I had the idea to try tying the Paladin's class features to Honor instead of Charisma. As it is outlined in the DMG, Honor is unique in that it can change depending on the actions your character takes, rather than being static and tied to ASIs. I think Honor could work really well to reflect a paladin's upholding of the tenets of their oath. Here is roughly what I was thinking for how the rule would work:
Paladin gains an Honor score of 12 at level 1, and this score is used in place of Charisma for class/subclass features including spellcasting. The Honor score has a potential maximum of 24 instead of 20 for the player.
After level 3 (when they choose their subclass), this score can increase or decrease when the player takes actions which would uphold or undermine the oath they swore. As the score gets especially high/low, it should require larger, more influential actions to change the score.
The paladin's Honor score cannot be changed more than once per day
If the paladin's Honor score drops below 8, they become an Oathbreaker. For the oathbreaker take the opposite of the Honor score ability modifier for determining bonuses. For example, an honor score of 1 would give a +5 bonus to an oathbreaker rather than a -5.
Pros:
Gives the player a way to heighten one of the core scores of the class without relying on ASIs. Can dedicate these to buffing Str, Con, or grabbing a feat instead
With the increased cap, the player has the option of achieving a score greater than they would get with just Charisma
Gives a mechanical reward for purposefully roleplaying and making choices towards/against your oath.
Cons:
How this score will change is very DM dependent, so there has to be a fair amount of trust between the player and DM. Otherwise, could cause arguments at the table if the player thinks the DM is purposefully not allowing their character to become more powerful.
Could make multiclassing with other charisma-based characters more difficult.
Doesnt work as well for someone who decides to play into Oathbreaker, as they do not gain the benefits of the increased possible maximum.
I had the idea to try tying the Paladin's class features to Honor instead of Charisma. As it is outlined in the DMG, Honor is unique in that it can change depending on the actions your character takes, rather than being static and tied to ASIs. I think Honor could work really well to reflect a paladin's upholding of the tenets of their oath. Here is roughly what I was thinking for how the rule would work:
Pros:
Cons:
Thoughts?
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