Paladins who swear the Oath of the Steppe call themselves Cossacks, bound not to crown nor Gods, but to essence of Freedom itself. Your duty lies in faithful steed and open field. Serve the people. They are mercenaries of fierce will and wild honor, riding with laughter on their lips and steel in both hands - Guided by the Freedom, living lives carved in blood and ballads. To fall is not the end for them, for even death dares not take a true child of the steppe without a fight.

Tenets of the Steppe:

Though each warrior of the steppe follows their own path, most share these guiding tenets:

• Duty - Serve the people. Serve those who cherish FREEDOM. Stand with the oppressed, to help them rise. What you swear is law — and law must be honored, even in death.

• Fearless – Death is not the end. You do not believe in it. Blood is a blessing, hardship makes you stronger, and wounds are your teacher. Children of the steppe do not fall easily — as long as they laugh in death’s face.

• Liberty – Freedom is the most precious gift. You savor every moment of it. Even when working for kings or gold, you never forget that, in the end, the choice is yours alone. Do as you will, but NEVER let them enslave you. 

Mechanically: 

• This subclass blends paladin-like resilience with a twist of reckless fury, thriving when bloodied and cornered. Its powers are not drawn from divine favor, but from ancestral oaths and an unyielding refusal to kneel. Cossacks are at their strongest when defending others through pain, wielding momentum-driven combat and spiritual abilities that awaken only in the face of death. They do not fear dying - they ride alongside it.

DM Advice:

• The Cossack subclass rewards heroic self-sacrifice, dramatic last stands, and moments of brutal clarity.
• Let them lean into narrative defiance — this class wants to be surrounded, wounded, and shouting poetry through bloodied teeth.
  Sometimes, when the moment is right, this class even wants to die — for drama, for legend. Just make sure the player has access to their death-defying features (which unlock at 7th level) before letting them fall.
• Their powers often activate only when below half hit points, making healing a strategic dilemma, not a default. Let them stay bloodied if they choose — that’s where they shine.
• But don’t let them be too greedy. A Cossack’s freedom is not meant to be hoarded. It must be shared — with the broken, the exiled, the bound.
• You don’t play a Cossack to survive. You play one to be remembered.

Level 3: Ballad will be written - of Blood and Blade

Let string be heard, alive, And speak of heroes, proud and true. 

Let words strike deep - let meaning thrive: The Cossack fights - not begs - for you.

You gain proficiency with 1 instrument (musical instruments often used by cossacks are: kobza, bandura, flute (sopilka) or mouth harp (drimba)) and the Performance skill.

You gain the Two-weapon Fighting Fighting Style: When you make an extra attack as a result of using a weapon that has the light property, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of that attack if you aren’t already adding it to the damage.

Also: You gain +1 AC while [riles]Bloodied[/rules].

Level 3: Oath of The Steepe - Spells

Cossack bears strength of flesh and soul alike, and carries knowledge not taught, but inherited - hidden in songs, shadows, and scars.

When you swear this oath, your homeland’s spirits - or its forgotten deities - mark you as one of their own: a blade in the wind, a heart in the dust. You are granted a minor gift - of wind, soil, and signs that only a truly free soul can read. 

Oath of The Steepe - Spells 

Cossack Level	Spells
3	Bane, False Life  If the soul won’t go — the body dares not fall.
5	Shatter, Mirror Image For The Cossack line Continues always - one stands - and three more rise!
9	Blink, Haste Such dreadful fate - to fade in wastelands - far from Friends and mother Steepe
13	Dimension Door, Fire Shield To Hell I go - before my father - As Delivs light their fires For me
17	Steel Wind Strike, Wall of force No one remembers if he was a man, or just the wind wearing a sabre.

Level 3: Choose youre Poison

You Developed an Addiction - Choose between Horilka (strong spirit) and Infused Tobacco:

As any honorable Cossack, you carry your honors in one hand - and your shames in the other.

Horilka

Who Drank Horilka in that World - In here shell drink Hot Tar

“Each batch is brewed beside a dying fire, using a pound of cracked wheat and silver for purification. The silver is melted down, the wheat is boiled to ash, and together they form the strongest of spirits - flammable even by one’s breath.”
From the journals of Yarosh Halushka, ethnographer, Vol. III: “Burning Songs - Rituals of the Steppe”.

You gain proficiency in brewer’s supplies

Whenever you finish a long rest you can make a DC 15 check with your brewer's supplies to create Horilka. You must have access to 1 pound of wheat and 5 Silver Pices. On a success, you create a number of bottles of Horilka equal to your proficiency bonus.

