Oath of the Blood

The gods of warfare, slaughter, and death sometimes employ the hordes of vampiric undead as entire factions in service to their horrid aims. They tend to form "blood cults" with an express goal of serving their god's whims, and the terrifying powers that these paladins are bestowed come from service to these deadly cults. Though service to such dark gods tends to be from vampiric undead entities, these paladins tend to be chosen from dedicated humans or other demihuman races, as these races possess more capability to defend their masters' territory during daylight hours. Using strikes intending to bleed their enemies dry, these reavers wield blood magic in joint effort with their martial skills to wither away the enemies of their gods. 

THE TENETS OF THE BLOOD

Paladins who swear the Oath of the Blood follow these core beliefs as part of their oaths.

Seek the Heart of Your Enemies. Whittling away the influence, ability, or strengths of one's enemy is a preposterous idea compared to discovering the source of their power and controlling or destroying that. The blood only flows from the heart, and finding the core reason for your opposition and containing that in your way should always be your priority.

If You Can't Kill, Cripple. No enemy should ever be left desiring another meeting with you, and no mercy particularly should be shown to those who encroach on your sacred territory. Every time you wield a weapon, there should be an intent to severely injure, if not outright kill your foes. Belaying an enemy typically is ridiculous, when disposing of them outright is a possibility.

Bleed the Strong to Make Them Weak. When you have at last found the heart of your enemy, you may find it lies behind an armored chest and a strong ribcage. Thus, it is your onus to bleed out the strong body and cause it to hemorrhage until it weakens. When you have wounded the enemy and taken its blood as a prize, your enemy will have no strength to challenge your might.


Oath Spells
3rd-level Oath of the Blood feature

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Blood Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.

Oath of the Blood Spells

 

Channel Divinity

3rd-level Oath of the Blood feature

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.

Bloodletter. You can use your Channel Divinity to aggravate wounds your enemies have suffered, causing them to bleed. As an action, you force each creature of your choice which is not at their hit point maximum that you can see within 30 feet of you to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature gains a bleeding wound, and they suffer 1d4 piercing damage at the beginning of each of their turns. A creature with a bleeding wound must take an action to staunch the wound, or have an adjacent creature use an action to staunch the wound to end this damaging effect. Creatures affected by multiple bleeding wounds must staunch each wound separately.

Sanguine Sorcery. You can use your Channel Divinity to deflect some spells that target you that are cast from injured enemies. When a spellcaster who is currently at fewer hit points than their hit point maximum would cast a spell that includes you as a target you may use a reaction to gain advantage on your saving throw against that spell.

Bloody Strike

3rd-level Oath of the Blood feature

At 3rd level when you choose this oath, you learn a dangerous combat style that emphasizes attacks that rip and gouge away sections of your enemies, leaving open, bloody wounds. If you are wielding a melee weapon that deals piercing or slashing damage and you hit a creature with a successful melee attack, you may use this feature and add +1 damage of that weapon's type to the damage dealt, and then the creature gains a bleeding wound. At the beginning of each of its turns, a creature with a bleeding wound may use an action to staunch the bleeding wound in some way or, if they do not, they suffer an additional 1d4 damage of your weapon's type. A bleeding wound staunched for 3 consecutive turns stops being a bleeding wound. A creature with a bleeding wound who bleeds for more turns than their Constitution bonus suffers one level of exhaustion for every turn they spend bleeding after that. Magical healing of even 1 hit point can cure any bleeding wounds a creature may have. You may use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus before you must finish a long rest to use it again.

Blood Magic

7th-level Oath of the Blood feature

At 7th level, you gain the knowledge of a special type of dark magic that is well-empowered by the magic within blood. This enables you to cast your paladin spells more often and empower your weapon strikes with dangerous magical powers. You now gain a Blood Score, which has a maximum equal to your proficiency bonus. Whenever you use your Bleeding Strike feature or whenever you score a critical hit, you gain a Blood Point. You may spend your Blood Points in varying amounts for any one of the following benefits, gaining no more than 1 of these benefits a turn:
- you may use a bonus action to spend any number of Blood Points and roll that many d6 dice, and you restore that many points to your Lay on Hands reserve.
- you may use an action and restore a spell slot of a level equal to the number of Blood Points you spend.
- you may use a reaction when you have dealt critical hit damage to a creature, and you add +1d6 damage of your weapon's types to the critical hit damage you would deal to that creature.
Your Blood Points reset to 0 when you finish a long rest.

Rapier Wit

15th-level Oath of the Blood feature

At 15th level, you learn the deft skill of mental acuity and shrewd verbal acumen that precludes the ability of other supernatural beings to dominate and control you. You gain proficiency and expertise in the Persuasion skill, and you and creatures of your choice within 30 ft of you are immune to the charmed condition, and have advantage on all saves against fear effects for as long as you are conscious. 

Blood Mastery

20th-level Oath of the Blood feature

At 20th level, you have learned the level of mastery of your own Blood Magic, and you have also learned how to strike your enemies more constantly in vital parts. Whenever you cast a spell that has been cast by expending a Paladin spell slot, you may cast that spell as if it is a spell level higher for each Blood Point you spend. You may spend no more Blood Points to improve a casting of a spell this way than your Charisma bonus. Additionally, whenever you cast a spell that deals damage or improves the damage of an attack you perform, you may spend one Blood Point to improve the damage of that spell by 1d10 damage of one of its types, and you may spend no more Blood Points than to your Charisma bonus to improve this damage this way.

Additionally, your mastery of vital strikes and anatomy enables you to deal critical strikes more often. You deal critical damage on weapon attack rolls of 19 or 20.