Hey I made a paladin oath based off the Red Knight/Lady of Strategy. Is this too much, not enough? Or ideas on how to improve? Comments are very welcome!
Paladin Subclass: Oath of the Red Fellowship
The Red Knight, or the Lady of Strategy, was the Faerûnian deity of strategy and battle tactics and an exarch of Tempus. Her dogma dictated the use of careful tactics in battle to achieve victory, under the belief that sound strategy was the best way to win a battle with the most favorable outcome. Her symbol was a red knight chess piece with stars for eyes.
The clergy of the Red Knight was also known as the Red Fellowship, and consisted of clerics, crusaders, monks and specialty priests styled as "holy strategists". Members of the Red Fellowship serve in militaries across Faerûn, often as elite commanders, quartermasters and instructors in war colleges. The red knights can usually be identified by a snow white tabard embroidered with the Red Knights holy symbol worn over their armor.
Tenets of the Red Fellowship
A paladin who take this oath will uphold these truths.
TACTICS. Think before you act, a well thought out plan beats brazenness every time.
CUNNING. Be honorable when honor is due, but be sharp witted and know when deceit is needed for a plan to come to fruition.
COURAGE. Have faith in the plan you've created and in the Lady of Strategy herself. Surefootedness on the battlefield is the cornerstone of success & victory.
Red Fellowship Features
Paladin Level
Feature
3rd
Oath Spells, Channel Divinity
7th
Aura of Charisma 10ft
15th
Cunning Ruse
18th
Aura of Charisma 30ft
20th
The Red Knight
Oath spells
Paladin Level
Spells
3rd
Heroism, Bane
5th
Animal Messenger, Mirror Image
9th
Catnap, Glyph of Warding
13th
Arcane Eye, Faithful Hound
17th
Temporal Shunt, Flame Strike
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.
Alter The Board As a bonus action on your turn you find a weakness in your enemies tactics. Use a channel divinity to call out to your comrades, any ally that can hear you within 30ft may take their next attack with advantage.
Guided Strike. You can use your Channel Divinity to strike with supernatural accuracy. When you make an attack roll, you can use your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses.
Aura of Charisma
Starting at 7th level, you and those around you (10ft) may add your charisma modifier to speech checks and initiative checks. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Cunning Ruse
Starting at 15th level, you learn how to feint. When an attack affecting you or someone within 10ft of you is attempted you can use your reaction to potentially cause it to miss. The bonus to you or your ally's AC is equal to your charisma modifier. If the attack misses, you turn the momentum of the attack back on them and make a melee attack on them if in range.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
The Red Knight
At 20th level, you may reach out to the red lady for divine help. As an action become the emissary of the Red Knight herself, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
You have resistance to all damage.
You are blessed with an otherworldly presence, gaining advantage on all Charisma, Athletic, and Acrobatic checks.
Once on each of your turns when you make a weapon attack and miss, you can cause that attack to hit instead.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Hello! I'm going to share some suggestions for possible changes and my reasons below:
Spells 3rd level - I strongly suggest that heroism be replaced with alarm both because alarm fits the flavor of your class, and heroism is already on the paladin spell list. This is the only one I felt strongly about lol
5th level - For animal messenger, an alternative could be skywrite but either spell accomplishes the same goal. Skywrite will get the message to the target almost instantly (depends on how often the recipient looks at the sky) but can be seen by anyone looking up, and animal messenger is slower, but more discreet and you can send a small item with them. In place of mirror image I would suggest blur as paladins tend to have high armor class, giving opponents disadvantage on attacks would be more effective. Flavorwise, it's the same as mirror image, being deceptive by hiding your true location.
9th level - Because catnap's desired effects can partially be duplicated by prayer of healing in the same time and with a lower level spell slot, I would suggest leomund's tiny hut, nondetection, or sending. Now, short rest dependant uses of abilities can't be recovered by prayer of healing, so It makes just as much sense to use catnap as any of those I suggested previously. All of these spells deal with preparation/communication, though so I figured I would put them out there! You could also use water breathing but that seems to circumstantial for the idea you've put forth.
