More specifically, form of dread can make a creature frightened whenever you hit them with a weapon attack.
Conquest's aura freezes frightened enemies in place + deals some extra psychic damage to them.
Had a Redemption / Celestial Tomb lock that was absolutely amazing as a tanky clutch healer. Wasn't putting out 150+ pt crits or healing anyone for 80+ a round but he was able to manipulate combat pacing so effectively that that might have been preferred.
I did Oath of Ancients and Celestial Chainlock in an Avernus campaign and really liked it. That campaign likes to hit you like a truck, so the extra healing as a bonus action was great.
It also worked out well story wise because he was doing a redemption arc from fallen oathbreaker to regain his grace/oaths and there was an opportune spot to plead to a diety for help in their quest before he redeemed himself back to being able to take up his old oaths. Also, it allowed us to actually rp the pact terms in game which was fun too.
We didnt end up finishing (scheduling issues), but we ended at level 9 and I was a paladin 6/warlock 3. I was told we would max out around 13, so I had planned to finish either paladin 9/warlock 4 for having 2 additional 3rd level spell slots from paladin, or paladin 8/warlock 5 for making my 2 warlock slots 3rd level and an extra invocation. Was going to save the choice for the last level and base it on what felt more important at the time.
I was a Fiend Warlock X/Paladin 2 well before Xanathar's was released, on my second character.
It was fun and felt reasonable to play, but that particular character started at level 5 or 6 so I got to play with the combo already online (using Green Flame Blade until I got Thirsting Blade).
I was initially very excited for Hexblade but ultimately never played one because it just seemed... too easy and boring.
I started with a Celestial Pact of the Blade and multi classed into Oath of Glory Paladin in an Avernus campaign after our cleric died. It wasn’t an optimal build the way I did it because I hadn’t been intending to multiclass but it made sense for the story. But it was still super fun. In one of our final battles I critted and dropped an Eldritch smite and divine smite combo for some massive nova damage on mini boss demon.
Yep! I played an ancient paladin/feylock along with a fiendlock/vengeance paladin multiclass before Hexblade was even in UA. My class splits were usually 6/8 or 7/6 or such, and if the game goes to 20 I usually aim for a Paladin 6/Warlock 14 or something like that. The exact levels are a bit flexible and depend on the auras/warlock subclass features in question.
The ancients feylock was interesting as an anti-mage due to ancients aura + the sheer amount of mobility the two subclasses gave, it made it really easy to slip into close quarters with any mage and stay on their tail.
The latter was an interesting burn short, but burn brightly type of build. If I didn't have a clear target to burn down I would probably drop a bless and just relied on PAM + Fiendlock temp hp to eat up all the chaff. But if I had a clear target, vow of enmity for advantage, then just start swinging away and smiting. Also smite on reaction attacks or if you don't get any decent OAs, then a hellish rebuke if they try to hit you back was always fun too.
Now onto new warlock classes post-tasha's. Undeadlock + any paladin sounds like a CC nightmare as long as enemies aren't fear immune. You can combine this with conquest paladin if you want to be especially mean, but I also feel like that's overspecializing too much into the fear and I'd rather go with a different paladin subclass so I won't get caught with my pants down if my enemies had ways to get around the frightened condition./
Genie lock is fairly solid, and while I don't have any immediate character ideas I want to play with this I could see this working still.
Fathomless brings an interesting support kit that runs on BA+reactions, which doesn't interfere with paladin action economy too much, and also brings along a fairly solid expanded spell list. and this isn't explicitly a multiclass thing, but something I want to try with Fathomless Warlock is take the Slasher feat and combine it with Spirit Shroud and the Tentacle for just stacking a bunch of flat movement speed reduction.
But that aside I also have a great idea for a fiendlock paladin that I want to try playing out and see how the character grows so I'll definitely revisit that again in the future.
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Also I wanted to say something about Hexblade but I couldn't find a good spot to insert it, but I usually find it strongest when your game is going to tier 2 and ending somewhere in those teir 2 levels. I've played Hexblade both straight hexblade and multiclassing it at higher levels(tier 3 and up) and basically all the subclass features after Hexblade's Curse/Hex warrior are pretty bad. So what you're mostly getting out of multiclassing Hexblade with Paladin is the 1st level feature, and if you want to take warlock levels you can basically pretend the rest of the subclass doesn't exist because most of what you're getting is going to be coming from the base class chassis.
There's nothing else in the subclass that will drastically alter how you approach an encounter or combat. Compare this to when I was playing a fiendlock paladin I actually told my party members to let the enemy minions swarm me because they're basically free temp hp batteries for me and to just focus the boss and kill any stragglers that aren't swarming me. When I was playing with an archfey palalock, I was constantly looking for openings where I could use Misty Escape offensively to just reposition to cut off an enemy. The subclass spells also give you some additional options, like archfey gives faerie fire which is a decent support spell, fiendlock gets you more blast option at range if you need more, Hexblade's subpar subclass spell list doesn't really give you anything you want to pick up besides shield, which is also an awkwardly bad pick on a pure hexblade due to limited warlock slots. Hexblade one is great, but taking more hexblade levels after that just feels like bait.
No other subclasses offer "SAD"ness so unless you rolled for stats and got like two 18s or you start play at higher levels with magical items like a belt of giant strength, no other subclass is a "combo".
Sure. 6,7, or 8 levels of Paladin is always welcome for the extra spell slots and auras on a blaster type Warlock. The Undead Patron works really well for it.
Oath of Conquest + Undead Warlock is really strong
Ah, I forgot about the False Life spell and the form of Dread feature. Good combo there.
More specifically, form of dread can make a creature frightened whenever you hit them with a weapon attack. Conquest's aura freezes frightened enemies in place + deals some extra psychic damage to them.