As an Action you can drink the Horilka, immediately and as a bonus action on each of your subsequent turns for 1 minute after drinking the Horilka, you can breathe out the Horilka in a 30-foot line. Each creature in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spellcasting DC, on a failure they take (2d4 + your proficiency bonus) fire damage and start Burning 

Additionally, if you drink a bottle of Horilka you gain the ability to ignite flammable nonmagical objects, such as wood, candles, or torches - by spitting at it. This effect lasts for 1 minute.

While the effect is active, thin smoke constantly rises from your ears, and your voice carries the faint crackle of fire.

Infused Tobacco

And for evil spirits, my son— I’ve got an old Cossack charm.
This here’s no ordinary tobacco. It’s blessed. Enchanted.
Take it with you. If you run into a witch or the devil himself, dressed like a man -
just toss him a pinch of this.
He’ll sneeze, oh he’ll sneeze hard -
and all his unclean power’ll scatter like dust.

You gain proficiency in Herbalism Kit. 

Whenever you finish a long rest you make some Infused Tobacco using your Herbalism Kit. To do so, you must have access to 1 lb. of cinnamon or pepper. On a success, you create a number of portions of Infused Tobacco equal to your proficiency bonus.

 

Infused Tobacco:

While holding a smoking pipe in your mouth mid-battle - you can use Bonus Action to take a deep, burning draw and exhale a sharp, acrid cloud of Filthy smoke that eats at your eyes in a 15-foot radius centred on yourself. The smoke does not obscure vision, but it reeks of burning pepper and tar. It is non-magical - simply, unbearably pungent.

Each creature in the area (except you) must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC = 10 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or begin coughing and sneezing uncontrollably until the end of it's turn. While affected after failed save:

• The creature’s movement speed is halved.

• The creature loses its action on its turn.

You are immune to this effect — for you are, after all, a heavy smoker by now.
This smoke lingers in air for the duration of the round, and disappears at the start of your next turn.

Level 3: Channel Divinity: Windmill of Steel

Walk on, Cossack. Carry death behind your back.

You’ve inherited the ancient fighting rhythm of savagery and protection - a relentless, spinning technique designed to strike multiple foes in a single motion while dual-wielding. 

Channel Divinity: Windmill of Steel

When you are bloodied - You can use your Channel Divinity while wielding two melee weapons as a part of your weapon attack - then your attack hits each creature within your reach. Each target that takes damage from this feature must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC10 + your spell attack modifier). You can freely disengage from creatures who failed this check.

 

Level 7: Not King - nor Devil

The Cossack's neck - never yields, Except for brother in the Fields

Aura of Protection: Disobedience

Aura of Disobidiance is the infusion of your Auaro of Protection.
When you are Bloodied - You and Friendly creatures within 10 feet aura of you - have Advantage on Wisdom saving throws. Also, no one of you cannot be affected by such spells (you are immune to them): Command, Hold Person, Dominate Person, Geas, Crown of Madness.

Freedom Defiance

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing people the deal is clen.
The greatest trick the Cossack ever pulled was convincing the Devil he is free.

Once per Short Rest, when you or an ally within your Aura of Protection fails any saving throw - you can shout a phrase of Freedom Defiance as a Reaction. That creature rerolls the save with Advantage.

 

Level 7: Old Wounds, Torn Open

Old Wounds, Torn Open:

Endure, endure — for hardship shapes and hones you, It tempers spirit — so endure, endure.
No hand but yours will pull you from misfortune, No voice but yours can steer you from your course.

So stand — and hold your line until the ending, Till sun burns out, till world itself is still.
Be it to heaven, hell, or chains unbending — Endure the path, and bear it by your will.

With a sneer, the Cossack tears open the old bandages — for the wounds smile back at him.
You have learned to harness your pain as power, exposing old scars, letting them open, and tossing bandages away - to awaken the strength of your ancestors. As a Bonus Action, you can voluntarily reduce your current hit points to activate your Bloodied state. You may use this feature 3 times per long rest, but each time, the cost grows steeper:

• First use: Reduce your hit points to half your maximum HP (rounded down).

• Second use: Reduce your hit points to one-quarter your maximum HP (rounded down).

• Third use: Reduce your hit points to one hit point.

After a Long Rest,  Old Wounds, Torn Open counter restarts.

