Taking on aspects of evil is typically seen as a symbol of corruption, that one's pure soul has been tainted by evil, and that it must be purged. This is not the case for paladins that partake in the blood rite required to swear the oath of blood to Marena, the Red Goddess or other deities with domain over blood; called red knights by some, and blood warriors by many, those who take on this oath use the ancient teachings of hemomancy to smite those who stand in their path. Because of the bodily toll that comes from consorting with hemomancy, it is extremely common for Blood Knights to have tracks of dried blood from various places- often leading to the name "Crying Templars" for the crimson tear tracks beaten down their cheeks.

TENETS OF BLOOD

The tenets of the Oath the Red Knight vary by paladin, but all the tenets revolve around punishing the enemies of their gods by any means necessary and gaining personal power. Paladins who uphold these tenets are willing to sacrifice even their own righteousness to mete out justice upon those who dare insult the blood gods or stand in the way of their own goals, so the paladins are often neutral or Neutral evil in alignment. The core principles of the tenets are brutally simple.

Fight the Greater Evil. Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil, I choose the greater evil.

By Any Means Necessary. My qualms can’t get in the way of exterminating my foes.

Pragmatic Dogma. There is no need to take unnecessary risks unless it has a direct benifet to the individual.

Bleed for Victory. Every battle where you are unharmed, and yet your allies are, is a an insult to the blood gods. Let your vitality flow from your wounds and seed the world with their influence.

Red Knight Spells

3rd-level Oath of the Red Knight feature

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Red Knight Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work. When casting these spells you can sacrifice a number of hit dice equal to double the level of the spell to cast it without using a spell slot.

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	false life, inflict wounds
5th	blindness/deafness, hold person
9th	vampiric touch, bestow curse
13th	blight, locate creature
17th	geas, hold monster

Channel Divinity

3rd-level Oath of the Red Knight feature

An Oath of the Red Knight paladin of 3rd level or higher gains the following three Channel Divinity options.

Hex of Impalement. As an action, you cause 10-foot spikes made of their own blood to burst from the ground within a 15-foot radius they can see within 30 feet. Each creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw equal to your spell save DC. On a failed save the target takes 3d6 piercing damage and is restrained by being impaled on the spikes. A creature can use an action to remove itself (or a creature it can reach) from the spike, ending the restrained condition.

Hex of Inundation. As an action, you send blood pouring down the throat of one creature within 30 feet, which must make Constitution saving throw equal to your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is incapacitated for 1 minute as it coughs up endless gouts of blood. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make a Constitution saving throw. On a success, the effect ends.

Hex of the Crimson Mist. As an action, you cause a red mist to surround the paladin in a 20-foot-radius sphere. The mist spreads around corners, and the area is heavily obscured. It moves with you and doesn’t impede your vision. This effect lasts for 1 minute.

Aura of Exsanguination

7th-level Oath of the Red Knight feature

Starting at 7th level, when you drop a creature to 0 hit points with an attack that deals bludgeoning, piercing, slashing damage, or necrotic damage, friendly creatures within your aura gains temporary hit points equal to your charisma modifier (minimum of +1). A creature can benefit from this feature from only one paladin at a time.

You may choose to amplify this effect by expending a hit die and suffering necrotic damage equal to a roll of the spent hit die (this damage does not break concentration and ignores resistance and immunity). An amplified ability gains an additional effect, noted in its description

Temporary hit points gained from this class feature stack but only to a maximum of 50 temporary hit points per creature.

Amplify. Until the end of your next turn, all friendly creatures within your aura instead gain 1d10 + Your charisma modifier (minimum of +1) temporary hit points.

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

Hex of Malefic Blood

15th-level Oath of the Red Knight feature

At 15th level,  hemomantic magic has suffused with your blood and damages your enemies when it is drawn. When you take bludgeoning piercing or slashing damage, each hostile creature within 5 feet of you takes 2d6 acid damage.

If a vampire or blood-sucking creature attempts to use its bite attack against you, your hit point maximum is not reduced and the vampire or blood-sucking creature loses hit points equal to the acid damage dealt to you by the bite attack.

Sanguine Transfiguration

20th-level Oath of the Red Knight feature

At 20th level, you call upon the power of hemomancy to bolster yourself and transform into an avatar of your sanguine deity. 

Using your reaction whenever you are below half of your maximum hit point total , you undergo a transformation. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:

• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, slashing and, necrotic damage.
• Your speed is doubled, you gain a +2 bonus to AC, you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and you gain an additional action on each of its turns. That action can be used only to take the Attack (one weapon attack only), Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action
• You can use your Channel divinity features as a bonus action.

 The first time you use this feature you suffer no adverse effects. If you use this feature again before you finish a long rest, you take a level of exhaustion each time you use this feature again before finishing a long rest. This ability ignores immunity to exhaustion.