You are a Paladin who follows the Oath of the Crown, but what does this mean? It means that, above all else, you believe in upholding the law, maintaining loyalty, and dealing with the consequences of your actions.
In return for upholding these tenets in the world of Baldur’s Gate 3, you are given the power to protect your allies in a far greater way than any Fighter or Cleric. You are given the ability to smite your foes with divine justice.
Are you prepared to take up this oath? If so, here is how best to build the Oath of the Crown Paladin.
Best Character Creation Settings for Oath of the Crown Paladin
While you can create your own character for the Oath of the Crown Paladin, you can also use origin characters. Karlach makes a great Paladin, and Minthara, recruited later in the game, is also a great Paladin.
If you want to create your own character, there are some great choices to make.
Best Race Selections
Multiple races make good choices for Oath of the Crown Paladins. I recommend using any of the following races:
|
Race |
Bonuses |
|---|---|
|
Zariel Tiefling |
Tieflings get Darkvision and have fire resistance. More specifically, Zariel Tieflings gain the Thaumaturgy cantrip, as well as the Searing Smite and Branding Smite spells. |
|
Gold Dwarf |
Dwarves get Darkvision and advantage on saving throws against poison. Gold Dwarves also get additional health for each level, making them much tougher. |
|
Half-Orc |
Half-Orcs also have Darkvision. On top of this, they get Relentless Endurance, allowing them to regain a hit point instead of getting downed, as well as Savage Attacks, which lets them deal an extra dice of damage when they roll a critical hit. |
My go-to choice for Paladins in general is the Zariel Tiefling, as this race gets two additional Smite spells, giving you more spells to work with. This way, if you happen to run out of smites, you can fall back to using your racial smites, which you get after each long rest.
If you don’t want the extra smites, you can fall back on the Gold Dwarf, which gets extra hit points per level, allowing them to be tankier than most other races, or the Half-Orc, which gets a great damage buff on critical hits and Relentless Endurance.
Best Background/Skills Selections
When it comes to choosing your character’s background, the best for a Paladin are often Acolyte for its Insight and Religion, Soldier for Athletics and Intimidation, or Outlander for Athletics and Survival. I typically stick with Acolyte for the Insight skill since Paladins are Charisma casters and I like to do the talking.
As for skill choices, I recommend taking Intimidation and Persuasion if you like to be the face of your party, as these are great for talking out situations. You can switch out Intimidation with Medicine if you want some extra knowledge of healing.
Best Ability Score Choices
Paladins are very much strength-based characters who are meant to tank hits and strike back hard. They also rely heavily on Charisma to cast their spells. For these reasons, you will be focusing on Charisma and Strength for your two main stats.
|
Ability |
Score |
|---|---|
|
Strength |
17 |
|
Dexterity |
8 |
|
Constitution |
14 |
|
Intelligence |
8 |
|
Wisdom |
10 |
|
Charisma |
16 |
I recommend setting your Strength score to 17, as this is your primary attack stat, and you should set your Charisma to 16, as this will be used for all of your spells. After that, Constitution is set to 14, as this will make sure you have health to tank hits.
The other three stats don’t matter as much, but I chose to keep Wisdom at 10 for the sake of my skills. Intelligence and Dexterity are both set to 8 because they aren’t needed. Most of the time, I will be wearing heavy armor, which removes the Dexterity bonus to Armor Class, making it useless.
