Oath of the Crown Paladin 6 / Hexblade Warlock 6
Your Role: Frontline tank and party protector. You smite enemies with divine radiant damage, blast at range with Eldritch Blast, and make your entire party harder to kill with Aura of Protection.
At a Glance
Race: Half-Orc (extra crit damage via Savage Attacks, Relentless Endurance to survive a killing blow 1/long rest) Other strong picks: Zariel Tiefling, Shield Dwarf, Half-Elf Background: Noble or Guild Artisan (Persuasion proficiency)
Stats: STR 8 / DEX 10 / CON 14 / INT 10 / WIS 12 / CHA 17 Charisma is your everything. Attacks, spells, smites, Aura of Protection, and social checks all scale with it. You don't need Strength because Bind Hexed Weapon replaces STR with CHA on weapon attacks.
Skills from Paladin: Persuasion, Athletics Skills from Warlock: Arcana, Deception
Level-by-Level
Level 1 -- Paladin 1 (Oath of the Crown)
Why start Paladin: Proficiency in ALL armor (including heavy), ALL weapons, shields, and WIS + CHA saving throw proficiencies. Starting Warlock would only give you light armor and simple weapons, forcing you to wait for Hexblade's medium armor. Starting Paladin means you're in plate mail from day one.
You gain:
- Heavy Armor + Shield + Martial Weapon Proficiency
- Lay on Hands -- A pool of 5 HP healing (scales with Paladin level). Use it to stabilize downed allies or cure diseases/poisons.
- Divine Sense -- Detect nearby celestials, fiends, and undead. Situational but occasionally useful.
- Righteous Clarity (Channel Divinity) -- Target yourself or an ally to grant the target's proficiency bonus to their attack rolls. Strong early-game buff.
- Champion Challenge (Channel Divinity) -- Force nearby enemies to attack only you. Their attacks against other targets get Disadvantage. Great tanking tool.
Gameplay: Equip the heaviest armor you can find. Chain mail + shield = 18 AC at level 1. You're extremely durable but limited to basic weapon attacks. This is fine; you're tanking and using Channel Divinity to support the party.
Oath Warning: Oath of the Crown tenets are Law, Loyalty, and Responsibility. Triggers that break your oath include: attacking the tieflings guarding Lae'zel's cage, evading arrest, prodding the Exhausted Bird, and breaking sworn promises. Play it straight and you'll be fine.
Level 2 -- Warlock 1 (Hexblade)
The build comes alive. You choose the Hexblade patron and immediately get a massive power spike.
You gain:
- Hex Warrior -- Medium armor, shield, martial weapon proficiency (redundant with Paladin, but the real prize is below).
- Bind Hexed Weapon -- Your main-hand weapon now uses Charisma for attack and damage rolls instead of STR or DEX. The weapon's damage becomes magical. This is the build's engine. You can dump STR entirely.
- Hexblade's Curse -- Bonus action to curse a target. Adds your proficiency bonus to damage rolls against them, reduces your crit threshold by 1, and heals you (Warlock level + CHA mod) when the cursed target dies. Use this on the biggest threat every fight.
- Cantrips (pick 2):
- Eldritch Blast -- Your ranged bread and butter. Scales with total character level (not Warlock level), so it gains beams at levels 5 and 11.
- Booming Blade -- Melee cantrip with bonus thunder damage. Punishes enemies who move after being hit.
- Spells Known (pick 2):
- Shield (Hexblade expanded) -- Reaction, +5 AC until your next turn. Best defensive spell in the game.
- Wrathful Smite (Hexblade expanded) -- Bonus action smite that adds psychic damage and can Frighten.
Gameplay shift: Bind your weapon immediately. Every melee attack now uses CHA. Open fights with Hexblade's Curse on the biggest threat.
Level 3 -- Warlock 2
Your ranged game becomes elite.
You gain:
- 2nd Warlock Spell Slot -- Two short-rest-refreshing slots now.
- Eldritch Invocations (pick 2):
- Agonizing Blast -- Adds your CHA modifier to each Eldritch Blast beam. This is the single biggest damage increase for your ranged output.
- Repelling Blast -- Each EB beam pushes the target up to 4.5m (15 ft). Combined with Agonizing Blast, EB becomes a ranged cannon that also controls positioning. Push enemies off cliffs, out of chokepoints, or away from your backline.
