Paladins are one of the many Classes available to select for your character in Baldur’s Gate 3. However, with so many customization options and selections to make as your character progresses, it can often be tricky to decide which choices may best benefit your build and bring the most value to your playthrough. Don’t worry though, we’ve compiled a list of the best Feats to consider when building and progressing a Paladin Class character, so follow along below for everything you’ll need to know.
Baldur’s Gate 3 – Best Feats for Paladin, Explained
Paladins are strong, tanky characters suited to the frontlines of combat due to their higher Hit Points, Armor Class, and defensive Spellcasting. This allows them to remain in the range of the enemy and dish out high levels of damage while also taking multiple hits from opponents. Paladins also revolve around the STR, CON, and CHA stats, meaning it can be crucial to find ways of maintaining and improving these areas as you progress through the story. Keeping these things in mind, we’ve selected the best feats to enhance and improve the playstyle of your character, allowing you to gain as much value from the Paladin Class as possible.
Ability Improvements
| Feat Name | Description | Requirements |
| Ability Improvements | You increase one Ability by 2, or two Abilities by 1, to a maximum of 20. | Level 4 (All Classes) |
Ability Improvements gives you two +1 points to assign to any stat you’d like, allowing you to increase the number of these stats, up to the maximum score of 20. This allows you to improve the crucial stats of Charisma and Strength, which are used to determine the damage modifiers for the Paladin’s Melee (STR) and Spellcasting (CHA) Abilities. This will also increase all Skills that fall under these Stat umbrellas giving you the potential to have better success on appropriate Saving Throws and Ability Checks.
Sentinel
| Feat Name | Description | Requirements |
| Sentinel | When an enemy within melee range attacks an ally, you can use a reaction to make a weapon attack against that enemy. Target ally must not have the Sentinel Feat. You gain Advantage on Opportunity Attacks, and when you hit a creature with an Opportunity Attack, it can no longer move for the rest of its tum. | Level 4 (All Classes) |
Sentinel is the perfect Feat to incorporate into any tanky, melee-range build, such as a Fighter or Paladin. With Sentinel equipped, you will get the opportunity to use your Reaction to make a weapon attack on any enemy target within five feet who targets one of your allies. With the possibility of triggering this Reaction Attack on every round of combat, the potential for dealing a nice chunk of extra damage is very high.
Furthermore, you’ll gain Advantage on all of your Opportunity Attacks, plus cut the target’s Movement Speed to zero for the rest of its turn if you hit one of these Opportunity Attacks, forcing the enemy to remain in your melee range and take more damage on your next turn. With how valuable the Paladin is when operating as a melee frontline fighter, Sentinel enables you to dominate the melee range and control the flow of battle.
Great Weapon Master
| Feat Name | Description | Requirements |
| Great Weapon Master | When you land a Critical Hit or kill a target with a melee weapon attack, you can make another melee weapon attack as a bonus action that turn. Attacks with Heavy melee weapons you are Proficient with, can deal an additional 10 damage at the cost of a -5 Attack Roll penalty. (You can toggle this on and off.) | Level 4 (All Classes) |
Great Weapon Master enables your Paladin to become a huge threat in melee combat, granting the valuable perk of being able to use your Bonus Action to make a melee weapon attack whenever you land a Critical Hit or kill an enemy, once per round. If you’re able to prioritize your targets so that you’re picking off enemies with the finishing blow on each turn, you’ll trigger Great Weapon Master consistently, essentially giving you something similar to an Action Surge, but with the opportunity to be triggered more than once.
Additionally, you can toggle a bonus effect that enables you to take a -5 penalty to Attack Rolls made with Heavy Melee Weapons in which you have Proficiency, but provide an extra +10 points to your damage roll, making you extremely lethal to opponents if you’re able to consistently hit Attack Rolls through improving your STR Stat.
Shield Master
| Feat Name | Description | Requirements |
| Shield Master | You gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity Saving Throws while wielding a Shield. If a spell forces you to make a Dexterity Saving Throw, you can use a reaction to Shield yourself and diminish the effect’s damage. On a failed Saving Throw, you only take half damage. On a successful Saving Throw, you don’t take any damage. | Level 4 (All Classes) |
Most Paladin builds focus on STR due to this being the Damage Modifier for many Weapons that the Paladin utilizes. However, this Class can also work when using DEX instead of STR and utilizing Finesse Weapons, such as a Rapier or certain Swords. If you’ve opted to run a DEX Paladin for your playthrough, Shield Master is one of the best Feats you can consider for your build.
When selecting this Feat, you’ll gain a +2 bonus to DEX Saving Throws when wielding a Shield in one of your hands, further increasing what should be an already solid number, and allowing you to become even more durable on the field. You can also take a Reaction to use this Shield when you are required to make a DEX Saving Throw, taking zero damage if you succeed in the Save, and only half damage if you fail. This is a huge benefit for the Paladin, giving much more survivability and enabling you to play aggressively on the frontline where you shine the best.
Heavy Armor Master
| Feat Name | Description | Requirements |
| Heavy Armor Master | Your Strength increases by 1, to a maximum of 20. Incoming damage from non-magical attacks also decreases by 3 while you’re wearing heavy armor. | Level 4 (All Classes) |
Heavy Armor Master can be incorporated into your Paladin build to help buff your character’s defensive attributes. When selecting this Feat, your Strength Stat will increase by +1, which is a massive benefit to the Paladin as one of their priority Stats, allowing you to get another step closer to maxing it out at 20.
All incoming non-magical damage that you receive is also reduced by 3 damage points while you’re wearing Heavy Armor, allowing you to maintain a high AC and reduce incoming damage, which are both very important for Paladins due to their heavy involvement within the melee range of the enemy frontline.
That’s everything you need to know about the best Feats for the Paladin Class in Baldur’s Gate 3. Now that you’ve identified some of the best options to incorporated into your build, why not check out our complete guide for the Investigate the Ruins and Dark Crypt Sarcophagus Quest? This is one of the first Dungeons you’ll encounter during your playthrough, so we’ve got all the best tips and tricks to help you get through it efficiently.
Published: Aug 15, 2023 05:02 am