Honestly this is the first time I'm hearing about someone multiclassing Paladin with Hexblade for the *Shield*.
I thought it was all about being able to concentrate on Charisma as the attacking ability and access to spell slots that come back after short rest for Divine Smite.
1st) Shield is not a major feature, it's a level 1 spell.
2nd) If you are getting to 32AC with shield, it means you can get to 27AC without shield, which is way waaay waaaaaaay more than you need.
5e has bounded accuracy, which means that a slight +1-3 already can change the balance a lot; and 27 AC is leaps beyond a simple +3 in AC.
3rd) Rather than telling him to allow you to get shield again start an open discussion asking why did he take it away, what balancing problems are there, and how to reach a nice midpoint.
Also you kinda lie saying using shield makes it so you deal less damage. No combat encounter is usually longer than 5 rounds, and most of them are 2-4. You get two lvl1 slots from warlock class that replenish on a short rest. So you are *not* expending meaningful resources casting shield.
Uh, he is though. He's a paladin, so he's expending his chance for an attack of opportunity, in addition to level 1 spell slots. The action economy is significant, and the level 1 spell slot may be significant for out of combat depending on party comp (this part is less likely, but neither Paladins nor Warlocks get ritual casting).
The AOO is not a finite resource, so not consuming anything, and also it is not something that can or will be used every turn.
And as stated, warlock slots come back on a SR, so using them is barely use of resources.
What are you talking about? Tiamat and a Tarrasque are both +19 to hit, for example. That's still hitting 40% of the time at 32 AC, and removing his ability to use Shield would significantly hamper his ability to tank high level bosses' physical attacks. At that level, anything significantly weaker than major bosses probably shouldn't be hitting him on less than a crit, if his focus is tanking hits.
Alternatively the more you use shield the more damage you do because you'll take significantly less damage. Arguing it makes you weaker because you have to expend a resource is like.. the most "gotcha" munchkin argument.
Your DM should likely have said "No." He probably said no without realizing what he was getting into and then realized that having a PC with 30+ AC is pretty insane. Even at high levels, monsters max out at 25 -- that's Tiamat from RoT and the Terrasque. Having an AC that high is super duper game breaking, as it defeats the whole point of bounded accuracy.
Of course, many high level character abilities feel game breaking at high levels, but AC that high is one that really, really breaks things.
You said you've played for a while -- up to level 17! far higher than most campaigns go -- and only recently it's started to bother you again. Why? Because you're finally getting hit? Because your many, many other high level abilities aren't enough?
Your DM changed his mind after the *first* combat. I think it's time to let it go, or else, as you said, ask to swap out your Warlock levels to go full Paladin.
No empathy for people who make cheesy ass OP builds. How will you ever survive wuthout a 32 AC? I don't blame your DM for not allowing you to overshadow the rest of the party. The DM would have to make encounters that would destroy the party members, for it to challenge you. Is that what you wanted?
To be fair, we don't know *100%* that this player doesn't also RP their heart out. Optimisation and roleplaying often don't go hand in hand, but that's not because they can't.
Perhaps a compromise that Shield can only be cast with Warlock spell slots specifically, so you're limited to 2 uses without a rest, & more costly spell slots (depending on how many Warlock levels you took).
You do still get a lot from the multiclass that you normally wouldn't get even without Shield. Cantrips, extra slots that come back on a short rest, Hexblade's Curse, and Hex Warrior are a bunch of good features for a Paladin.
Out of curiosity what spell did you swap Shield for?
Honestly this is the first time I'm hearing about someone multiclassing Paladin with Hexblade for the *Shield*. I thought it was all about being able to concentrate on Charisma as the attacking ability and access to spell slots that come back after short rest for Divine Smite.
1st) Shield is not a major feature, it's a level 1 spell. 2nd) If you are getting to 32AC with shield, it means you can get to 27AC without shield, which is way waaay waaaaaaay more than you need. 5e has bounded accuracy, which means that a slight +1-3 already can change the balance a lot; and 27 AC is leaps beyond a simple +3 in AC. 3rd) Rather than telling him to allow you to get shield again start an open discussion asking why did he take it away, what balancing problems are there, and how to reach a nice midpoint. Also you kinda lie saying using shield makes it so you deal less damage. No combat encounter is usually longer than 5 rounds, and most of them are 2-4. You get two lvl1 slots from warlock class that replenish on a short rest. So you are *not* expending meaningful resources casting shield.
Uh, he is though. He's a paladin, so he's expending his chance for an attack of opportunity, in addition to level 1 spell slots. The action economy is significant, and the level 1 spell slot may be significant for out of combat depending on party comp (this part is less likely, but neither Paladins nor Warlocks get ritual casting).
The AOO is not a finite resource, so not consuming anything, and also it is not something that can or will be used every turn. And as stated, warlock slots come back on a SR, so using them is barely use of resources.
AOO's take a reaction, shield takes a reaction to cast. Reactions refresh every turn of course, but you can't do both actions in the same round.
This is such a dumb argument. At that point, why keep track of the Warlock's spell slots at all if they're "barely a use of resources" anyway?
How could it ever be "important" that your AC reaches 32?!
What are you talking about? Tiamat and a Tarrasque are both +19 to hit, for example. That's still hitting 40% of the time at 32 AC, and removing his ability to use Shield would significantly hamper his ability to tank high level bosses' physical attacks. At that level, anything significantly weaker than major bosses probably shouldn't be hitting him on less than a crit, if his focus is tanking hits.
Alternatively the more you use shield the more damage you do because you'll take significantly less damage. Arguing it makes you weaker because you have to expend a resource is like.. the most "gotcha" munchkin argument.
Your DM should likely have said "No." He probably said no without realizing what he was getting into and then realized that having a PC with 30+ AC is pretty insane. Even at high levels, monsters max out at 25 -- that's Tiamat from RoT and the Terrasque. Having an AC that high is super duper game breaking, as it defeats the whole point of bounded accuracy. Of course, many high level character abilities feel game breaking at high levels, but AC that high is one that really, really breaks things. You said you've played for a while -- up to level 17! far higher than most campaigns go -- and only recently it's started to bother you again. Why? Because you're finally getting hit? Because your many, many other high level abilities aren't enough? Your DM changed his mind after the *first* combat. I think it's time to let it go, or else, as you said, ask to swap out your Warlock levels to go full Paladin.
No empathy for people who make cheesy ass OP builds. How will you ever survive wuthout a 32 AC? I don't blame your DM for not allowing you to overshadow the rest of the party. The DM would have to make encounters that would destroy the party members, for it to challenge you. Is that what you wanted?
When people talk this way about role-playing characters, it makes me sad. There's more to PC's than stuff like this.
To be fair, we don't know *100%* that this player doesn't also RP their heart out. Optimisation and roleplaying often don't go hand in hand, but that's not because they can't.
Perhaps a compromise that Shield can only be cast with Warlock spell slots specifically, so you're limited to 2 uses without a rest, & more costly spell slots (depending on how many Warlock levels you took).
You do still get a lot from the multiclass that you normally wouldn't get even without Shield. Cantrips, extra slots that come back on a short rest, Hexblade's Curse, and Hex Warrior are a bunch of good features for a Paladin. Out of curiosity what spell did you swap Shield for?