Paladin - D&D 2024 Class Optimisation Guide (5.5e)

Make oaths, deliver smitings and protect your friends with the upgraded paladin class for D&D 2024.

Oathbound warriors, paladins live by the strict words of their tenets, striving to root out corruption wherever it may hide and purge it from the world. Paladins are not just fighters with a moral code though, they are more than this. Adherents to an order or deity, they are blessed with divine powers. These powers can be used to both heal and harm as they supplement martial strikes with holy smites.

While lacking somewhat in the ranged department, paladins tend to make great melee combatants and tanks. Capable of wielding the heaviest of armor, they’re great at wading into the thick of battle and taking a bruising.

Beyond this, paladins also have their aura of protection which they use to enhance themselves and their allies. The very presence of a paladin in a party can be enough to embolden allies against the most terrifying of foes as they strike fearlessly.

In the 2014 rules, paladins were quite strong already. Rather than making them more powerful, the 2024 rules rebalances them somewhat, becoming a little less explosive and a little more flexible and tactical. My guide below will take you through tactics, optimisations and builds you can use for the updated paladin class.

At a glance

Strengths

Melee damage dealers
Tough class that can take a beating
Able to supplement martial attacks with spellcasting
Their magic can be used beyond attacks to heal and enhance
Make great team-players with protective auras and other features
With a high charisma, they make great party faces

Weaknesses

Tend to be poorer when making ranged attacks
They’re only half-casters so lack the magical clout of more specialised casters
Can be a little difficult to balance with so many demands on their ability scores

What’s changing for paladins in D&D 2024?

Path of glory paladin DnD 2024 — Tiefling paladin: Wizards of the Coast

With the paladin already being a strong and nicely balanced class in D&D 2014, there hasn’t been the same need to make large changes to the class like for rangers or monks. What we do see is a bunch of quality of life improvements though, including things like:

Weapon mastery – Paladins have weapon mastery abilities allowing them to make their attacks more tactical and useful.
Fighting styles – Paladins now have access to all the fighting style options.
Lay on hands – This is now a bonus action.
Spellcasting – Paladins now get their spellcasting ability at level 1 (instead of level 2) and have a more fixed number of prepared spells.
Divine smite – This is now a spell and you gain it as a prepared spell. It also costs a bonus action to use (preventing some more explosive uses of combining divine smite with other smite spells). These can also be used with unarmed strikes now.
Channel divinity – You start with 2 uses of this instead of 1 and recharge a use each short rest.
Faithful steed – Gain find steed as a prepared spell with these summons also getting streamlined and enhanced.
Auras – You now only have one aura, but subclass auras will enhance your aura of protection with new features rather than trying to juggle multiple auras.
Abjure foes – A new feature that lets you frighten your enemies.
Restoring touch – You’ll not just be able to heal allies with lay on hands, but also remove conditions.

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Tactics

At their most basic level, paladins want to be close to the action, taking advantage of their relatively high melee damage (supplemented with smites) and their durability. But there’s a bit of nuance to how you might want to approach this:

