Paladin

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Overview & Creation

Clad in plate armor that gleams in the sunlight despite the dust and grime of long travel, a human lays down her sword and shield and places her hands on a mortally wounded man. Divine radiance shines from her hands, the man's wounds knit closed, and his eyes open wide with amazement.

A dwarf crouches behind an outcrop, his black cloack making him nearly invisible in the night, and watches an orc war band celebrating its recent victory. Silently, he stalks into their midst and whispers an oath, and two orcs are dead before they even realize he is there.

Silver hair shining in a shaft of light that seems to illuminate only him, an elf laughs with exultation. His spear flashes like his eyes as he jabs again and again at a twisted giant, until at last his light overcomes its hideous darkness.

Whatever their origin and their mission, paladins are united by their oaths to stand against the forces of evil. Whether sworn before a god's altar and the witness of a priest, in a sacred glade before nature spirits and fey beings, or in a moment of desperation and grief with the dead as the only witness, a paladin's oath is powerful bond. It is a source of power that turns a devout warrior into a blessed champion.

 

The Cause of Righteousness

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A paladin swears to uphold justice and righteousness, to stand with the good things of the world against the encroaching darkness, and to hunt the forces of evil wherever they lurk. Different paladins focus on various aspects of the cause of righteousness, but all are bound by the oaths that grant them power to do their sacred work. Although many paladins are devoted to gods of good, a paladin

Paladins train for years to learn the skills of combat, mastering a variety of weapons armor. Even so, their martial skills are secondary to the magical power they wield: power to heal the sick and injured, to smite the wicked and the undead, and to protect the innocent and those who join them in the fight for justice.

 

Beyond the Mundane Life

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Almost by definition, the life of a paladin is an adventuring life. Unless a lasting injury has take him or her away from adventuring for a time, every paladin lives on the front lines of the cosmic struggle against evil. Fighters are rare enough among the ranks of the militias and armies of the world, but even fewer people can claim the true calling of a paladin. When they do receive the call, these warriors turn from their former occupations and take up arms to fight evil. Sometimes their oaths lead them into the service of the crown as leaders of elite groups of knights, but even then their loyalty is first to the cause of righteousness, not to crown and country.

Adventuring paladins take their work seriously. A delve into an ancient ruin or dusty crypt can be a quest driven by a higher purpose than the acquisition of treasure. Evil lurks in dungeons and primeval forests, and even the smallest victory against it can tilt the cosmic balance away from oblivion.

The Paladin

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	+2	Divine Sense, Lay on Hands	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	+2	Fighting Style, Spellcasting, Divine Smite	2	-	-	-	-
3rd	+2	Divine Health, Sacred Oath	3	-	-	-	-
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	3	-	-	-	-
5th	+3	Extra Attack	4	2	-	-	-
6th	+3	Aura of Protection	4	2	-	-	-
7th	+3	Sacred Oath Feature	4	3	-	-	-
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	-	-	-
9th	+4	-	4	3	2	-	-
10th	+4	Aura of Courage	4	3	2	-	-
11th	+4	Improved Divine Smite	4	3	3	-	-
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	-	-
13th	+5	-	4	3	3	1	-
14th	+5	Cleansing Touch	4	3	3	1	-
15th	+5	Sacred Oath Feature	4	3	3	2	-
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	2	-
17th	+6	-	4	3	3	3	1
18th	+6	Aura Improvements	4	3	3	3	1
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	3	2
20th	+6	Sacred Oath Feature	4	3	3	3	2

 

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Class Features

Divine Sense

The presence of 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 of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of 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.

 

Lay on Hands

Your blessed touch can heal wounds. You have a pool of 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 × 5.

As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool.

Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of 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 of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Defense

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

Dueling

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.

Great Weapon Fighting

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

Protection

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

Divine Smite

Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target, in addition to the weapon’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 of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend, to a maximum of 6d8.  

Divine Health

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

Sacred Oath

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 from the Oaths detailed at the end of the class description or one from another source.   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.  

Oath Spells

Each oath has a list of 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 of 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.  

Channel Divinity

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.  

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of 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.   Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.  

Extra Attack

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

Aura of Protection

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

Aura of Courage

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

Improved Divine Smite

By 11th level, you are so suffused with righteous might that all your melee weapon strikes carry divine power with them. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 1d8 radiant damage.  

Cleansing Touch

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 of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.  

Aura Improvements

At 18th level, the range of your auras increase to 30 feet.

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Starting Equipment

 

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Spellcasting

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 of the Player's Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the paladin spell list.  

Preparing and Casting Spells

The Paladin table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells. To cast one of your paladin spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. You prepare the list of paladin spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the paladin spell list. When you do so, choose a number of paladin spells equal to your Charisma modifier + half your paladin level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of 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 of 14, your list of prepared spells can include four spells of 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 of prepared spells. You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of paladin spells requires time spent in prayer and meditation: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.  