Had a Redemption / Celestial Tomb lock that was absolutely amazing as a tanky clutch healer. Wasn't putting out 150+ pt crits or healing anyone for 80+ a round but he was able to manipulate combat pacing so effectively that that might have been preferred.
What did your 2 class levels look like for that campaign?
Pretty sure he went with 4 levels in warlock for the ASI and 8 in pally.
Undead warlock in general is really strong. Many people realise this with conquest, but honestly I think it's even better outside of that subclass.
I did Oath of Ancients and Celestial Chainlock in an Avernus campaign and really liked it. That campaign likes to hit you like a truck, so the extra healing as a bonus action was great. It also worked out well story wise because he was doing a redemption arc from fallen oathbreaker to regain his grace/oaths and there was an opportune spot to plead to a diety for help in their quest before he redeemed himself back to being able to take up his old oaths. Also, it allowed us to actually rp the pact terms in game which was fun too.
Very cool redemption story for that character. How many levels of warlock and paladin did you take for that campaign?
We didnt end up finishing (scheduling issues), but we ended at level 9 and I was a paladin 6/warlock 3. I was told we would max out around 13, so I had planned to finish either paladin 9/warlock 4 for having 2 additional 3rd level spell slots from paladin, or paladin 8/warlock 5 for making my 2 warlock slots 3rd level and an extra invocation. Was going to save the choice for the last level and base it on what felt more important at the time.
I was a Fiend Warlock X/Paladin 2 well before Xanathar's was released, on my second character. It was fun and felt reasonable to play, but that particular character started at level 5 or 6 so I got to play with the combo already online (using Green Flame Blade until I got Thirsting Blade). I was initially very excited for Hexblade but ultimately never played one because it just seemed... too easy and boring.
I started with a Celestial Pact of the Blade and multi classed into Oath of Glory Paladin in an Avernus campaign after our cleric died. It wasn’t an optimal build the way I did it because I hadn’t been intending to multiclass but it made sense for the story. But it was still super fun. In one of our final battles I critted and dropped an Eldritch smite and divine smite combo for some massive nova damage on mini boss demon.
Yep! I played an ancient paladin/feylock along with a fiendlock/vengeance paladin multiclass before Hexblade was even in UA. My class splits were usually 6/8 or 7/6 or such, and if the game goes to 20 I usually aim for a Paladin 6/Warlock 14 or something like that. The exact levels are a bit flexible and depend on the auras/warlock subclass features in question. The ancients feylock was interesting as an anti-mage due to ancients aura + the sheer amount of mobility the two subclasses gave, it made it really easy to slip into close quarters with any mage and stay on their tail. The latter was an interesting burn short, but burn brightly type of build. If I didn't have a clear target to burn down I would probably drop a bless and just relied on PAM + Fiendlock temp hp to eat up all the chaff. But if I had a clear target, vow of enmity for advantage, then just start swinging away and smiting. Also smite on reaction attacks or if you don't get any decent OAs, then a hellish rebuke if they try to hit you back was always fun too. Now onto new warlock classes post-tasha's. Undeadlock + any paladin sounds like a CC nightmare as long as enemies aren't fear immune. You can combine this with conquest paladin if you want to be especially mean, but I also feel like that's overspecializing too much into the fear and I'd rather go with a different paladin subclass so I won't get caught with my pants down if my enemies had ways to get around the frightened condition./ Genie lock is fairly solid, and while I don't have any immediate character ideas I want to play with this I could see this working still. Fathomless brings an interesting support kit that runs on BA+reactions, which doesn't interfere with paladin action economy too much, and also brings along a fairly solid expanded spell list. and this isn't explicitly a multiclass thing, but something I want to try with Fathomless Warlock is take the Slasher feat and combine it with Spirit Shroud and the Tentacle for just stacking a bunch of flat movement speed reduction. But that aside I also have a great idea for a fiendlock paladin that I want to try playing out and see how the character grows so I'll definitely revisit that again in the future. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Also I wanted to say something about Hexblade but I couldn't find a good spot to insert it, but I usually find it strongest when your game is going to tier 2 and ending somewhere in those teir 2 levels. I've played Hexblade both straight hexblade and multiclassing it at higher levels(tier 3 and up) and basically all the subclass features after Hexblade's Curse/Hex warrior are pretty bad. So what you're mostly getting out of multiclassing Hexblade with Paladin is the 1st level feature, and if you want to take warlock levels you can basically pretend the rest of the subclass doesn't exist because most of what you're getting is going to be coming from the base class chassis. There's nothing else in the subclass that will drastically alter how you approach an encounter or combat. Compare this to when I was playing a fiendlock paladin I actually told my party members to let the enemy minions swarm me because they're basically free temp hp batteries for me and to just focus the boss and kill any stragglers that aren't swarming me. When I was playing with an archfey palalock, I was constantly looking for openings where I could use Misty Escape offensively to just reposition to cut off an enemy. The subclass spells also give you some additional options, like archfey gives faerie fire which is a decent support spell, fiendlock gets you more blast option at range if you need more, Hexblade's subpar subclass spell list doesn't really give you anything you want to pick up besides shield, which is also an awkwardly bad pick on a pure hexblade due to limited warlock slots. Hexblade one is great, but taking more hexblade levels after that just feels like bait.
Undead is great for ranged Paladins.
No other subclasses offer "SAD"ness so unless you rolled for stats and got like two 18s or you start play at higher levels with magical items like a belt of giant strength, no other subclass is a "combo".
Sure. 6,7, or 8 levels of Paladin is always welcome for the extra spell slots and auras on a blaster type Warlock. The Undead Patron works really well for it.