Paladin

Paladins are stalwart defenders of the ideals of the patron they serve and the oaths they swear. Generally seen as righteous defenders of the innocent, the actual truth is more complex than that. Paladins are not just fighters but those backed by divine power due to their loyalty to their oaths. Depending on that oath, they can be helpful, chaotic, or merciless destroyers. The bottom line though is that these are not mortals to be triffled with lightly.  

Creating a Paladin

The most important aspect o f a paladin character is the nature o f his or her holy quest. Although the class features related to your oath don't appear until you reach 3rd level, plan ahead for that choice by reading the oath descriptions at the end o f the class. Are you a devoted servant o f good, loyal to the gods o f justice and honor, a holy knight in shining armor venturing forth to smite evil? A re you a glorious champion o f the light, cherishing everything beautiful that stands against the shadow, a knight w hose oath descends from traditions older than many o f the gods? Or are you an embittered loner sworn to take vengeance on those who have done great evil, sent as an angel o f death by the gods or driven by your need for revenge? Appendix B lists many deities worshiped by paladins throughout the multiverse, such as Torm, Tyr, Heironeous, Paladine, Kiri-Jolith, Dol Arrah, the Silver Flame, Bahamut, Athena, Re-Horakhty, and Heimdall. How did you experience your call to serve as a paladin? Did you hear a whisper from an unseen god or angel while you w ere at prayer? Did another paladin sense the potential within you and decide to train you as a squire? Or did some terrible event—the destruction o f your home, perhaps— drive you to your quests? Perhaps you stumbled into a sacred grove or a hidden elven enclave and found yourself called to protect all such refuges o f goodness and beauty. Or you might have known from your earliest memories that the paladin’s life was your calling, almost as if you had been sent into the w orld with that purpose stamped on your soul. As guardians against the forces o f wickedness, paladins are rarely o f any evil alignment. Most of them walk the paths of charity and justice. Consider how your alignment colors the way you pursue your holy quest and the manner in which you conduct yourself before gods and mortals. Your oath and alignment might be in harmony, or your oath might represent standards of behavior that you have not yet attained.  

Starting Equipment

• (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons • (a) five javelins or (b) any simple melee weapon • (a) a priest’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack • Chain mail and a holy symbol  

S p e l l c a s t i n g

By 2nd level, you have learned to draw on divine magic through meditation and prayer to cast spells as a cleric does. See chapter 10 for the general rules o f spellcasting and chapter 11 for the paladin spell list.

P r e p a r in g a n d C a s t in g Sp e l l s

The Paladin table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells. To cast one o f your paladin spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot o f the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. You prepare the list o f paladin spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the paladin spell list. When you do so, choose a number o f paladin spells equal to your Charisma modifier + half your paladin level, rounded down (minimum o f one spell). The spells must be o f a level for which you have spell slots. For example, if you are a 5th-level paladin, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Charisma o f 14, your list o f prepared spells can include four spells o f 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell cure wounds, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list o f prepared spells. You can change your list o f prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list o f paladin spells requires time spent in prayer and meditation: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Sp e l l c a s t in g A b i l i t y

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your paladin spells, since their p ower derives from the strength of your convictions. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a paladin spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one. Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier

Sp e l l c a s t in g Fo c u s

You can use a holy symbol (found in chapter 5) as a spellcasting focus for your paladin spells.  

Class Features

D i v i n e S e n s e

The presence o f strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end o f your next turn, you know the location o f any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet o f you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) o f any being w hose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence o f any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell. You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.

L a y o n H a n d s

Your blessed touch can heal wounds. You have a pool o f healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your paladin level x 5. As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number o f hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool. Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool o f healing to cure the target o f one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use o f Lay on Hands, expending hit points separately for each one. This feature has no effect on undead and constructs.

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a style o f fighting as your specialty. Choose one o f the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

D e f e n s e

While you are w earing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

D u e l in g

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

G r e a t W e a p o n F i g h t in g

When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are w ielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The w eapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

P r o t e c t io n

When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet o f you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

D i v i n e S m i t e

Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee w eapon attack, you can expend one paladin spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target, in addition to the w eapon’s damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum o f 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend.

D i v i n e H e a l t h

By 3rd level, the divine magic flowing through you makes you immune to disease.

S a c r e d O a t h

When you reach 3rd level, you swear the oath that binds you as a paladin forever. Up to this time you have been in a preparatory stage, committed to the path but not yet sworn to it. Now you choose the Oath o f Devotion, the Oath o f the Ancients, or the Oath of Vengeance, all detailed at the end o f the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. Those features include oath spells and the Channel Divinity feature.

O a t h Sp e l l s

Each oath has a list o f associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the levels specified in the oath description. Once you gain access to an oath spell, you always have it prepared. Oath spells don’t count against the number o f spells you can prepare each day. If you gain an oath spell that doesn’t appear on the paladin spell list, the spell is nonetheless a paladin spell for you.

