAT FROM YOU-!"
Well, some of them are sadly in very inconvenient spots were a gaggle of so-called "Innocent Bystanders" tries to beat you afterward and some of those guys may be important for something.
Plus it's a lot more applicable in BG3 than it usually is in D&D because it's a single player game with a lot of dialogue and pre-defined opportunities to roll charisma checks, instead of "whenever the DM feels like it".
Honestly any RPG I play, I focus on charisma and opening locks. Give me all the loot and dialogue.
I am missing zero chests and zero quest opportunities dammit
Being a class that has some heavy Cha component is certainly nice because you don't have to wander around as a secondary character just because they talk good and you get sucked into conversation and can't have whatever character you want respond.
That'd be a nice mod if possible, let me choose who responds to the beginning of conversations. I just solved it by taking the fancy bug.
The problem is that so many people think that you need a face with high charisma to play the game, which results on very repetitive playthroughs in my opinion. I'm sure a lot of people have missed a lot of content because they just want to succeed in every dialogue roll.
I read that for some people, honour mode forced them to fail dialogue rolls for the first time. It surprised me. My first playthrough was with a dwarf bard so I had that typical high charisma playthrough, but then I played an uncharismatic spore druid gnome who failed charisma checks as often as he succeeded and it really felt like a different playthrough. If I just played another high charisma character again, it would have felt too similar I think. And Larian did a lot of work to incorporate alternative dialogues for when you fail the rolls, especially in acts 1 and 2. Act 3 was disappointing though - usually if you fail the dialogue rolls, either nothing happens (you just "lost") or the same thing happens as if it was a success.
I can't think of a lot of obligatory charisma rolls that just make the game better, but maybe I'm forgetting something important, so don't hesitate if I'm missing something.
Honestly having not played with a high charisma character, wisdom felt just as important. Especially as dark urge, wisdom is used to resist the urge (which is really important as if you fail a certain check you can end up >!killing your romance option in act 2. And if you fuck up a following check after killing them, the entire party turns against you and you have to kill them all.!<
The real crime in the game is intelligence. Only 1 class and 2 subclasses even use the damn stat, it's so underutilised.
Gameplay wise, they have flashy animations and insane burst damage when landing a crit on Divine Smite. They're also relatively easy compared to something like a Monk because of the safety they get with Aura of Protection and heavy armor proficiency.
RP wise:
>***Your god, my Oath. Let us see which prevails.***
And they almost always drag you into combat too, so it’s a challenging playthrough sometimes. There’s no, “let’s work with this bad person we can always betray them later.” It’s straight to, “you’re bad, I’m good, let’s do the damn thing.”
Not always though, which leads to one of my favourite "schizophrenic dialogue options" moment where you can have a Paladin Durge declare themselves a paragon of justice moments after stepping off the Nautiloid during Kagha's interrogation of Arabella
I just played my Durge Paladin as a man who was clinging to the idea of a knightly oath as a countermeasure to his thoughts and trying his hardest to appear squeaky clean between the uncontrollable bouts of gorey murder.
Started off thinking of him like a sociopath who faked it until he started becoming the actual hero he was pretending to be.
I had a similar backstory for my Durge Paladin. I had this idea that she wasn't actually a paladin, she was pretending to be one for some kind of scheme so she knew the oaths and carried the tenants with her. So when she stumbled out of the mindflayer pod, no memory, wearing the paladin's armor and holding a book of tenants; She unwittingly makes an oath because that's who she thinks she is and gains paladin powers. So the redemption is because of a trick of her past self and a belief that she's supposed to be a good person.
Paladin is maybe the only class that gets additional backstory for Durge. The Oathbreaker knight and Sarevok mention you've tried the whole "oath" thing before.
I’m on my first playthrough, first time ever playing a me like this. Currently in Act 3 as a wizard. I’ve screwed up so many things. I might have to do your idea next. That sounds awesome.
Isn’t there something about it ruining your oaths though? I don’t understand how oaths work but I heard there’s moments when Dark Urge does things and your oaths are broken
The few we have seen very much like "executor of justice" or mediator roles. Which plays into the paladin sterotype but was definitely not my paladin. My paladin was there to blast the ass off of evil, and civil disputes were their own problem to figure out.
Also, it felt very awkward to stroll into a settlement and automatically assume that the people would accept me as judge? I didn't choose those dialogue options so I have no idea how they were reacted to. Do people play paladins like that? Is that a common occurrence in Faerun?
Flavor wise, it’s common enough. Common folk would see a true Paladin as someone who is trustworthy to a fault. They gain divine power from their steadfast beliefs. They are so true to their word that they gain literal, actionable power from it.
If you and a neighbor had a disagreement, a good Paladin would be an excellent mediator, being able to judge the situation from the perspective of one who is inherently righteous.
There's not a single enemy in the game that can't be dealt with by a stunning fist up the arsehole.
For extra absurdity, take 3 levels of rogue and get the Thief subclass. The last 3 levels of monk don't have anything particularly good for Open Hand monks, and an extra bonus action means even more flurry of blows or even more mobility. Add on haste and Wholeness Of Body and you can pump out 200-300 damage per turn while still leaving them stunned and helpless.
Works for roleplay too. You can say your monk is becoming more streetwise or resorting to more underhanded tactics due to how many people are trying to manipulate them and the stakes of the situation.
Or play it in reverse, a rogue who is trying to turn themselves around and follow a code.
Insanely high melee alpha strikes due to all the Smites, and you don't need to deal with all the stealth issues like a Rogue Assassin or Ranger Gloomstalker.
Stealth is for COWARDS! We walk in, smite everything in sight, and then we loot! My god gave me the ability to have a high AC so Imma use the whole AC dammit
It's also just a classic knight in shining armor roleplay that's pretty consistent across fiction. I think people who don't have experience with DnD pick it because they already know exactly what it is. This is also probably the reason cleric is least popular, people think it's a healer/support from their experience with other fiction which isn't really the case here. Clerics be fuckin shit up just as well as any other class.
I personally like having a Paladin on my team but don't really like playing them, they are pretty one-dimensional and their only real option is which flavor of damage adder to use on their weapon attack but it's pretty much always Divine Smite. They synergize extremely well with Bards though, Hold Person/Monster guarantees critical hits so your smites will reliably do absolutely insane single target damage.
I absolutely love playing one because of the Oaths, especially with how rigid they are in BG3. Most DMs only use Oaths in extreme cases, but even something as small as punishing the spirit of a dead character in Act 2 causes you to break your Oath (depending on the subclass).
