Oath of the Construct

This Oath can only be taken by Constructs. To take this oath, you must be a construct, or become a construct. An undead creature cannot take this Oath.

You awake one day to feel the spark of life inside you. Whether you came into being as a Construct, or were reconstructed by some nefarious necromancer, you now walk a tight rope between false life and true death.

State of Balance

When you take this oath, you gain 10 Life Energy and 10 Construct Energy. While these two attributes are equal to each other, you are in a state of Pure Balance; at Pure Balance, your health points at pool of Lay on Hands remain at a neutral state.

When you gain points to one of these attributes, you lose an equal amount of the other, so that the combination of the two is always equal to 20. In addition, your physical make-up changes as your devotion to Life or Construct Energy shifts. Whenever you reach a Balance point (every two Life/Construct Energy points), your maximum hit points shift by 10, and your pool of Lay on Hands hit points shift by 5. As you increase in Life Energy, you gain 5 points of Lay On Hands and lose 10 maximum hit points, and the opposite in reverse. As you increase in Construct Energy, you gain 10 maximum hit points, and lose 5 points from your pool of Lay On Hands, the opposite in reverse. Excess Life Energy gives you extra to your Lay on Hands pool and less hit points, and Construct energy gives you extra hit points and less to your Lay on Hands pool. (If your normal hp is 50, and your normal LoH is 50, 16 Life energy gives 35 hp and 65 LoH, 14 Life Energy gives 40 hp and 60 LoH, 18 Life Energy gives 30 hp and 70 LoH. Same for Construct Energy, but with the opposite modifiers. See the Balance Table.)

Balance Table

Balance Point	Modifiers from Pure Balance
18 Life / 2 Construct	+ 20 LoH, - 40 Maximum HP
16 Life / 4 Construct	+ 15 LoH, - 30 Maximum HP
14 Life / 6 Construct	+ 10 LoH, - 20 Maximum HP
12 Life / 8 Construct	+ 5 LoH, - 5 Maximum HP
Pure Balance	+ 0 LoH, + 0 Maximum HP
8 Life / 12 Construct	- 5 LoH, + 10 Maximum HP
6 Life / 14 Construct	- 10 LoH, + 20 Maximum HP
4 Life / 16 Construct	- 15 LoH, + 30 Maximum HP
2 Life / 18 Construct	- 20 LoH, + 40 Maximum HP

 

Dud Balance Points

If you don’t have enough maximum hit points or Lay on Hands points to undergo this transformation, then it is a Dud Balance point, and nothing happens. If you are still at a Dud Balance point when you gain enough max hit points or LoH points for the transformation to occur (as with leveling up), then it occurs in that moment. (If your Pure Balance hp is 20 and you gain to 18 Life Energy, you don’t lose max hp to 0. Same for LoH; if your Pure Balance LoH is 15 and you gain 16 Construct Energy, you don’t lose LoH to 0. However, if your hp grows beyond 20 and you still have 18 Life Energy, or your LoH grows beyond 15 and you still have 16 Construct Energy, the modifiers immediately resolve.)

Pure Life and Pure Constructed Forms

Once you reach 20 points of either Life Energy or Construct Energy, you lose your split nature and access to the opposing attribute’s abilities. With 20 Life Energy, you lose your ability to use Construct (selfish) abilities—you can no longer use Cruel Redistribution, your Aura of the Construct only works on others, you can only give others temporary hit points with Enforced Balance, and you can only use the Pure Living Form when utilizing Polarity. With 20 Construct Energy, you lose access to Life (selfless) abilities; you can no longer use Charitable Redistribution, your Aura of the Construct only works on you, you can only give yourself bonus to AC with Enforced Balance, and you can only use the Pure Constructed Form when utilizing Polarity. In either case, Enforced Balance no longer changes your Balance.

Note: As written, once you reach one polar form, you are stuck that way. However, nothing is permanent in D&D. If your DM decides to, they can break this rule, but any attempts to break it must be suitably difficult. This Oath hinges on this balance mechanic; if you treat it lightly, the whole Oath falls apart.

Oath Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	Bane, False Life
5th	Prayer of Healing, Ray of Enfeeblement
9th	Bestow Curse, Fear
13th	Compulsion, Death Ward
17th	Animate Objects, Antilife Shell

Channel Divinity

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

Charitable Redistribution – When one of your allies within 10 ft. of you is hit with an attack, you may use your reaction to redistribute its damage; half the damage rebounds back onto the attacker, while you take the other half. Until your next turn, attacks made against the attacker and against you have advantage.

