Oath of the Severed Soul

Paladins of the Severed Soul do not avenge or protect; they pronounce verdicts. Their rites begin with terror and end in quiet. To them, death is not cruelty—it is order. Where they stride, sermons of steel are spoken and the condemned tremble beneath a scarred, serrated axe that drinks both blood and prayer.

Tenets of Judgment

• Fear is Salvation. Terror breaks the will that resists order.

• Mercy is a Lie. Delayed judgment breeds more suffering.

• The Soul is Yours. Body, mind, and spirit are claimed by the blade.

• The Grave is Mercy, Only the dead are clean. Life corrupts; death purges, so the silence of the tomb is the only absolution worth giving.

Channel Divinity

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

Soul's Grasp

You can use your Channel Divinity to bind a creature’s soul in place.

As an action, choose one creature within 30 feet of you that you can see. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your Paladin spell save DC or become restrained by spectral chains until the end of your next turn.

• While restrained in this way, the target’s speed is reduced to 0, and it cannot teleport or leave its space by any means.

• At the end of its turn, the target can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success.

This effect ignores resistance to the restrained condition if the creature is undead, a fiend, or a celestial.

Executioner’s Mark. 

You can use your Channel Divinity to brand a foe with the sigil of judgment.

As a bonus action, choose one creature within 30 feet of you that you can see. The target is marked until the end of your next turn. The next time you hit that creature with a melee weapon attack before the effect ends, it takes an extra 2d10 necrotic damage, and its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.

If the creature is already frightened of you when you hit, the extra damage increases to 3d10 necrotic damage instead.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

Oath of The Severed Soul Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	ensnaring strike, cause fear
5th	hold person, misty step
9th	fear, bestow curse
13th	banishment, evards black tentacles
17th	hold monster, destructive wave

Aura of Weakness

Starting at 7th level, you can project an aura of unnatural and overwhelming Dread.

A creature restrained by you inside your aura has disadvantage on its STR check to free itself and takes psychic damage equal to half your paladin level.

This aura is always active while you are conscious and not incapacitated.

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

Judgement Smite

Starting at 15th level, you can channel the Raven Queen’s final judgment through your weapon strikes.

When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend a Paladin spell slot to unleash a Judgment Smite. In addition to the weapon’s damage, the target suffers extra damage and debilitating effects:

• The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d8.

• You may choose radiant or necrotic damage when you use this feature.

• If the target is a fiend, undead, or celestial, the smite deals an additional +1d8 damage.

• The target must also make a Strength saving throw against your Paladin spell save DC. On a failed save, spectral chains erupt from the ground, paralyzing the target, reducing its speed to 0 until the start of your next turn.

 

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

Sever the Soul

At 20th level, you can unveil your true office as the Raven Queen’s executioner. As a bonus action, you assume the Shinigami Aspect for 1 minute. While this feature is active, you gain the following benefits:

• Dread Unbound. Your Aura of Dread intensifies. Its radius becomes 30 feet (if it isn’t already). Hostile creatures that start their turn in the aura make their Wisdom saving throw with disadvantage if they are in dim light, darkness, or fog. A creature that fails this save and is already frightened of you becomes restrained by spectral chains until the start of its next turn.

• Soul-Drinker's Edge. Your melee weapon attacks deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you gain 10 temporary hit points.

• Step Between the Veils. Once on each of your turns, immediately before or after you make a melee weapon attack, you can teleport up to 30 feet to a space you can see that is in dim light or darkness (no action required).

• Sever the Soul (Execution Rider). Once per turn when you hit a creature that is frightened, restrained, paralyzed, stunned, or prone, you can force it to make a Constitution saving throw against your Paladin spell save DC:

  • On a failure: If the target has 50 hit points or fewer, it is reduced to 0 hit points as its soul is torn free. If it has more than 50 hit points, it instead takes 10d10 necrotic damage.

  • On a success: The target takes half of the 10d10 necrotic damage.

  • Boss Clause: Creatures with Legendary Resistance or a CR higher than your Paladin level can’t be reduced to 0 hit points by this feature; they instead take the damage as above, and this damage ignores resistance (but not immunity).

• Implacable Judge. While this feature lasts, you are immune to the frightened and charmed conditions, and you have resistance to necrotic and psychic damage.

You can use Sever the Soul once per long rest.

(Flavor. As you invoke this rite, black petals drift on silent wind; fog crawls across the ground; the soul-chorus answers your verdict.)