paladin

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. Holy radiance shines from her hands, the man’s wounds knit closed, and his eyes open wide with amazement.
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 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 a powerful bond. It is a source of power that turns a warrior into a champion.

The Cause of Righteousness

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 work. Many paladins are devoted to good and a paladin’s power comes as from a commitment to justice itself rather than, how it was previously thought, from god.
Paladins train for years to learn the skills of combat, mastering a variety of weapons and 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

Almost by definition, the life of a paladin is an adventuring life. Unless a lasting injury has taken him or her away from adventuring for a time, every paladin lives on the front lines of the cosmic struggle against evil. Few 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.

D&D details

Creating a Paladin

The most important aspect of a paladin character is the nature of his or her 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 of the class. Are you a devoted servant of good, loyal to the justice and honor, a holy knight in shining armor venturing forth to smite evil? Are you a glorious champion of the light, cherishing everything beautiful that stands against the shadow, a knight whose oath descends from traditions older than the history? Or are you an embittered loner sworn to take vengeance on those who have done great evil, sent as an angel of death or driven by your need for revenge?
How did you experience your call to serve as a paladin? Did you take classes and do your training in the Holy Mage University? Did another paladin sense the potential within you and decide to train you as a squire? Or did some terrible event—the destruction of 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 of 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 world with that purpose stamped on your soul.
As guardians against the forces of wickedness, paladins are rarely of any evil alignment. Most of them walk the paths of charity and justice. Consider how your alignment colors the way you pursue your quest and the manner in which you conduct yourself before those surrounding you. Your oath and alignment might be in harmony, or your oath might represent standards of behavior that you have not yet attained.

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features		Cantrips Known	Spell Slots per Spell Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st	+2	Sense Evil, Lay on hands		1
2nd	+2	Fighting Style, Spellcasting, Smite		1	2
3rd	+2	Holy Health, Sacred Oath, Harness Power		1	3
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement, Martial Versatility		1	3
5th	+3	Extra Attack		1	4 2
6th	+3	Aura of Protection		1	4 2
7th	+3	Sacred Oath Feature		1	4 3
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement, Martial Versatility		1	4 3
9th	+4			1	4 3 2
10th	+4	Aura of Courage		2	4 3 2
11th	+4	Improved Smite		2	4 3 3
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement, Martial Versatility		2	4 3 3
13th	+5			2	4 3 3 1
14th	+5	Cleansing Touch		2	4 3 3 1
15th	+5	Sacred Oath Feature		2	4 3 3 2
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement, Martial Versatility		2	4 3 3 2
17th	+6			2	4 3 3 3 1
18th	+6	Aura Improvements		2	4 3 3 3 1
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement, Martial Versatility		2	4 3 3 3 2
20th	+6	Sacred oath feature		3	4 3 3 3 2

Class Features

As a Paladin, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per Paladin level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per Paladin level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Heavy armor, Shields
Weapons: Simple and Martial melee weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Persuasion, Religion, and History.

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
• any simple melee weapon
• (a) a priest's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
• (a)Chain mail or (b)Splint mail
• a symbol representing your oath that serves as your spellcasting focus

Sense Evil

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 evil or good being within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, demon, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (Jubilex the demon lord, 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 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 x 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.

Cantrips

Beginning at 1st level, you have adapted you magic to help you in your paladin's quest. You gain one cantrip from the Paladin Spell list at first level and additional one at 10th level.

Fighting Style

Starting at 2nd level, you adopt a particular 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.

• Blessed Warrior. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the Paladin Spell list. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for them. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of these cantrips with another cantrip from the paladin spell list.
• Blind Fighting. You have Blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
• 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, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
• Interception. When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon to use this reaction.
• 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.
• Tunnel Fighter. As a bonus action, you can enter a defensive stance that lasts until the start of your next turn. While in your defensive stance, you can make opportunity attacks without using your reaction, and you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against a creature that moves more than 5 feet while within your reach.

Spellcasting

By 2nd level, you have learned to draw on holy magic through meditation to cast spells as a mage does.

Preparing and Casting Spells

The Paladin table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your Paladin 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 meditation: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Spell Slots

The Mage table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your mage spells of 1st level and higher. Once you chose your specialization your number of spell slots will be decided by your specialization. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. For example, if you know the 1st-level spell Charm Person and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast Charm Person using either slot.

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 an object with a symbol representing your oath as a spellcasting focus for your paladin spells.

Smite

Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal Light 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 Demon, to a maximum of 6d8.

Holy Health

By 3rd level, the light elemental 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. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. Those features include oath spells and the Channel Oath feature.
Oaths

• Oath of the Ancients
• Oath of the Crown
• Oath of Devotion
• Oath of Glory
• Oath of Redemption
• Oath of Vengeance

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

Harness Power

Also at 3rd level, you can expend a use of your Channel Oath to fuel your spells. As a bonus action, you touch the symbol representing your oath, utter a your oath, and regain one expended spell slot, the level of which can be no higher than half your proficiency bonus (rounded up). The number of times you can use this feature is based on the level you've reached in this class: 3rd level, once; 7th level, twice; and 15th level, thrice. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

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.

Martial Versatility

Whenever you reach a level in this class that grants the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can replace a fighting style you know with another fighting style available to paladins. This replacement represents a shift of focus in your martial practice.

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 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.