Oath of Decay

Paladins who take the Oath of Decay are a breed apart from your typical paladin.  At best, they are souls misunderstood by society and at worst, dangerous nihilists.  Also known as Rot-knights or simply as death incarnate.  The original Paladin of the Oath of Decay was the legendary Pale Rider, who's name has been lost to history, but whose legend will never die.  Some believe the Pale Rider still champions for the god of death.  At their core, these paladins believe in the cull; they believe in the righteousness of destruction.  Their code and their reasons for destruction vary greatly, from the desire to destroy evil, to the need to purge all weakness.  It is a difficult line to walk, to focus on death without becoming evil, and only a few who follow the Oath of Decay can toe that line.

Oath Spells

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

Oath of Decay Spells

Channel Divinity

Ill Emanation. You can use your Channel Divinity to exude a noxious aura. As an action, you force each creature of your choice that you can sense within 30 feet of you to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes poison damage equal to half your paladin level and becomes poisoned for 1 minute. The poisoned creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Decadent Weaponry. As an action, you can imbue weapons that you are holding with necrotic energy, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you add necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier to damage rolls made with those weapons (with a minimum bonus of +1).  If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration.

You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying these weapons, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.

Aura of Sickness

Starting at 7th level, you constantly emanate a dim, greenish aura while you’re not incapacitated. The aura extends 10 feet from you in every direction, but not through total cover.

Whenever a poisoned creature moves into your aura for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, that creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or it takes necrotic damage equal to half your paladin level and doubles over in sickness, being knocked prone. Your aura is difficult terrain for poisoned creatures.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Necrotic Infusion

At 15th level the magic of decay flows so strongly through you that it affects you to your core. You gain immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition. Additionally, you gain resistance to Necrotic damage and you suffer none of the frailty of old age. However, you can still die of old age, you age twice as fast, and magical aging effects on you are twice as effective. In addition, you no longer need food or water.

Avatar of Decay

At 20th level, you can become the avatar of decay, taking on an appearance you choose. For example, your skin might turn sickly pale or take on a rotten appearance, your hair might fall out or smell rotten, or you might appear to lose chunks of your flesh and expose bone, none of which affects you adversely. 

Using your action, you undergo a transformation. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:

• Enemy creatures within 30 feet of you lose resistance to necrotic and poison damage and you gain immunity to necrotic damage.
  
  
  
• Enemy creatures within 10 feet of you have disadvantage on saving throws against your paladin spells and Channel Divinity options, and your channel divinity options deal double damage.
  
  
• Your lay on hands becomes necrotic and cannot heal while you are the Avatar of Decay.  As an action, you can use your Lay on Hands ability to make a melee spell attack against a creature you can reach. On a hit, the creature takes necrotic damage equal to the number of hit points you expend from the pool.  You can expend up to 50 hit points per use. 

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.