V. FeatsAgain, with the Paladin demanding intensive attention both on a physical stat (STR or DEX) and on CHA, the opportunities to take feats are very limited. A typical Paladin with at least +2 worth of bonuses in relevant stats and a 15, 15, 13, 10, 10, 8 point buy can take only one feat (two if a Variant Human) if they want 20s in both their attack stat and CHA. Some Paladins can justify taking more feats at the expense of leaving their CHA at 18 or even 16, but they’d better make sure that trade-off is worth it (and again, Variant Human helps).
Because feats are going to come at a premium for most Paladins, it’s very important to pick wisely, and preferably with an eye toward the long term. Hence, you’ll see a lot of feats rated lower than you might expect, otherwise, many of them red, even.
Great Weapon Master: If you use a great weapon, this is mandatory; don’t bother otherwise. If you don’t take this feat, you might as well just go sword-and-board, because the -5 hit/+10 damage trade makes up pretty much the entire reason a Paladin would even want to consider a great weapon. To make that trade work out, you at the very least need to cast Bless or have it cast on you. Devotion can go one better with Sacred Weapon and a good Charisma, and Vengeance does another better still with Vow of Enmity, and later Haste and Soul of Vengeance for additional attacks. Having a party that can consistently set you up with advantage is also highly beneficial to making this work out for you. Also, while the bonus-action attacks on crits and death blows are not the headline of this feat, they’re certainly valuable against bosses and hordes alike. It’s also terrific for glaives and halberds, but Polearm Master is the higher priority there.
Inspiring Leader: Someone in the party really ought to take this, and it’s very possible that someone will be you. The amount of temporary hit points for the whole party every short rest is just way too good. If someone else has it covered instead (likely a Bard, Sorcerer or Warlock), then you don’t need to worry about it.
Polearm Master: Mandatory if you’re going to use a polearm as a main weapon; no need to bother if you’re not. This feat effectively makes for a better version of dual-wielding, with the butt-end attack adding your STR-modifier and also compatible with Great Weapon Master’s hit/damage trade if you have room for that feat in your build. Also getting another trigger for Opportunity Attacks is great, which leads to the particularly vicious synergy this feat has against approaching foes with Sentinel, again if you have room for that feat after.
Resilient (CON): Ranges from a very good idea to outright mandatory depending on how often you plan on using spells that require Concentration. Great Weapon Vengeance Paladins who want to use Haste to its fullest potential are the most likely to consider this mandatory. Conquest and Redemption Paladins who rely on control spells that need concentration to maintain are also likely to consider this mandatory. Aura of Protection + CON save proficiency + decent CON can get those vital Concentration saves into auto-success territory vs. DC 10, and even vs. higher DCs than that at higher levels and with more CHA bumps. And CON save proficiency in general is very good to have, as it protects against a lot of incapacitating and stunning sort of effects. And on top of this you even get a +1 to CON to bump up an odd score to the next modifier, or allow you to start with an odd score if planning your build ahead for this feat.
Sentinel: Reminiscent of the 4e Fighter’s two main defender abilities, this feat can do wonders in locking down an enemy up front. More opportunities to make attack rolls, and thus crit and attach a doubled Divine Smite, are always a good thing, and this feat provides them big-time with allowing Opportunity Attacks against Disengaging enemies and reaction attacks to punish enemies for attacking your allies. At Lv. 11 with Improved Divine Smite, you’re better still at taking advantage of this. Even better if your DM uses the Marking rule (DMG p. 271), or if you took Polearm Master.
Alert: +5 to initiative is generally useful, and that’s no exception for you. If a Wizard casts Hold Person/Monster, it sure is nice to be as high up in the initiative order as possible so you can get those auto-crit Smites.
Defensive Duelist: Good for DEX-Paladins to very possibly turn a melee attack hit into a miss against them every round. Don’t need to consider taking it until Lv. 8 or higher, though, when you have a higher proficiency bonus.
Heavy Armor Master: Fantastic at early levels (ESPECIALLY if a Variant Human takes it at Lv. 1). The damage reduction’s impact lessens somewhat as you get higher level, but it’s never a waste even then. You also get +1 STR.
