Oath of Nightmares

Paladins who take on an Oath of Nightmares are frequently seen as Black Knights, those who are of a far more sinister persuasion. They see themselves however as something closer to a necessary evil. To properly fight monsters, they need to be worse monsters. Terrify the criminals and ne'er-do-wells, so that people would rather do good than risk your ire.

 

Tenets of Nightmares

Paladins who follow the Oath of Nightmares have the tenets tattooed or otherwise inscribed over their hearts.so when they look in a mirror they are firmly reminded of the values to uphold.

Necessary Evil

The ends justify the means. Terrify a criminal into submission, and failing that: stop them. A dead criminal is better than a dead innocent.

Strike Fear, Then First

A scared enemy is always slower to react. Put the fear of you in them and you will always have the advantage in battle.

Mind Games

The more scared an enemy is, the easier the battle. Manipulate, and destroy.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of Nightmares Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.

Oath of Conquest Spells

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.

Frightening Power As a Bonus Action you attempt to frighten your enemies to empower your attacks. All hostile creatures in a 15 ft sphere must make a Wisdom Saving Throw. For every enemy that fails the saving throw, your melee and ranged weapon attacks (including unarmed strikes) deal 1 extra point of psychic damage, to a maximum of your Paladin level. This effect lasts until the end of your next turn.

Wrathful Strike When you use a Divine Smite, you can choose to switch the damage from radiant to psychic, this psychic damage treats immunity as resistance.

Protection From The Troubled Mind

As an action, you radiate misery and fear. When you activate this ability, every hostile creature in your Aura of Protection range makes a Wisdom Saving Throw. Your AC is increased by 2 plus an additional  1 for each creature that failed the saving throw, up to an amount equal to your Intimidation bonus. Every attack that targets and hits you decreases the bonus by 1 until you are left with your original Armor Class. This effect lasts for one minute or until the effect is depleted as described above.

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and regain all expended uses after a long rest.

Punish The Guilty

If a creature is within the radius of your Aura of Protection and deals damage to another creature, you may use your reaction to attempt to stun the creature. The targeted creature makes a Charisma saving throw. On a failure the creature takes 2d8 + Charisma modifier psychic damage and is stunned until the end of your next turn. On a success the creature takes half damage and suffers no other ill effects. If the creature takes damage the creature may reattempt the save. If the creature leaves or is otherwise removed from the Aura radius it is no longer stunned. This reaction can be performed an amount of times per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus.

No Rest For The Wicked

You are an Avatar of Retribution. You are able to recognize a creature's alignment by their aura, evil being tinted red and good being tinted blue.

In battle you refuse to fall. As a reaction to being forced to 0 hp, but not outright killed, you fall to 1 hp instead. Protection From The Troubled Mind activates, even if all uses had been expended, and you may spend spell slots as you would for a Divine Smite, and roll the equivalent damage die as part of the reaction to grant yourself temporary hp equal to the amount rolled for 1 hour.