Oath of Infernal Law

Paladins of Infernal Law are not oathbreakers, but share many commonalities with them in the magics and pursuits they prescribe to. These paladins still have an oath, but a fell oath they made to a greater devil with authority within the hells, an archfiend, or a prince of hell, to uphold and enforce the laws of the hells. To a paladin who has taken the oath of infernal law, power, in all its forms, is a construct by which order is created, maintained, and enforced. These beacons of the darker side of law are generally lawful neutral or evil, having realized that the good in the world is too weak, or too unwilling, to do what is necessary to uphold order, and will do whatever is necessary to uphold law in its truest form.

Paladins of the Oath of Infernal Law are morally ambiguous among their comrades. They uphold order over all else, and will do whatever is necessary to enforce law and order. Often, paladins take this oath because of inherent corruption within society, having an internalized realization that some laws are made exclusively to protect those in power. They will kill, assassinate, racketeer, extort, and beat down whoever they need to in order to make the world a more orderly place. When under the direct command of a fiend to whom they've given their oath, they often serve as bounty hunters and assassins of rogue fiends trying to make a foothold in the mortal plane, outside of the hells, and those who sow chaos or unravel the foundations of laws in their pursuits. Sometimes, they are even brought to the hells to serve as enforcers and executioners of fiends who act beyond their class, their power, or their stations in any other context, keeping order within the fiendish planes. Unlike demons, devils are beings of law, honor, and codes, which is why these paladins can trust them, regardless of personal aversions or dislikes between themselves and these fell beings. 

The Oath of Infernal Law

Unlike other oaths, Infernal Law Paladins are able to draw upon their fiendish masters to prepare additional spells. They may prepare spells from the Warlock spell list in addition to those from the Paladin spell list. In addition to this, upon taking the oath of Infernal Law, a paladin no longer needs to remain good aligned in order to retain their Paladin benefits, nor do acts of evil cause them to become an oathbreaker. Paladins of the oath of Infernal Law can do whatever is necessary to uphold and enforce laws, including bending the law to their needs. So long as their actions are to the ends of meeting the ultimate goal of the laws as observed by the hells, they can kill, assassinate, or assault other creatures, and bend or even break laws as necessary to keep the ultimate order of society in place.

As part of becoming an oath of infernal law paladin, you gain the ability to speak and understand Infernal, bestowed upon you by whatever fiend you gave your oath to.

Channel Divinity

An Oath of Infernal Law paladin of 3rd level or higher gains the following two Channel Divinity options.

Infernal Aspect. As an action, the paladin channels the fell powers bestowed upon them to empower them. For the next minute, you gain immunity to fire damage, poison damage, and being poisoned. All melee attacks you make while this effect is active inflict an additional 1d4 plus your Charisma Modifier necrotic damage. This damage increases to 1d6 at 7th level, to 1d8 at 11th level, to 1d10 at 15th level, and to 1d12 at 19th level.

Infernal Command. As an action, the paladin targets one fiend within 30 feet that they can see and issues an Infernal Command. This command can be a sentence, a single word, or a direct transcript of a law of the hells or of the realm you are presently within. The fiend must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is compelled to obey your command, or observe the consequences of the law you cite. This causes the fiend to be charmed by you for the next 24 hours, even if they are normally immune to being charmed and can cause it to do one of the following, chosen when you issue the Infernal Command.

• Banish. If your order is to the effect of commanding the fiend to leave, they will attempt to leave whatever realm or plane they are in. If the fiend has been ordered to return to the hells, they will plane shift, if able, or attempt to return to whatever allowed them entry into a non-native plane they are currently in. If they are ordered to merely leave the area they are interfering with, they will just leave the area, using any means necessary to leave the borders, boundaries, or other such defined area of the location you've specified. If the fiend is dealt damage during this time, they can attempt another Wisdom Saving Throw to end the effect, ending the charmed condition on a success. Whether they succeed or fail, however, they may retaliate and act freely against those who would prevent them from leaving, or those who deal them damage, so long as they do not continue to do so for longer than is necessary to enable them to leave as instructed.
• Obey. The fiend will serve you as an authority of the hells, compelled to act as you order them to. They will regard you as an ally, and an authority figure. They will answer you truthfully when asked questions, obey any command that is not inherently suicidal, and will defend you and assist you in any way that is within their nature to do so for a trusted ally. If you inflict any damage to the fiend of a type they are not resistant or immune to while they are compelled to obey you, the effect of Infernal Command immediately ends and they become hostile towards you. They still have free will, and have no compulsion to regard your allies or party members as friends. When the effect of Infernal Command ends, they will retain all knowledge of the orders you have given them during its effects, and will regard you as more trusted, even potentially remaining friendly towards you, or as an enemy depending on what you did to them and what you ordered them to do while they were charmed.
• Surrender. The fiend surrenders to the consequences of a cited law or demand that you have made. They will willingly submit to whatever punishment you sentence them to, including execution, so long as they are not in their native plane, as even death will only send them back to their native plane. If in their native plane, they will not submit to execution or lethal punishment by a mortal, as death in the hells is permanent for a fiend, but will turn themselves in to a higher ranking fiend who may kill them for their actions. Once their punishment is served, the effects of Infernal Command end.