Magic Initiate: 2 cantrips and a 1st-level spell 1/long rest from a full caster class. Several good options for this one. Wizard for Find Familiar and some stat-independent cantrips (e.g. Prestidigitation, Light, Mage Hand, Booming Blade (SCAG)). Or either Sorcerer or Warlock for cantrips that actually are compatible with your casting stat, including some ranged attack options like Eldritch Blast (Warlock) or Fire Bolt and/or Ray of Frost (Sorcerer). Green-Flame Blade is also an option if you pick one those two CHA-casting classes, and Booming Blade is, too. Though Sorcerer and Warlock 1st-level spell options aren’t so great (things like Shield, Absorb Elements and Hex are far less useful when limited to 1/long rest).
Shield Master: One of the more controversial feats recently. The newest Sage Advice isn’t perfectly clear, either, but it at least seems to allow for you to bonus-action shove after making one attack with your action (and thus committing to taking an Attack action), and then making your other attack(s) after. Which makes this pretty good from Lv. 5 onward, as you can at least get one attack with advantage after shoving prone. Becomes even better if your DM rules that you can shove before all your attacks as long as you declare you’re taking the Attack action. Becomes rather third-rate if your DM rules you can only shove after making all attacks of your Attack action. The two DEX-save benefits are pretty nice, too, but let’s face it, that’s not what you’re really here for.
Lucky: Basically THE can’t-go-wrong feat of the game. Good for whenever you have nothing else to take, but that probably won’t be you.
Mobile: Extra speed, Dash over difficult terrain and a limited Disengage-type benefit. Not awful, it helps make up for a Paladin’s generally mundane movement capabilities.
Mounted Combatant: You do have Find Steed to summon a mount for free. If you’re playing in a campaign conducive to mounted combat (e.g. war campaign, or any campaign taking place in mostly open areas), the advantage on attacks against anything Medium or smaller, taking all hits in place of your mount and effectively Evasion for the mount are all prime benefits.
Ritual Caster: The 13 INT or WIS requirement makes this rate lower for Paladins than for a lot of other classes, but if you happened to roll well enough to get one of those qualifying scores, this feat can come in quite handy. Learning rituals and casting them out of the book (no preparation required) is great for resource management.
War Caster: For most pure Paladins, Resilient (CON) is the preferred concentration boosting feat, since that feat can simply just put your concentration saves into auto-success territory in a lot of cases. Even if you use a shield, putting the holy symbol on your shield makes the somatic components benefit of this feat much less meaningful. V,S,M spells can be cast fully armed and shielded, and as for V,S, just cast those before drawing your weapon. However, this feat does become a lot more valuable for Paladins who somehow got Booming Blade and/or Green-Flame Blade (e.g. High Elf or Half Elf with High lineage, Magic Initiate feat) and would thus be able to cast those cantrips as especially devastating opportunity attacks. For them, this feat may very well be preferable to Resilient (CON). And if you’re sword-and-board and multiclassing Sorcerer and taking the likes of Shield and Absorb Elements, this becomes straight-up mandatory, as those are somatic spells that you can only cast on reaction.
Dual Wielder: Even dual-wielding Paladins typically have better things to take.
Healer: Good benefits for healing kit use, but this feat should typically be left to a Thief.
Mage Slayer: Effective if you fight a lot of spellcasters, but you’ll likely have higher priorities.
Skilled: 3 more skill (or tool) proficiencies is nice, but you're feat and ASI-starved. Just no room to make this a priority.
Tavern Brawler: +1 STR or CON, bonus-action grapple and better unarmed attacks. Interesting if you want to make a niche grappler build, but Paladin isn’t exactly the best class for that.
Athlete: +1 STR or DEX and a few benefits you don’t really need. Pass.
Actor: +1 CHA, but you’re not a Bard and Deception and Performance are likely not your thing. Pass.
Charger: You know, I’ll actually give it this much: Paladins are really about the only class that can actually do something with the attack from this, thanks to Divine Smite. And you know what? They STILL shouldn’t take this. That’s how bad this feat is, and how feat-starved Paladins are.
Crossbow Expert: Don’t bother. Paladin features are not geared toward ranged combat. Ranged is a last resort for you, and you should take feats for what you’re already good at, instead.
Dungeon Delver: Leave the trapfinding to the Rogue.
Durable: Just take +2 CON, or even Resilient (CON), instead.
