Oath of The Nightmare

Also known as Dark Knights, those that take up this Oath are most often tortured souls who were victims of injustice or abuse. They take their own trauma and use it as an endless motivator to make evildoers suffer and never let others feel the pain they have felt.

This attitude often causes them to use cruel and (some would say) dishonorable tactics when dealing with criminals and monsters. This causes paladins of the Oath of The Nightmare to be more often than not treated as pariahs by many other Paladin orders.

Tenets of The Nightmare

Due to their solitary nature, and their flair for dramatics, the Dark Knights' Oath is flexible and straightforward.

Become Vengeance. Those that prey on the innocent and Vulnerable deserve no pity or restraint.

Become Night. Criminals are superstitious and a cowardly lot, use it to your advantage.

Become Nightmare. As a person, you can be killed, but as a symbol, you can be pure and everlasting.

 

Oath Spells

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

Oath of The Nightmare Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	Hunter's Mark, Fog Cloud
5th	Pass Without Trace, Spider Climb
9th	Fear, Gaseous Form
13th	Locate Creature, Phantasmal Killer
17th	Dominate Person, Dream

 

Channel Divinity

When you take this Oath at 3rd level, you gain the following Channel Divinity options.

I Am Vengeance. Whenever an ally within 30 ft. of you falls to 0 hit points or dies due to damage dealt by another creature, you can use your Channel Divinity as a reaction to teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 ft. of the creature that dealt damage, and can make one melee weapon attack against it.

I Am The Night. As a bonus action when you use this Channel Divinity, and as a bonus action thereafter for the next 10 minutes, you can take the Hide action as long as you are in an area of dim light or darkness. While this Channel Divinity is active, you can attempt to hide, even when you are not obscured.

Aura of Terror

At 7th level, you exude an aura of pure terror. 

Creatures of your choice within 10 ft. of you have disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws against your Paladin spells. When you reach 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 ft.

Relentless Pursuer

At 15th level, your hunt cannot be stopped.

As long as you are moving towards an enemy creature, you ignore all difficult terrain and any reduction to your speed that is currently affecting you is suspended (unless that reduction reduces your speed to 0).

Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws and ability checks you make against being Grappled, Restrained, or Stunned.

Nightmare Incarnate

At 20th level, you can fade into the night and become a living nightmare.

As a bonus action, you gain the following benefits for 1 minute:

• You gain a flying speed of 30 ft., and can hover.
• You become Invisible.
• Each creature of your choice within 10 ft. of you loses the benefits of any traits or features that give them Darkvision, Blindsight, or Truesight.
• You gain advantage on all attack rolls you make against creatures that are Frightened of you.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a 5th level spell slot to use it again.