C h a n n e l D i v in i t y

Your oath allows you to channel divine energy to fuel magical effects. Each Channel Divinity option provided by your oath explains how to use it. When you use your Channel Divinity, you choose which option to use. You must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Divinity again. Some Channel Divinity effects require saving throws. When you use such an effect from this class, the DC equals your paladin spell save DC.

A b i l i t y S c o r e I m p r o v e m e n t

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score o f your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

E x t r a A t t a c k

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead o f once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

A u r a o f P r o t e c t i o n

Starting at 6th level, whenever you or a friendly creature within 10 feet o f you must make a saving throw, the creature gains a bonus to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum bonus o f +1). You must be conscious to grant this bonus. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

A u r a o f C o u r a g e

Starting at 10th level, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet o f you can’t be frightened while you are conscious. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

I m p r o v e d D i v i n e S m i t e

By 11th level, you are so suffused with righteous might that all your melee w eapon strikes carry divine power with them. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee w eapon, the creature takes an extra 1d8 radiant damage. If you also use your Divine Smite with an attack, you add this damage to the extra damage o f your Divine Smite.

C l e a n s i n g T o u c h

Beginning at 14th level, you can use your action to end one spell on yourself or on one willing creature that you touch. You can use this feature a number o f times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum o f once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.  

Sacred Oaths

O a t h o f D e v o t i o n

The Oath o f Devotion binds a paladin to the loftiest ideals o f justice, virtue, and order. Sometimes called cavaliers, white knights, or holy warriors, these paladins meet the ideal o f the knight in shining armor, acting with honor in pursuit o f justice and the greater good. They hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct, and some, for better or w orse, hold the rest of the world to the same standards. Many who swear this oath are devoted to gods o f law and good and use their gods’ tenets as the measure o f their devotion. They hold angels—the perfect servants o f good—as their ideals, and incorporate images of angelic wings into their helmets or coats o f arms.

T e n e t s o f D e v o t io n

Though the exact w ords and strictures o f the Oath of Devotion vary, paladins o f this oath share these tenets.

Honesty

Don’t lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise.

Courage

Never fear to act, though caution is w ise.

Compassion

Aid others, protect the weak, and punish those who threaten them. Show m ercy to your foes, but temper it with w isdom.

Honor

Treat others with fairness, and let your honorable deeds be an example to them. Do as much good as possible while causing the least amount o f harm.

Duty

Be responsible for your actions and their consequences, protect those entrusted to your care, and obey those w ho have just authority over you.

O a t h S p e l l s

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

O a t h o f D e v o t i o n S p e l l s

Paladin Level Spells
3rd protection from evil and good, sanctuary
5th lesser restoration, zone o f truth
9th beacon o f hope, dispel magic
13th freedom o f movement, guardian of faith
17th commune, flame strike

C h a n n e l D i v i n i t y

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. Sacred Weapon. As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with positive energy, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you add your Charisma modifier to attack rolls made with that weapon (with a minimum bonus o f +1). The weapon also emits bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light 20 feet beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration. You can end this effect on your turn as part o f any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this w eapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends. Turn the Unholy. As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer censuring fiends and undead, using your Channel Divinity. Each fiend or undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet o f you must make a W isdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet o f you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.

A u r a o f D e v o t io n

Starting at 7th level, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet o f you can’t be charmed while you are conscious. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

P u r i t y o f S p ir it

Beginning at 15th level, you are always under the effects o f a protection from evil and good spell.

H o l y N im b u s

At 20th level, as an action, you can emanate an aura of sunlight. For 1 minute, bright light shines from you in a 30-foot radius, and dim light shines 30 feet beyond that. Whenever an enemy creature starts its turn in the bright light, the creature takes 10 radiant damage. In addition, for the duration, you have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by fiends or undead. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.  

O a t h o f t h e A n c i e n t s

The Oath o f the Ancients is as old as the race o f elves and the rituals o f the druids. Sometimes called fey knights, green knights, or horned knights, paladins who swear this oath cast their lot with the side o f the light in the cosmic struggle against darkness because they love the beautiful and life-giving things o f the world, not necessarily because they believe in principles of honor, courage, and justice. They adorn their armor and clothing with images o f growing things—leaves, antlers, or flowers—to reflect their commitment to preserving life and light in the world.

T e n e t s o f t h e A n c ie n t s

The tenets of the Oath of the Ancients have been preserved for uncounted centuries. This oath emphasizes the principles of good above any concerns o f law or chaos. Its four central principles are simple.

Kindle the Light

Through your acts o f mercy, kindness, and forgiveness, kindle the light o f hope in the world, beating back despair.

Shelter the Light

Where there is good, beauty, love, and laughter in the world, stand against the w ickedness that w ould swallow it. Where life flourishes, stand against the forces that would render it barren.

Preserve Your Own Light

Delight in song and laughter, in beauty and art. If you allow the light to die in your own heart, you can’t preserve it in the world. Be the Light. Be a glorious beacon for all who live in despair. Let the light o f your joy and courage shine forth in all your deeds.