Level 7: Grasped by the Oseledets

The Cossack took out his tobacco horn and took a pinch of snuff. Sniffed from one side, sniffed from the other, and cracked his neck — for the tobacco was well seasoned: there was hellebore, and turgun, and pepper mixed in for strength, enough to make your very soul spin from the sting.

“Come now, let me try it,” said Death. “Why not , my lady?” the Cossack replied.

And oh! how Death sniffed! How her skull spun! How she sneezed — she dropped her scythe on the spot.

Grasped by the Oseledets

When damage would reduce you to 0 hit points but not kill you outright, you may call upon the will of your ancestors. As a reaction, make a Religion check (DC20).

On a success:

You are reduced to 1 hit point instead of 0, teleported up to 20 feet to a space you can see, and fall prone. For 1 minute, your Divine Smite deals necrotic damage instead of radiant. You gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your Spell Attack modifyer. 

On a failure:

• You fall prone and remain at 1 HP. For 1 hour, your Divine Smite deals necrotic damage, and deals additional necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

• You undercome a very traumatic experience. You under the effect of Long-Term Madness. Roll d100 on Long-Term Madness Table: 

  d100 Effects (lasts 1d10 x 10 hours)

  01-10 The character feels compelled to repeat a specific activity over and over, such as washing hands, touching things, praying, or counting coins.

  11-20 The character experiences vivid hallucinations and has disadvantage on ability checks.

  21-30 The character suffers extreme paranoia. The character has disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma checks.

  31-40 The character regards something (usually the source of madness) with intense revulsion, as if affected by the antipathy effect of the antipathy/sympathy spell.

  41-45 The character experiences a powerful delusion. Choose a potion. The character imagines that he or she is under its effects.

  46-55 The character becomes attached to a "lucky charm," such as a person or an object, and has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws while more than 30 feet from it.

  56-65 The character is blinded (25%) or deafened (75%).

  66-75 The character experiences uncontrollable tremors or tics, which impose disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws that involve Strength or Dexterity.

  76-85 The character suffers from partial amnesia. The character knows who he or she is and retains racial traits and class features, but doesn't recognize other people or remember anything that happened before the madness took effect.

  86-90 Whenever the character takes damage, he or she must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be affected as though he or she failed a saving throw against the confusion spell. The confusion effect lasts for 1 minute.

  91-95 The character loses the ability to speak.

  96-100 The character falls unconscious. No amount of jostling or damage can wake the character.

   

A calm emotions spell can suppress the effects of madness, while a lesser restoration spell can rid a character of long-term madness.

You can use Grasped by the Oseledets predetermined number of times, depending on your level:

• Level 7 - 1 Use. 
• Level 9 - 2 Uses. 
• Level 13 - 3 Uses. 

You're... immortal?

Among the hills, a grave awaits — alone you shall arrive.
An empty coffin watches you with hollow, eyeless eyes.
And there you will not find my bones, nor lay my soul to rest —
For I still roam the open Steppe, unliving — yet not dead.

Last Stand - Mara’s Gaze

Once per Long Rest - When you are reduced to 0 hit points and have no uses of Grasped by the Oseledets remaining, you may choose to enter the cursed state known as Mara’s Gaze. While in Mara’s Gaze:

• Your Divine Smite deals necrotic damage, and deals extra necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier doubled.
• You cannot regain hit points by any means.
• You are immune to the effects of exhaustion.
• You have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks.
• If you are reduced to 0 hit points during this state, you die instantly.

  You undercome an extremly traumatic experience. You under the effect of Indefinite Madness. Roll d100 on Indefinite Madness Table:

Indefinite Madness Table:

Mara’s Gaze lasts for 1 hour. When it ends - you die. You appear pale and gaunt, cannot eat or be nourished, and can only see your reflection in bloodied or still grave-water. Animals instinctively fear you. This curse may be instantly lifted with Greater Restoration, as well as with Revivify or stronger resurrection magic - those spells just remove you from Mara's Gaze state if casted before your final death occurs, but you cannot cast these spells on yourself.

Starting at level 15, you may choose to enter Mara’s Gaze voluntarily whenever Grasped by the Oseledets is triggered.

NOTE: f your group avoids the use of Madness rules, the DM may replace these effects with thematic roleplay conditions, visions, or lingering curses. 

Level 15: Bonds Unbreakable

In the earth they lie in layers, Wild paths spread like ancient slayers
Scarring all the plain.
Upward from the weeping soil, Towards the grave of stone and toil,
Only shadows gain.