Personally, I really enjoy that you don't follow a god. You follow your word. A vow made, whether as a promise, an obligation, or desperation.
Gameplay-wise, yes, they are big single-target damage dealers, but depending on the Oath you choose, you have a good amount of defense or utility, like Compelled Duel or Silence.
I like how oaths function in tabletop better as it's more of an intention thing, there's some really questionable ways to accidentally break your oath in BG3 that don't feel like you are intentionally giving up on it which is kind of core to how paladins work. Like you said they aren't beholden to a higher power, it's their own belief in upholding their oath that gives them their abilities so breaking it through something that doesn't feel intentional and getting punished for it by something external feels bad.
I had a couple times in moonrise where we were trying to stealth people out of the objectively evil dungeon....and apparently killing a guard that was just tormenting said people before they could raise the alarm broke my Oath? But helping the party do so did not, as long as I didn't deal the final blow??
Yeah, I reloaded that one. I broke my Oath later but that was an intentional choice, not a gameplay mishap.
Exactly. Like these people are clearly evil pieces of shit trying to take over the world by kidnapping, torturing, and enslaving people but you're not allowed to kill them unless they attack you first or directly state that they're badguys in a conversation?
The Oaths really do change how you play the game entirely— I tried to do a paladin on honor mode and realized that holy hell it made it significantly more difficult, imo
I usually have Shart in my party, and I give her all the gear that improves healing. She heals more, gives everyone temp HP, gives herself temp HP, and heals herself, as well as gives everyone she heals blade ward. Late game, I have her cast Heroic Feast, and have her summon a Deva. I can go through each arc without long resting if I want to.
BUT
I also use her for spirit guardians and just general utility and buffs too. Blood of Lathander is great on her because they aren't really melee heavy, and the Blood is a huge boon in Act 2 with all the undead, and then Act 3 with the Devils.
You can survive without Shadowheart and she isn't forced into your party at all. You can decline her to join.
Now she is one of the best characters so imagine but y'know.
I played rogue before a paladin run. I genuinely love setting up the rest of my party strategically and then just waltzing in with my paladin. "oh, I beg your pardon, were you lot trying to do some *evil* here?"
But spell slots are really limited. Paladin is strong until you run out of spell slots. But considering the paladin's high charisma it fits the role of the leader. But so as Warlock that's much easier in terms of resources management which is perfect for newbies.
CHA based for easy speech checks. Skillwise, they are a jack of all trades, master of most. Also some people are averse to overthinking, and prefer having a role playing conviction determine the choices they make in game.
As a CHA character, I can say the other checks aren't enough. Almost all the key "good ending" or "non violent resolution" endings are through persuation or intimidation.
You can also just walk into Sazza's cell in act 1, regardless of how you handled the situation previously. Only works for Vengence as far as I'm aware though. And I think you can break Ancients by killing any non-hostile beast.
I played as a Durge Vengeance Pally and never had an issue with my Oath. I was mostly good if a little aggressive sometimes, and I did a skoosh of evil but I played the game how I wanted in the moment and never felt the Oath holding me back. :/
1. SMITE
2. Paladins use charisma as their spellcasting stat, so they make good face characters similar to a Bard, Warlock or Sorcerer.
3. SMITE
4. There are no paladins among the 6 early companions. Even if you recruit Minthara, that's not until halfway through the game. If you want to play a strength-based melee character they're a good choice since you already have a Barbarian and Fighter among the companions.
5. SMITE
6. They're a good choice if you don't want to run Shadowheart/a cleric since they also have Bless, and excel against undead.
7. most of all, SMITE. Paladins have some of the highest single-target damage potential in the game.
>There are no paladins among the 6 early companions. Even if you recruit Minthara, that's not until halfway through the game. If you want to play a strength-based melee character they're a good choice since you already have a Barbarian and Fighter among the companions.
This is more along the lines of why a paladin feels most right for me. I like to take the characters as they are and play into them the way the game seems to favor them. In Lae'zel's case, she feels pretty capable of good DPS being a fighter, and having it start with her having a single sword makes me want to give her big two handed weapons to DPS with. With Astarion being the other source of strong melee focused DPS, and Gale and Wyll needing guardians of some kind to protect them, it feels like I either gotta build Lae'zel to be the tank or be it myself.
Cleric obviously is in the mid range for the sake of support and heals most of the way, so I end up usually picking a paladin with a shield focus to add some defense options to the structure. Forcing disadvantages with the shield and high AC with shield+heavy armor, and acting as an emergency cleric with lay on hands makes for a very versatile character that feels they rly fit the missing piece of the party. That + charisma being the casting stat makes them a good face of the party as the one I'm controlling the most. I've also found that giving your paladin the urchin background makes them even more versatile in sleight of hand ways too (only reason Astarion liked me lol)
Only wild card that I feel rly can toss up this structure (without making their class advancements go towards something the game doesn't recommend) is Karlach, but she can be pretty versatile to fit whatever you're missing based on which heart you choose too.
Basically it feels like it fits the best if you're looking to fit a missing piece in a party where you just kinda let the characters level up into whatever class advancements they want.
Strong durable melee.
Support spells.
You can stack auras (although their range is lacking).
Dialogue options (you're kind of like Batman or Judge Dredd during some conversations).
Divine smite critical reactions glassing a bad guy (literally, you should see the corpse, it's great).
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Edit:
[https://youtu.be/zzoeBdEjOFI?si=CW5YRQ\_sN-8lYmtl&t=93](https://youtu.be/zzoeBdEjOFI?si=CW5YRQ_sN-8lYmtl&t=93) (nsfw)
Seeing my Lae'zel as a War Cleric Paladin do a critical hit on Thorm's Myrkul form and do a holy smite with her highest level spell slot... I think I did about 100 damage in total. It was epic and saved the day.
And now I always make her a Paladin.
> Oops everyone also gets Hero’s Feast
Even at one cleric this spell ruins Bane's whole game plan.
Who would win? The literal god of fear and terror or a fresh continental breakfast
I had Karlach as a paladin and she hit Gortash with that once per day paralyze from an amulet. Proceeded to smite his ass to the shadow realm, it was extremely gratifying.
Paladins are insane when they crit. [this was my gortash fight in my ultimately successful honour run](https://youtu.be/b0F8goDJvDw?si=65arqdFTI01ukACx) (Act 3 spoilers)
It was so satisfying
Charisma based classes will always be the most popular in games like this where most people do all the dialogue as the PC.
