I recently started DMing for a group of friends who have never played D&D.
We are currently playing through "The Lost Mine of Phandelver" campaign setting, so the adventure is set in Faerun.
One of them got really invested in the character-building part of the game, and is currently playing an evil paladin who worships Shar. Pretty soon, he is going to hit level three and will have to choose an oath, but i can't think about one that fits his character that well. I was thinking about either using the oath of vengence or repurposing an old "shadow adept" build from D&D 3.5 I found, though i don't really know how i am going to fit it on a Paladin. It's too late to ask him to change his god, and frankly I don't mind the chaotic energy he brings to the party.
Shar is all about the enlightenment you achieve by losing it all, right? A follower of hers would probably seek to basically ruin the lives of others while furthering her influence. Offering her path to victims as a way to cope with what the Paladin has done to them. To me this sounds like the Oath of Conquest, with its tenet "Douse the Flame of Hope."
Well, really, it doesn't sound much like a Paladin at all. But that's the one that gets closest, I think.
An Oathbreaker is a paladin who breaks his or her sacred oaths to pursue some dark ambition or serve an evil power. Whatever light burned in the paladin’s heart has been extinguished. Only darkness remains.
A paladin must be evil and at least 3rd level to become an Oathbreaker. The paladin replaces the features specific to his or her Sacred Oath with Oathbreaker features.
I wish they hadn't ever written the dang Oathbreaker in the DMG. It fits basically no one's character concept but it sounds like it does. And it was the only vaguely evil one for a long time, too.
The character I play most often and enjoy the most is an Oath of Devotion Paladin, so I was excited for this one. So far:-Love all the updates to the Oath of Devotion itself, keep em-The whole Find Steed thing reads less like it should be a spell/feature and more like it should be its own full subclass, akin to the Cavalier Fighter. My paladin is an 8 foot tall minotaur so he doesn't really need a steed, and I feel like this feature would go unused in how I play paladins generally-Although the Smite changes make sense, I do wish that the limits on Smite would be lifted. For many of my players, Smite is why they love playing Paladins so much. Yeah you could just houserule it, but it sucks that you might have to.
The character I play most often and enjoy the most is an Oath of Devotion Paladin, so I was excited for this one. So far:-Love all the updates to the Oath of Devotion itself, keep em-The whole Find Steed thing reads less like it should be a spell/feature and more like it should be its own full subclass, akin to the Cavalier Fighter. My paladin is an 8 foot tall minotaur so he doesn't really need a steed, and I feel like this feature would go unused in how I play paladins generally-Although the Smite changes make sense, I do wish that the limits on Smite would be lifted. For many of my players, Smite is why they love playing Paladins so much. Yeah you could just houserule it, but it sucks that you might have to.
Were you trying to respond to a One D&D playtest thread? Because that's not what this is.
I'd go with Oathbreaker or Vengeance for a Sharan. She's a nihilist who wants to end everything rather than rule it, which fits the former, and she's disproportionately petty over slights (real or imagined) which fits the latter. Because she has no interest in rule or domination, Conquest and Crown don't really fit, at least not to me.
Making her dogma work in a non-evil party would be a bit of a challenge I'd say.
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Hello,
I recently started DMing for a group of friends who have never played D&D.
We are currently playing through "The Lost Mine of Phandelver" campaign setting, so the adventure is set in Faerun.
One of them got really invested in the character-building part of the game, and is currently playing an evil paladin who worships Shar. Pretty soon, he is going to hit level three and will have to choose an oath, but i can't think about one that fits his character that well. I was thinking about either using the oath of vengence or repurposing an old "shadow adept" build from D&D 3.5 I found, though i don't really know how i am going to fit it on a Paladin. It's too late to ask him to change his god, and frankly I don't mind the chaotic energy he brings to the party.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Shar is all about the enlightenment you achieve by losing it all, right? A follower of hers would probably seek to basically ruin the lives of others while furthering her influence. Offering her path to victims as a way to cope with what the Paladin has done to them. To me this sounds like the Oath of Conquest, with its tenet "Douse the Flame of Hope."
Well, really, it doesn't sound much like a Paladin at all. But that's the one that gets closest, I think.
That's an interesting perspective i hadn't thought of, thank you very much! I will get in touch with the player and let him know.
There is also the Oathbreaker :)
An Oathbreaker is a paladin who breaks his or her sacred oaths to pursue some dark ambition or serve an evil power. Whatever light burned in the paladin’s heart has been extinguished. Only darkness remains.
A paladin must be evil and at least 3rd level to become an Oathbreaker. The paladin replaces the features specific to his or her Sacred Oath with Oathbreaker features.
yeah, I thought about that but he is actually behaving as a servant of his goddess, so I don't think it would fit
I wish they hadn't ever written the dang Oathbreaker in the DMG. It fits basically no one's character concept but it sounds like it does. And it was the only vaguely evil one for a long time, too.
I could see the Oath of the Watcher being aligned with the Goddess of Secrets and the Night.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
The character I play most often and enjoy the most is an Oath of Devotion Paladin, so I was excited for this one. So far: -Love all the updates to the Oath of Devotion itself, keep em -The whole Find Steed thing reads less like it should be a spell/feature and more like it should be its own full subclass, akin to the Cavalier Fighter. My paladin is an 8 foot tall minotaur so he doesn't really need a steed, and I feel like this feature would go unused in how I play paladins generally -Although the Smite changes make sense, I do wish that the limits on Smite would be lifted. For many of my players, Smite is why they love playing Paladins so much. Yeah you could just houserule it, but it sucks that you might have to.
Were you trying to respond to a One D&D playtest thread? Because that's not what this is.
I'd go with Oathbreaker or Vengeance for a Sharan. She's a nihilist who wants to end everything rather than rule it, which fits the former, and she's disproportionately petty over slights (real or imagined) which fits the latter. Because she has no interest in rule or domination, Conquest and Crown don't really fit, at least not to me.
Making her dogma work in a non-evil party would be a bit of a challenge I'd say.