Oath of Justice

Many are the gods of Justice in the Multiverse, from Tyr, Torm and Bahamut in the Forgotten Realms, to Paladine in Krynn, the aspects of the universal principle Justice are ever-present. As their champions, they choose individuals who are driven to defend the innocent, yet remain resolute in the face of evil and injustice without becoming consumed by vengeance, blind loyalty, or cynical abuse of power. Known as Justicars, Knights-Justice, or Knight-Judges, these divine truth-finders and justice-seekers are ever wandering the world, defending the innocent, and bringing those who break those unwritten rules  of conscience common to all sentient beings, though oft ignored or suppressed by circumstance, to face the consequences of their crimes, and ensure the guilty pay the price.

Paladins who take the Oath of Justice follow the following tenets:

Injustice is the greatest evil: no matter if big or small, injustice is the root and seed of every evil that grows to rot relationships, families, communities, cities, nations and civilizations. To correct injustice is to address the root of all evil.

An unjust order is just as dangerous as lawless chaos: beware of the rule of law, for it is created and enforced by imperfect people, and as liable to corruption as the most lawless frontier. 

The means of justice must be just: to compromise the principles of justice in the name of a "greater good", is to fall into the trap of hubris. Using unjust means to achieve justice is a self-defeating exercise in futility, for we would sow the seeds of the evil we are seeking to uproot. 

 Truth, Justice and Innocence: all effort must be made to ensure that suspects are truly guilty before a verdict is announced and carried out. To punish the innocent due to negligence in finding out the truth, is to compound an injustice one-hundredfold. 

Mercy to the innocent, and the penitent: justice is not blind, it sees all, and thus guides us to permit redemption to those who seek it. But mercy is not naïveté, repentance must be sincere and demonstrated through real actions. 

Oath Spells:

3 level Paladin:

Sleep: A Justicar needs a method to apprehend suspects without necessarily harming them, until the guilty can be determined.

Guiding Bolt: Once the guilty has been identified, or an implacable aggressor presents themselves, the full fury of Justice can be brought to bear as well as mark the guilty for the forces of Justice to dispatch.

 

5 level Paladin:

Hold Person: Another divine tool to hold suspects until guilt is determined.

Misty Step:  No obstacle can get in the way of the pursuit of justice. This allows the Justicar to continue the pursuit of the guilty without delay.

 

9 level Paladin:

Spirit Guardians: This spell summons the remaining echoes of victims and allows them to exact justice on those who have wronged them, as well as protect the Justicar in the pursuit of Justice.

Counterspell: the guilty often attempt to use magical trickery to bypass their deserved judgement. The gods of Justice will not be denied.

 

13 level Paladin:

Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere: A Justicar is given the tools to either cage suspects or protect witnesses from harm, until Justice can be served.

Dimension Door: Once the guilty are captured, a Justicar is given the tools to extract them to a safe place so that proper investigation or interrogation can be conducted.

 

17 level Paladin:

Commune: The final arbiters of Justice would be the deities who govern Justice in the Realms. A loyal and devout Justicar is granted audience to ensure the guilty are condemned righteously.

Wall of Force: The Justicar’s ultimate tool of containment for those rightfully suspected of committing injustice.

 

Channel Divinity

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

Stand in Judgement (re-flavored Nature’s Wrath from Oath of Ancients):

You can use your Channel Divinity to invoke the force of universal Justice to arrest a suspect. As an action, you can cause spectral chains and manacles to spring up and reach for a creature within 10 feet of 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 of each of its turns. On a success, it frees itself and the chains vanish.

Aspect of Judgement (re-flavored Aspect of Dread from the Oathbreaker):

As an action, you channel your righteous resolve and focus it into a burst of magical intimidation. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw if it can sense you. On a failed save, the target is frightened of you for 1 minute. If a creature frightened by this effect, ends its turn more than 30 feet away from you, it can attempt another Wisdom saving throw to end the effect on it.

 

7 level feature:  Choose one of the 2 options below

Arresting Judgement (re-flavor of Aura of Conquest from Oath of Conquest):

Starting at 7th level, you constantly emanate an intimidating aura while you're not incapacitated. The aura extends 10 feet from you in every direction, but not through total cover. If a creature is frightened of you, its speed is reduced to 0 while in the aura, and that creature takes psychic damage equal to half your paladin level if it starts its turn there. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Inescapable Judgement (re-flavor of Relentless Avenger from Oath of Vengeance): 

By 7th level, your supernatural focus helps you close off a suspect’s escape. 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.

 

15 level feature:

Unstoppable Judgement (re-flavored Unyielding Saint from the Oath of the Crown):

Starting at 15th level, you have advantage on saving throws to avoid becoming paralyzed, stunned, or restrained.

 

20 level feature: 

Indomitable Judge (re-flavored Invincible Conqueror from the Oath of Conquest):

At 20th level, you gain the ability to embody the power of Justice Incarnate. As an action, you can magically become an avatar of Justice, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:

-You have resistance to all damage.

-When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can make one additional attack as part of that action.

-Your melee weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20 on the d20.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

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This homebrew subclass is meant to serve as a balanced, fully compatible way of incorporating this archetype into DnD 5e without inventing features out of whole cloth. Every spell, channel divinity, class feature or aura used, is simply a re-flavoring of features that exist for a variety of Official DnD paladin subclasses, re-flavored and re-assigned so it fits the theme of a Justicar Knight. All spells are still given at the appropriate level, and the level progression and relative power of abilities per level is also maintained.

You'd think this subclass would have been in the PHB, since the idea that a Paladin should fight first and foremost for justice, is something that seems obvious to me. But maybe they were just so busy trying to be "different" and "subverting expectations" that they forgot that classic archetypes are classic for a reason.

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Channel Divinity

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

Stand in Judgement (re-flavored Nature’s Wrath from Oath of Ancients):

You can use your Channel Divinity to invoke the force of universal Justice to arrest a suspect. As an action, you can cause spectral chains and manacles to spring up and reach for a creature within 10 feet of 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 of each of its turns. On a success, it frees itself and the chains vanish.

Aspect of Judgement (re-flavored Aspect of Dread from the Oathbreaker):

As an action, you channel your righteous resolve and focus it into a burst of magical intimidation. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw if it can see you. On a failed save, the target is frightened of you for 1 minute. If a creature frightened by this effect, ends its turn more than 30 feet away from you, it can attempt another Wisdom saving throw to end the effect on it.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

Oath of Justice Spells

Arresting Judgement

Arresting Judgement (re-flavor of Aura of Conquest from Oath of Conquest):

Starting at 7th level, you constantly emanate an intimidating aura while you're not incapacitated. The aura extends 10 feet from you in every direction, but not through total cover. If a creature is frightened of you, its speed is reduced to 0 while in the aura, and that creature takes psychic damage equal to half your paladin level if it starts its turn there.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Unstoppable Judgement

Starting at 15th level, you have advantage on saving throws to avoid becoming paralyzed, stunned, or restrained.

Indomitable Judge

At 20th level, you gain the ability to embody the power of Justice Incarnate. As an action, you can magically become an avatar of Justice, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:

-You have resistance to all damage.

-When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can make one additional attack as part of that action.

-Your melee weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20 on the d20. 

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.