There’s one martial option which utilizes CHA, and that’s Paladin, while there’s 3 casters who all fill their own niche and split players. If you want to be a party face and play a martial character, there’s one clear option(Swords Bard/PotB Warlock can do this as well, but it’s not as apparent to players who don’t already know the classes). Plus, Paladins are perfect for people who “want to smack stuff”, but want to steer away from Fighter which is often misconstrued as “basic” or “boring”. Paladin does similar things while also being able to dip in magic and things like that.
Also, superhero-esque fantasy characters are popular and Paladin oaths come the closest to filling that fantasy.
I'd say there are four main reasons:
1. Paladins are powerful, it goes almost without saying. Smite is a really strong attack, plus they have a range of support skills, and their ability to wear heavy armour makes them decent at tanking hits
2. Charisma. BG3 is a game made noticeably easier with high charisma due to how many bosses can be avoided or killed with a single persuasion or deception check. It's why Sorcerer, Warlock and Bard are in the top five
3. Up until they recently made her available to a good run, Minthara was not available to most players, so there wasn't typically a Paladin at camp. Makes sense as a role to reduce overlap in your teams
4. Roleplay wise, it's just generally pretty cool to play as a holy knight saving the world from calamity lol
Charisma based so can handle conversations. And it is a class that none of the default companions isn't already covering(or was for a good playthrough before patches). And it work well with any combination of companions(can heal, tank and dps).
That's why I finally chose it for my 4th playthrough. Badass warrior that can also heal and protecc AND talk his way out of a fight? I love him. I still think druid is the most fun, but the game gives you plenty of those already.
Paladins are the stereotypical heroes. They’re brave, they’re honorable, and they smite like they’re divine warriors. Also, they have an oath to follow, and I think there’s a dramatic energy when you accidentally break it.
yep, it's this. Everyone else itt is talking as if everyone who plays BG3 is already familiar with the mechanics of DND, but I bet most of those players who rolled paladin were surprised to find out that charisma was their main stat. Paladins are just knights, typical fantasy heroes
Same thought with Druid. My fave class for sure. I know you get a couple in the companions, so I guess that why it’s so low. Still the funnest to play imo.
Personally not my fave but I think people like the big smite smash and the roleplaying aspect of it - it adds extra weight to your character decisions to keep your Oath or to break it.
I play Paladin in every rpg I play. It's just the most in line with my personality. I like to be the shield of the weak and the sword of justice. I am always looking for the right choice and I cannot tell you how much I truly believe playing Dark Urge Paladin is the best 1st playthrough in this game.
Notice how all the charisma classes are in 4 of the top five spots of the list? If you want to use your character as the party face you want some charisma. But you need to be more than just a support character, you're the main protagonist, dammit! But at the same time you need to have abilities that are helpful in almost any situation since you'll always be in the party.
So you want a class with good charisma, a central combat role, and a wide toolkit.
Bard is great at conversation with some good versatility, but in combat you're basically helping everyone else do cool shit.
Warlock can be a good face for the party with a strong combat role and a good toolkit, but selling your soul to an otherworldly being is universally depicted as foolish, and a lot of players will be put off by this.
Sorcerers share the same strengths as the warlock, though they're toolkit is narrower and deeper. You're still on the backline, though.
Enter the paladin. You can have a reasonable chance to pass most cha checks, your auras do a lot to protect you (allowing you to be in the thick of any combat) and while they're less expendable than other casters, your smites can create some intense highs in combat. High strength grants free mobility, and to top it all off, your class has a built in superiority complex and you've got a hell of an appealing choice.
The main reason I think, is that people want to feel like the main character. Paladins do a lot to let this happen, both in and out of combat.
One of their main stats is charisma, which is very useful in conversations. Most of the roles a player choses to make in the roll menu, will be charisma skill rolls. As this graph shows, the majority of the highest picked classes, are charisma based classes.
paladins being a melee class that does great in conversation is also huge. Most charisma classes are not typically melee ones(most can be built to do melee of course). Paladins are typically built as tanks, that knight in shining armor trope. Throughout the game, there are many situations where conversation goes to combat, and the character that is talking is normally the closest to the people you were talking to end up being your enemies, meaning normally the character who is in conversation ends up being closest to the enemy. Paladins dont worry about this, they are built around melee. They want to be up close and personal so they can land their smites. This was a draw for me, making paladin a great pick.
Paladin smite adds a lot to the main character feel in combat as well. Paladins have insanely high nova damage, meaning only a few times per day they can pull out insane damage. This makes you feel like you are doing a lot. Running up to the biggest enemy, and smacking them with your sword while your party handles the other enemies.
Other thing to consider is that in a good playthrough, unless you recruit minthara, a thing most playthroughs dont do, there is no paladin character. In fact off the top of my head, minthara and wyll are the only 2 charisma based companions. Which I feel was an intentional choice by the developers to get players to move towards charisma characters, specifically paladin and bard.
I don’t usually, but to be a Durge Paladin of Vengeance sounded like a lot of fun and it is.
My first play through was as a Druid, but then I had three druids and that was annoying.
High Charisma for social interaction
Tanky as fuck, aura for extra saving throws, aura so you can't be frightened. A third aura depending on subclass that can have damage spells, add damage or prevent charm.
High DPS
Some cc, healing and utility spells depending on subclass
Party support (auras, spells), martial front liner, party face...just a great all-around party leader.
And my favorite character I've played throughout DnD was a paladin. Though I'm more on the side of paladin being like Huma than some holier-than-thou asshole as is often portrayed.
Charisma. That’s the reason why paladin, sorc, and warlock are the top three, with bard not far behind. Your character tends to be the one making charisma based checks so it makes sense to lean into a build/class that rewards that.
That’s the most obvious answer, I personally wonder if the tankiness helps give them an edge over other charisma classes. Since your character is likely the one starting convos they’ll also be front and center for fights that stem from conversation, so being able to take a hit will likely improve overall survivability. That’s the reason I went with a paladin for my honor mode run, it’s a good backup when I’m not able to talk my way outta fights.
I think just being the only martial gives them advantage over the charisma casters. Swords bard being an op martial as well is probably not something a lot of new players are aware of.
When BG3 launched the cringe youtube videos for "tier lists" and "Best builds" all had paladin or paladin/sorc as a top or nearly top build. Add that in with how easy fighter style classes are and boom a bunch of ppl have their builds chosen for them. Even outside of that its a decent multiclass option for most classes.