When you use Charitable Redistribution, gain 1 Life Energy and lose 1 Construct Energy.

Cruel Redistribution – As an action, you may syphon the hit points of the creatures around you. Choose a number of creatures equal to your Proficiency Bonus within 5 feet of you. These creatures must make a Wisdom spell save. On a failure, these creatures lose up to 5 of their current and maximum hit points, and you gain 5 temporary hit points per affected creature. When you lose all remaining temporary hit points gained this way, any affected creatures regain any hit points lost this way. If a creature dies due to or during the effects of this feature, you immediately lose that share of temporary hit points. The temporary hit points from Cruel Redistribution do not stack with other abilities.

At level 10, the hit points transferred by Cruel Redistribution increase to 10.

When you use Cruel Redistribution, gain 1 Construct Energy and lose 1 Life Energy.

Aura of Construction

Starting at 7th level, whenever a friendly creature within 10 feet of you falls in combat, they immediately gain 1 hit point pulled from your Lay on Hands pool. In addition, allies within 10 ft get advantage on attack until your next turn.

When you fall in combat, you immediately gain 1 hit point pulled from your Lay on Hands pool. In addition, enemies within 10 feet get disadvantage on attack until your next turn.

This Aura is only active if you have remaining Lay on Hands hit points to give. Once you or an ally have used Aura of Construction, you or said ally may not use it again until after a short rest. This aura may activate an amount of times up to your Constitution modifier. You must take a long rest to regain these charges.

Each time two allies gain hit points this way in the same day, gain 1 Life Energy and lose 1 Construct Energy. Each time you gain hit points this way, gain 1 Construct Energy, and lose 1 Life Energy.

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

Enforced Balance

Beginning at 15th level, After a long rest, you may choose to gain 2 Life Energy or 2 Construct Energy. When you gain Life Energy this way, your allies (excluding you) gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your paladin level. Any remaining temporary hit points gained this way are lost after a long rest.

When you gain Construct Energy this way, you gain +2 to your AC. This reverts after a long rest.

 

Polarity

You deal the decisive blow in the war between your two halves. As an action you may take on a Pure Living or Pure Constructed Form for 1 minute without forsaking your Oath in the process. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Pure Living Form:

• Gain 25 points to your pool Lay on Hands hit points, independent of your current State of Balance. This does not come at the cost of your hit point maximum.
• As an action, you may give a number of allies equal to your Charisma modifier advantage on attacks until your next turn. These allies must be within 30 feet of you.
• While in Pure Living Form, you gain control over the stuff of life itself; as a bonus action, you may use Life Syphon to force a creature you can see within 30 feet to make a Constitution Spell Save. On a failure, you may transfer up to 10 of the target creatures current and maximum hit points to another creature you can see within 30 feet. This does not have to occur when a creature falls unconscious. If a creature falls unconscious or dies due to this feature, you may only draw their remaining amount of hit points.

Pure Constructed Form:

• Gain 25 hit points independent of your current State of Balance. This does not come at the cost of your Lay on Hands pool.
• As an action, you may give a number of enemies equal to your Charisma modifier disadvantage on attacks until your next turn. These enemies must be within 30 feet of you.
• While in Pure Construct Form, you gain control over the stuff of life itself; as a bonus action, you may infuse your weapon with Construct Energy. The next time you hit with an attack, that creature must make a Constitution Spell Save or suffer from Gradual Decay. In addition to the attack damage, this creature loses 5 current and maximum hit points, which you gain as current hit points. On subsequent turns, they continue to lose hit points in this way, and you to gain hit points in this way, until the effected creature makes a successful Constitution Spell Save. A new Constitution Spell Save may be attempted at the beginning of each of its turns until it succeeds.
  
  If Pure Construct Form ends, the effects of Gradual Decay end as well. If a creature falls unconscious or dies due to this feature, you may only draw their remaining amount of hit points. This feature will only activate on one creature at a time; if you attempt to use Gradual Decay on a creature while a different creature is already suffering its effects, Gradual Decay ends on the suffering creature. The temporary hit points from Gradual Decay do not stack with other abilities.

 

After your Pure Living Form ends, gain 2 Life Energy and lose 2 Construct Energy. After your Pure Constructed Form ends, gain 2 Construct Energy and lose 2 Life Energy.