Best Feats For Paladins In BG3

Summary

• Paladins in Baldur’s Gate 3 can utilize both magic and non-magic attacks, making them versatile in battle and able to deal high damage.
• Feats like Sentinel, Savage Attacker, and Great Weapon Master are particularly useful for paladins, granting extra attacks, increased damage, and the ability to protect allies.
• Other recommended feats for paladins include Tough, Durable, Alert, War Caster, Lucky, Mage Slayer, and Heavy Armor Master, each offering unique benefits such as increased health, improved concentration, better initiative, and reduced damage from non-magical attacks.

Baldur’s Gate 3 comes with many classes to choose from. If you want to smooth-talk your way out of fights and enjoy supporting your party from afar, then classes like Bard and Cleric are great options. If you want to head straight into the fight and start hitting your foes head-on, then the paladin is the perfect class.

Paladins have the potential to utilize both magic and non-magic attacks to gain the upper hand in battle, so you can vary your play style however you want and still hit hard. Feats are an important part of Baldur’s Gate 3, so it’s good to know which ones are the best for you.

Updated on January 28, 2025, by Alfredo Robelo: One of the best classes of Dungeons & Dragons is, unexpectedly, one of the best ones in Baldur’s Gate 3, and knowing how to improve it can get you a long way into fulfilling its potential. Whether you are playing the base game or modding to have even more levels, we have added a few more feats to this article to make your paladin the best it can be.

17

Athlete

Jump Everywhere

Whenever you aren’t sure what you want to pick when looking for feats, look for ones that raise one of your basic attributes. As a paladin, you will be dealing most of your damage with Strength and Charisma, although Strength takes a significantly larger role with such a melee-focused class.

The main benefit of the athlete feat comes when positioning yourself, since high-Strength characters can get a lot of mileage from the jump action. If you jump before moving, the jump will eat up quite a bit less of your movement bar, which lets you get to places that simply running to would be impossible.

16

Charger

Freedom Of Movement

Sometimes, you need to swap focus between one enemy and the next, but the danger of opportunity attacks from surrounding enemies might keep you at bay. With the charger feat, you can slip past your enemy’s defenses and slam your weapon against a further-away opponent, and you even deal extra damage on a hit.

The charge can also be used to reach further away than your movement might allow you, since while you need an action and bonus action to charge, you don’t need to have any spare movement. You can also use the charge to simply shove your enemies down a cliff, although doing so won’t count as an attack in case your paladin already unlocked its second hit per round.

15

Dungeon Delver

Find All The Treasures

The only paladin that can join you on your adventures is Minthara, so if you are looking for the ideal paladin build, chances are you yourself will be the paladin. As such, you will be delving into several dungeons in your adventures face-first, so if you don’t want to be constantly swapping to a rogue, then dungeon delver is the feat for you.

Minthara can be recruited during Act 2 if you let her live after Act 1.

The ability it gives you to find hidden things isn’t only useful for dungeons, but for exploring the great outdoors as well. Nearly all hidden chests in the game will be at your disposal, making the odds of you missing out on an item incredibly slim.

14

Sentinel

Perfect For Tanks

The Sentinel feat is great for paladins who also have other melee-focused characters on their team. The feat allows you to use your reaction to attack an enemy that attacks an ally within range, which can be perfect for punishing strikes against party members who have less health and protection and gives your reaction more utility.

You also gain an advantage on opportunity attacks, and your opportunity attacks temporarily immobilize enemies, preventing enemies from running away. This feat is particularly excellent for tight spaces like doorways, potentially stopping any invading forces from getting past you.

13

Polearm Master

A Perfect Combo With Sentinel

If you’re interested in using polearm weapons for your playthrough, this feat is a must-have. It’ll let you make a weaker extra attack with your bonus action whenever you use your attack action, and it’ll trigger opportunity attacks when someone enters your reach – which is now ten feet/three meters, thanks to polearm weapons.

This feat and Sentinel are a famous combo because, since Polearm Master has a new trigger for opportunity attacks, you can immobilize enemies with this attack if you have Sentinel, preventing melee enemies from reaching you in the first place.

12

Magic Initiate

Pick A Class That Relies On Charisma, Preferably

If you wish to rely on your charisma more than your strength, Magic Initiate will be very helpful. It’ll give you access to two cantrips and a first-level spell. Cantrips, as usual, can be used whenever, while the first-level spell can be used once per long rest.

Magic Initiate has a few variations based on different classes, so if you want cantrips that cause damage, be sure to pick a class that uses Charisma for their attacks (warlock, sorcerer, or bard, essentially). Our main recommendation would be warlock, so you can access Eldritch Blast. Still, if you’re not searching for something that causes damage, the cleric and druid variations have great supporting cantrips and spells.

11

Savage Attacker

Smite Harder

Savage Attacker is a great feat for nearly any damage-focused character. The feat gives you two rolls of the damage dice, and the higher roll is used. The feat is useful to get that extra boost in damage. Paladins can use Divine Smite, which deals an additional 2d8 radiant damage when using a first-level spell slot, and it gains an additional d8 when you upcast it.

Using Savage Attacker here means you’ll re-roll the damage dice for both your normal damage and the radiant damage, giving you a huge boost in the total output. When you hit level 11, you gain Improved Divine Smite, which gives you 1d8 radiant damage to your attacks without consuming anything – it’s a free half-Smite.