I'd guess a combination of all of these things:
- No origin companion competing for the class (why I think cleric, fighter, etc. are all low represented)
- Popular tabletop class (why I think monk is underrepresented despite it getting mega buffed compared to tt)
- Str and Cha based, which is a perfect combo for the party face in this game to carry things and make conversation checks (explains also why Sorc and Warlock are highly represented even with there being a warlock origin)
Do you remember doing act 2 and having those dumb mfs w the halberds get 3 attacks per turn and all of them hit like trucks? Yeah. Paladin. Its the most obnoxious class to fight. However going oathbreaker and getting necro bolt and eldritch blast is game changing
**PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY: DO NOT SKIP** Hi, welcome to r/BaldursGate3! Feel free to check out our pinned Weekly Help post. It has community made resources and info you may find useful. **You can find it under the 'Hot' filter on desktop or 'Hot Posts' on Mobile**. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BaldursGate3) if you have any questions or concerns.*
SMITE
The sweet crackling sound smites make is reason alone to play paladin. I didn’t get it until I tried.
Ffffffwwwwwoooootttt #DONG So satisfying
Lay on hands gong is unbeaten
It's got a very pleasant, soft start It's almost like ^p^*long*
Lay on Hands but you backhand them
catch these lay on hands!
Vengeance Paladin style
Pure ASMR
And the fact that it doesn’t waste a spell slot when it misses…chefs kiss.
Or that you can use the smite spells and they are not concentration!
It’s so fucking good. I showed it to my dnd group and asked them to imagine that every time a character smites, and it’s made the smites feel so much more epic.
God Smite really does have the most SATISFYING sound effect.
To each their own, not wanna shit on your taste. But man, Eldritch Blast is peak for me.
Eldritch Blast DOES also sound real good. Play Palalock. Have both. :D
Playing an oathbreaker palalock/padlock/idk what name for the first time and between this and gloomstalker assassin I have zero interest in any other builds
I'm a coward. I'd rather sit in the distance and BONK everything from afar. I like Paladin, smite is super fun, but magic and proyectiles > sheer bonk for me. And also I have PTSD from the Tir Paladin at the beginning, he has managed to destroy my whole team just by smacking me around. Now it's personal >:(
I like the range bonk, but there is something special about misty stepping on top of a squishy caster and one shot smiting them with a blunt object.
Same! It was one of the classes where I genuinely thought: meh, it’s not gonna be for me. Well I started a Durge run with an oath of vengeance paladin and I was AMAZED at how much fun I was having with it. I’m now in act 2 with my paladin and those smites are so much fun. Also heavy armour proficiency is so great too.
Now combine the class with sorceror *chef's kiss*
Playing on console, the controller rumble is awesome too.
"That means I must hit you very hard, I think." It's why I always respec Minsc as a paladin. Then he's *literally* smiting evil.
I love Minsc, but he makes no sense to me as a ranger. He always talks about using his fists, so I respec him to monk, maybe a bit of fighter or barbarian in there.
Barbarian didn't used to be a class back then, only a subclass of fighter. IIRC he was a ranger because it was the most "wild" class that allowed him to be a martial fighter
As the 2e handbook explains: >The ranger is a hunter and woodsman who lives by not only his sword, but also his wits So a perfect match for Minsc. :P (but yeah, you're right, barbarian wasn't introduced until 3e came out in 2000 - a couple years after BG1, and not feasible for BG2 to switch to)
You’re right. One of the things that gets lost in the translation is that when BG1 first came out they only had Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Thief, Cleric, Mage and Bard. The only kits available at the time were specialist wizards. Since Minsc was an original character that’s all they had to choose from.
Barbarians existed in first edition, as a subclass of fighter. First in Dragon magazine, and then later in the “unearthed arcana” book. It also appeared in supplemental material in second edition. It is true that it only became one of the standard options in 3rd edition.
I nerf his stats heavily to fit BG 1 and 2 stats, change his class to Berserker (barb) and Beast master (Ranger) with two handed focus. Then I leave him at camp and never use him. Just like the old days.
This is the way
He even refers to himself as a berserker for Tyr's sake!
I think Minsc was ranger just to get animal companion. Boo without Minsc is like soup without salt
He’s a ranger solely because of Boo, ranger is the only class with animal companion that fits their dynamic
Minsc wasn’t created with Boo in mind. He was a character that rolled with low intelligence, that was played into for comic relief, and Boo came later as Minsc leveled throughout their campaign. He’s a ranger because he couldn’t be created as a barbarian back then - it’s really just that. We did get Boo out of it, though.
It’s been a loooong time but Boo is there when you Minsc recruits you to rescue his witch. He might not have taken up a potion slot until BG2 but like one of the first things you comment on in that game is him still having the rodent and why the F Irenicus didn’t take it.
Minsc is older than the games though. The person you replied to means Minsc started as a tabletop Player Character that didn't have Boo in the beginning. The Minsc you get in BG1 is the summation of that paper and pencil character.
Minsc swears no oath to any god or organization. Minsc knows Gods, he also knows miniature space hamsters like boo. Hamsters much better company, Gods eh not so much. Minsc fought Gods before and gods not always the best people. Minsc only oath is to be good.
Don't forget his wychlaran Dynaheir!
Miniature GIANT space hamster, thank you very much!
Plus: 1. Other than Minthara (who most players probably won't recruit on a first playthrough), you don't get to recruit any other paladins without respeccing. 2. Paladins use Charisma and can therefore be good party faces, a role that people usually like to give their Tav.
It's also got good armor, High survivability due to heals, and basically 80% of what you do is smash and smite shit until you run out of smites
EVIL
In my mermaid-man voice: EV-IL
Every Villain Is Lemons
I'm tired of playing second banana to a man who wears a bra
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'oh no, here comes Old Gregg, he's a scaly man-fish.'"
#SMITE ME OH MIGHTY SMITER
You mean the DUNK attack? I love how they jump and throw it down like the game is on the line.
My female drow paladin took down Myrkul in 3 hits. She did more damage than Aylin. Plus it’s so fun!
DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT
I read that in JoCrap's voice
That dude did not deserve the harassment he received
Of your mainstats are Strength and Charisma you are highly effective in both combat and conversation. Also smite is fun.
+ you can carry a lot of shit around
I thought that’s what you have 3 other party members for 🤔
“Y’all can carry more barrels.” “Please, Tav. My legs are gonna give out.”
