I have a Tiefling paladin oath of redemption. He is trying to redeem himself from is tiefling nature to be a "good" paladin (by paladins standards). It will be an introspective adventure for him, to understand that he IS a good paladin and does not need to deny is tiefling nature.
I have a human oath of vengeance paladin. He has a soldier background and during a home brew mission with his team he had a vision of his future son being turned evil by the bbeg who is an evil chronomancer. Enoras ellorath comes to him helps him swear his vengeance against the bbeg and anyone who alters the time continuum. DM worked it that by accepting power from enoras he gained genetic power similar to a teafling and inadvertently passes the power to his son which attracts the bbeg to him.
I'm currently playing a Half-Orc (Hence the user, lol) who once served an Oath of Devotion to Tyr, through roleplay and character development he began questioning why he joined Tyr's paladins - this includes having glimpses of his god in his dreams. Mhurren met a monk who was part of Bahamut's priesthood and is part of our party, after months (2 years playtime) he began exploring the tenets of Bahamut. We visited Bahamut's church and received a vision from the Platinum Dragon where he finally swapped allegiances and swore an Oath of conquest to find his siblings (backstory stuff) and conquer his own self.
...swore an Oath of conquest to..conquer his own self.
Oh, I like that idea!
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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming "WOW, what a ride!" - Unknown
When life is bleak, all hope is lost, a wall is at your back, you always have one option left...attack! Attack! ATTACK! - Me
I'm thinking of a Paladin who serves Loviatar, goddess of pain. You see, he is completely loyal as long as you stay on his good side. He was dicharged/quit his clan because he felt he was dishonored in some way by another paladin. He could not abide the (perceived) insult to his character and left the group. He swore his oath of vengence against all who prey on the weak or marginalized, and administers pain of the highest order to those who slight him.
I haven't as yet decided on race, but I do want him to be a big, intimidating presence. He will be high in strength and wisdom (as high as I can get him in insight - can tell if someone's lying), but maybe not so high in overall intelligence. Charisma will also not be very high since he isn't very likeable. I am attracted to the dichotomy of a character who is lonely, yet kills anyone who he thinks doesn't respect him to his liking. Basically, he's killed just about everyone who have gotten close to him in friendship due to a slight that only he perceives.
He is a badass though. He is adept at heavy attacks with a longsword or battle axe. As R. Lee Ermy said in Full Metal Jacket, "God has a hard-on for (paladins) because they kill everything they see."
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Played in the Gygax era (early 80s) and not since. Brand new to DnD 5 and can't wait to get started!
I'm gonna say this first to people that don't have a diety bestowing the powers of your Paladin? Why? Is it the sense that your not religious? Or what?
The problem with this is it leads to bad steoy telling and associating Oaths with power of a Paladin vs a Fighter swearing an Oath of Duty. The only thing that differentiats them in a story perspective is the Paladins Divine powers. Regardless how you slice it these are bestowed by a higher power regardless of your character being religious or not. Much the same as a Warlock has a Patron and a Cleric has their divine powers a Paladins also comes from a diety as well. To say it doesn't is just poor writing of your character in the first place.
That being said by Paladin is an Aasimar that serves Bahumat who is directly connected to Bahumat as such. He hails from Bloodstone and is a decendant of Gareth Dragonsbane. You'd have to know Faerun lore to understand more significance behind this.
I'm gonna say this first to people that don't have a diety bestowing the powers of your Paladin? Why? Is it the sense that your not religious? Or what?
An oath simply doesn't require it, but doesn't stop you from picking a specific deity if you want one.
Oath of the Ancients for example can be played a lot like a druidic knight; you uphold the natural order, protect nature etc., you don't care if a particular grove worships Eldath, Silvanus etc., you would help them equally if they were in trouble. The divine power in this case comes from nature in general, and while that might mean some indirect contact with specific deities, you don't need to worship any specific one(s) as long as you uphold the oath.
Meanwhile Oath of Vengeance doesn't need to care where its divine power comes from, because it's focused solely on the revenge itself; this could mean you have a deity backing you, but you don't need to know who it is or why unless it's going to matter to the story of the campaign. This can lead to fun character moments if your oath of vengeance for example vowed vengeance against fiends, only to discover a fiendish or even demonic deity is the one providing the powers since you're offing their competition…
It's not that you're discouraged from having a deity, it was just made more freeform so you don't have to, as sometimes it's more interesting or appropriate either not to have one, or to not know who it is.
It's not that you're discouraged from being a deity, it was just made more freeform so you don't have to, as sometimes it's more interesting or appropriate either not to have one, or not a known one.