13th level - Look's good!
17th level - Although temporal shunt is a really cool spell, it seems very out of place in your class. I would suggest replacing it with transmute rock for some battlefield control, or contagion. Now contagion has a lot of negative connotations surrounding it, but the truth is, if you want to effectively weaken an opposing army, give them the plague. It looks as though flame strike is there as a nod to Sun Tzu, and I like that.
Abilities Channel Divinity - since your Alter the Board ability modifies an attack roll already, I would suggest that Guided strike be replaced with an ability that allows allies to move (up to their speed) outside of their turn. This would set up for battlefield tactics very well.
Aura of Charisma - *chef's kiss* (but I would use the wording: Charisma-based skill checks)
Cunning Ruse - This ability should have a range of 5 feet based on its similarity to other abilities that have a range of only 5 feet. Although, you could word it like this to allow for 10 feet on occasion: "When an attack targeting you or an ally is made by an enemy you threaten, you can use your reaction to potentially cause it to miss." This would allow for reach weapons to extend the range to 10 feet in some situations.
The Red Knight - Perfectly fine, it's a capstone so it can be almost as crazy as you want!
I hope this feedback helps! I really like the flavor of this class, I look forward to seeing the final version!
Spells: All of your alternate spells are ones I have considered, except for blur, I think I forgot about it lol So I might switch out for blur. Tactically, stopping to rest is what slows down armies the most so thats why I chose catnap, but I struggled deciding between options for the 9th level in general. I could switch out heroism for snare and then replace glyph of warding but I'm going to think on that. I really do like temporal shunt, because its a cool spell but also whats a better strategy than robbing your opponent of resources such as spells?
Abilities: I considered getting rid of guided strike in general since its something another oath has. Other ideas for channel divinities: triggering everyone's reactions for opportunity attacks, allowing allies to move half movement, advantage on next attack. I think I'll change the wording for cunning ruse to be more align to melee range of whatever weapon the paladin is using.
Changed wordage for Aura of charisma and Cunning ruse as suggested.
New channel divinity to replace Guided strike:
Rally The Troops: As a reaction or bonus action, rally your allies to move forward or scatter to avoid an attack. When activating this feature your allies may move up to their movement speed outside their turn.
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
Alter The Board.As a bonus action on your turn you find a weakness in your enemies tactics. Use a channel divinity to call out to your comrades, any ally that can hear you within 30ft may take their next attack with advantage.
Rally The Troops. As a reaction or bonus action on your turn, rally your allies to move forward or scatter to avoid an attack. When activating this feature your allies may move up to their movement speed outside their turn when this is activated. Allies who move during this feature do not provoke opportunity attacks.
Aura of Charisma
Starting at 7th level, you and those around you may add your charisma modifier to charisma based speech checks, and initiative checks.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Cunning Ruse
Starting at 15th level, you learn how to feint. As a reaction, you may add your charisma modifier to the Armor Class of yourself or an ally adjacent to you being targeted by a melee attack, potentially causing the attack to miss. Should the attack miss, the target can then make a single melee attack against the attacker.
You can use this feature a number of times per long rest equal to your charisma modifier. You regain all expended uses after a long rest.
Hi, someone from the future, it is 2024 and I was attempting to create my own Sacred Oath inspired in The Red Knight (The lady of strategy) and I was pretty proud of myself (felt kindda alone that no one had ever tried to make a Red Knight Paladin, plot twist I was wrong!) I loved your Spell Selection, makes so much sense, I will also add your 7th level feature cuz mine was alright but yours is better, mine was more of "allies in 10ft of you are immune from difficult terrain"
I want to say thanks, because I really wanted to play this character and you helped me with the details, thanks :')
Hey I made a paladin oath based off the Red Knight/Lady of Strategy. Is this too much, not enough? Or ideas on how to improve? Comments are very welcome!
