Oath of the Guardian

The Oath of the Guardian also known as the Oath of the Matriarch or Oath of the Patriarch, depending on the order and deity, is sworn to the ideals of family, of nurturing, and of protecting those who may be weaker than yourself. The paladins who swear this oath dedicate themselves to protecting and serving the helpless, the lonely, the innocent and family both figurative and literal. These paladins are guides and protectors, leading their companions and providing guidance and safety. Often, paladins who swear this oath are pious worshipers of Paternal or Maternal deities, some taking the oath to more adeptly defend their own family and homeland, others taking the oath out of a desire to be seen as a caretaker despite some obstacle preventing them from having their own family.


Creator's Note: It was originally intended that the Paladin receive the spell Life Transference as an oath spell instead of Mass Healing Word, but that has to be done manually due to homebrew subclass sharing restrictions on the site.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

Oath of the Guardian Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	healing word, sanctuary
5th	aid, suggestion
9th	beacon of hope, mass healing word
13th	death ward, resilient sphere
17th	greater restoration, mass cure wounds

Channel Divinity

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

Guardian Angel. As a reaction, when an ally falls unconscious within double your movement speed, you may choose to defend them. Ethereal wings appear on your back as divine adrenaline fills you and drives you on to save the life of your beloved ally that hangs in the balance. You may move up to double your movement speed, avoiding attacks of opportunity and ignoring difficult terrain, to your fallen ally, upon arriving, you enter the ally's space and fall prone over them and cannot be moved by any means short of teleportation magic or your fallen ally recovering. If you are the same size class or larger, you shield them from any further harm by taking all attacks and damaging effects for them. Melee and ranged attacks treat you as prone, and you automatically fail against any effect that requires a Dexterity save and take full damage regardless of any multi-class abilities or feats (but not resistances or immunities).

Inspired Direction. As an action, you pray to your deity for guidance on behalf of your companions, either in your head or out-loud, and you take a mantle of leadership upon you. For the next minute you may use the Help action as a bonus action and as long as an ally can see and hear you, the range of your help action is 30ft of a targeted ally.

Aura of Home

Starting at 7th level, you eminate a warding aura to protect your loved ones. When a creature enters your melee range you may take a special reaction to declare a protective line. This line extends to you left and right by your reach and includes your own space. If a creature would enter these spaces, they provoke a special attack of opportunity that can not be avoided if you detect their presence. You roll a melee weapon attack and on hit, the target takes no damage but is pushed back to the space they were in before your attack and their movement speed is reduced to 0. You may continue to do this to every enemy that enters that aura line but may not take any reaction other than the warding attacks allowed by this ability or a reaction allowed by your channel divinity. If you take a reaction permitted by your channel divinity, the effect of this warding line ceases and you take no more reactions until your next turn. After declaring this line, melee attacks against you are made with advantage.

At 18th level, this warding line extends an additional 5ft as you strike out with holy energy from your weapon.

Impassioned Defender

Starting at 15th level, you are bolstered in your fervent defense of others and it reflects when you put yourself at risk. You gain +1AC against any attack made with advantage against you for each ally within 5ft of you (maximum of +2), and additionally you gain +1AC against any attack made against you for each ally within 10ft of the line established by your Aura of Home (maximum of +5).

The Holy Ascendeant

At 20th level, you gain the ability to take on angelic might as a fierce protector. As an action, you can magically become an avatar of a mighty guardian angel fueled by the power of your deity, your ancestors, and possibly the ancestors of those you are protecting, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:

• You have resistance to all damage.
• When you use your Aura of Home, non-magical ranged attacks that target creatures past your aura's line are battered aside by divine energy and automatically miss, magical ranged attacks automatically target you instead of the allies behind your aura's line.
• You gain a fly speed equal to your movement speed but must land at the end of your turn or fall.

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