How to Build a Grung Paladin in D&D 5e

Grung paladins demand creativity from the start. You’re working against the grain—frog-folk get no Charisma bonus, their tiny frames complicate mounted combat, and their amphibious nature means water dependency can derail a campaign’s travel plans. But that friction is exactly the point. Players who lean into these limitations discover tactical angles other paladins never touch, plus some of the best roleplay potential the class has to offer.

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Why Grung Paladin Works (Despite the Obstacles)

Grungs first appeared in Tomb of Annihilation and later received playable stats in One Grung Above. They’re Small humanoids with a distinctive poison skin trait that deals 2d4 poison damage to anyone who touches them. This creates an unusual defensive paladin who punishes grapple attempts and can weaponize touch attacks through Lay on Hands or grappling.

The race grants +2 Dexterity and +1 Constitution—solid defensive stats but nothing for Charisma or Strength. You’ll need to decide whether to build a Dexterity paladin using finesse weapons or accept lower attack bonuses on a Strength build in exchange for the poison synergy. Standing Jump gives you a 25-foot long jump and 15-foot high jump without a running start, providing exceptional battlefield mobility that compensates for your Small size limiting mounted options.

Water dependency is the biggest constraint. Grungs must immerse themselves in water for at least one hour per day or suffer exhaustion. This makes desert campaigns difficult and requires creative solutions like portable water barrels or regular detours to rivers.

Grung Paladin Subclass Options

Oath of Vengeance

Vengeance minimizes the Charisma dependency issue. Vow of Enmity grants advantage on attacks against a single target, offsetting lower Strength or Charisma modifiers. The mobility from Standing Jump pairs excellently with Relentless Avenger, letting you pursue fleeing enemies while keeping your poison skin in play. Hunter’s Mark synergizes with your jumping ability to harry ranged enemies.

Oath of the Ancients

Ancients offers the best thematic fit for tribal grung culture. Nature’s Wrath provides a Strength or Dexterity save, and Turn the Faithless gives you battlefield control that doesn’t depend on Charisma. Ensnaring Strike works naturally with your jumping mobility. The healing spells help sustain you through longer adventuring days where water access might be limited.

Oath of Conquest

Conquest turns your poison skin into a fear weapon. Conquering Presence creates a fear aura—enemies who fail become frightened and have their speed reduced to 0 by Aura of Conquest at 7th level. If they’re frightened and you close to melee, your poison skin starts ticking damage while they can’t escape. This build requires decent Charisma investment but creates a controlling striker role.

Ability Score Priority for Grung Paladins

Two viable builds exist, each requiring different ability focuses:

Dexterity Build: Prioritize Dexterity (attacks and AC), then Constitution, then Charisma. Start with 16 Dex, 14 Con, 14 Cha using point buy or standard array. Use a rapier and shield for 18 AC in studded leather (20 AC at level 5 with a breastplate). This build emphasizes your racial bonuses and maintains respectable saving throw DCs for spells. Your poison damage becomes your primary gimmick rather than your spellcasting.

Strength Build: Prioritize Strength (attacks), then Constitution, then Charisma. Start with 15 Str, 14 Con, 14 Cha before racials. This requires accepting a +2 Dexterity you won’t fully utilize, but it enables traditional paladin play with Divine Smite on heavy weapons. Wear chain mail and use your jumping mobility to compensate for lower movement speed. You’ll hit harder but less often.

Most grung paladins should choose the Dexterity path. Your racial bonuses support it, Small size prevents you from wielding heavy weapons effectively anyway, and the build plays to your strengths.

Essential Feats for the Grung Paladin Build

Resilient (Wisdom)

Paladins get proficiency in Wisdom saves at 6th level through Aura of Protection, but before that you’re vulnerable to charm and fear effects. Taking Resilient (Wisdom) at 4th level shores up this weakness early. It also rounds out an odd Wisdom score if you started with 13.

Defensive Duelist

For Dexterity builds using rapiers, Defensive Duelist lets you add your proficiency bonus to AC as a reaction against one melee attack. At higher levels this can mean +5 or +6 AC, potentially forcing enemies to miss and take your poison skin damage anyway when they target you again.