Paladin Subclass: Oath of the Red Fellowship
The Red Knight, or the Lady of Strategy, was the Faerûnian deity of strategy and battle tactics and an exarch of Tempus. Her dogma dictated the use of careful tactics in battle to achieve victory, under the belief that sound strategy was the best way to win a battle with the most favorable outcome. Her symbol was a red knight chess piece with stars for eyes.
The clergy of the Red Knight was also known as the Red Fellowship, and consisted of clerics, crusaders, monks and specialty priests styled as "holy strategists". Members of the Red Fellowship serve in militaries across Faerûn, often as elite commanders, quartermasters and instructors in war colleges. The red knights can usually be identified by a snow white tabard embroidered with the Red Knights holy symbol worn over their armor.
Tenets of the Red Fellowship
A paladin who take this oath will uphold these truths.
TACTICS. Think before you act, a well thought out plan beats brazenness every time.
CUNNING. Be honorable when honor is due, but be sharp witted and know when deceit is needed for a plan to come to fruition.
COURAGE. Have faith in the plan you've created and in the Lady of Strategy herself. Surefootedness on the battlefield is the cornerstone of success & victory.
Red Fellowship Features
Oath spells
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.
Alter The Board As a bonus action on your turn you find a weakness in your enemies tactics. Use a channel divinity to call out to your comrades, any ally that can hear you within 30ft may take their next attack with advantage.
Guided Strike. You can use your Channel Divinity to strike with supernatural accuracy. When you make an attack roll, you can use your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses.
Aura of Charisma
Starting at 7th level, you and those around you (10ft) may add your charisma modifier to speech checks and initiative checks. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Cunning Ruse
Starting at 15th level, you learn how to feint. When an attack affecting you or someone within 10ft of you is attempted you can use your reaction to potentially cause it to miss. The bonus to you or your ally's AC is equal to your charisma modifier. If the attack misses, you turn the momentum of the attack back on them and make a melee attack on them if in range.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
The Red Knight
At 20th level, you may reach out to the red lady for divine help. As an action become the emissary of the Red Knight herself, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Hello! I'm going to share some suggestions for possible changes and my reasons below:
Spells
3rd level - I strongly suggest that heroism be replaced with alarm both because alarm fits the flavor of your class, and heroism is already on the paladin spell list. This is the only one I felt strongly about lol
5th level - For animal messenger, an alternative could be skywrite but either spell accomplishes the same goal. Skywrite will get the message to the target almost instantly (depends on how often the recipient looks at the sky) but can be seen by anyone looking up, and animal messenger is slower, but more discreet and you can send a small item with them.
In place of mirror image I would suggest blur as paladins tend to have high armor class, giving opponents disadvantage on attacks would be more effective. Flavorwise, it's the same as mirror image, being deceptive by hiding your true location.
9th level - Because catnap's desired effects can partially be duplicated by prayer of healing in the same time and with a lower level spell slot, I would suggest leomund's tiny hut, nondetection, or sending. Now, short rest dependant uses of abilities can't be recovered by prayer of healing, so It makes just as much sense to use catnap as any of those I suggested previously. All of these spells deal with preparation/communication, though so I figured I would put them out there!
You could also use water breathing but that seems to circumstantial for the idea you've put forth.
13th level - Look's good!
17th level - Although temporal shunt is a really cool spell, it seems very out of place in your class. I would suggest replacing it with transmute rock for some battlefield control, or contagion. Now contagion has a lot of negative connotations surrounding it, but the truth is, if you want to effectively weaken an opposing army, give them the plague.
It looks as though flame strike is there as a nod to Sun Tzu, and I like that.
Abilities
Channel Divinity - since your Alter the Board ability modifies an attack roll already, I would suggest that Guided strike be replaced with an ability that allows allies to move (up to their speed) outside of their turn. This would set up for battlefield tactics very well.
Aura of Charisma - *chef's kiss* (but I would use the wording: Charisma-based skill checks)
Cunning Ruse - This ability should have a range of 5 feet based on its similarity to other abilities that have a range of only 5 feet. Although, you could word it like this to allow for 10 feet on occasion: "When an attack targeting you or an ally is made by an enemy you threaten, you can use your reaction to potentially cause it to miss." This would allow for reach weapons to extend the range to 10 feet in some situations.
