The Fallen Paladin
Injured beyond repair, I know nothing besides this: I must resist the Dark Urge.
Durge is an Oath of Vengeance Paladin and Storm Sorcerer, with plenty of spell slots for smites. Sarevok and the Oathbreaker Knight can agree on one thing - you've broken and resworn your oath time and time again.
Gameplay Notes
Sorcerer and Paladin are a very popular and very strong multiclass for a million reasons, most of which this build also benefits from. Like most Sorcadin builds, Durge will be making melee attacks and smiting using the high spell slots from Sorcerer for impressive damage. Assuming my math is correct, the build finishes with one 5th Level Spell Slot, three 4th-2nd Level Spell Slots, and four 1st Level Spell Slots (plus an extra 2nd Level Spell Slot from an item). The build also has a lot of cool interactions in game, based on some unique dialogue for Dark Urge Paladins.
Stats and Leveling
Final build: Level 6 Oath of Vengeance Paladin, Level 6 Storm Sorcerer
Paladin (default) stats: STR 17 / DEX 12 / CON 14 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 14
Leveling Path Version 1 (Paladin first)
[I talk about this a bit more in the Lore section, but there are two main ways to build this character depending on starting class - this is the Level 1 Paladin version]
Level 1 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 1
Level 2 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 2
- Divine Smite [the whole point of being a paladin]
- Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
- 1st Level Spells [take Bless and Command for sure]
Level 3 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 1
- Cantrips: Friends, Minor Illusion, Bone Chill, Mage Hand
- 1st Level Spells [take Shield]
Level 4 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 2 [prioritizing unlocking the level 2 abilities for both classes]
- Sorcery Points [helpful to create spell slots for smites]
- Metamagic: Distant Spell, Twinned Spell
Level 5 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 3
- Vow of Enmity [can be cheesed by casting on yourself, fyi]
Level 6 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 4
- Feat: ASI+ CHA>16 [I recommend the Hag’s Hair for a STR+1, check out the Lore section for more information]
Level 7 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 5
- Extra Attack [yes I know this is late but I don’t care, see my note at Sorcerer level 2]
- 2nd Level Spells
Level 8 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 6
- Aura of Protection [aka the entire point of leveling Paladin this high]
Level 9 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 3
- 2nd Level Spells
- Metamagic: Quickened Spell
Level 10 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 4
- Cantrip: add Shocking Grasp
- Feat: ASI+ CHA>18
Level 11 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 5
- 3rd Level Spells [Haste and Counterspell are great]
Level 12 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 6
Leveling Path Version 2 (Sorcerer first)
[this is the Level 1 Sorcerer version, which makes more sense for the story of the character. much of the rest is the same, with the exception of a feat to gain Heavy Armour Proficiency and missing out on 18 CHA, which does suck]
Level 1 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 1
- Cantrips: Friends, Minor Illusion, Bone Chill, Mage Hand
- 1st Level Spells [take Shield]
Level 2 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 2
- Sorcery Points [helpful to create spell slots for smites]
- Metamagic: Distant Spell, Twinned Spell
Level 3 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 1
Level 4 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 2 [prioritizing unlocking the level 2 abilities for both classes]
- Divine Smite [the whole point of being a paladin]
- Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
- 1st Level Spells [take Bless and Command for sure]
Level 5 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 3
- Vow of Enmity [can be cheesed by casting on yourself, fyi]
Level 6 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 4
- Feat: Heavily Armoured (includes STR>18)
Level 7 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 5
- Extra Attack [yes I know this is late but I don’t care, see my note at Sorcerer level 2]
- 2nd Level Spells
Level 8 - Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Level 6
- Aura of Protection [aka the entire point of leveling Paladin this high]
Level 9 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 3
- 2nd Level Spells
- Metamagic: Quickened Spell
Level 10 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 4
- Cantrip: add Shocking Grasp
- Feat: ASI+ CHA>16
Level 11 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 5
- 3rd Level Spells [Haste and Counterspell are great]
Level 12 - Sorcerer (Storm) Level 6
Items
[I’m assuming this is your main character, so lots of the high demand items are listed here, but none are essential to the build, really]
Armor -
- Armour of Devotion (2 Moonrise Towers)
- Reaper’s Embrace (2 Mindflayer Colony)
Melee Weapon -
- Sussur Greatsword (1 Blighted Village) [or The Blood of Lathander (1 Creche) if no one else in the party needs it]
- Balduran’s Giantslayer (3 Wyrmway)
Ranged Weapon -
- Bow of Awareness (1 Goblin Camp) [this is a stat stick for initiative rolls, the main issue with this build in my opinion]
- Hellrider Longbow (3 Rivington) [again, just increasing initiative]
Amulet - Spell Savant Amulet (3 Counting House)
Helmet - Helm of Balduran (3 Wyrmway)
Ring 1 - Killer’s Sweetheart (2 Gauntlet of Shar)
Ring 2 - Ring of Regeneration (3 Sorcerous Sundries)
Gloves -
- Gloves of Heroism (1 Risen Road)
- Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength (3 House of Hope) [to everyone being like “why aren’t you putting the ASI towards STR? here you go lmao]
Boots - Boots of Persistence (3 Forge of the Nine)
Cloak - The Deathstalker Mantle (1 Sceleritas Fel)
Lore and Flavor
While I know this isn’t technically the ‘canon’ Dark Urge, there are many signs that point to the Dark Urge initially being planned as a Paladin: unique dialogue in game from the Oathbreaker Knight and Sarevok, this interview with Larian CEO Swen Vincke, and even this promotional artwork showing the Dark Urge in the Oath of Vengeance starting armor [though, notably, with only a dagger equipped]. The way oathbreaking works in-game causes several problems, so I totally understand why they moved away from this idea for release, but if you’re okay with a bit of meta-gaming to seek out/avoid breaking your oath as is appropriate, then I think it makes for a really intriguing character.
The fun part of playing this build, especially for someone like me who is not entirely entranced by the general gameplay loop for Paladins, is the unique dialogue you get from the Oathbreaker Knight and from Sarevok. Those with encyclopedic knowledge of the game may have noticed that I added the Hag’s Hair buff in the Level 1 Paladin variant, which is impossible to acquire without breaking the Oath of Vengeance. I think this is a really interesting way to get that first dialogue scene with the Oathbreaker, and the +1 to STR certainly helps. You can disagree, though - that’s more of a gameplay opinion, and only tangentially related to the build itself. I would recommended breaking your oath at some point, however! It’s a really cool scene.
I imagine this Durge has been trying to resist the Urge from the beginning, which might explain why it’s such a priority after waking up on the nautiloid (aka you remember nothing but your name and the deep set desire to not be evil, I guess). That’s what some of the dialogue with Sarevok implies, at least. You can also play this build starting as a sorcerer and taking up an Oath of Vengeance (against The Urge, essentially) after killing Alfira and being horrified by your actions. The pull between being the inherent good-ness of being a Paladin with the temptation of evil from the Urge makes for some awesome gameplay. This is how I RP’d it in my most recent save, and it was really effective and fun! I’m still investigating all of this lore in game, and also the potential for Durge to have been an Oath of Devotion Paladin in his past life, instead of Vengeance. We shall see!
*originally posted 9/7/24, published here 9/21/26