O a t h Sp e l l s

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

O a t h o f t h e A n c i e n t s S p e l l s

Paladin Level Spells
3rd ensnaring strike, speak with animals
5th moonbeam, misty step
9th plant growth, protection from energy
13th ice storm, stoneskin
17th commune with nature, tree stride

C h a n n e l D i v in i t y

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

Nature’s Wrath

You can use your Channel Divinity to invoke primeval forces to ensnare a foe. As an action, you can cause spectral vines to spring up and reach for a creature within 10 feet o f you that you can see. The creature must succeed on a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (its choice) or be restrained. While restrained by the vines, the creature repeats the saving throw at the end o f each o f its turns. On a success, it frees itself and the v ines vanish.

Turn the Faithless

You can use your Channel Divinity to utter ancient w ords that are painful for fey and fiends to hear. As an action, you present your holy symbol, and each fey or fiend within 30 feet o f you that can hear you must make a W isdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet o f you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action. If the creature’s true form is concealed by an illusion, shapeshifting, or other effect, that form is revealed while it is turned.

A u r a o f W a r d in g

Beginning at 7th level, ancient magic lies so heavily upon you that it forms an eldritch ward. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet o f you have resistance to damage from spells. At 18th level, the range o f this aura increases to 30 feet.

U n d y in g S e n t in e l

Starting at 15th level, when you are reduced to 0 hit points and are not killed outright, you can choose to drop to 1 hit point instead. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. Additionally, you suffer none o f the drawbacks o f old age, and you can’t be aged magically.

E l d e r C h a m p io n

At 20th level, you can assume the form o f an ancient force of nature, taking on an appearance you choose. For example, your skin might turn green or take on a bark-like texture, your hair might become leafy or mosslike, or you might sprout antlers or a lion-like mane. Using your action, you undergo a transformation. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:
• At the start o f each o f your turns, you regain 10 hit points.
• Whenever you cast a paladin spell that has a casting time o f 1 action, you can cast it using a bonus action instead.
• Enemy creatures within 10 feet o f you have disadvantage on saving throws against your paladin spells and Channel Divinity options.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
 

O a t h o f V e n g e a n c e

The Oath of Vengeance is a solemn commitment to punish those who have committed a grievous sin. When evil forces slaughter helpless villagers, when an entire people turns against the w ill of the gods, when a thieves’ guild grows too violent and powerful, when a dragon rampages through the countryside—at times like these, paladins arise and swear an Oath o f Vengeance to set right that which has gone wrong. To these paladins— sometimes called avengers or dark knights—their own purity is not as important as delivering justice.

T e n e t s o f V e n g e a n c e

The tenets o f the Oath o f Vengeance vary by paladin, but all the tenets revolve around punishing wrongdoers by any means necessary. Paladins w ho uphold these tenets are willing to sacrifice even their own righteousness to mete out justice upon those w ho do evil, so the paladins are often neutral or lawful neutral in alignment. The core principles of the tenets are brutally simple. Fight the Greater Evil. Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil. I choose the greater evil.

No Mercy for the Wicked

Ordinary foes might win my mercy, but my sworn enemies do not.

By Any Means Necessary

My qualms can’t get in the way o f exterminating my foes.

Restitution

If my foes w reak ruin on the world, it is because I failed to stop them. I must help those harmed by their misdeeds.

O a t h Sp e l l s

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

O a t h o f V e n g e a n c e S p e l l s

Paladin Level Spells
3rd bane, hunter’s mark
5th hold person, misty step
9th haste, protection from energy
13th banishment, dimension door
17th hold monster, scrying
C h a n n e l D i v in i t y When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

Abjure Enemy

As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer o f denunciation, using your

Channel Divinity

Choose one creature within 60 feet o f you that you can see. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw, unless it is immune to being frightened. Fiends and undead have disadvantage on this saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is frightened for 1 minute or until it takes any damage. While frightened, the creature’s speed is 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed. On a successful save, the creature’s speed is halved for 1 minute or until the creature takes any damage.

Vow o f Enmity

As a bonus action, you can utter a vow o f enmity against a creature you can see within 10 feet o f you, using your Channel Divinity. You gain advantage on attack rolls against the creature for 1 minute or until it drops to 0 hit points or falls unconscious.

R e l e n t l e s s A v e n g e r

By 7th level, your supernatural focus helps you close off a foe’s retreat. When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, you can move up to half your speed immediately after the attack and as part of the same reaction. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.

S o u l o f V e n g e a n c e

Starting at 15th level, the authority with which you speak your Vow o f Enmity gives you greater power over your foe. When a creature under the effect o f your Vow o f Enmity m akes an attack, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature if it is within range.

A v e n g in g A n g e l

At 20th level, you can assume the form o f an angelic avenger. Using your action, you undergo a transformation. For 1 hour, you gain the following benefits:
• Wings sprout from your back and grant you a flying speed o f 60 feet.
• You emanate an aura o f menace in a 30-foot radius. The first time any enemy creature enters the aura or starts its turn there during a battle, the creature must succeed on a W isdom saving throw or become frightened of you for 1 minute or until it takes any damage. Attack rolls against the frightened creature have advantage.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.