The Holy Warriors of the Forgotten Realms, Paladins can prove their mettle against every enemy on the battlefield in BG3. By utilizing the right feats, you can also prove they’re more than just heavy armor and Divine Smite.
Like most classes, Paladins get a feat choice at levels four, eight, and 12. You must choose between improving their ability scores by two or taking a feat at these points.
The best feat options for Paladin in BG3, ranked
Paladins have a lot of ability scores to cover in BG3, from Strength to Charisma and Constitution. We recommend taking Ability Score Improvements whenever possible to make your Paladin durable and damaging. That doesn’t mean you can’t take some feats to massively improve your Paladin’s damage or boost durability.
5. Tough
Tough is a simple feat that boosts a character’s health by twice their character level. With base level caps, this means Tough grants 24 HP to anyone who takes it by endgame.
This feat is solid if you’re thinking about taking a Constitution Ability Score Improvement. Tough essentially grants plus-four to Constitution through health, though doesn’t benefit the character at all in terms of saving throws. It’s a difficult balance, but Paladins make this feat look great. They already get to add their Charisma to all saving throws—why not get their health nice and high?
With 14 Constitution, Tough brings a Paladin’s endgame health to 124—more than enough to survive a few hits. Alongside their great defenses, Tough can keep a Paladin alive for longer than most classes—even raging Barbarians.
4. Savage Attacker
Savage Attacker lets you reroll weapon damage on melee attacks. Normally, this wouldn’t be amazing for a Paladin but you can use it alongside Divine Smite to improve your average damage significantly.
For whatever reason, a Paladin’s Divine Smite is rerolled by Savage Attacker. This can improve your average damage significantly—sometimes by up to six or seven—though only for Paladins who spam Divine Smite. Alongside the Great Weapon Fighting style, you can pump your damage dice to the moon.
While most Paladins should consider Divine Smite spam, some might want to use their spells for buffs or healing. In this case, Savage Attacker is usually a very small damage buff that can be covered by a Strength boost. Consider your Paladin playstyle before picking this feat.
3. Sentinel
Sentinel is the primo tanking option in Baldur’s Gate 3. It lets you attack enemies who attack your allies, grants advantage on opportunity attacks, and locks down foes who take an opportunity attack from you. This combination turns the Paladin into a whirlwind.
BG3 remains a bit janky when it comes to enemy AI. You can abuse that by making your opportunity attacks deadly and you’ll even keep your enemies within arms reach for an extra turn. It’s also a lot of extra damage—if a Paladin lands an opportunity attack, a Smite can be added.
To make use of this feat, try to have a squishier party member nearby—A Monk or Rogue work perfectly. Enemy AI prioritizes hit-rates so you can use your allies as bait for a high-damage reaction. Remember you only get one reaction per round, and Paladins get some solid defensive options that might take your attention.
2. Great Weapon Fighting
Great Weapon Fighting is the best Paladin feat for dealing damage in BG3. This feat comes with two benefits—a bonus action swing on critical hit or kill and the ability to dump accuracy by five to boost damage by 10.
Paladins are often reliant on Divine Smite for damage. Even by endgame, you have limited spell slots—only around 10 in total—so your Smiting nature can only last so long. Great Weapon Fighting boosts damage at all times, keeping you relevant when you don’t want to spend resources.
Even if you do want to spend them, this feat can deal massive amounts of damage alongside a Divine Smite. Your Paladin can nuke someone with a 2d6 Greatsword, 4d8 Divine Smite, and 10 bonus damage, alongside other modifiers. The only issue is accuracy, which a Vengeance Paladin can fix through their Oath of Enmity.
This feat has great synergy with others, like Sentinel and Polearm Master. If you don’t mind having lower stats or taking a stat booster outside of levels, you’ll go far.
1. Polearm Master
Polearm Master is the best feat for Paladin builds in BG3. While using spear-like weapons—like the Halberd, Glaive, Pike, Quarterstaff, or Spear—you can make a bonus action attack with the butt-end. In addition, you can attack foes who wander into your range.
Polearm Master gives a two-handed and sword-and-board Paladin a fantastic bonus action in the spear-butt. This butt isn’t incredible but offers a way to Smite again in a round. It can also apply your Improved Divine Smite at level 11, boosting your damage per round. You’re locked into specific weapons, but many have great magical items. The Selûne and Shar Spears are standouts, as is The Dancing Breeze Glaive.
We highly recommend considering this feat if you’re a Sword and Board Paladin and thinking about this feat at level 12 of your two-handed fighting Pally’s career. It’s a big damage spike with none of the accuracy problems of Great Weapon Fighting, available for a shield-hoisting build.
