D&D 5E (2014) New Paladin Oaths

mlund · Mar 21, 2013

Usually the alignment-thread thread-crapping isn't nearly this funny.

Grimmjow · Mar 21, 2013

the oaths dont do much now as it is. few spells and some channel divinity. I think the three we have now should do more before we are given new ones. But id like to see a lawful paladin oath, and chaos paladin oath, and one in between aswell

Manabarbs · Mar 21, 2013

Grimmjow said:
the oaths dont do much now as it is. few spells and some channel divinity. I think the three we have now should do more before we are given new ones. But id like to see a lawful paladin oath, and chaos paladin oath, and one in between aswell

I agree. I hope that between now and release the oaths are pumped up in their effects. I wouldn't mind giving them a second spell at each level (potentially narrowing down the field of "universal" spells quite a bit in the process), and I still like the idea that they get something analogous to warden forms (although fewer of them, obviously).

As far as potential oath ideas (with suggested alignments, which I think are more useful than Always Lawful Good) -

- Lawful Neutral "Justicar" Gray Knight type. Can either be portrayed as a grim, unyielding hand of justice or as more of a champion of civilization type.
- Split the Blackguard up into a fiendish-type and an undeath-type (Pale Knight), and potentially into a third tyrrany-type, if that's not too much splitting.
- Chaotic Good "Paladin of Freedom" type.
- Like the Dragon Knight idea
- Maybe a Chaotic marauding type. I know that that doesn't really correspond to as many thing as we normally think of, but I think people like symmetry.

Olgar Shiverstone · Mar 22, 2013

Oath of Fealty. LN. Always does what he is told.

Oath of Enmity. CE. Plans to kill everyone he meets.

Oath of Insanity. CN. Flips out and kills random people.

Oath of Neutrality. TN. Takes no action to upset the balance. Actively works to bring things back into balance.

Oath of Meh. Unaligned. Just takes no action whatsoever.

Oath of Gold. NE. Does anything for money.

Oath of Glory. CG. Does anything to be remembered.

Rune · Mar 22, 2013

Grimmjow said:
But id like to see a lawful paladin oath, and chaos paladin oath, and one in between aswell

Why would a chaos paladin take an oath? And could s/he reasonably be expected to live by it?

gyor · Mar 22, 2013

Rune said:
Why would a chaos paladin take an oath? And could s/he reasonably be expected to live by it?

Because the voices in his head tell him too ;D

Seriously though the Chaotic Oath taker might not view it as an Oath to Chaos, but rather to a disorderly system like Freedom, Democracy, or mass murder. A urge to unite with an ideal the otherwise transends his otherwise Chaotic nature. Or simply because he/she CHOOSES to do so and has the freedom to do so and even to break the Oath if they no longer find its worth the gifts the Gods provide.

Nothing in the Oaths forces them to keep it against thier will, they lose there powers, but they can still choose to break it. So that is the piece of Chaos in the Oaths.

Twiggly the Gnome · Mar 22, 2013

Rune said:
Why would a chaos paladin take an oath? And could s/he reasonably be expected to live by it?

Oath of Verity: "To thy own self be true."

Dragoslav · Mar 22, 2013

Rune said:
Why would a chaos paladin take an oath? And could s/he reasonably be expected to live by it?

Oath of Nonconformity. Vow to never keep any oaths. Upon taking this oath, immediately take 100 psychic damage from the logical paradox.

variant · Mar 22, 2013

Dragoslav said:
Oath of Nonconformity. Vow to never keep any oaths. Upon taking this oath, immediately take 100 psychic damage from the logical paradox.

So basically hipsters.

Grimmjow · Mar 22, 2013

Rune said:
Why would a chaos paladin take an oath? And could s/he reasonably be expected to live by it?

Elves are normally Chaotic because of the fact that they feel free. a chaos paladin could mean a paladin who feels that he is free to follow her own code and encourage others to do so as well. While a CN might be hard to explain, a CG paladin could take an oath to free people from tyranny, not for the same reasons as a LG paladin (because its wrong) but because they are CG (they deserve to be free)

In addition to this if they gave a paladin "freedom" powers and said a chaotic paladin normally takes these powers other player will come up with funner ways to explain this chaos knight (btw a chaos knight is a red knight)