Aura of Oppression

Starting at 7th level, the paladin, as well any of the paladin's allies within 10 feet of the paladin, gains a bonus to melee weapon damage rolls equal to the paladin’s Charisma modifier (minimum of +1). A creature can benefit from this feature from only one paladin at a time.

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

Infernal Resistance

At 15th level, the paladin gains resistance to fire and poison damage.

Infernal Dominion

At 20th level, the paladin can assert absolute infernal control over fiends and bring down the full authority of the hells on a transgressor with a word. They gain the following special actions:

Infernal Conscription. As an action, the paladin chooses one fiend they can see that can hear them within 120 feet. The fiend must make a Wisdom Saving Throw against the paladin's spell save DC or become permanently charmed by the paladin. The fiend becomes fully obedient to the paladin, regarding them as their master in every sense, and is bound to the paladin's service until they die, are banished to their native plane, or are dismissed by the paladin. Being affected by remove curse or a wish to free the fiend can end this effect, but remove curse must be cast at 6th level or higher in order to successfully undo this effect.

Infernal Judgment. As an action, the paladin selects one target that can see and hear them within 30 feet, passing a judgment against their actions, conspiracies, or other transgressions that would upset the order of the realm, nation, or plane the judgment is in regards to. The creature must make a Charisma Saving throw and offer a plea against that judgment. If the creature fails this saving throw, and subsequently their plea, they suffer 200 Radiant Damage and, if they survive, are knocked unconscious for 1 hour. If they succeed their Charisma Saving Throw, they suffer half damage and are not knocked unconscious. Whether they succeed or fail their save, the paladin gains advantage on all attacks against the creature, if it survives, for the next 1 minute after issuing their Infernal Judgment.

After using one of these actions, the paladin may not perform that action again until they complete a long rest.

The Oath of Infernal Law

An Oath of Infernal Law paladin gains the ability to prepare Warlock Spells in addition to their Paladin spells, and gains the following spells derived from their fiendish pact when they reach the appropriate level:

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	burning hands, inflict wounds
5th	blindness/deafness, scorching ray
9th	fireball, stinking cloud
13th	fire shield, wall of fire
17th	flame strike, dominate person

 

In addition to these oath spells, you gain the ability to speak infernal, the knowledge imparted directly upon you from the fiend to whom you pledge your oath. This is typically done via a telepathic implantation of the language into your mind, but can be achieved through diligent study during your time preparing to take your oath.

Finally, the oath of infernal law grants you a very divergent place as a paladin, binding you to the divine powers of the hells rather than the heavens and mortal planes. You are bound not to a divine righteousness, but to the very tome of laws that is used to govern the hells and the lower planes. This pact binds you to law, order, and authority in its truest sense, giving you the authority to act well outside of the conventional nature of other paladins. You are mandated only by law and by authority, be that granted by power or by station, and the more of either you gain, the more you can defy whatever so called laws would protect your lessers. You can kill, extort, pillage, and defy morality without breaking your oath, so long as your own station, power, and the laws you are enforcing are ultimately observed by the end results of your actions.

For example, randomly murdering someone on a whim is not protected by any law. However, by the laws of the hells, you can kill one who has stolen substantially from one of your comrades, under your command, or within your jurisdiction, especially if there is a chance they would do so again. To steal for the sake of gaining wealth is a defiance of law, but taking possession of all of a noble's land and holdings because they've failed to uphold their station is completely justified, so long as you install someone more capable, and taking the coin of the noble as personal compensation for fulfilling your duties is merely business. It is for this reason that paladins of the oath of infernal law are oft viewed as tyrants, dirty enforcers of the law, or otherwise morally corrupt, because the laws they observe are to be observed in the end, but the actions leading to these laws being upheld can be protected, even if they themselves might break or defy other laws, in very abstract ways. Due process falls short in the long run, end results are all that matter to infernal law, and thereby to these paladins.

