Author Topic: Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?  (Read 5083 times)

Offline SaintAtlas

  • Lurker
  • *
  • Posts: 3
  • I'm new!
    • View Profile
Hi guys, it's my first post here so thanks in advance for any help! I'm presently running a level 4 human vengeance paladin with the polearm master feat, a +1 glaive, and 16/10/13/8/10/16 stats at my local adventure league. I took the sentinel feat at level 4 and have gotten some good use out of it alongside my polearm to give me better field control and maximize my attacks, especially for when I improved divine smite at level 11, but I'm questioning if GWM might give me better mileage with my access to vow of enmity and that battlemasters seem to use the PAM+sentinel combo more effectively. My plan is to take con resilience at level 8 so I can abuse haste at level 9 without worry of losing my concentration, thus tacking on an additional +10 damage on each of potentially 5 attacks seems like it might be more up a vengeance paladin's alley. Could someone offer some sage advice to my little conundrum?

Offline Raineh Daze

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 10577
  • hi
    • View Profile
Re: Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2017, 11:16:24 PM »
Personally, with Oath of Vengeance I tend to like some combination of Sentinel/Mage Slayer/Polearm Master. You get Misty Step as an OoV paladin so if you just want to have one character go shut down an enemy spellcaster, may as well be you--with sentinel and mage slayer the only choice is to normal attack you or get hit in the face for it.

Offline SaintAtlas

  • Lurker
  • *
  • Posts: 3
  • I'm new!
    • View Profile
Re: Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2017, 12:26:43 AM »
Doesn't mage slayer only work on creatures within 5 feet of you? Couldn't they just take a step back and cast their spell?

Offline Raineh Daze

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 10577
  • hi
    • View Profile
Re: Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2017, 12:51:54 AM »
IIRC correctly, Sentinel means they get hit for trying to do that. Are 5' steps still a thing in 5E? I thought they weren't.

Offline SaintAtlas

  • Lurker
  • *
  • Posts: 3
  • I'm new!
    • View Profile
Re: Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2017, 12:56:18 AM »
I believe because polearm weapons have a 10 ft range you can back off to 10 ft without receiving an opportunity attack since you're not "leaving a hostile enemy's reach".

Offline Raineh Daze

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 10577
  • hi
    • View Profile
Re: Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?
« Reply #5 on: December 25, 2017, 12:59:28 AM »
But you are. You're just coming back into it.

I mean, if you want to avoid a particularly asinine case of rules lawyering, then yes. Avoid polearms + mage slayer.

But my point still stands. Sentinel + Mage Slayer seems to be a great way to deal with mages. You give up the 10' of a polearm (if the ruling is that you can dance around from 5' to 10' and back again) but you do get the "teleport to a spellcaster and ruin their day" ability. And you can just carry two weapons to deal with both situations.

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 7639
  • classique style , invisible tail
    • View Profile
Re: Sentinel or GWM feat for a vengeance paladin with polearm master?
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2018, 05:00:35 PM »
(late)

If your DM will let you try out both feats, to see which fits your play style and/or "feelings" , go for it.
Neither is the better or worse choice if you like it.

Hard numbers ... easiest maths set up :
60% chance to hit + 5th level's 2 attacks + PAM bonus = 1.8 * 2d8 = ~ 16.2
35% chance to hit + 5th level's 2 attacks + PAM bonus = 1.05 * 10 = ~ 10.5
GWM's ~cleave effect isn't really calculatable, so there's a + ? boost to consider.
Your codpiece is a mimic.