And sometimes the paladin knows the diety that's providing divine assistance but is of the attitude "Yeah, I'll do dis for your help but youse stay outa my way."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming "WOW, what a ride!" - Unknown
When life is bleak, all hope is lost, a wall is at your back, you always have one option left...attack! Attack! ATTACK! - Me
I'm gonna say this first to people that don't have a diety bestowing the powers of your Paladin? Why? Is it the sense that your not religious? Or what?
An oath simply doesn't require it, but doesn't stop you from picking a specific deity if you want one.
Oath of the Ancients for example can be played a lot like a druidic knight; you uphold the natural order, protect nature etc., you don't care if a particular grove worships Eldath, Silvanus etc., you would help them equally if they were in trouble. The divine power in this case comes from nature in general, and while that might mean some indirect contact with specific deities, you don't need to worship any specific one(s) as long as you uphold the oath.
Meanwhile Oath of Vengeance doesn't need to care where its divine power comes from, because it's focused solely on the revenge itself; this could mean you have a deity backing you, but you don't need to know who it is or why unless it's going to matter to the story of the campaign. This can lead to fun character moments if your oath of vengeance for example vowed vengeance against fiends, only to discover a fiendish or even demonic deity is the one providing the powers since you're offing their competition…
It's not that you're discouraged from having a deity, it was just made more freeform so you don't have to, as sometimes it's more interesting or appropriate either not to have one, or to not know who it is.
You've seem to missed the entire point. I never said you needed to worship or have a diety but it your powers come from them. And they absolutely due. It is directly connected to the entire class just like it is with the Cleric. It doesn't matter if your character cares or not who the diety is. If you break your Oath and lose your powers it will absolutely matter if you seek redemption.
What I said is by not having this determined is bad writing of a character and it is. There's zero arguement to that. Especially if you're trying to justify that you were bestowed divine magical powers by swearing an Oath to a Nation, King, Forest, Revenge, etc. Regular fighters can swear Oaths and do so. What seperates a Paladins Oath from a Fighters Oath is a divine power chose to intercede and grant the Paladin those powers.
Regardless if you as the Player chose or you have the DM chose for a suprise that is a discussion that's had and is addressed. But where you get your powers from is part of writing the characters back story.
You've seem to missed the entire point. I never said you needed to worship or have a diety but it your powers come from them. And they absolutely due. It is directly connected to the entire class just like it is with the Cleric. It doesn't matter if your character cares or not who the diety is. If you break your Oath and lose your powers it will absolutely matter if you seek redemption.
Except the source of the power doesn't have to be a specific deity; it could be an entire pantheon, or a force of nature (or nature itself) etc., it's left ambiguous on purpose so players are free to theme their character how they like instead of being forced into picking a specific deity.
What I said is by not having this determined is bad writing of a character and it is.
It's a huge leap to jump to "not choosing a specific deity is bad writing"; a character can be perfectly well written without needing to know the deity, if there even is one.
There's zero arguement to that. Especially if you're trying to justify that you were bestowed divine magical powers by swearing an Oath to a Nation, King, Forest, Revenge, etc. Regular fighters can swear Oaths and do so. What seperates a Paladins Oath from a Fighters Oath is a divine power chose to intercede and grant the Paladin those powers.
Not in 5e lore it's not; paladin oaths are different, but they're not required to come from deities, and that's intentional. Because now you can be a magical knight that's granted powers from any number of sources, and paladin becomes a class in the purely mechanical sense rather than imposing something upon your character you might not want.
My oath of the ancients paladin isn't tied to a specific deity. I suppose in a sense it may be similar to a druid drawing from nature, but there's no deity there.
Paladins certainly 'can' serve a god but that's not where their powers come from by default. If it was, then oaths would come with some deity suggestions the way cleric domains do. Their power comes from their convictions in their oath, hence using charisma.
The oath coming from a deity is still an option if someone wants to go that route, but it's not a requirement. Not in 5E anyway, can't speak for prior editions.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your paladin spells, since their power derives from the strength of your convictions.
Of course not everyone who swears an oath and is firm in that oath suddenly gets powers. But where that power comes from for a paladin is not spelled out and certainly doesn't have to come from a deity. Why does the paladin's oath grant powers but the fighter's doesn't? Work that out with your DM.
Paladin is my go to class, but my favorite paladins was a Leonin oath of ancients who served Lurue, but was blown up and came back as a simi hybrid who was revived by Shagambi (Jaguar god who has snakes coming from her back, from ToA). He made a pact with her her as he owed his life and new abilities to her. Fun figuring out that RP.
One I am currently working on is a Aasimar Deathknight (Undead Warlock Paladin still figuring out best oath) looking to fulfil his quest so his soul can finally rest.
Eljhara Randak, half-elf oath of vengeance: Serves Athena (in my world, goddess of strategy and peace). He does this because his ideals and those of Athena align — that of protecting people from the many dangers rampant in the world. Additionally, Athena propelled him forward when he was without home, friend, or cause, so that he could become what he is today.