Focus on smites – Paladins are generally at their most effective when smiting the nine hells out of their enemies. You can use your spell slots on other things, but attacks and smites should be your go to approach, especially in challenging encounters. You will want to balance your spell slots for longer adventuring days though.
Keep your allies close – Paladins are of the most use when they’re keeping allies close to benefit from their protective aura and minor healing.
Protective fighting styles – Since you’re trying to keep allies close, paladins make one of the best options for the interception and protection fighting styles allowing you to protect your allies even more.
Consider grappling – Paladins can now use smites with unarmed strikes. Combining this with things like the tavern brawler origin feat, grappler feat and the unarmed fighting style can make you a highly effective grappler, especially with a tendency towards strength builds. Check out my guide to unarmed strikes for more info on how this all works.
Shields are boring, but effective – Since you’ll be trying to absorb a lot of attacks, you might consider grabbing a shield. You’ll do less damage, but you’ll stay in the fight longer.
Consider investing in mounted combat – With find steed available at level 5 as a free casting, you can easily grab a steed to fight from. The mounted combatant feat will help make you even better at this.
Avoid ranged combat – It’s not always possible, but things like smites and radiant strike don’t work at range so you’re best off in melee combat. That’s not always possible though, so bring some thrown weapons for when you absolutely have to make a ranged attack so you can use your strength for the attacks.
Emergency medic – It might be tempting to dump all your lay on hands hit points on an ally, but the amount of healing isn’t huge. Instead, I’d use this as an option to get allies back in the actioned when downed at the cost of a simple bonus action. 1hp is enough to accomplish this letting you rescue multiple allies each day when needed.
Choose your spells wisely – Paladins aren’t blessed with a huge range of spells so you’ll need to be careful how you use them. Especially as you’ll often want to be dishing out smites. You can check out my guide to paladin spells for advice on what spells to choose.

Optimising a paladin

War domain DnD 2024 — Tiefling paladin: Wizards of the Coast

You’ll want to build your paladin around their melee combat prowess and to be highly durable. You’ll likely be called upon to be the party face too so I’d tend to focus on these skills. Below I’ve given advice on the various aspects of character creation and how you can optimise your paladin.

Ability scores

Recommended options

Strength: Important for weapon attacks and things like grappling if you choose to go that route.
Charisma: This will improve your spells, subclass features and face skills.
Constitution: You’ll be relied on as a tough, frontline warrior so a high constitution is important.
Dexterity: If you go for high strength, you can afford to dump this and just take heavy armor. If you want to go for medium armor for stealth reasons, you could get this up to 14, but with 3 other skills to focus on, this is challenging. A dexterity build is possible, but your damage output will likely be lower and you’ll struggle with grapples this way.

Options to avoid

Intelligence: You don’t need intelligence.
Wisdom: Only good for some saving throws and skills.

Ability score	Point Buy	Standard Array
Strength	15	15
Dexterity	8	10
Constitution	15	13
Intelligence	8	8
Wisdom	8	12
Charisma	15	14

Skills

Recommended options

Athletics: Solid skill for physical checks.
Insight: Important face skill.
Intimidation: If you’re happy scaring people into doing what you want, then this is a good option.
Persuasion: Really important face skill. Perhaps your most important option.
Religion: Decent enough knowledge skill.

Options to avoid

Medicine: Just use lay on hands.

Species/race

I’d consider the following when picking a species for a paladin:

Toughen up: First and foremost, you’re the party tank. You’re there to attract attacks and take a beating so your weedy wizard can survive long enough to blast off powerful spells. To be effective at this, you’ll need to take some resilience traits.
Damage dealing: Of course, the best form of defence is to kill your enemies so they can’t hurt you. And the quicker you can do this, the better. So traits that enhance your ability to deal damage are important.
Innate spellcasting: Paladins are good at casting spells with a usually high charisma and the ability to repeat cast spells. This means some innate spellcasting can be useful for extra prepared spells and some free castings.

Recommended options

Dragonborn (2024): A damage resistance for durability and the breath weapon gives you a close range AoE option that can replace just one of your attacks. Temporary flight isn’t always going to be useful for you as you want to be near allies and enemies, but it can definitely have it’s uses.
Dwarves (2024): More hp and some damage resistance lets you focus purely on being extra durable.
Elves (2024): Lots of extra spells to cast. High Elf will get you a cantrip if you need a ranged damage option or you can go for something like thunderclap to hit multiple enemies at once. You’ll also get misty step for when you need to get around the battlefield. I’d avoid Wood Elf for a paladin though, they’re a little too focused on stealth.
Goliath (2024): You’re mainly here for the giant ancestry. Stone’s endurance will make you more durable, cloud’s jaunt will let you teleport about, fire’s burn will enhance your damage and hill’s tumble will let you knock enemies prone. You’ll also be a little faster and can become large. Great for grappling larger foes if you choose to go that route.
Human (2024): Great for a party face as you’ll need extra skills. Grab an extra origin feat (which could include skilled to fill more skills gaps or tavern brawler if you want to go for an unarmed build). You’ll also get a steady supply of heroic inspiration.
Orc (2024): Become more durable with a few temporary hit points and the ability to keep standing when reduced to 0hp. You’ll also be able to get into the action quicker with dash as a bonus action.

