Does a DEX-based Paladin make sense?

Figuring that a high DEX value will, overall, give me more benefits than high STR, I thought I'd give this one a go. I like having high initiative and it's already paying off in the very early game because, so far, my dude has always been the first to go in combat and SH and Lae'zel (both DEX 13 out of the box) have always been at the very back-end of the combat-order.

I went with

STR 8 - DEX 16 - CON 14 - INT 8 - WIS 12 - CHA 16

CON 14 is probably kinda weak for this class, but I really like putting a bit more into WIS because it seems like the most important saving throw in the game.

I also like higher DEX on my Tav/Durge (and picking up Sleight of Hand proficiency) so that I can rely on him to deal with traps and locks (instead of having to shuffle my party around to make space for Astarion). I found that once you pick up the Gloves of Thievery and the Smuggler's Ring, most Rogue-tasks can be performed half-way reliably by any DEX 16/Sleight of Hand character.

Plus DEX will add to your AC, especially once you get access to uncapped medium armor like Yuan-Ti.

Downside is... less damage output, I would presume. I'm currently "forced" to use a rapier as this is the highest base-damage finesse weapon this early in the game.

Game started me off with a warhammer (weirdly enough), which, of course, is relatively useless for a STR 8, DEX 16 character. But since you can almost instantly pick up some scimitars, this wasn't such a huge deal. I only made level 2, got into the Grove and bribed Dammon before I got too tired, and I did pick up Dueling as my fighting style for the time being. It works with a shield and gives a flat +2 to all damage-rolls, which isn't too shabby. My ultimate plan is to go for Phalar Aluve and then respec into Two-Handed fighting, but without a two handed finesse weapon this wouldn't make much sense, so I'll have to rely on Withers' services, I suppose.

Which, of course, is another downside to this approach as (I guess) your choice of weapons will be severely limited (only three two-handed Finesse weapons in the entire game, IIRC). Meaning I'll be forever stuck with using Phalar Aluve, Larethian's Wrath or the Dancing Breeze. It'll also mean that I won't really be able to switch to a bludgeoning weapon for some of those fights where piercing- and slashing-damage don't work.

Hmmm.. the more I write about this, the more it seems that I haven't *really* thought this through.. :D

So... should I even try to turn this guy into a DEX-based great-weapon fighter or simply stick with Rapiers and shields? Or abandon my cunning plan and respecc into STR?

Another possibility would be to keep abilities as they are and, at least for the time being, rely on daily Hill Giant Elixirs. Although I kinda want to avoid such "semi-cheese". Those daily elixirs already felt like a bit of a crutch when I was running my Open Hand/Tavern Brawler Monk.