Iri Dawnhand, drow oath of redemption: Serves Helio (in my world, god of light, sun, and stars). He does this because he was taught by a mentor the scripture of Helio, and the warming light of the sun — symbolic of this particular sect of worshippers spreading peace and raising others out of figurative darkness. Unfortunately for Iri, his people don’t quite agree with Helio’s doctrine, and doubly unfortunate, he’s being haunted by the ghost of Estias Parhelion, a dead Paladin trying to convince Iri to abandon service of Helio in favor of serving the people.
Makori Daunt, drow oath of glory: serves Chymir (in my world, god of fellowship and storytelling). They do this because they agree strongly with his philosophy that the only thing that matters is what is believed in. They implement this into their first-person storytelling style, which unfortunately results in a confusing mix of both reality and fiction for this poor paladin.
I have a Tiefling paladin oath of redemption. He is trying to redeem himself from is tiefling nature to be a "good" paladin (by paladins standards). It will be an introspective adventure for him, to understand that he IS a good paladin and does not need to deny is tiefling nature.
Is god is Ilmater
I have a human oath of vengeance paladin. He has a soldier background and during a home brew mission with his team he had a vision of his future son being turned evil by the bbeg who is an evil chronomancer. Enoras ellorath comes to him helps him swear his vengeance against the bbeg and anyone who alters the time continuum. DM worked it that by accepting power from enoras he gained genetic power similar to a teafling and inadvertently passes the power to his son which attracts the bbeg to him.
I'm currently playing a Half-Orc (Hence the user, lol) who once served an Oath of Devotion to Tyr, through roleplay and character development he began questioning why he joined Tyr's paladins - this includes having glimpses of his god in his dreams. Mhurren met a monk who was part of Bahamut's priesthood and is part of our party, after months (2 years playtime) he began exploring the tenets of Bahamut. We visited Bahamut's church and received a vision from the Platinum Dragon where he finally swapped allegiances and swore an Oath of conquest to find his siblings (backstory stuff) and conquer his own self.
Oh, I like that idea!
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming "WOW, what a ride!"
- Unknown
When life is bleak, all hope is lost, a wall is at your back, you always have one option left...attack! Attack! ATTACK!
- Me
I'm thinking of a Paladin who serves Loviatar, goddess of pain. You see, he is completely loyal as long as you stay on his good side. He was dicharged/quit his clan because he felt he was dishonored in some way by another paladin. He could not abide the (perceived) insult to his character and left the group. He swore his oath of vengence against all who prey on the weak or marginalized, and administers pain of the highest order to those who slight him.
I haven't as yet decided on race, but I do want him to be a big, intimidating presence. He will be high in strength and wisdom (as high as I can get him in insight - can tell if someone's lying), but maybe not so high in overall intelligence. Charisma will also not be very high since he isn't very likeable. I am attracted to the dichotomy of a character who is lonely, yet kills anyone who he thinks doesn't respect him to his liking. Basically, he's killed just about everyone who have gotten close to him in friendship due to a slight that only he perceives.
He is a badass though. He is adept at heavy attacks with a longsword or battle axe. As R. Lee Ermy said in Full Metal Jacket, "God has a hard-on for (paladins) because they kill everything they see."
Played in the Gygax era (early 80s) and not since. Brand new to DnD 5 and can't wait to get started!
I'm gonna say this first to people that don't have a diety bestowing the powers of your Paladin? Why? Is it the sense that your not religious? Or what?
The problem with this is it leads to bad steoy telling and associating Oaths with power of a Paladin vs a Fighter swearing an Oath of Duty. The only thing that differentiats them in a story perspective is the Paladins Divine powers. Regardless how you slice it these are bestowed by a higher power regardless of your character being religious or not. Much the same as a Warlock has a Patron and a Cleric has their divine powers a Paladins also comes from a diety as well. To say it doesn't is just poor writing of your character in the first place.
That being said by Paladin is an Aasimar that serves Bahumat who is directly connected to Bahumat as such. He hails from Bloodstone and is a decendant of Gareth Dragonsbane. You'd have to know Faerun lore to understand more significance behind this.
An oath simply doesn't require it, but doesn't stop you from picking a specific deity if you want one.
Oath of the Ancients for example can be played a lot like a druidic knight; you uphold the natural order, protect nature etc., you don't care if a particular grove worships Eldath, Silvanus etc., you would help them equally if they were in trouble. The divine power in this case comes from nature in general, and while that might mean some indirect contact with specific deities, you don't need to worship any specific one(s) as long as you uphold the oath.