Oath of the Crown Paladin Abilities/Feats
The Oath of the Crown Paladin takes the role of the tank very seriously, as it has multiple abilities that help draw enemy attention and protect its allies. You will get the following abilities as you level up:
|
Ability |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Righteous Clarity |
Allows the target to add their proficiency bonus to attack rolls. |
|
Champion Challenge |
Compel enemies around you to attack you. Also imposes disadvantage on enemies that attack your allies. |
|
Turn the Tide |
Heal nearby allies. |
|
Oath Spells |
|
|
Divine Allegiance |
Allows you to use your reaction to substitute your own health with your allies’, healing them, while you take radiant damage. |
CommandThese powerful abilities will help keep your allies from getting harmed throughout the campaign, and should always be used during battle to help keep everyone alive. When you get access to Feats, consider the following:
|
Feat |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Sentinel |
Allows you to use your reaction to attack an enemy that attacks a nearby ally. Also grants you advantage on attacks of opportunity. When you hit an enemy with an opportunity attack, they cannot move for the rest of the turn. |
|
War Caster |
Grants you advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration. |
|
Alert |
You gain a +5 bonus to initiative and can’t be surprised. |
|
Durable |
Regain full hit points each time you take a short rest. Also increases your Constitution score by 1. |
|
Great Weapon Master |
Allows you to make another melee attack as a bonus action after you score a critical hit or kill an enemy. |
|
Tough |
Your hit point maximum increases by 2 for every level you have gained. |
When it comes to Feats, I recommend taking Sentinel, Great Weapon Master, and Tough. These will allow you to further help your allies by using your reaction to attack enemies that attack them, get extra hits each time you land a critical hit or kill an enemy, and grant you more hit points.
If you frequently find yourself losing concentration, consider taking the War Caster Feat, as this will help prevent that from happening. I typically use a lot of smites, making this Feat unnecessary. The Durable Feat is okay to take instead of Tough if you want to get more health back with each short rest, allowing you to be better prepared for future fights.
On top of this, you will get to choose a fighting style at level 2. The two best fighting styles for the Oath of the Crown Paladin are Protection, if you plan on using a shield, or Defense, if you want to increase your armor class even further.
Oath of the Crown Paladin Spell Choices
Paladins only get access to up to third-level spells. Because of this, you get to choose a lot of spells as you level up, making the spell choices much easier. I recommend the following spells:
|
Spell |
Level |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Heal a creature you can touch. |
|
|
1 |
Possibly inflict an enemy with fear. |
|
|
1 |
Grants up to 3 targets +1d4 on attack rolls and saving throws. |
|
|
Divine Favor |
1 |
Your weapon attacks deal an additional 1-4 radiant damage. |
|
1 |
Increase the target’s armor class by +2. |
|
|
1 |
Push your target away and possibly knock them prone. |
|
|
2 |
Heal your allies and increase their hit point maximum by 5 points. |
|
|
2 |
On hit, it possibly marks the target with light. |
|
|
2 |
Cure a creature from disease, poison, paralysis, or blindness. |
|
|
Blinding Smite |
3 |
Possibly inflict blind on your target. |
|
Elemental Weapon |
3 |
+1 bonus to attack rolls and adds extra elemental damage. |
|
3 |
Remove curses and hexes affecting a creature. |
|
|
3 |
Revive a companion. They return to life with 1 hit point. |
Cure Wounds
Wrathful Smite
Bless
Shield of Faith
Thunderous Smite
Aid
Branding Smite
Lesser Restoration
Remove Curse
RevivifyWhen it comes to spells, your smites will be your most powerful and useful on the battlefield. These can be used to decimate foes, and if you miss, you don’t expend a spell slot, making the consequences of using them minimal.
You will also get additional spells from your Oath. These include 
Compelled Duel, which is great for taking aggro, Spiritual Weapon, which allows you to summon a magical weapon to aid you in combat, and 
Spirit Guardianswhich can help shield you and your allies from enemies that get too close.
If you want additional spells, it doesn’t hurt to take a few levels in Sorcerer, as this will increase your ranged spell options, making you a greater threat across the battlefield.