The Red Knight - Perfectly fine, it's a capstone so it can be almost as crazy as you want!
I hope this feedback helps! I really like the flavor of this class, I look forward to seeing the final version!
Edit: spelling mistakes
Sunday DM and creator of homebrew for both DMs and players. I do lots of conversions!
My best brews: Berserker (Fire Emblem - barbarian subclass) | Swordmaster (Fire Emblem - fighter subclass) | Deserter (background) | Flame Atronach (Skyrim - monster)
My Fire Emblem Conversion Thread
General homebrew links
Spells | Monsters | Magic Items | Backgrounds | Feats | Races | Subclasses
Thanks so much for your feedback!
Spells: All of your alternate spells are ones I have considered, except for blur, I think I forgot about it lol So I might switch out for blur. Tactically, stopping to rest is what slows down armies the most so thats why I chose catnap, but I struggled deciding between options for the 9th level in general. I could switch out heroism for snare and then replace glyph of warding but I'm going to think on that. I really do like temporal shunt, because its a cool spell but also whats a better strategy than robbing your opponent of resources such as spells?
Abilities: I considered getting rid of guided strike in general since its something another oath has. Other ideas for channel divinities: triggering everyone's reactions for opportunity attacks, allowing allies to move half movement, advantage on next attack. I think I'll change the wording for cunning ruse to be more align to melee range of whatever weapon the paladin is using.
Glad I could help! I didn't think of snare! Ranger spells are just rare to see I guess lol
Sunday DM and creator of homebrew for both DMs and players. I do lots of conversions!
My best brews: Berserker (Fire Emblem - barbarian subclass) | Swordmaster (Fire Emblem - fighter subclass) | Deserter (background) | Flame Atronach (Skyrim - monster)
My Fire Emblem Conversion Thread
General homebrew links
Spells | Monsters | Magic Items | Backgrounds | Feats | Races | Subclasses
Changes Made:
Oath of the Red Fellowship Spells
Changed wordage for Aura of charisma and Cunning ruse as suggested.
New channel divinity to replace Guided strike:
Rally The Troops: As a reaction or bonus action, rally your allies to move forward or scatter to avoid an attack. When activating this feature your allies may move up to their movement speed outside their turn.
Oath of the Red Fellowship Spells
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
Alter The Board. As a bonus action on your turn you find a weakness in your enemies tactics. Use a channel divinity to call out to your comrades, any ally that can hear you within 30ft may take their next attack with advantage.
Rally The Troops. As a reaction or bonus action on your turn, rally your allies to move forward or scatter to avoid an attack. When activating this feature your allies may move up to their movement speed outside their turn when this is activated. Allies who move during this feature do not provoke opportunity attacks.
Aura of Charisma
Starting at 7th level, you and those around you may add your charisma modifier to charisma based speech checks, and initiative checks.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Cunning Ruse
Starting at 15th level, you learn how to feint. As a reaction, you may add your charisma modifier to the Armor Class of yourself or an ally adjacent to you being targeted by a melee attack, potentially causing the attack to miss. Should the attack miss, the target can then make a single melee attack against the attacker.
You can use this feature a number of times per long rest equal to your charisma modifier. You regain all expended uses after a long rest.
Hi, someone from the future, it is 2024 and I was attempting to create my own Sacred Oath inspired in The Red Knight (The lady of strategy) and I was pretty proud of myself (felt kindda alone that no one had ever tried to make a Red Knight Paladin, plot twist I was wrong!)
I loved your Spell Selection, makes so much sense, I will also add your 7th level feature cuz mine was alright but yours is better, mine was more of "allies in 10ft of you are immune from difficult terrain"
I want to say thanks, because I really wanted to play this character and you helped me with the details, thanks :')
Oh! Thank you! I'm glad you like it, it's one of my favorite creations. I hope your game goes well!