Meanwhile Oath of Vengeance doesn't need to care where its divine power comes from, because it's focused solely on the revenge itself; this could mean you have a deity backing you, but you don't need to know who it is or why unless it's going to matter to the story of the campaign. This can lead to fun character moments if your oath of vengeance for example vowed vengeance against fiends, only to discover a fiendish or even demonic deity is the one providing the powers since you're offing their competition…
It's not that you're discouraged from having a deity, it was just made more freeform so you don't have to, as sometimes it's more interesting or appropriate either not to have one, or to not know who it is.
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
WIP (feedback needed): Blood Mage, Chromatic Sorcerers, Summoner, Trickster Domain, Unlucky, Way of the Daoist (Drunken Master), Weapon Smith
Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
And sometimes the paladin knows the diety that's providing divine assistance but is of the attitude "Yeah, I'll do dis for your help but youse stay outa my way."
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming "WOW, what a ride!"
- Unknown
When life is bleak, all hope is lost, a wall is at your back, you always have one option left...attack! Attack! ATTACK!
- Me
You've seem to missed the entire point. I never said you needed to worship or have a diety but it your powers come from them. And they absolutely due. It is directly connected to the entire class just like it is with the Cleric. It doesn't matter if your character cares or not who the diety is. If you break your Oath and lose your powers it will absolutely matter if you seek redemption.
What I said is by not having this determined is bad writing of a character and it is. There's zero arguement to that. Especially if you're trying to justify that you were bestowed divine magical powers by swearing an Oath to a Nation, King, Forest, Revenge, etc. Regular fighters can swear Oaths and do so. What seperates a Paladins Oath from a Fighters Oath is a divine power chose to intercede and grant the Paladin those powers.
Regardless if you as the Player chose or you have the DM chose for a suprise that is a discussion that's had and is addressed. But where you get your powers from is part of writing the characters back story.
Except the source of the power doesn't have to be a specific deity; it could be an entire pantheon, or a force of nature (or nature itself) etc., it's left ambiguous on purpose so players are free to theme their character how they like instead of being forced into picking a specific deity.
It's a huge leap to jump to "not choosing a specific deity is bad writing"; a character can be perfectly well written without needing to know the deity, if there even is one.
Not in 5e lore it's not; paladin oaths are different, but they're not required to come from deities, and that's intentional. Because now you can be a magical knight that's granted powers from any number of sources, and paladin becomes a class in the purely mechanical sense rather than imposing something upon your character you might not want.
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
WIP (feedback needed): Blood Mage, Chromatic Sorcerers, Summoner, Trickster Domain, Unlucky, Way of the Daoist (Drunken Master), Weapon Smith
Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
My oath of the ancients paladin isn't tied to a specific deity. I suppose in a sense it may be similar to a druid drawing from nature, but there's no deity there.
Paladins certainly 'can' serve a god but that's not where their powers come from by default. If it was, then oaths would come with some deity suggestions the way cleric domains do. Their power comes from their convictions in their oath, hence using charisma.
The oath coming from a deity is still an option if someone wants to go that route, but it's not a requirement. Not in 5E anyway, can't speak for prior editions.
Of course not everyone who swears an oath and is firm in that oath suddenly gets powers. But where that power comes from for a paladin is not spelled out and certainly doesn't have to come from a deity. Why does the paladin's oath grant powers but the fighter's doesn't? Work that out with your DM.
Paladin is my go to class, but my favorite paladins was a Leonin oath of ancients who served Lurue, but was blown up and came back as a simi hybrid who was revived by Shagambi (Jaguar god who has snakes coming from her back, from ToA). He made a pact with her her as he owed his life and new abilities to her. Fun figuring out that RP.
One I am currently working on is a Aasimar Deathknight (Undead Warlock Paladin still figuring out best oath) looking to fulfil his quest so his soul can finally rest.
Eljhara Randak, half-elf oath of vengeance: Serves Athena (in my world, goddess of strategy and peace). He does this because his ideals and those of Athena align — that of protecting people from the many dangers rampant in the world. Additionally, Athena propelled him forward when he was without home, friend, or cause, so that he could become what he is today.
Iri Dawnhand, drow oath of redemption: Serves Helio (in my world, god of light, sun, and stars). He does this because he was taught by a mentor the scripture of Helio, and the warming light of the sun — symbolic of this particular sect of worshippers spreading peace and raising others out of figurative darkness. Unfortunately for Iri, his people don’t quite agree with Helio’s doctrine, and doubly unfortunate, he’s being haunted by the ghost of Estias Parhelion, a dead Paladin trying to convince Iri to abandon service of Helio in favor of serving the people.
Makori Daunt, drow oath of glory: serves Chymir (in my world, god of fellowship and storytelling). They do this because they agree strongly with his philosophy that the only thing that matters is what is believed in. They implement this into their first-person storytelling style, which unfortunately results in a confusing mix of both reality and fiction for this poor paladin.
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