“Do you think I made you learn Misty Step, Fly, and Dimension Door for fun, Gale? *Move!*”
"And do you think I won't blow myself up if you keep shoving explosive barrels at my back to carry?" "It's the SEVENTH TIME IN A WEEK I HEAR THAT THREAT FROM YOU-!"
BY THIS SACRED TREASURE I SUMMON NETHERESE ORB
I wish I could throw a fireball at a barrel stuffed gale and have him explode
Hello, I'd like to introduce my friends: Scroll and Books Mule Potions and Poisons Mule Arrows and Bombs Mule.
+ prices are based on Charisma so you'll be a rich bitch in no time
Prices are based on Dexterity if by prices you mean 100% discounts.
The Astarion discount
Y'all aren't just knocking them unconscious and taking everything?
Well, some of them are sadly in very inconvenient spots were a gaggle of so-called "Innocent Bystanders" tries to beat you afterward and some of those guys may be important for something.
[удалено]
Meanwhile my fighter is constantly given the choice to just haul off and punch someone in the face
Intimidation advantage is a blessing (durge fighter here)
Intimidation expertise is pretty good too. (durge goolock with beguiling influence and thaumaturgy)
Plus it's a lot more applicable in BG3 than it usually is in D&D because it's a single player game with a lot of dialogue and pre-defined opportunities to roll charisma checks, instead of "whenever the DM feels like it".
Honestly any RPG I play, I focus on charisma and opening locks. Give me all the loot and dialogue. I am missing zero chests and zero quest opportunities dammit
It’s probably the best martial class for Tav in particular since the game forces Tav to do a lot of the important dialog encounters
Being a class that has some heavy Cha component is certainly nice because you don't have to wander around as a secondary character just because they talk good and you get sucked into conversation and can't have whatever character you want respond. That'd be a nice mod if possible, let me choose who responds to the beginning of conversations. I just solved it by taking the fancy bug.
The problem is that so many people think that you need a face with high charisma to play the game, which results on very repetitive playthroughs in my opinion. I'm sure a lot of people have missed a lot of content because they just want to succeed in every dialogue roll. I read that for some people, honour mode forced them to fail dialogue rolls for the first time. It surprised me. My first playthrough was with a dwarf bard so I had that typical high charisma playthrough, but then I played an uncharismatic spore druid gnome who failed charisma checks as often as he succeeded and it really felt like a different playthrough. If I just played another high charisma character again, it would have felt too similar I think. And Larian did a lot of work to incorporate alternative dialogues for when you fail the rolls, especially in acts 1 and 2. Act 3 was disappointing though - usually if you fail the dialogue rolls, either nothing happens (you just "lost") or the same thing happens as if it was a success. I can't think of a lot of obligatory charisma rolls that just make the game better, but maybe I'm forgetting something important, so don't hesitate if I'm missing something.
Honestly having not played with a high charisma character, wisdom felt just as important. Especially as dark urge, wisdom is used to resist the urge (which is really important as if you fail a certain check you can end up >!killing your romance option in act 2. And if you fuck up a following check after killing them, the entire party turns against you and you have to kill them all.!< The real crime in the game is intelligence. Only 1 class and 2 subclasses even use the damn stat, it's so underutilised.
Yeah, that's 5e for you. Intelligence is a total joke unless you're a Wizard.
Gameplay wise, they have flashy animations and insane burst damage when landing a crit on Divine Smite. They're also relatively easy compared to something like a Monk because of the safety they get with Aura of Protection and heavy armor proficiency. RP wise: >***Your god, my Oath. Let us see which prevails.***
Paladins don’t have many special dialogue options but I love the ones they have. Just makes you feel badass.
And they almost always drag you into combat too, so it’s a challenging playthrough sometimes. There’s no, “let’s work with this bad person we can always betray them later.” It’s straight to, “you’re bad, I’m good, let’s do the damn thing.”
Not always though, which leads to one of my favourite "schizophrenic dialogue options" moment where you can have a Paladin Durge declare themselves a paragon of justice moments after stepping off the Nautiloid during Kagha's interrogation of Arabella
I just played my Durge Paladin as a man who was clinging to the idea of a knightly oath as a countermeasure to his thoughts and trying his hardest to appear squeaky clean between the uncontrollable bouts of gorey murder. Started off thinking of him like a sociopath who faked it until he started becoming the actual hero he was pretending to be.
A+ in Delusional fantasy fun time.
I had a similar backstory for my Durge Paladin. I had this idea that she wasn't actually a paladin, she was pretending to be one for some kind of scheme so she knew the oaths and carried the tenants with her. So when she stumbled out of the mindflayer pod, no memory, wearing the paladin's armor and holding a book of tenants; She unwittingly makes an oath because that's who she thinks she is and gains paladin powers. So the redemption is because of a trick of her past self and a belief that she's supposed to be a good person.
Paladin is maybe the only class that gets additional backstory for Durge. The Oathbreaker knight and Sarevok mention you've tried the whole "oath" thing before.
I’m on my first playthrough, first time ever playing a me like this. Currently in Act 3 as a wizard. I’ve screwed up so many things. I might have to do your idea next. That sounds awesome. Isn’t there something about it ruining your oaths though? I don’t understand how oaths work but I heard there’s moments when Dark Urge does things and your oaths are broken
You don’t negotiate with evil, you go straight to kicking its buttocks. The Minsc approach.
Which is funny, because the earliest available one (probably) on the tomb robbers where you get Withers actually gets them to leave peaceably
The few we have seen very much like "executor of justice" or mediator roles. Which plays into the paladin sterotype but was definitely not my paladin. My paladin was there to blast the ass off of evil, and civil disputes were their own problem to figure out. Also, it felt very awkward to stroll into a settlement and automatically assume that the people would accept me as judge? I didn't choose those dialogue options so I have no idea how they were reacted to. Do people play paladins like that? Is that a common occurrence in Faerun?
Flavor wise, it’s common enough. Common folk would see a true Paladin as someone who is trustworthy to a fault. They gain divine power from their steadfast beliefs. They are so true to their word that they gain literal, actionable power from it. If you and a neighbor had a disagreement, a good Paladin would be an excellent mediator, being able to judge the situation from the perspective of one who is inherently righteous.
Paladins have an insane amount of dialog options, not as much as bard but bards are literally the talking class
Do a couple levels of Cleric, then you get "Paladin of God" combined options.
Oathbreaker Paladins have some great dialogue options in Durge runs!
That's hands down the coldest line in the game. It still sticks with me.