Best Equipment For Oath of the Crown Paladin
|
Equipment |
Slot |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Weapon |
Regain 1-6 hit points when you hit with this weapon. |
|
|
Weapon |
Doubles the damage from your strength modifier when you hit, grants advantage on attack rolls against large and greater creatures, and grants you the Giant Form class action. |
|
|
Weapon |
Allows you to reduce the weapon’s enchantment by 1 to increase your armor class and saving throw bonus for the next turn. |
|
|
Off-Hand |
Use your reaction to deal 2-8 force damage to a melee attacker, possibly knocking it prone. Grants you the Reflective Spell class action and the Warding Bond spell. |
|
|
Off-Hand |
The shield comes back to you after you throw it. |
|
|
Helldusk Armor |
Chest |
Succeeding on a saving throw burns the caster for 3 turns, you gain resistance to fire, and you take 3 less damage from all sources. Also grants the Fly spell. |
|
Armor of Persistence |
Chest |
You are granted the Resistance and Blade Ward spells. Also reduces all incoming damage by 2. |
|
Adamantine Splint Armor |
Chest |
Critical hits cannot hit you, and it reduces all damage by 2. |
|
Helm of the Balduran |
Head |
Gain 2 health per turn, get a +1 bonus to armor class and saving throws, you can’t be stunned, and you cannot be hit by critical hits. |
|
Head |
Prevents you from being blinded and allows you to see in magical and ordinary darkness. It also grants the Immolating Gaze class action and a +2 bonus to saving throws against spells. |
|
|
Helldusk Boots |
Feet |
Prevents you from being moved by spells or actions, ignores the effects of difficult terrain, allows you to succeed failed saving throws, and grants the Hellcrawler class action. |
|
Feet |
Armor class +1. Acrobatics +1. |
|
|
Cloak of Protection |
Back |
Armor class +1. Saving throw +1. |
|
Cloak of the Weave |
Back |
+1 bonus to spell save and spell attack rolls, absorb elemental damage per long rest, take half damage from elemental attacks, and deal additional elemental damage. |
|
Nymph Cloak |
Back |
Grants the Dominate Person spell. |
|
Vivacious Cloak |
Back |
When you cast a spell in melee range, gain 7 temporary hit points. |
|
Craterflesh Gloves |
Hands |
Deal additional force damage when you score a critical hit. |
|
Hands |
Strength increased to 23. |
|
|
Hands |
Gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls with weapons. |
|
|
Hands |
When you heal a creature, it gains the effect of Blade Ward. When you revive a creature, it gains the effect of Death Ward. Strength Saving Throws +1. Grants the Revivify spell. |
|
|
Gloves of Heroism |
Hands |
Gain Heroism when you use your channel oath spells. |
Sword of Chaos
Balduran’s Giantslayer
Defender Greataxe
Viconia’s Walking Fortress
Shield of Returning
Helldusk Helmet
Evasive Shoes
Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength
Legacy of the Masters
The Reviving HandsWhen it comes to combat, I prefer to use two-handed weapons rather than a shield. I often find the defense of the Paladin to be acceptable without needing a shield, and would rather have the damage output, which is why I recommend using the Sword of Chaos, as it heals you every time you get a hit.
If you have access to it, use Balduran’s Giantslayer, as this is the only +3 greatsword, and it deals great damage. As an added bonus, you can assume a giant form while wielding the weapon. Early in the game, you can use the Hamarhraft, as it is fun to maneuver the battlefield with, since jumping causes damage to enemies and allies.
If you decide to use a shield, Viconia’s Walking Fortress is perfect for its defense, and it allows you to knock enemies prone using your reaction, while also dealing damage to them. While most shields are good, I find that the Shield of Returning is a personal favorite because it grants me some form of ranged attack if needed.
The Helldusk Armor is perhaps the best in the game for anyone who can use heavy armor, as this armor has some great perks and is a +3 armor set. The Adamantine Splint Armor is also great for avoiding critical hits, but is unnecessary if you are using the Balduran Helm.
I recommend using the Nymph Cloak if you want to be able to use Dominate Person. This is very strong and is one of the ways a Paladin can get access to a 5th-level spell. I also recommend the Cloak of Protection for an additional bonus to your armor class. Being a walking fortress is great when you are a tank class, such as a Paladin.
The Helldusk Boots are the best choice since they grant the Hellcrawler ability, allowing you to teleport to your allies. You also can’t be forcibly moved with them on, making you even more of a walking fortress.
The gauntlet slot has a range of options. You have the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, if you want an added strength bonus for higher damage, the Reviving Hands, if you want to further help your allies whenever you heal them, the Gloves of Heroism, if you want to gain Heroism whenever you channel your oath, or Legacy of the Masters, if you want a smaller bonus to damage and attack rolls.
Of these gloves, I recommend using the Legacy of the Masters or the Reviving Hands. I find them to be the most useful, with the Reviving Hands coming in clutch on many occasions when you have squishy allies.
Baldur’s Gate 3
- Released
-
August 3, 2023
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Engine
-
Divinity 4.0
