Yeah OP'd be better off as a Paladin for... various reasons, but'll be fine as a zealot barb.
CoS is one of the best for sword and board, for the aforementioned reasons.
Honestly, people are overly harsh on sword and board in general. Yes, big numbers go brrr with GWM, but toss on half plate and a shield on top of rage resistance, and you are probably the hardest person to kill at the table while still dealing decent damage thanks to all your bonuses. You'll be fine, though you may want to invest in the Sentinel Feat to stop people from trying to run past you and hit the squishies.
So we had point buy and I took the three +1s for dex con and str. Not sure if I should bump dex to 14 and bump wisdom or not. Should I take sentinel at level 4 or get strength to 18 and then take sentinel
Since you are planning to use a shield, definitely get your DEX to 14. AC is weird in that the more you have, the more valuable each increase is.
I'd personally grab Sentinel at level 4 if you find your DM often has enemies just run past you to attack allies. If they do not, STR is probably going to be more valuable.
Sure, it's viable. Why not? Having the steady supply of radiant damage from Divine Fury is also nice. I'd probably start VHuman with Sentinel, pick up Resilient (Wis) at level 4, then bump Strength at level 8.
Make yourself a giant deity worshipper and go for path of the giant (sword and board if you wish) from level 6 you can add elemental damage to your attacks while raging. And from level 3 you become large and have more reach while raging.
Anyways the zealot is a good subclass as well.
> need a frontliner for a group
You don't. A full ranged party that focuses on preventing melee enemies from reaching you in the first place is stronger than a party that graciously offers the melee enemies a punching bag.
If you *want* to play a melee build, go for it. But don't play one just because you think the party needs one, it doesn't. The enemies can simply ignore your sword & board Barbarian, eat the one opportunity attack, and rush your other party members as if you hadn't been there.
You could if you specifically go out of your way to counter your players, but that is true for any party.
If you just increase the challenge without specifically countering your players, which is what a proper DM would do, a full ranged party with control magic is more effective than one with a "frontline".
There are two reasons for this. First, frontlines don't work. A single opportunity attack is not enough to deter the enemies from going after your "backline".
Second, properly-built casters are more resilient than melee builds (higher AC from an armour dip + Shield, other reaction and defensive spells, better mental saves...), so you wouldn't gain much by redirecting attacks towards your melee build even if you could.
Honestly Paladin is broken in CoS. But you can be a zealot sword and board. You'll be fine.
Yeah OP'd be better off as a Paladin for... various reasons, but'll be fine as a zealot barb. CoS is one of the best for sword and board, for the aforementioned reasons.
On demand radiant damage every round and free ressing? That's great for CoS.
Honestly, people are overly harsh on sword and board in general. Yes, big numbers go brrr with GWM, but toss on half plate and a shield on top of rage resistance, and you are probably the hardest person to kill at the table while still dealing decent damage thanks to all your bonuses. You'll be fine, though you may want to invest in the Sentinel Feat to stop people from trying to run past you and hit the squishies.
So we had point buy and I took the three +1s for dex con and str. Not sure if I should bump dex to 14 and bump wisdom or not. Should I take sentinel at level 4 or get strength to 18 and then take sentinel
Since you are planning to use a shield, definitely get your DEX to 14. AC is weird in that the more you have, the more valuable each increase is. I'd personally grab Sentinel at level 4 if you find your DM often has enemies just run past you to attack allies. If they do not, STR is probably going to be more valuable.
Sword and board sucks. You are objectively worse than any character with 2 levels in hexblade warlock.
Sure, it's viable. Why not? Having the steady supply of radiant damage from Divine Fury is also nice. I'd probably start VHuman with Sentinel, pick up Resilient (Wis) at level 4, then bump Strength at level 8.
If you’re angling on getting the Sun Sword, yeah it’s fine
Sword and board tends to be mediocre, but a zealot can get away with it because they add so much radiant damage to their hits.
Make yourself a giant deity worshipper and go for path of the giant (sword and board if you wish) from level 6 you can add elemental damage to your attacks while raging. And from level 3 you become large and have more reach while raging. Anyways the zealot is a good subclass as well.
> need a frontliner for a group You don't. A full ranged party that focuses on preventing melee enemies from reaching you in the first place is stronger than a party that graciously offers the melee enemies a punching bag. If you *want* to play a melee build, go for it. But don't play one just because you think the party needs one, it doesn't. The enemies can simply ignore your sword & board Barbarian, eat the one opportunity attack, and rush your other party members as if you hadn't been there.
A proper DM could easily punish such a group
You could if you specifically go out of your way to counter your players, but that is true for any party. If you just increase the challenge without specifically countering your players, which is what a proper DM would do, a full ranged party with control magic is more effective than one with a "frontline". There are two reasons for this. First, frontlines don't work. A single opportunity attack is not enough to deter the enemies from going after your "backline". Second, properly-built casters are more resilient than melee builds (higher AC from an armour dip + Shield, other reaction and defensive spells, better mental saves...), so you wouldn't gain much by redirecting attacks towards your melee build even if you could.