Options to avoid

Halfling (2024): You’re already pretty solid at not being frightened and have no use for hiding behind people. Sure, luck can still be useful, but you’ve got too many redundant traits here.

Backgrounds

Your background will give you an origin feat, ability score increases and skill and tool proficiencies.

As a potential party face with very few skills, grabbing the right background can be important. The most important thing though, is to ensure you have the right ability score improvements (strength, charisma and constitution).

Below I’ve included the backgrounds that work well for a paladin.

Name	Ability scores	Origin feat	Skill proficiencies	Tool proficiency
Charlatan	Dexterity, constitution, charisma	Skilled	Deception, sleight of hand	Forgery kit
Entertainer	Strength, dexterity, charisma	Musician	Acrobatics, performance	One kind of musical instrument
Farmer	Strength, constitution, wisdom	Tough	Animal handling, nature	Carpenter’s tools
Hermit	Constitution, wisdom, charisma	Healer	medicine, religion	Herbalism kit
Merchant	Constitution, intelligence, charisma	Lucky	Animal handling, persuasion	Navigator’s tools
Noble	Strength, intelligence, charisma	Skilled	History, persuasion	One kind of gaming set
Soldier	Strength, dexterity, constitution	Savage attacker	Athletics, intimidation	One kind of gaming set

I think your best options for a paladin are probably the merchant, noble and soldier. Each get a face skill, but your choice probably depends on what build you want to lean on. Lucky is broadly useful, but you might go for the skilled from a noble if you want more face skills or the savage attacker of a soldier if you want to hit a bit harder.

Choosing your subclass

Which subclass you choose comes down to the virtues you want to uphold and the abilities you want to suit your style of play. Check out my paladin subclass guide to help you decide which will work best for your character.

Oath of devotion

Protectors of others, oath of devotion paladins are honour bound to defend others from the evils of the world at any cost.

Oath of devotion

Oath of glory

Paladins that seek after the glory that comes with acts of heroism. They strike harder and inspire others to similar feats of heroism.

Oath of glory

Oath of the ancients

These paladins have a reverence for nature and life and seek to protect it.

Oath of the ancients

Noble genie paladin: Wizards of the Coast

Oath of the noble genies

Paladins that draw powers and inspiration from noble genies.

Oath of the noble genies

Oath of vengeance

Paladins that have sworn to avenge perceived wrongs and hunt down those guilty of such crimes.

Oath of vengeance

Feats

At 1st level, you can grab an origin feat through your background and from level 4, you can pick up a general feat (or another origin feat if you want) instead of an ability score increase. When you hit level 19 you can pick up an epic boon feat too. You can pick up additional epic boons each time you level up beyond level 20 too.

I’d suggest the following feats for a paladin:

Origin feats

Recommended options

Lucky – Grant advantage or disadvantage on important d20 tests.
Magic initiate – A handy way to grab some cantrips if that’s something you’d like.
Musician – Give everyone in the party a regular supply of heroic inspiration.
Savage attacker – Make your attacks hit a bit harder.
Skilled – Become a party face or fill skill gaps.
Tavern brawler – Practically required if you intend to go for an unarmed build.
Tough – A great option for a tank.

