Just go with a paladin/warlock. Best multiclass combo in the game.
Ah, the dreaded critical miss house rule. It’s definitely not in the rulebooks, and it makes games far deadlier, often to the point of absurdity (such as in this case). If y’all are content with it that’s cool, but I’d try for a gentle conversation with the GM about moving away from it.
If you have a wizard, monk, cleric, and fighter, honestly you’ve got the bases covered. Is there a Face in the party–someone that can handle hard charisma checks? I’m playing a rogue and having a blast (technically a rogue/fighter multiclass, with the inquisitive and battlemaster archetypes). Otherwise, though, given the bases already covered, I think you’ve got a lot of freedom to choose whatever floats your boat. How’s that boat floating?
Thief/Paladin…not so good.
I enjoy critical failure house rules, but defaulting to “you hit an ally” even when it would result in a dead PC is a bit much. Not my game, though!
Anyway, I’m currently playing a fighter (battlemaster) 5/cleric (war cleric) 3. It is a very fun combination with lots of tricks and options, though it’s also helpful that I had pretty good stat rolls at character creation. But he’s also filling in healing for a party without a dedicated cleric.
If it were me, I’d be looking to fill a niche that doesn’t exist in your party. A charisma-based character would be good. Warlocks are tons of fun and relying on eldritch blast isn’t any worse than a fighter relying on a sword (and you can always go with the blade pact or whatever it’s called if you would prefer to use a weapon).
I was fine with it, because it was fun, and funny. It moved the game forward, and helped create party cohesion. And I’d spent the last two hours of the game leaving headless gummi bears in front of our fighter.
Your party could probably use a face character, and also someone who can use thieves’ tools (unless one of the others picked them up from a background). So bard might be a good choice. Inspiration is also a great way to annoy the DM. Especially given the existence of your crit-miss houserule: Find out from your DM whether “a 1 on the roll” means just on the d20, or on the total roll of dice.
If you do go with a high-charisma character like a warlock, bard, or sorcerer, I heartily recommend the Inspiring Leader feat (though probably not on a paladin, unless human: They’re better off maxing both Cha and their combat stat ASAP). Everyone getting level+mod temp HP every short rest is a lot of healing that you won’t have to do.
LHoD, I hadn’t heard of the inquisitive rogue archetype. Where might it be found? Not that I’m going to be re-making him, but that might have been an even better sub-class for my arcane trickster.
It’s from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, an excellent and very useful book. Other archetypes featured there include the Kensai Monk, the Cavalier, the Swashbucler Rogue and the Celestial Warlock.
The answer, as always, is Gnome Bard!
Any chance that you could play your former character’s childhood friend - the one you were on your way to meet? That might give your new character a natural reason to join your group.
That’d be awkward.
“Oh you’re Dorn’s friends! Where’s he at? Ooh, that’s a big sword you got there.”
“Killed by perytons.”
Gives extra FUN! when New Guy discovers what happened to Old Guy.
Or more accurately, “died in battle against perytons”.
Yes - More like killed by lumbering half-orc with a massive battle axe.
I think I’ve decided to strike a cosmic balance with Chronos, and have been working on a Blade Pact Warlock with a fiend patron. I’m borrowing heavily from Elric.
Fine, be that way. I’ll just bard extra hard tomorrow night!
Check out the Hexblade from Xanathar. It’s tailor-made for the Blade Pact; it even lets you use a greatsword with Charisma as your attack/damage stat.
I’m playing a Hexblade now in my own game, BTW, a Half-Elf by the name of Arrant D’Andrea. He is kind of Elric-like, now that you mention it.
We have a guest bard who comes in from time to time.
Hey, a gig’s a gig.
I have a critical miss (1 on the die) hit an ally when firing into combat rule in the game I dm, but I am rethinking it, because the rogue who does the shooting doesn’t see it as a negative - she does it anyway, even though 1 in 20 of her shots hit an ally. Been thinking of introducing a feat that means you can safely shoot into melee, but I might just add a 2ac bonus to the target.
I hope that you at least don’t apply Sneak Attack damage to the ally.
I think that if you’re using critical hits (not just auto-hits on a 20) then you should have a balance for it. But I’d go with something like Disadvantage on your next attack roll that combat – as you regain your footing – versus wounding fellow party members, breaking your weapon, etc.
The first few times I just had the basic damage - die plus bonus - but now it’s minimum damage, which is essentially 7 (1d8+6 - the d8 is minimised to 1). These are level 4 characters with HP in the 20s, so it’s not normally so bad, but it really does hit more often than I’d like.