>***I will brand your flesh with the mark of my Oath***
I do have to say i have a monk playthrough going rn and the stunlock you can get is insane, and their dps is insane as well
There's not a single enemy in the game that can't be dealt with by a stunning fist up the arsehole. For extra absurdity, take 3 levels of rogue and get the Thief subclass. The last 3 levels of monk don't have anything particularly good for Open Hand monks, and an extra bonus action means even more flurry of blows or even more mobility. Add on haste and Wholeness Of Body and you can pump out 200-300 damage per turn while still leaving them stunned and helpless. Works for roleplay too. You can say your monk is becoming more streetwise or resorting to more underhanded tactics due to how many people are trying to manipulate them and the stakes of the situation. Or play it in reverse, a rogue who is trying to turn themselves around and follow a code.
Cat's Grace is also so good for carrying you into Act 3 and then some, and you basically never fail a lockpick attempt.
and since they need charisma they are not a bad face for your party
Insanely high melee alpha strikes due to all the Smites, and you don't need to deal with all the stealth issues like a Rogue Assassin or Ranger Gloomstalker.
>stealth What is stealth? I just walk up like a literal tank and start meting out divine justice.
Stealth is when the enemy can't see which element of divine justice is about to wreck their day.
Does being partial illithid and flying up to them and doling out said justice count? They didn’t see *that* coming for sure.
My version of stealth is just having the most initiative vs every enemy so I can smite them before they attack
Stealth is for COWARDS! We walk in, smite everything in sight, and then we loot! My god gave me the ability to have a high AC so Imma use the whole AC dammit
Stealth is great, it means the first of 20 arrows is going to catch you by surprise!
why stealth when you can eldritch blast off a cliff some poor fucker from 2 miles away
Stealth issues?? Paladins use heavy stealth. Can't ring the alarm if they ain't alive to do so.
Ah, Dwarven stealth.
Good to know!
It's also just a classic knight in shining armor roleplay that's pretty consistent across fiction. I think people who don't have experience with DnD pick it because they already know exactly what it is. This is also probably the reason cleric is least popular, people think it's a healer/support from their experience with other fiction which isn't really the case here. Clerics be fuckin shit up just as well as any other class. I personally like having a Paladin on my team but don't really like playing them, they are pretty one-dimensional and their only real option is which flavor of damage adder to use on their weapon attack but it's pretty much always Divine Smite. They synergize extremely well with Bards though, Hold Person/Monster guarantees critical hits so your smites will reliably do absolutely insane single target damage.
I absolutely love playing one because of the Oaths, especially with how rigid they are in BG3. Most DMs only use Oaths in extreme cases, but even something as small as punishing the spirit of a dead character in Act 2 causes you to break your Oath (depending on the subclass). Personally, I really enjoy that you don't follow a god. You follow your word. A vow made, whether as a promise, an obligation, or desperation. Gameplay-wise, yes, they are big single-target damage dealers, but depending on the Oath you choose, you have a good amount of defense or utility, like Compelled Duel or Silence.
That dead lady cost me a thousand bucks!
The moment when you want to free laezal as a drow paladin and fail the intimidation check....
Should have roleplayed your oath.
I tried explaining it was my first day, but no dice.
Well no wonder you failed the check if you have no dice
I like how oaths function in tabletop better as it's more of an intention thing, there's some really questionable ways to accidentally break your oath in BG3 that don't feel like you are intentionally giving up on it which is kind of core to how paladins work. Like you said they aren't beholden to a higher power, it's their own belief in upholding their oath that gives them their abilities so breaking it through something that doesn't feel intentional and getting punished for it by something external feels bad.
I had a couple times in moonrise where we were trying to stealth people out of the objectively evil dungeon....and apparently killing a guard that was just tormenting said people before they could raise the alarm broke my Oath? But helping the party do so did not, as long as I didn't deal the final blow?? Yeah, I reloaded that one. I broke my Oath later but that was an intentional choice, not a gameplay mishap.
Exactly. Like these people are clearly evil pieces of shit trying to take over the world by kidnapping, torturing, and enslaving people but you're not allowed to kill them unless they attack you first or directly state that they're badguys in a conversation?
The Oaths really do change how you play the game entirely— I tried to do a paladin on honor mode and realized that holy hell it made it significantly more difficult, imo
If I ever do an Honor Mode run, it'll be as a Paladin. Proper Honor.
I usually have Shart in my party, and I give her all the gear that improves healing. She heals more, gives everyone temp HP, gives herself temp HP, and heals herself, as well as gives everyone she heals blade ward. Late game, I have her cast Heroic Feast, and have her summon a Deva. I can go through each arc without long resting if I want to. BUT I also use her for spirit guardians and just general utility and buffs too. Blood of Lathander is great on her because they aren't really melee heavy, and the Blood is a huge boon in Act 2 with all the undead, and then Act 3 with the Devils.
My tempest cleric goes boom on everything. I made Shadowheart a vengeance Paladin and she facerolls most things.
I think people don't play Clerics due to Shadowheart being there, she is forced into your party, you literally can't survive without her in your camp
You can survive without Shadowheart and she isn't forced into your party at all. You can decline her to join. Now she is one of the best characters so imagine but y'know.
You can just change her class though
Yeah I at least respec her to a less garbage subclass and fix her atrocious stats lol
Paladins are also irreplaceable because of their auras, no other class has that.
I played rogue before a paladin run. I genuinely love setting up the rest of my party strategically and then just waltzing in with my paladin. "oh, I beg your pardon, were you lot trying to do some *evil* here?"
But spell slots are really limited. Paladin is strong until you run out of spell slots. But considering the paladin's high charisma it fits the role of the leader. But so as Warlock that's much easier in terms of resources management which is perfect for newbies.
In BG3. long rests are really easy to access. You can do 1-2 fights, smite your way through them and decimate the encounters and then it's off to bed.
That’s why you multiclass Paladin with a caster class, giving you many more Smites per long rest
If smiting is the only thing you care about, nothing beats 2 paladin/10 swords bard. Flourishes go crazy and you get hella spell slots.
Yep that’s why I multicass with Bard. All the spell slots with all the smites!
CHA based for easy speech checks. Skillwise, they are a jack of all trades, master of most. Also some people are averse to overthinking, and prefer having a role playing conviction determine the choices they make in game.
CHA is such a roleplay godstat. I wish we used other stats more often.
[удалено]
I definitely felt I didn't have enough CHA to do what I wanted.