General feats

Recommended options

Actor – A good option if you want to play an impersonator. Pointless if you don’t.
Defensive duelist – Good for some reactionary defence. You will likely sacrifice some damage output, but if you’re going for sword and shield anyway, you can just grab a rapier for damage equal to a longsword.
Dual wielder – Solid option if you intend to go for two weapon fighting, especially if wielding a weapon with the nick weapon mastery property.
Fey-touched – 2 more spells prepared and 2 free castings expands your repertoire nicely. Misty step works well for moving where you need to be. I quite like the idea of grabbing hex or hunter’s mark for a paladin. For more ways to optimise for this feat, check out my fey-touched guide.
Grappler – Paladins can make great grapplers . This will let you attack and grapple as part of the same unarmed strike, which also means you can grapple and smite.
Great weapon master – Great option for extra damage if you’re wielding a heavy weapon.
Heavy armor master – If you’re going to be wearing heavy armor, you can reduce the damage of every bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage that strikes you.
Inspiring leader – Go for the charisma increase and bestow temporary hit points on the party each rest. A good idea to have someone in your party with this.
Mage slayer – Get better at dealing with mages plus a form of legendary resistance.
Mounted combatant – If you intend to ride a steed a lot, this can really enhance you in combat.
Polearm master – You’ve got a lot to do with your bonus action so you may not often get to use the pole strike, but opportunity attacks when enemies enter your reach is very useful!
Ritual caster – Can really expand your spell repertoire for some utility spells, plus they don’t require spell slots when cast as rituals. Good if no one else in the party can get things like detect magic. Read more about how to use this in my ritual spells guide.
Sentinel – Great if you’re going to be working with allies to get some extra opportunity attacks.
Shadow-touched – 2 free castings of spells expands your spell uses nicely and invisible is a great option.
Shield master – Great for shield wielding paladins.
Skill expert – Get really good at a face skill like persuasion or deception (or any other skill).

Fighting style feats

Your options here are mainly going to depend on how you want to approach fighting. If you’re going to be dual wielding, then grab two weapon fighting, if you’re going to be making unarmed strikes, take unarmed fighting and so on. You can check out my full guide to fighting style feats for more advice.

Epic boon feats

Boon of combat prowess – More accurate attacks is handy for a melee warrior.
Boon of dimensional travel – Teleport every turn to get where you need to be in combat.
Boon of fate – Turn failed d20 tests into successes.
Boon of fortitude – More resilience for a tank is always welcome.
Boon of recovery – Survive longer by restoring hit points (including when you get knocked to 0hp).
Boon of truesight – Handle invisible creatures and illusions.

Weapons

This largely depends on how you want to lean into combat. Below is some broad advice you can apply when choosing what kind of weapon approach you want:

Two-handed weapons: Go with these for the highest damage with a single weapon.
Dual wielding: Go with dual wielding if you want more attacks. Grab a weapon with the nick property and make sure you take the dual wielder feat and two weapon fighting style to maximise your effectiveness here. The interactions between feats and abilities for dual wielding can get complicated so check out my dual wielding guide for some help here.
Sword and shield: Go for a sword and shield if you want greater protection. As a general rule, this will keep you in the battle longer and is often worth it in the long run, even if it does diminish your damage output.
Unarmed fighting: You’ll need to grab some feats to make this work, namely, tavern brawler, grappler and unarmed fighting. With these though, you can be a really effective grappler and can even use smites with your unarmed attacks.
Thrown weapons: Paladins tend to be a bit poor in the ranged department, but you will undoubtedly need to make ranged attacks at some point. Your dexterity will likely be low so thrown weapons are the way to go here (unless you can grab some cantrips from a feat or species trait).

When it comes to which weapon to choose, this will primarily come down to the amount of damage the weapon causes and the weapon mastery associated with it. Check out my weapon mastery guide for more advice on this.

Armor

The armor you choose will largely depend on your dexterity. Generally, I’d recommend dumping dexterity for a paladin making heavy armor your go to option (plate armor when you can afford it is best, splint armor is best until then).

If you do go for a dexterity build, light armor can be a good option with studded leather being your best option. If you have 14 dexterity for some reason, you can go for medium armor like half plate.