- New Spell:
- Hex -- Bonus action, 1d6 necrotic on every hit against the target. Stacks with Hexblade's Curse. Moves to a new target when the current one dies.
This is your "safe" level. EB + Agonizing + Repelling is now your bread and butter for any situation where melee isn't ideal. At range, you're outputting 1d10 + CHA per beam with knockback. In melee, you have Bind Hexed Weapon + Hexblade's Curse + weapon attacks. You're solid everywhere.
Level 4 -- Paladin 2
Divine Smite unlocks. This is the payoff for the Paladin side of the build.
You gain:
- Divine Smite -- When you hit with a melee weapon attack, spend a spell slot to deal bonus radiant damage (2d8 at 1st level, +1d8 per slot level above 1st, +1d8 vs undead/fiends). This works with your Warlock spell slots, which recharge on short rest. You now have renewable smite fuel.
- Fighting Style: Defense -- +1 AC while wearing armor. Pushes your AC even higher.
- Paladin Spellcasting -- Access to Paladin spell list. Prepare spells from: Command, Compelled Duel (Crown oath spells, always prepared), Thunderous Smite, Cure Wounds, Bless.
Why this matters: Warlock slots recharge on short rest. You can smite twice, short rest, smite twice more, short rest, smite twice more -- all before needing a long rest. No other Paladin gets this kind of smite economy.
Level 5 -- Paladin 3
You gain:
- Oath Spells: Command + Compelled Duel (always prepared, don't count against your limit)
- Turn the Tide (Channel Divinity) -- Shout to heal all nearby non-enemy creatures. Small but useful mass heal.
- 2nd Channel Divinity charge
Gameplay: You now have three Channel Divinity options (Righteous Clarity, Champion Challenge, Turn the Tide). Champion Challenge + Turn the Tide makes you a legitimate tank/healer hybrid. Command is excellent crowd control -- "Grovel" forces a target prone, granting your melee allies Advantage.
Level 6 -- Paladin 4
You gain:
- Feat or ASI: Pick one:
- +2 CHA (17 -> 19) if you're planning to cap at 20 CHA at the next ASI.
- Resilient (CON) -- +1 CON (14 -> 15), proficiency in CON saving throws. Massively improves Concentration on Hex/Bless. This is the competitive pick if you value consistency.
- War Caster -- Advantage on Concentration saves, cast spells as opportunity attacks (Booming Blade AoO is devastating). Strong alternative.
Level 7 -- Paladin 5
Major power spike: Extra Attack.
You gain:
- Extra Attack -- Two weapon attacks per Action. Doubles your melee DPR and doubles the chances to proc Hexblade's Curse bonus damage.
- 2nd-Level Paladin Spell Slots
- Oath Spells: Warding Bond + Spiritual Weapon (Crown, always prepared)
- Spiritual Weapon is a bonus action summon that attacks independently. It lasts 10 turns and doesn't require Concentration. Excellent action economy.
- Warding Bond links you to an ally, granting them +1 AC and resistance to all damage, but you take the same damage they take. Use on squishy backliners if you have HP to spare.
Combat rotation: Hexblade's Curse (bonus action) -> two weapon attacks with Bind Hexed Weapon -> each hit benefits from CHA to-hit/damage, Curse proficiency bonus damage, and crit threshold reduction. If the target dies, you heal. If you crit, you smite. If you need range, EB + Agonizing + Repelling handles it.
Level 8 -- Paladin 6
The reason you went 6 levels into Paladin.
You gain:
- Aura of Protection -- You and all allies within 10 ft (3m) gain a bonus to ALL saving throws equal to your Charisma modifier. With 18 CHA, that's +4 to every save for your whole frontline. With 20 CHA, it's +5. This is widely considered the single most powerful party buff in BG3. It makes your entire group dramatically harder to CC, frighten, charm, or kill with save-or-suck spells.
This is the Paladin capstone for this build. From here, every remaining level goes into Warlock.
Level 9 -- Warlock 3
You gain:
- Pact Boon: Pact of the Tome -- Three free cantrips from any class list (Guidance is the standout). At Warlock 5, you also gain once-per-long-rest access to Animate Dead, Call Lightning, and Haste (no slot cost).
