Hey all... I'm quite new to D&D and am working through creating a new character (I've done a few very basic ones already) but I was curious... I have a character that I have created (half-orc Paladin) and I want his story to be one of a dark background... a Paladin who's fallen from grace as such. I wanted the character to have cursed his own blood in a way that it's poisonous to those that are in contact with it... I want to have the character to be able to draw his blade across his skin to get his own cursed blood on it before he would strike an enemy and ultimately curse/poison them. Are there rules/guidelines behind building that into a characters backstory and are there limitations or rules that I should build around that?
Keep in mind that anything you gain a mechanical benefit from should be accounted for in your race/class/background, not just added in as part of your backstory. The character you're describing is basically a blood hunter -- cursing foes, cutting yourself to add damage/effects to weapon strikes -- and not a paladin at all
That's not to say your character can't describe themselves as a paladin (fallen or otherwise), or account for some religious/order training via the Acolyte background or something like that, but mechanically blood hunter seems like a much better fit as a class
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
It sounds like you want a free way to add to your power at will with no drawbacks and without giving up any pre-existing abilities from your race or class to balance it, with the only explanation being "he's dark and edgy." Normally poison requires spells to be cast or the use of actual poison and that stuff is expensive. Curses require higher level spells and you can't buy the ability outside of scrolls or such, which also require mucho oro. Your chances of getting this rely entirely on your DM either not knowing what game balance is or them being enough of an edgelord fan to give it to you anyway.
For something that actually is balanced and meets this flavor, sort of, you can look into the Blood Hunter class like Anton suggested, but that means you aren't going to get any abilities specific to a Paladin as your "flavor" takes up most of the mechanic abilities of the Blood Hunter class.
I'm not looking for a way to add a power with no drawbacks, that's why I asked the question if there were "limitation or rules I needed to build around that." I completely understand that there has to be a "penalty" as such for adding this bizarre trait. I'm looking to build a character that is suffering from his pain in life and has sacrificed himself for revenge. Like I said, I'm very new to this and the reason I ask is I want to be fair to those that are playing with me. Thanks for the insight and I'll look into the blood hunter class for sure.
Like folks have said Blood hunter may be closer, but ultimately it's something you have to discuss with your DM. You can make any character you want with any abilities or backstory but if your DM doesn't approve it's kind of pointless. Personally If I were your DM and you really wanted to do that I'd try to figure out a way to make it work. It does have some mechanical issues though. Not the least of which is that if you've been cursed by your god then where does your magic come from? Paladins have divine magic and I have for sure limited Paladins spells in my games because they started doing things that just didn't jive with their gods. So are you now getting your divine power from a different god? That could fun for a DM. Having repercussions from 2 gods with your character.
Lots of possibilities but first step is talk to your DM
Have your Divine Smite do poison damage, or homebrew a Paladin subclass with more dark features.
Overall, I agree with what pretty much everyone else said: this character is a blood hunter, not a paladin; there is no paladin-y stuff in this backstory at all. A fallen paladin is a fun idea, but this is a blood hunter.
Hey all... I'm quite new to D&D and am working through creating a new character (I've done a few very basic ones already) but I was curious... I have a character that I have created (half-orc Paladin) and I want his story to be one of a dark background... a Paladin who's fallen from grace as such. I wanted the character to have cursed his own blood in a way that it's poisonous to those that are in contact with it... I want to have the character to be able to draw his blade across his skin to get his own cursed blood on it before he would strike an enemy and ultimately curse/poison them. Are there rules/guidelines behind building that into a characters backstory and are there limitations or rules that I should build around that?
Keep in mind that anything you gain a mechanical benefit from should be accounted for in your race/class/background, not just added in as part of your backstory. The character you're describing is basically a blood hunter -- cursing foes, cutting yourself to add damage/effects to weapon strikes -- and not a paladin at all
That's not to say your character can't describe themselves as a paladin (fallen or otherwise), or account for some religious/order training via the Acolyte background or something like that, but mechanically blood hunter seems like a much better fit as a class
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
It sounds like you want a free way to add to your power at will with no drawbacks and without giving up any pre-existing abilities from your race or class to balance it, with the only explanation being "he's dark and edgy." Normally poison requires spells to be cast or the use of actual poison and that stuff is expensive. Curses require higher level spells and you can't buy the ability outside of scrolls or such, which also require mucho oro. Your chances of getting this rely entirely on your DM either not knowing what game balance is or them being enough of an edgelord fan to give it to you anyway.
For something that actually is balanced and meets this flavor, sort of, you can look into the Blood Hunter class like Anton suggested, but that means you aren't going to get any abilities specific to a Paladin as your "flavor" takes up most of the mechanic abilities of the Blood Hunter class.
I'm not looking for a way to add a power with no drawbacks, that's why I asked the question if there were "limitation or rules I needed to build around that." I completely understand that there has to be a "penalty" as such for adding this bizarre trait. I'm looking to build a character that is suffering from his pain in life and has sacrificed himself for revenge. Like I said, I'm very new to this and the reason I ask is I want to be fair to those that are playing with me. Thanks for the insight and I'll look into the blood hunter class for sure.
Like folks have said Blood hunter may be closer, but ultimately it's something you have to discuss with your DM. You can make any character you want with any abilities or backstory but if your DM doesn't approve it's kind of pointless. Personally If I were your DM and you really wanted to do that I'd try to figure out a way to make it work. It does have some mechanical issues though. Not the least of which is that if you've been cursed by your god then where does your magic come from? Paladins have divine magic and I have for sure limited Paladins spells in my games because they started doing things that just didn't jive with their gods. So are you now getting your divine power from a different god? That could fun for a DM. Having repercussions from 2 gods with your character.
Lots of possibilities but first step is talk to your DM
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
If you want to do this and not break the game mechanically, you'd have to do something like replace the Divine Smite feature with your poison feature.
Have your Divine Smite do poison damage, or homebrew a Paladin subclass with more dark features.
Overall, I agree with what pretty much everyone else said: this character is a blood hunter, not a paladin; there is no paladin-y stuff in this backstory at all. A fallen paladin is a fun idea, but this is a blood hunter.
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