Oath of Velocity

Inspired by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Gilles Deleuze, and Antonin Artaud.

The Oath of Velocity calls to the exaltation of engines and aggression, preaching the wonder of war and the bloody mandala. Adherents are a perverse blend of paladin and bard, wading into battle with mind-blasting polyphonic exhortations, given in body and soul to a frenzied and joyous fatalism: their last and greatest objective is the ideological abolition of time, casting off the hallucinations of the organbound body to be swept into the immaterial current of eternal, omnipresent speed.

TENETS OF VELOCITY

The tenets of the Oath of Velocity exalt motion and liberation from the tyranny of stagnancy, though what this entails may vary according to the artistic and philosophical tastes of a given adherent. Paladins who uphold these tenets are typically opposed to the constraints placed by magistrates and lawmakers, reject conventional morality, and exalt violence, and so are often chaotic neutral or chaotic evil.

Sing the Love of War. I will seek to do bold and great acts in the drama of war, and play my part with intensity and virtuosity. I shall reject stagnant squeamishness.

Deplore Stagnancy. I refuse to quietly obey tradition or the laws of magistrates and technocrats. I shall not be silent in challenging conventions in war, art, and society.

Awaken Nerves and Heart. In my deeds and in my proclamations, I shall awaken the world to its bare realities: the divinity of motion, the decay of stillness, the nature of humanity.

Unfathomable Reservoirs of the Absurd

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you make the following changes to your class proficiencies: you lose proficiency with Wisdom saving throws, but gain proficiency with Dexterity saving throws. In addition, if you have proficiency in Insight from your paladin class, you replace that proficiency with Performance; otherwise you may choose Performance as one of your paladin skill proficiencies when you take this oath.

If your Dungeon Master uses the rules on firearms in chapter 9 of the Dungeon Master's Guide or otherwise features firearms in their setting, you gain proficiency with firearms.

Oath Spells

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

Oath of Velocity Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	Heroism, Dissonant Whispers
5th	Phantasmal Force, Shatter
9th	Haste, Thunder Step
13th	Phantasmal Killer, Freedom of Movement
17th	Danse Macabre, Far Step

Channel Divinity

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

Theatre of Cruelty. You can use your Channel Divinity to stage a performance and expose the truth of crime and war, love and madness through frightening and violent imagery and exhortations outside of language. As an action, you force each creature of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. The frightened creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Thaw the Frozen Mind. You have rejected the chains of conventional logic, and you have taken it upon yourself to liberate others from those same restrictions. As a reaction when a creature you can see within 30 feet succeeds on a Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma saving throw against a spell from the enchantment or illusion school cast by yourself or an ally, you can expend your Channel Divinity to force that creature to reroll the saving throw and use the lower result. This effect applies to a single saving throw and to a single creature; it must be declared immediately after the creature declares success but before the effects are resolved. This ability cannot be used to cancel Legendary Resistance.

The Perilous Leap and the Blow With the Fist

Starting at 7th level, the timeless current of change has suffused you in your entirety. While you are not incapacitated, you and allies starting their turn within 10 feet of you have 10 extra feet of movement speed.

Also, you deal additional thunder damage equal to your Charisma modifier when you hit with a melee attack after having moved at least 15 feet of your own volition on the same turn. This does not apply to others within your aura. This extra damage can be applied only once per turn, and does not apply if you moved over the same tile twice.

When you reach 18th level in this class, the aura affects creatures within 30 feet of you. Also, the extra damage you deal from this ability increases to your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier.

Body Without Organs

At 15th level, you have (figuratively) cast off the impositions of organs and mineral staves, as well as the restrictions of an effete and placid mind. You are immune to being charmed, and you have advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed or stunned.

To Have Done with the Judgment of God

The Rite is that the new sun passes through seven points before blazing on the orifice of the earth.

 — Antonin Artaud, To Have Done with the Judgment of God (1948)

At 20th level, you can become an incarnation of the immaterial and timeless current of change. As an action, you take on this role to gain the following benefits for 1 minute:

• When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can make one additional attack as part of that action. The damage from the additional attack will be converted to your choice of thunder or psychic damage.
• A polyphonic cacophony of surreal noises consisting of blaring sirens, mechanical shrieking, and the clanging of metal emanates from you. Whenever a hostile creature starts their turn within 10 feet of you, they must succeed on a Constitution save against your spell DC or be deafened until the end of their turn and take 1d10 thunder damage.
• You can take the Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action.

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