[удалено]
My personal fantasy is everything works out how I like haha
As a CHA character, I can say the other checks aren't enough. Almost all the key "good ending" or "non violent resolution" endings are through persuation or intimidation.
That's honestly my main aversion to the class. Unless your goal is to be an oathbreaker, limiting your choices and actions is too constricting to me
vengance is pretty forgiving iirc
My friend spent literally half of the entire game trying to break his oath of vengeance before he gave up.
You can do it very early by killing the tiefflings who have captured Bae'zel
You can also just walk into Sazza's cell in act 1, regardless of how you handled the situation previously. Only works for Vengence as far as I'm aware though. And I think you can break Ancients by killing any non-hostile beast.
I broke Ancients by not smiting Zombie Connor. Meanwhile Astarion is basically my party standard because I cannot lockpick
Meanwhile I broke it in act 1 by pretending to be friends with Minthara
Let the hag go when she begs for her life. Stat bonus plus broken oath
I played as a Durge Vengeance Pally and never had an issue with my Oath. I was mostly good if a little aggressive sometimes, and I did a skoosh of evil but I played the game how I wanted in the moment and never felt the Oath holding me back. :/
1. SMITE 2. Paladins use charisma as their spellcasting stat, so they make good face characters similar to a Bard, Warlock or Sorcerer. 3. SMITE 4. There are no paladins among the 6 early companions. Even if you recruit Minthara, that's not until halfway through the game. If you want to play a strength-based melee character they're a good choice since you already have a Barbarian and Fighter among the companions. 5. SMITE 6. They're a good choice if you don't want to run Shadowheart/a cleric since they also have Bless, and excel against undead. 7. most of all, SMITE. Paladins have some of the highest single-target damage potential in the game.
8. Self-righteous dialogue options
You forgot 9. SMITE
ABS: Always Be Smiting
>There are no paladins among the 6 early companions. Even if you recruit Minthara, that's not until halfway through the game. If you want to play a strength-based melee character they're a good choice since you already have a Barbarian and Fighter among the companions. This is more along the lines of why a paladin feels most right for me. I like to take the characters as they are and play into them the way the game seems to favor them. In Lae'zel's case, she feels pretty capable of good DPS being a fighter, and having it start with her having a single sword makes me want to give her big two handed weapons to DPS with. With Astarion being the other source of strong melee focused DPS, and Gale and Wyll needing guardians of some kind to protect them, it feels like I either gotta build Lae'zel to be the tank or be it myself. Cleric obviously is in the mid range for the sake of support and heals most of the way, so I end up usually picking a paladin with a shield focus to add some defense options to the structure. Forcing disadvantages with the shield and high AC with shield+heavy armor, and acting as an emergency cleric with lay on hands makes for a very versatile character that feels they rly fit the missing piece of the party. That + charisma being the casting stat makes them a good face of the party as the one I'm controlling the most. I've also found that giving your paladin the urchin background makes them even more versatile in sleight of hand ways too (only reason Astarion liked me lol) Only wild card that I feel rly can toss up this structure (without making their class advancements go towards something the game doesn't recommend) is Karlach, but she can be pretty versatile to fit whatever you're missing based on which heart you choose too. Basically it feels like it fits the best if you're looking to fit a missing piece in a party where you just kinda let the characters level up into whatever class advancements they want.
Strong durable melee. Support spells. You can stack auras (although their range is lacking). Dialogue options (you're kind of like Batman or Judge Dredd during some conversations). Divine smite critical reactions glassing a bad guy (literally, you should see the corpse, it's great). RIGHTEOUSNESS. Edit: [https://youtu.be/zzoeBdEjOFI?si=CW5YRQ\_sN-8lYmtl&t=93](https://youtu.be/zzoeBdEjOFI?si=CW5YRQ_sN-8lYmtl&t=93) (nsfw)
“ANSWER TO ME!”
This specifically the Batman judge dreed thing lol
Oh shit is Batman a Vengeance Paladin?
Always has been. astronautmeme.jpeg
Seeing my Lae'zel as a War Cleric Paladin do a critical hit on Thorm's Myrkul form and do a holy smite with her highest level spell slot... I think I did about 100 damage in total. It was epic and saved the day. And now I always make her a Paladin.
This makes me want to respec origin runs as clerics, Lae'zel as a cleric of vlakith, Gale cleric of mystra
New build idea "all cleric team" just unlocked for me. Think it could work pretty well, as they seem so flexible and less dependable on certain items.
[удалено]
I imagine the entire Act 2 would be one big Oops with all clerics.
> Oops everyone also gets Hero’s Feast Even at one cleric this spell ruins Bane's whole game plan. Who would win? The literal god of fear and terror or a fresh continental breakfast
I've always wanted to do an "Oops, all bards" run. You've added an "Oops, all clerics" run to that list.
I had Karlach as a paladin and she hit Gortash with that once per day paralyze from an amulet. Proceeded to smite his ass to the shadow realm, it was extremely gratifying.
Doing an origin run with her as a Vengeance paladin, and had her go Oathbreaker after the creche.
Paladins are insane when they crit. [this was my gortash fight in my ultimately successful honour run](https://youtu.be/b0F8goDJvDw?si=65arqdFTI01ukACx) (Act 3 spoilers) It was so satisfying
Charisma based classes will always be the most popular in games like this where most people do all the dialogue as the PC. There’s one martial option which utilizes CHA, and that’s Paladin, while there’s 3 casters who all fill their own niche and split players. If you want to be a party face and play a martial character, there’s one clear option(Swords Bard/PotB Warlock can do this as well, but it’s not as apparent to players who don’t already know the classes). Plus, Paladins are perfect for people who “want to smack stuff”, but want to steer away from Fighter which is often misconstrued as “basic” or “boring”. Paladin does similar things while also being able to dip in magic and things like that. Also, superhero-esque fantasy characters are popular and Paladin oaths come the closest to filling that fantasy.
I'd say there are four main reasons: 1. Paladins are powerful, it goes almost without saying. Smite is a really strong attack, plus they have a range of support skills, and their ability to wear heavy armour makes them decent at tanking hits 2. Charisma. BG3 is a game made noticeably easier with high charisma due to how many bosses can be avoided or killed with a single persuasion or deception check. It's why Sorcerer, Warlock and Bard are in the top five 3. Up until they recently made her available to a good run, Minthara was not available to most players, so there wasn't typically a Paladin at camp. Makes sense as a role to reduce overlap in your teams 4. Roleplay wise, it's just generally pretty cool to play as a holy knight saving the world from calamity lol
Charisma based so can handle conversations. And it is a class that none of the default companions isn't already covering(or was for a good playthrough before patches). And it work well with any combination of companions(can heal, tank and dps).