- On Tactician/Balanced: Pact of the Blade is the damage pick. Deepened Pact Extra Attack stacks with Paladin Extra Attack for 3 attacks per action. On Honor Mode, they do NOT stack, so take Tome.
- 2nd-Level Warlock Spell Slots -- Smites now deal 3d8 radiant.
- New Spell: Darkness (create magical darkness; pairs with Devil's Sight later) or Misty Step (bonus action teleport, great for heavy armor repositioning)
Level 10 -- Warlock 4
You gain:
- Feat: +2 CHA -- If not at 20 yet, get there now. 20 CHA means +5 to attacks, damage, spell DC, Aura of Protection saves, and EB beams. This is the single highest-value ASI in the game for this build.
- If already at 20: Savage Attacker, Alert, or Great Weapon Master.
- New Spell: Counterspell (shut down enemy casters) or Hold Person (paralyze humanoids; melee hits auto-crit)
Level 11 -- Warlock 5
Big Warlock power spike.
You gain:
- 3rd-Level Warlock Spell Slots -- Divine Smite with a 3rd-level slot deals 4d8 radiant (5d8 vs undead/fiends). Average 18-22.5 bonus damage per smite, twice per short rest.
- Deepened Pact -- If you took Pact of the Blade, 3 attacks per Action on Tactician/Balanced. If Tome, you get free Haste, Animate Dead, and Call Lightning.
- Eldritch Invocation: Devil's Sight (see in magical darkness), Mire the Mind (free Slow), or One with Shadows (free invisibility in dim light)
- New Spell: Hunger of Hadar (area denial + blindness zone; pairs with Devil's Sight) or Fly
- Eldritch Blast upgrades to 3 beams at this character level. Each beam: 1d10 + 5 (CHA) + 4.5m push.
Level 12 -- Warlock 6
You gain:
- Accursed Spectre -- When a creature under your Hexblade's Curse dies, you raise an Accursed Spectre from its corpse as a Reaction (no action/bonus action/slot cost). The spectre fights alongside you with bonus HP and attack rolls based on your Warlock level and CHA. Less useful in Act 2 (many undead can't be raised) but excellent in Acts 1 and 3.
- New Spell: Blink (50% chance each turn to vanish, untargetable; stacks with heavy armor AC and Shield spell) or Shadow Blade (psychic damage weapon with Advantage in darkness)
Gear to Grab
Act 1
Phalar Aluve (longsword) Where: Underdark, stuck in a stone near Selunite Outpost (X: 116, Y: -192). Pass a Religion or Strength check to pull it. Why: Excellent longsword with party-wide buff/debuff aura. Sing mode adds 1d4 Thunder to allies' attacks; Shriek mode debuffs enemies. Best Act 1 weapon for this build.
Adamantine Splint Armor Where: Grymforge, crafted at the Adamantine Forge using Splint Mould + Mithral Ore Why: 18 AC, incoming crits become normal hits, attackers are knocked Reeling (-1 to attack rolls). Best armor until Act 3. The Splint Mould is in the lava area past the Grymforge waypoint. Mithral Ore is found in two deposits in the Underdark/Grymforge area.
Adamantine Shield Where: Grymforge, Adamantine Forge using Shield Mould + Mithral Ore Why: +2 AC, Shield Bash reaction that knocks attackers Reeling, crits become normal hits. If you can only forge two items, prioritize this + the Splint. Shield Mould is on the south side of the Grymforge near some Duergar.
Strange Conduit Ring Where: Creche Y'llek, Inquisitor's Chamber, inside an Elegant Chest (X: 1360, Y: -657). Reach via Mountain Pass -> Rosymorn Monastery -> Creche. Need Githyanki Barrier Disruptor from Kith'rak Therezzyn (persuade or kill). Why: +1d4 Psychic damage on all weapon attacks while Concentrating on a spell (Hex, Bless, etc.). Stays relevant the entire game.
Blood of Lathander (mace) Where: Rosymorn Monastery, hidden chamber past the Creche. Requires placing the Dawnmaster's Crest in the correct slot. Careful: there's a trap that can destroy the weapon if you don't disarm it. Why: Legendary mace: sunbeam once per long rest, auto-heal to 2-12 HP when downed (once per long rest), and undead/fiends within 6m at dawn take radiant damage.