Channel Divinity

An Oath of Infernal Law paladin of 3rd level or higher gains the following two Channel Divinity options.

Infernal Aspect. As an action, the paladin channels the fell powers bestowed upon them to empower them. For the next minute, you gain immunity to fire damage, poison damage, and being poisoned. All melee attacks you make while this effect is active inflict an additional 1d4 plus your Charisma Modifier necrotic damage. This damage increases to 1d6 at 7th level, to 1d8 at 11th level, to 1d10 at 15th level, and to 1d12 at 19th level.

Infernal Command. As an action, the paladin targets one fiend and issues an Infernal Command. This command can be a sentence, a single word, or a direct transcript of a law of the hells or of the realm you are presently within. The fiend must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is compelled to obey your command, or observe the consequences of the law you cite. This causes the fiend to be charmed by you for the next 24 hours, even if they are normally immune to being charmed and can cause it to do one of the following, chosen when you issue the Infernal Command.

• Banish. If your order is to the effect of commanding the fiend to leave, they will attempt to leave whatever realm or plane they are in. If the fiend has been ordered to return to the hells, they will plane shift, if able, or attempt to return to whatever allowed them entry into a non-native plane they are currently in. If they are ordered to merely leave the area they are interfering with, they will just leave the area, using any means necessary to leave the borders, boundaries, or other such defined area of the location you've specified. If the fiend is dealt damage during this time, they can attempt another Wisdom Saving Throw to end the effect, ending the charmed condition on a success. Whether they succeed or fail, however, they may retaliate and act freely against those who would prevent them from leaving, or those who deal them damage, so long as they do not continue to do so for longer than is necessary to enable them to leave as instructed.
• Obey. The fiend will serve you as an authority of the hells, compelled to act as you order them to. They will regard you as an ally, and an authority figure. They will answer you truthfully when asked questions, obey any command that is not inherently suicidal, and will defend you and assist you in any way that is within their nature to do so for a trusted ally. If you inflict any damage to the fiend of a type they are not resistant or immune to while they are compelled to obey you, the effect of Infernal Command immediately ends and they become hostile towards you. They still have free will, and have no compulsion to regard your allies or party members as friends. When the effect of Infernal Command ends, they will retain all knowledge of the orders you have given them during its effects, and will regard you as more trusted, even potentially remaining friendly towards you, or as an enemy depending on what you did to them and what you ordered them to do while they were charmed.
• Surrender. The fiend surrenders to the consequences of a cited law or demand that you have made. They will willingly submit to whatever punishment you sentence them to, including execution, so long as they are not in their native plane, as even death will only send them back to their native plane. If in their native plane, they will not submit to execution or lethal punishment by a mortal, as death in the hells is permanent for a fiend, but will turn themselves in to a higher ranking fiend who may kill them for their actions. Once their punishment is served, the effects of Infernal Command end.

Aura of Oppression

Starting at 7th level, the paladin, as well any of the paladin's allies within 10 feet of the paladin, gains a bonus to melee weapon damage rolls equal to the paladin’s Charisma modifier (minimum of +1). A creature can benefit from this feature from only one paladin at a time.

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

Infernal Resistance

At 15th level, the paladin gains resistance to fire and poison damage from their ties to the hells.

Infernal Dominion

At 20th level, the paladin can assert absolute infernal control over fiends and bring down the full authority of the hells on a transgressor with a word. They gain the following special actions:

Infernal Conscription. As an action, the paladin chooses one fiend they can see that can hear them within 120 feet. The fiend must make a Wisdom Saving Throw against the paladin's spell save DC or become permanently charmed by the paladin. The fiend becomes fully obedient to the paladin, regarding them as their master in every sense, and is bound to the paladin's service until they die, are banished to their native plane, or are dismissed by the paladin. Being affected by remove curse or a wish to free the fiend can end this effect, but remove curse must be cast at 6th level or higher in order to successfully undo this effect.

Infernal Judgment. As an action, the paladin selects one target that can see and hear them within 30 feet, passing a judgment against their actions, conspiracies, or other transgressions that would upset the order of the realm, nation, or plane the judgment is in regards to. The creature must make a Charisma Saving throw and offer a plea against that judgment. If the creature fails this saving throw, and subsequently their plea, they suffer 200 Radiant Damage and, if they survive, are knocked unconscious for 1 hour. If they succeed their Charisma Saving Throw, they suffer half damage and are not knocked unconscious. Whether they succeed or fail their save, the paladin gains advantage on all attacks against the creature, if it survives, for the next 1 minute after issuing their Infernal Judgment.

After using one of these actions, the paladin may not perform that action again until they complete a long rest.