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your paladin spells, since their power 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  

Spellcasting Focus

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

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Subclass Options

Sacred Oaths

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Becoming a paladin involves taking vows that commit the paladin to the cause of righteousness, an active path of fighting wickedness. The final oath, taken when he or she reaches 3rd level, is the culmination of all the paladin’s training. Some characters with this class don’t consider themselves true paladins until they have reached 3rd level and made this oath. For others, the actual swearing of the oath is a formality, an official stamp on what has always been true in the paladin’s heart.    

Oath of The Fantra

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Fantra is an ancient word in the Sylvan tongue that is typically taken to mean "guardian," and in practice those paladins who take the Oath of the Fantra see themselves as protectors of freedom and nature against tyranny and control. Such paladins, also known as Fantras, may make such an oath to themselves, a comrade, or to a being of the wilderness, such as a druid or fey. It is also said that the first Fantras swore only to the wilderness itself.   Fantras believe in the freedom of chaos; rules and authority are dangerous things, nothing more than the chains that separate people from each other and bind them down against their own desires. People are best off trusted to make their own decisions and, given freedom, will learn to live peacefully.   In addition to promoting the freedom of individuals, a Fantra also encourages the chaos of the natural world. They dislike the conquest of the wilderness, preferring that people live with nature, not against it. Fantras often distrust wizardly arcana, seeing it as a perversion to control the primal forces of magic. In the eyes of many Fantra, the world was as it was meant to be when it was first made, without the changes wrought by mortal hands.   Believing in the inherent rightness of freedom from rules, Fantras have few scruples, and boisterous examples can be especially revelrous. This carries over into their quest against rigid law, leading them to also be unrelenting adversaries.  

Tenets of the Fantra

As advocates against formal rules, there are no uniform tenets followed by Fantras. However, their commitment to chaos can be summarized roughly as follows.
  Anarchy. The rigidity of instutions ought be rejected wherever possible. Authority is an agent of separation and oppression, and power is best left in the hands of people.
  Relativism. Good and evil are sophistries and opinions, and the only true measure of right is peaceful, free coexistence. People should determine on their own and amongst each other how they ought to conduct themselves, not lawmakers, kings, or judges.
  Earth. The natural world is the ultimate symbol of freedom and coexistence, and it must be protected against those agents of law which would abuse and destroy it.
  Autonomy. Use your own judgment and encourage others to use theirs. Commit acts that fulfill your oath and acts that please you. Feel no duty to that which accomplishes neither.
  Equity. Respect the autonomy and desires of others, their personal chaos. Acknowledge the inherent worth of each mortal and their freedoms. Hierarchy is always the path to tyranny; equity will always restore freedom.      

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.   Oath of the Fantra Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	find familiar, hex
5th	blue, spike growth
9th	fly, speak with plants
13th	conjure woodland beings, guardian of nature
17th	commune with nature, insect plague

   

Channel Divinity

  When you take this oath at 3rd level,you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.
Chaos Strike. As a bonus action, you can use your Channel Divinity to call on the powers of primordial chaos, blessing a weapon you touch with volatile potency. For 1 minute, the weapon crackles and fizzes with chaotic power, shedding dim light in a 10-foot radius. The next successful melee weapon attack made using this weapon within this duration inflicts 2d6 extra damage, whereupon the effect ends. Also, choose one of the d6s. The number rolled on that die determines the type of the extra damage, as shown on the table below.   The extra damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 10th, 5d6 at 14th, and 6d6 at 18th.

d6	Damage Type
1	Acid
2	Cold
3	Fire
4	Lightning
5	Poison
6	Thunder

  Primeval Speech. By calling on the land's natural forces, you can commune with beasts using your Channel Divinity. As an action, you target a beast within 30 feet of you that you can see. For the next ten minutes, you can comprehend and verbally communicate with this beast. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence, but at a minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a favor for you, at the DM's discretion.  

Aura of Freedom

Starting at 7th level, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you are unaffected by magical and nonmagical difficult terrain while you are conscious. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.  

Quickfooted

Beginning at 15th level, you are adept at maneuvering in battle. Whenever you Dash or Disengage as an action, you can make a single weapon attack as a bonus action.  

Limitless Impunity

By 20th level, you can use your action to break free of all bonds and restrictions, adopting a mantle of sovereignty. For one minute, you gain a flying speed of 60 feet, experience the effects of the freedom of movement spell, and are immune to enchantment spells you do not choose to be affected by. You can also move through other creatures and objects, and each foot of movement through other creatures and objects cost an extra foot of movement. You take 1d10 force damage if you end your turn inside an object.   Additionally, you ignore a creature's resistance or immunity to any damage you inflict on it.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

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