Paladin

The paladin is the divine warrior, blending fighter with cleric. More than a crusader or myrmidon, the paladin combines divine magical power with an unmatched resolve and faith to become the blade of its oaths. Moreso than its class peers, the paladin is built for combat, relying on its high Charisma to manage social pillars and it spells and will to tackle exploration challenges. A paladin is a capable half spellcasting with a range of defensive and recovery spells along with utility spells, but it also a capable warrior able to face the strongest threats head-on with weapon in hand empowered by divine might.

The paladin is the best class because it is its party shield and its sword. With powerful aura, useful spells, and the ability to stand in the front line, the paladin protects its allies. With a spell, or even a mere touch, the paladin restores its allies back to fighting form. When a powerful threatens that which the paladin cares for, the paladin summons divine force to smite its foes and drive them back to the shadows from wence they crawled. The paladin is the champion others can lean upon.

Optional Class Features

The paladin class receives new features and subclasses in this section. You gain class features in the *Player’s Handbook* when you reach certain levels in your class. This section offers additional features you can gain as a paladin. Unlike features in the *Player’s Handbook*, you don’t gain the features here automatically. Consult with your DM on whether you gain a feature in this section if you meet the requirements. These features can be selected separately from one another; you can use some, all, or none of them.

If you take a feature that replaces another feature, you gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don’t qualify for anything in the game that requires it.

Fighting Style Options

When you choose a new fighting style, the following styles are added to your list of options.

Sworn Weapon

After finishing a long rest, choose one weapon in which you are proficient. Until you choose a different weapon through this fighting style, when you attack with that weapon, you can use your Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier (your choice), instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls.

Versatile Fighting

When you make an attack with a weapon that has the versatile property with one hand, you have a +2 bonus on attack rolls with it, provided you aren’t holding a second weapon or a shield. When you make an attack with a weapon with the versatile property with two hands, you have a +2 bonus on damage rolls with it.

Dedicated Smite

2nd-levelPaladin feature which replaces the Divine Smite feature

Paladin smite spells (banishing smite, blinding smite, branding smite, disrupting smite, searing smite, staggering smite, and wrathful smite) no longer require concentration, but you can only have one of them in effect at a time. You can cast one of them without expending a spell slot, and can’t do so again until until you finish a long rest unless cast it using a spell slot normally.

A spell cast through this feature is treated as if cast by a 1st-level spell slot. As you reach certain levels in this class, the slot level it is cast at increases at: 5th (2nd level spell slot), 9th (3rd level spell slot), 13th (4th level spell slot), and 17th level (5th level spell slot).

Mantle Options

If you have access to psionic mantles, the following mantles are added to the list of options available to you. Mantles are available to paladins of the Oath of the Ardent from the Psychic and Spiritual Handbook.

Manipulation

Aura. You and friendly creatures have advantage on Charisma checks made to deceive or coerce a creature.
Shroud. Once each round, when a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see makes an attack roll or ability check, you can use your reaction to have it reroll the d20 and you choose which roll it keeps.
Powers. You know the following powers: puppetry, suspension.

Night

Aura. You and friendly creatures have darkvision up to 90 feet.
Shroud. You can see in magical darkness. As a bonus action, you can create a cloud of magical darkness that covers up to a 15-foot radius sphere centered on you. You can use a bonus to dismiss the cloud.
Powers. You know the following powers: enveloping darkness, starcall.

Pain

Aura. Once each turn when a creature you hit with a melee weapon takes 1 psychic damage each time it takes damage until the end of your next turn.
Shroud. You gain immunity to psychic damage and advantage on saving throws against effects that cause pain, including the illusion of pain.
Powers. You know the following powers: ego whip, living weapon.

Pestilence

Aura. Each foe has disadvantage on saving throws against poison damage, the poisoned condition, and disease.
Shroud. Your creature type becomes undead, granting you resistance to cold, necrotic, and poison damage. If you are reduced to 0 hit points, you immediately regain a number of hit points equal to your level in this class and the shroud ends.
Powers. You know the following powers: decay, shatter psyche.

Reverberation

Aura. After you deal damage with a melee weapon, you can deal its weapon damage again, but can’t benefit from this aura again until the end of your next turn.
Shroud. Whenever you fail on a saving throw, other than the initial save, against an effect that requires you to make a new saving throw, you can reroll the save and choose which roll to keep. If you fail a saving throw, you can activate this shroud as a reaction, and can maintain its effects even if you are incapacitated.
Powers. You know the following powers: harmonics, telekinetic flight.

Space

Aura. Whenever a creature teleports out of or into the aura, you can choose its destination within the aura.
Shroud. You can teleport up to 30 feet as a bonus action.
Powers. You know the following powers: dimensional breach, singularity.

The Planes

Aura. You and friendly creatures always know which way is north and your relative distance to a known location. You automatically know the location of major feature such as the City of Brass, the River Styx, or Roots of Yggdrasil.
Shroud. You are under the effects of the protection from evil and good spell that applies to aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and any creature not native to the Material Plane.
Powers. You know the following powers: dimensional disassociation, ectoplasmic creation.

Time

Aura. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you are immune to the slow spell and similar effects and the stasis condition.
Shroud. When you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to have it miss instead. Once you take this reaction, you can’t take it again until the end of your next turn regardless of any magical, psionic, or other effects.
Powers. You know the following powers: speed of thought, stasis.