Disintegrating Night Walkers (boots) Where: Grymforge, looted from True Soul Nere after freeing/killing him Why: Can't be Enwebbed, Entangled, or Ensnared; can cast Misty Step once per short rest. Huge mobility for a heavy armor build.
Haste Helm Where: Blighted Village, locked chest (X: 29, Y: 405) Why: At start of combat, gain 3 turns of Momentum (+1.5m movement). Nice quality of life for a heavy armor character.
Infernal Iron (x3-4) Where: Blighted Village basement (locked chest), Goblin Camp (Dror Ragzlin's hoard), Zhentarim Hideout (chest), Grymforge (Stonemason Kith -- pass observation checks or buy) Why: Give to Dammon in Act 2 for Flawed Helldusk Armor pieces AND Karlach's heart repairs. Collect all you can find.
Act 2
Shield of Devotion Where: Sold by Quartermaster Talli at Last Light Inn Why: +1 shield that grants Aid (bonus max HP) once per long rest.
Potent Robe -- Give this to your Shadow Sorcerer, not this character. You wear heavy armor.
Eversight Ring Where: Gauntlet of Shar Why: Immunity to Blindness. Useful for party members near your Darkness spells.
Act 3
Helldusk Armor Where: House of Hope, defeat Raphael. Access via Helsik at the Devil's Fee in Lower City. Why: Best armor in the game. 21 AC, fire resistance, -3 all damage, Fly spell (no Concentration). The chest piece doesn't require heavy armor proficiency, so any class can wear it.
Birthright (helmet) Where: House of Hope treasure hoard Why: +2 CHA. Pushes you past 20 CHA to 22 for even more Aura of Protection / EB / smite damage.
Viconia's Walking Fortress (shield) Where: House of Grief, Shadowheart's Act 3 questline in Lower City Why: +3 shield with Spellguard (Advantage on saves vs spells), Warding Bond reaction, and Reflective Shell. Best shield in the game.
Cloak of Displacement Where: Sold by Entharl Danthelon at Danthelon's Dancing Axe, Wyrm's Crossing Why: Attackers have Disadvantage against you until they hit you. Resets each turn.
Quick Tips
Short rest after every 1-2 fights. Your Warlock slots (your smite fuel) recharge on short rest. Two short rests per long rest means up to 6 smites per day from Warlock slots alone, plus your Paladin slots.
Aura of Protection is always-on. Make sure it's activated. Keep your squishiest party members within 10 ft / 3m of you during fights. Position carefully.
EB is not just a fallback. 3 beams x (1d10 + 5 + knockback) is 3d10+15 force damage with triple displacement. Use it to shove enemies off cliffs, into hazards, or away from your backline. It's often better DPR than melee if you can't reach the target.
Stack Hexblade's Curse + Hex on priority targets. Turn 1: Curse (bonus action) + 2 attacks. Turn 2: Hex (bonus action) + 2 attacks. Now every hit does weapon + CHA + prof bonus (Curse) + 1d6 necrotic (Hex).
Smite on crits. Hexblade's Curse reduces your crit range by 1 (crit on 19-20). Wait to see if you crit before declaring a smite, since smite damage dice are doubled on a crit.
Don't forget Spiritual Weapon. It costs a bonus action to cast (Paladin 2nd-level slot) but then attacks on its own each turn with only a bonus action. It lasts 10 turns with no Concentration. Excellent action economy when you don't need Hex/Curse on a given turn.
Party Gear Assignments
This build gets: Helldusk Armor, Birthright (+2 CHA), Viconia's Walking Fortress, Strange Conduit Ring
Passes to others:
- Helldusk Gloves -> Karlach (she attacks 4-6 times per turn vs your 2). Your backup: Gloves of Dexterity.
- Helldusk Boots -> Astarion. Your backup: Boots of Persistence.
- Markoheshkir -> Shadow Sorcerer. You use weapon + shield, not a staff.
- Potent Robe / Robe of the Weave -> Sorcerer / Gale. You wear heavy armor.
- Amulet of Greater Health -> Life Cleric. Your backup: Any defensive amulet.