So, there’s two methods people use to build paladins, we’ll go over both of them. There’s Damage nova paladin focusing on divine smites, and the much more optimized save-buffing and eldritch blasting pally.

Damage pally

we’re not spending long here, paladin DPR at level 20 fails to match up to a subclassless fighter, and barely does more than warlock baseline. there may be some functional use of smites on crits that’s likely being removed in dndone at time of writing, but pally does not do good damage over a day, and their nova is not terribly impressive.

worth noting a damage pally can also be an aurabot pally, but that’s not going to save it.

Aurabot Pally

basically, an aurabot paladin takes 6 or 7 levels of paladin and puts the rest between warlock and bard and/or sorcerer.

The main goal of this pally is to give us a bonus to saves, which is all well and good, but I have quite a few points to make on why this is much less effective than many might believe

Immunity and Resistances > Saves

For most things we might be making saves against, we have options to be immune or resistant to those effects instead. Resistance and save protection stack, but immunity doesn’t.

Currently not counting spells that would require concentration

Immunities:
Charm – black sap
Frighten – black sap, hero’s feast
Possession, and any humanoid targeting effect – nystuls
Poison – hero’s feast, race pick (yuan-ti)
Sleep effects – mostly negated via immunity to charm
Exhaustion – Magic jar into dybbuk

Resistances:
All elemental types -absorb elements (costs a reaction)
Fire – murossa balm
Cold – ice troll heart into ice resistance potions
Poison – ‘protection from poison’ spell
All poison and toxic substances: Sinda Berries, Theki Root

This is mostly from T1 to t3, in T4 we can of course be a creature with even more immunities and resistances (see “ghost in the machine” for that build)

The paladin then mostly has the potential to be game-changing in the cases of saves vs necrotic, radiant, force, and psychic damage, or from miscelanious super debilitating debuffs, like feeblemind or hold creature. Even in these cases where there’s no spell for protection from the effect, all you can get from the paladin is a +5 to your save and only if you’re within 10ft of them. This is an issue if you’re using distance to your advantage like most good strategy does, or if you want to avoid being AOE’d by dragons and the likes.

with “Tashas otherwordly guise” we can be completely immune to necrotic and radiant at the cost of our concentration

Dead enemies > making saves

Death is the best status condition, as they say. So, when the mecha-lich releases his brain-eater 9000 on the party, instead of a +5 to save, i’d rather someone kill the lich. The aura-based paladin can repel the lich, sure, and hit it with some force damage, but i’d much rather have someone pump damage into it so I can instead avoid making saves in the first place. making multiple saves vs horrible debuffs means you are already in a compromised position

100% Cure > 25% Prevention

unlike the idiom, I think i’d much rather have a surefire cure to afflictions somewhere within the party, instead of a conditional buff to the chance I will not get the condition.

Obscurement Tactics

A party built to deal with obscurement and with, say, with fog or smoke, or even the prestidigitation cantrip, can generate a ton of protection from creatures even with true sight, and avoid the bigger debilitating abilities like feeblemind.

Too little too late

A pure paladin’s aura comes online at 6th level, most guides delay this to 7th, and the full ‘build’ comes ‘online’ at a minimum of level 9. This is 2 levels before magic jar could potentially blow it so hard out of the water it becomes irrelevant, and a T1 pally adds nearly nothing but bless to a good party.

look at the condition and damage resistances/immunites of a dybbuk.

Damage Resistances Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Thunder; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks

Damage Immunities Poison

Condition Immunities: Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained

This is something we can summon and jar with Nystul’s ourselves, and then use it to possess something else.

Most other save-protection comes online early in tier 1, peace cleric dips, bless, conj wizard drugs, creation bard drugs, artificer magic items, bardic inspiration, ect.

Paladin is the most expensive way to protect your saves, requiring 6 levels into what is otherwise considered a terrible class, in order to get that flat +5 to your save, when you could instead have played something with the ability to cure or prevent those afflictions instead.

Conclusion

The cost of a paladin is that of another PC that could better prevent damage or conditions instead. A divine soul sorcerer, a conj wizard, a bard, a chronurgist, ect, could provide simmilar or better levels of protection while also not giving up 6 caster levels to do so, and perform much better in combat as a result.