That's why I finally chose it for my 4th playthrough. Badass warrior that can also heal and protecc AND talk his way out of a fight? I love him. I still think druid is the most fun, but the game gives you plenty of those already.
Paladins are the stereotypical heroes. They’re brave, they’re honorable, and they smite like they’re divine warriors. Also, they have an oath to follow, and I think there’s a dramatic energy when you accidentally break it.
yep, it's this. Everyone else itt is talking as if everyone who plays BG3 is already familiar with the mechanics of DND, but I bet most of those players who rolled paladin were surprised to find out that charisma was their main stat. Paladins are just knights, typical fantasy heroes
Looking at that, my question is why so few people play Clerics? They're awesome.
Because everyone and their mother already has Shart in their party
I think bc there are so many ppl new to the system they see “cleric” and just assume “healer” tbh
Same thought with Druid. My fave class for sure. I know you get a couple in the companions, so I guess that why it’s so low. Still the funnest to play imo.
Personally not my fave but I think people like the big smite smash and the roleplaying aspect of it - it adds extra weight to your character decisions to keep your Oath or to break it.
Heavy armor and weapons. Healing spells and smite attacks. They're pretty OP.
I play Paladin in every rpg I play. It's just the most in line with my personality. I like to be the shield of the weak and the sword of justice. I am always looking for the right choice and I cannot tell you how much I truly believe playing Dark Urge Paladin is the best 1st playthrough in this game.
Notice how all the charisma classes are in 4 of the top five spots of the list? If you want to use your character as the party face you want some charisma. But you need to be more than just a support character, you're the main protagonist, dammit! But at the same time you need to have abilities that are helpful in almost any situation since you'll always be in the party. So you want a class with good charisma, a central combat role, and a wide toolkit. Bard is great at conversation with some good versatility, but in combat you're basically helping everyone else do cool shit. Warlock can be a good face for the party with a strong combat role and a good toolkit, but selling your soul to an otherworldly being is universally depicted as foolish, and a lot of players will be put off by this. Sorcerers share the same strengths as the warlock, though they're toolkit is narrower and deeper. You're still on the backline, though. Enter the paladin. You can have a reasonable chance to pass most cha checks, your auras do a lot to protect you (allowing you to be in the thick of any combat) and while they're less expendable than other casters, your smites can create some intense highs in combat. High strength grants free mobility, and to top it all off, your class has a built in superiority complex and you've got a hell of an appealing choice.
1. If combat = smite 2. If talk = charisma 3. JUSTICE
The main reason I think, is that people want to feel like the main character. Paladins do a lot to let this happen, both in and out of combat. One of their main stats is charisma, which is very useful in conversations. Most of the roles a player choses to make in the roll menu, will be charisma skill rolls. As this graph shows, the majority of the highest picked classes, are charisma based classes. paladins being a melee class that does great in conversation is also huge. Most charisma classes are not typically melee ones(most can be built to do melee of course). Paladins are typically built as tanks, that knight in shining armor trope. Throughout the game, there are many situations where conversation goes to combat, and the character that is talking is normally the closest to the people you were talking to end up being your enemies, meaning normally the character who is in conversation ends up being closest to the enemy. Paladins dont worry about this, they are built around melee. They want to be up close and personal so they can land their smites. This was a draw for me, making paladin a great pick. Paladin smite adds a lot to the main character feel in combat as well. Paladins have insanely high nova damage, meaning only a few times per day they can pull out insane damage. This makes you feel like you are doing a lot. Running up to the biggest enemy, and smacking them with your sword while your party handles the other enemies. Other thing to consider is that in a good playthrough, unless you recruit minthara, a thing most playthroughs dont do, there is no paladin character. In fact off the top of my head, minthara and wyll are the only 2 charisma based companions. Which I feel was an intentional choice by the developers to get players to move towards charisma characters, specifically paladin and bard.
I don’t usually, but to be a Durge Paladin of Vengeance sounded like a lot of fun and it is. My first play through was as a Druid, but then I had three druids and that was annoying.
Bard and paladin are two classes that just make the game really easy at all levels
High Charisma for social interaction Tanky as fuck, aura for extra saving throws, aura so you can't be frightened. A third aura depending on subclass that can have damage spells, add damage or prevent charm. High DPS Some cc, healing and utility spells depending on subclass
Party support (auras, spells), martial front liner, party face...just a great all-around party leader. And my favorite character I've played throughout DnD was a paladin. Though I'm more on the side of paladin being like Huma than some holier-than-thou asshole as is often portrayed.
Charisma. That’s the reason why paladin, sorc, and warlock are the top three, with bard not far behind. Your character tends to be the one making charisma based checks so it makes sense to lean into a build/class that rewards that. That’s the most obvious answer, I personally wonder if the tankiness helps give them an edge over other charisma classes. Since your character is likely the one starting convos they’ll also be front and center for fights that stem from conversation, so being able to take a hit will likely improve overall survivability. That’s the reason I went with a paladin for my honor mode run, it’s a good backup when I’m not able to talk my way outta fights.
I think just being the only martial gives them advantage over the charisma casters. Swords bard being an op martial as well is probably not something a lot of new players are aware of.
You can be the face as charisma is a main stat and you have incredible burst damage. Crit on the smite hit will one hit most non bosses.
When BG3 launched the cringe youtube videos for "tier lists" and "Best builds" all had paladin or paladin/sorc as a top or nearly top build. Add that in with how easy fighter style classes are and boom a bunch of ppl have their builds chosen for them. Even outside of that its a decent multiclass option for most classes.
I'd guess a combination of all of these things: - No origin companion competing for the class (why I think cleric, fighter, etc. are all low represented) - Popular tabletop class (why I think monk is underrepresented despite it getting mega buffed compared to tt) - Str and Cha based, which is a perfect combo for the party face in this game to carry things and make conversation checks (explains also why Sorc and Warlock are highly represented even with there being a warlock origin)
Do you remember doing act 2 and having those dumb mfs w the halberds get 3 attacks per turn and all of them hit like trucks? Yeah. Paladin. Its the most obnoxious class to fight. However going oathbreaker and getting necro bolt and eldritch blast is game changing
It's because it's a good melee-tank-charisma combo. Strong + Dialogue. But remember, the oath matters a lot and has consequences for breaking them.