Grappler

Unconventional but thematically perfect. Small creatures normally can’t grapple Medium or larger creatures, but Grappler removes this restriction. More importantly, it lets you pin grappled creatures. When you grapple an enemy, they’re taking 2d4 poison damage per turn from skin contact. Pin them, and now you have advantage on attacks against them while they’re restrained. This builds a toxic control paladin who weaponizes physical contact.

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Fey Touched

Boosts Charisma (or Wisdom) by 1 and grants Misty Step plus one 1st-level divination or enchantment spell. Misty Step gives you teleportation to stack with your jumping mobility. Choose Bless or Hex as your bonus spell to improve your party’s effectiveness.

Recommended Backgrounds

Outlander: Reflects the tribal jungle origins of grung society. Athletics proficiency synergizes with jumping and grappling tactics. The Wanderer feature helps you find food and water—critical given your water dependency.

Folk Hero: Works for a grung who defended their tribe before leaving on a paladin’s quest. Artisan’s tools and Animal Handling provide utility, and Rustic Hospitality helps you find common folk willing to provide water access in civilized areas.

Hermit: Suitable for a grung who received a divine calling away from their color-caste society. Medicine proficiency complements Lay on Hands, and Discovery can tie directly into your oath’s origin story.

Faction Agent: For a grung who serves a larger organization. This background provides flexibility in skill choices and creates built-in adventure hooks through your faction connections.

Playing Your Grung Paladin

Grung society operates on a rigid color-based caste system where skin color determines social status. Gold grungs lead as aristocracy, orange serve as elite warriors, red are scholars, blue are artisans, purple are laborers, and green occupy the lowest tier. Your paladin likely broke from this system—whether through exile, a divine vision that superseded caste obligations, or earning a special status through heroic deeds.

The poison skin creates constant roleplaying considerations. You can’t shake hands, share bedrolls, or engage in casual physical contact without harming others. Some parties might treat this as a curse; others might weaponize it by having you serve as the party’s “security system” who sleeps near entrances. Gloves reduce but don’t eliminate the social barrier your biology creates.

Water dependency forces daily planning. Coastal adventures, river travel, and rainy climates work in your favor. Desert, arctic, or planar adventures require contingencies—waterskins for daily soaking, Create Water from party casters, or plot arrangements that acknowledge the limitation. Work with your DM to ensure this adds flavor without becoming a campaign-derailing burden.

In combat, your exceptional jumping mobility lets you bypass difficult terrain, leap over frontline enemies to reach backline casters, or position on elevated terrain for tactical advantages. You’re not as mobile as a monk, but you have better AC and hit harder. Use your poison skin defensively—let enemies come to you when possible, and grapple high-value targets who rely on actions rather than attacks.

Optimizing Divine Smite Damage

Paladins nova with Divine Smite, converting spell slots to burst damage. Your grung paladin has lower accuracy than standard builds if you went Dexterity, so smite strategically rather than on every hit. Save smites for critical hits (doubling the smite dice), enemies vulnerable to radiant damage, or crucial hits that might down priority targets.

Your poison skin damage doesn’t scale, so it matters most at early levels. By tier 3, the 2d4 poison damage becomes less impactful than your weapon attacks and smites. Shift tactics toward using your mobility and paladin spells rather than relying on poison as a primary damage source.

Building This Grung Paladin in Your Campaign

The grung paladin thrives in campaigns that embrace unusual choices and provide opportunities for your unique abilities to shine. Jungle exploration campaigns like Tomb of Annihilation or Ghosts of Saltmarsh provide natural environments where your water dependency isn’t a hindrance and your poison resistance (immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition) becomes crucial. Urban intrigue campaigns let you weaponize your poison skin in creative ways—serving as a living deterrent against physical threats while your jumping lets you navigate rooftops and walls.

Most players building this character will want the 10d6 Assorted Ceramic Dice Set – Premium Quality Product on hand for managing poison damage rolls, healing pools, and multiclass spell slots.

This build isn’t about optimization—it’s about making your combat decisions matter more than your stat bonuses. You won’t outdamage a half-orc vengeance paladin or provide the same support utility as an aasimar devotion paladin, but you’ll consistently produce the kind of unexpected tactical wins and character moments that stick with your table long after the campaign ends.

Looking for more builds, subclasses, and tactics? Explore our complete D&D 5e Paladin Guide.