10

Great Weapon Master

Shields Are For Losers

The Great Weapon Master feat grants an additional attack when you make a critical hit or kill a creature with a melee attack. An additional attack can give you a huge advantage during a fight since you can cause even more damage in your turn, especially if you have some spell slots to burn on Smite. The extra attack costs a bonus action, though.

The feat also provides a plus ten to your damage roll but a minus five to your attack roll, meaning you can add ten to your damage, but you’re less likely to actually land the hit. It’s a risk-and-reward mechanic that can be toggled on and off, depending on your preference. Once you reach high levels, have great stats, and a powerful +3 legendary weapon, though, you won’t even notice that penalty.

You can toggle the penalty feature on and off, so you can remove the cost of the attack roll if you don’t want to use it.

9

Shield Master

Two-Handed Weapons Are For Losers

If shields are part of your build, and your Dexterity isn’t the best, then Shield Master can help you out. First, it’ll give you a +2 to your Dexterity saving throws, which will stack with your Aura of Protection, giving your Dexterity saving throws a bonus of two plus your Charisma bonus.

Then, whenever you pass a dexterity saving throw against spells, you can trigger Shield Master with your reaction and take no damage at all instead of half the damage. Annulling all incoming damage is a powerful trait to have.

8

Tough

A Beautiful Health Boost

Tough is a decent feat for those characters out on the frontline. The feat adds two points to the maximum HP score for every level, meaning you have the potential to create a character that can tank a lot of damage. Mix this feat with the Amulet of Greater Health, an Aid spell, and a Hero’s Feast, and your health bar will be huge.

Constitution is a good statistic to focus on for any character, since it affects your hit points and your stamina. Many items can increase your health, but if you’re looking for something to give you a little help during the early parts of the game, then the Tough Feat is a good option.

This feat also allows you to have a good health bar while also focusing on Strength and Charisma, since paladins have three ability scores to watch out for.

7

Durable

For Better Recoveries

Durable is another feat that allows you to gain a point on your constitution. It also allows you to regain all your health on a short rest. With short and long rests being incredibly important for healing and replenishing slots, regaining all health points on a short rest makes it a powerful feat.

It can be especially useful if you’re in dangerous areas that don’t allow for long rests or if your party’s healing output is low. Your party’s paladin can essentially become unstoppable, especially if you’ve focused on increasing the maximum hit points.

6

Actor

Lie Your Way Out Of Trouble

First, this feat gives you a +1 to charisma, so we recommend leaving your Charisma at an odd number beforehand (you can do that in character creation or use Ethel’s boon, though dealing with the hag will likely cost your oath).

This feat gives you expertise in Deception and Performance checks. While that won’t be helpful in combat, this expertise, combined with your decent Charisma, will allow you to deal with some conversations through lying.

5

Alert

Expect The Unexpected

Alert is a great feat for paladins to take during fights. The feat makes it impossible for you to be surprised and gives you a plus five to your initiative roll. Not only will the plus five help you not be the last in every fight in case you don’t focus on Dexterity – as most paladins do – but you’ll always be ready to protect your friends, since you’ll never be surprised in combat.

The initiative roll decides the order of attacks during a fight, so getting the first hit is really important if you want to gain the upper hand. With paladins being such a hard-hitting class, having them fight as soon as possible is a huge help. If paired with the Sentinel feat, your paladin can help protect the weaker members of the party who can’t fight during their turn.

4

War Caster

Ideal For Paladins Who Focus On Charisma

War Caster is a really useful feat for maintaining concentration on spells used throughout a fight. Paladins naturally have concentration spells they’ll need to save, including Wrathful Smite, Searing Smite, and Divine Favour, which boost damage during fights.

Paladins can also use other spells, like Hold Person, which can be really useful if you want to take certain fighters out of combat for a few turns. The feat also lets you use your reaction to cast Shocking Grip as an opportunity attack, which is a nice bit of extra damage to enemies.

3

Lucky

Good For Everyone

Lucky is a feat designed for nearly every class, as it can be used both in and out of combat. The feat gives you three luck points that you can use to gain advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. It can also be used to make an enemy re-roll their attack rolls, which could save you from being hit entirely.

Your luck points are restored after a long rest, so gaining this feat at the beginning of the game can give you an advantage in nearly every quest. It’ll come in handy whether you’re wandering the wilderness or hanging around in the city.

2

Mage Slayer

Punish Spellcasters

This feat gives you the ability to make an attack as a reaction to enemies casting spells at melee range. Enemies will also have a disadvantage on rolling to save their concentration.

If, like many others, you experience the pain of losing a party member to a Hold Person spell or a Sleeping spell, this feat can come in handy. Fights that contain spell casters can hinder the movement and fighting abilities of many characters, so getting them out of the way quickly is a big priority. With the Mage Slayer feat, you can get rid of them as soon as possible and go back to enjoying the fight.

1

Heavy Armor Master

Resist Damage

Paladins are already proficient in heavy armor, so you can have them running around with nearly anything as long as it increases their armor class and gives them some nice benefits. Gaining Heavy Armor Master lets you gain a point in Strength and decreases damage from non-magical attacks by three points while wearing heavy armor.

Considering paladins fight in close combat, non-magical attacks are pretty much guaranteed, so decreasing the damage gives you a huge advantage against any enemy, especially against big-hitting bosses.