Elemental Adept: You’re not a Wizard or Sorcerer (and it’s not all that great for them, either).
Grappler: Useless even for characters who actually grapple. Grapple + shove accomplishes everything this feat does but better. Pin is beyond worthless as written.
Heavily Armored/Lightly Armored/Moderately Armored/Weapon Master: You’re already proficient in all armor, shields, and weapons.
Keen Mind: Boosts a dump stat with marginal benefits attached.
Linguist: +1 INT, three languages and a secret writing code. Whatever.
Martial Adept: A single d6 Superiority Die is weak. Multiclass 3 Fighter levels if you want maneuvers that badly.
Medium Armor Master: A DEX-Paladin could get 1 more AC with this feat than from studded leather, but that’s hardly worth an entire feat.
Observant: Don’t bother.
Savage Attacker: Damage reroll only applies to the weapon dice, so no Smite damage rerolls for this one. Weaksauce.
Sharpshooter: Don’t bother with ranged feats.
Skulker: The first benefit post-errata is of questionable worth even for DEX-Paladins who care about Stealth. And the rest of it is isn’t much better.
Spell Sniper: Take Magic Initiate instead. This one sucks.
Tough: Just take +2 CON, instead. Or better yet, Resilient (CON) if it bumps up an odd CON score to the next modifier.
Racial Feats (XGTE)
A new concept introduced with the XGTE, Racial Feats can only be taken by characters of a certain race. To be honest, only a few of these are really worth taking in general, and especially for a feat-starved class like the Paladin.
Elven Accuracy (Elf or Half-Elf): One of the few racial feats that can genuinely be a good pick, especially tasty for Oath of Vengeance, and specifically if you attack with DEX. Or alternatively, if you’re going to take a Warlock (Hexblade) dip for full CHA-attacking. It gives you a sort of “super advantage” when you have advantage on attacks with those attributes. You also get +1 to DEX or CHA (or INT or WIS). STR-attackers, forget about it.
Fey Teleportation (High Elf): Misty Step 1/short rest, and also +1 CHA (or INT) and extra language. Not bad, actually.
Prodigy (Human or Half-Elf or Half-Orc): Free skill proficiency, tool proficiency, language and, the best part, Expertise of one skill. Can actually be a worthwhile pick if you want a more irresistible shove by Expertising Athletics (i.e. Oath of Conquest or Shield Master).
Bountiful Luck (Halfling): Basically extend your Lucky trait to an ally. Eh.
Dragon Fear (Dragonborn): Actually highly recommended for Oath of Conquest at Lv. 7+, giving you another nice mass fear power to work with your Aura of Conquest, and you also add +1 to STR, CHA or CON for your troubles. For everyone else, meh.
Dragon Hide (Dragonborn): Natural armor and natural weapons for unarmed strikes. Typically not worth it.
Drow High Magic (Drow): Detect Magic at will and Levitate and Dispel Magic (CHA-based) with 1/day slotless casting. Still not really worth a feat.
Infernal Constitution (Tiefling): Resistance to cold and poison damage and advantage on saves vs. poison. Still not really worth a precious feat slot. +1 CON, too, which is nice at least.
Orcish Fury (Half-Orc): 1/short rest modest damage boost and a highly conditional extra attack when you’re about to get KO-ed but use Relentless Endurance. Meh.
Second Chance (Halfling): 1/short rest make an enemy reroll an attack against you when you get hit. Again, not really worth a whole feat slot.
Squat Nimbleness (Dwarf or Small race): Faster walking speed to match other races, free Athletics or Acrobatics proficiency and easier grapple escapes. Not really inspiring.
Wood Elf Magic (Wood Elf): Free Druid cantrip and Longstrider and Pass Without Trace as slotless casts 1/long rest. Eh.
Dwarven Fortitude (Dwarf): A feat for some weak-ish healing. No.
Fade Away (Gnome): Doesn’t make Gnomes any more attractive as a Paladin race.
Flames of Phlegethos (Tiefling): You don’t have that many quality fire spells, or fire spells at all.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7prrWqKmlnF6kv6h706GpnpmUqHyowcidnGalqWLEsL7DZqCsZZ2uerTDzqubZqyYmnqxrcuam6KmXZzCqrDEZ2twbGBognA%3D