When the rider falls, the stallion waits. When the stallion falls, the rider weeps once,
and rides on — in dreams, in battle cries, in thunder beneath the sky.
And sometimes… when the wind is just right, and the smoke hangs low across the steppe,
you may see the stallion ride once again.

Heart of Stone:

You gain +1 AC while [riles]Bloodied[/rules], in addition, you gain Tremorsense with a range of 10 ft.

The Unburied Stalion:

When you cast Find Steed you may choose your mount to appear as The Unburied Stallion (statblock provided) - your fallen horse and loyal friend, with whom you once rode through wars and wastelands. If you do, the mount takes the form of your old warhorse, risen through the strength of your bond. Even death could not break the tie between a Cossack and his steed.

If you choose this option, you cannot change Find Steed your mount again. The Unburied Stallion will always return to you — a spectral echo of loyalty and dust.

 

Level 20: If Gods Allowed This, I’ll kill all the gods!

The dead begin to weep when the living sing these song.
A wail from underground when sunlight’s warmth is gone. So when the sun has set,
And the wind howls outside like a broken vow —
Do not sing of love.
By all means — do not sing of love.

Echoes of the Kobza

Look how far have you come. Have you thought, that it means that your ballot is almost finished?

So You Just stand there? — tirerd, defiant and ablaze? The gods look down… and you spit fire in their face.

Once a day you can cast the spell Commune without expending a spell slot, material components, or preparing it.
Instead, you must perform a Charisma (Performance) check using a musical instrument with which you are proficient (typically a kobza, bandura, or flute).
The DC for this check is 15.

On a success, you receive answers as if you had cast the Commune spell. However, rather than a deity, you are communing with the spirits of ancient Cossacks — warriors, poets, and martyrs of the steppe. Their guidance is often cryptic, poetic, or laced with irony. The voices of the past may contradict each other — or argue mid-Communion.

Can’t Hex a Drunk Man

He who neither smokes nor drinks — will die healthy, all the same.

You can spend 3 charges of Horilka or Infused Tobacco to be under effect of Mind Blank for 1 hour.  Casting time is 10 minutues.

• Until the effect ends, you are immune to psychic damage, any effect that would sense your emotions or read your thoughts, divination spells, and the charmed condition. The spell even foils wish spells and spells or effects of similar power used to affect the target’s mind or to gain information about you.

The weapons turned to dust. The shores have disappeared. No prince remains, No lord, No khan, No king.
Here, all things move in circles. Nothing, to no one, forever. It's No one’s land now!

SICH

At 20th level, as one of the last truely poverfull Cossacks, you become a living conduit for ancestral power.

Once per day, you may designate any ground as sacred — declaring it a Cossack Sich.

You can cast Hallow, with a casting time of 1 hour instead of 24, you still need to provide material components. When the casting is complete, a banner of your Sich rises in the center of the area — its colors, symbols, and form are yours to choose.

Sich - Motherland

At 20th level, as one of the last truely poverfull Cossacks, you become a living conduit for ancestral power.

Once per day, you may designate any ground as sacred — declaring it a Cossack Sich.

You can cast Hallow, with a casting time of 1 hour instead of 24, you still need to provide material components. When the casting is complete, a banner of your Sich rises in the center of the area — its colors, symbols, and form are yours to choose.

The affected area has the following effects:

Hallowed Ward. Choose any of these creature types: Aberration, Celestial, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, or Undead. Creatures of the chosen types can’t willingly enter the area, and any creature that is possessed by or that has the Charmed or Frightened condition from such creatures isn’t possessed, Charmed, or Frightened by them while in the area.

Extra Effect. You bind an extra effect to the area from the list below:

• Courage. Creatures of any types you choose can’t gain the Frightened condition while in the area.
• Darkness. Darkness fills the area. Normal light, as well as magical light created by spells of a level lower than this spell, can’t illuminate the area.
• Daylight. Bright light fills the area. Magical Darkness created by spells of a level lower than this spell can’t extinguish the light.
• Peaceful Rest. Dead bodies interred in the area can’t be turned into Undead.
• Extradimensional Interference. Creatures of any types you choose can’t enter or exit the area using teleportation or interplanar travel.
• Fear. Creatures of any types you choose have the Frightened condition while in the area.
• Resistance. Creatures of any types you choose have Resistance to one damage type of your choice while in the area.
• Silence. No sound can emanate from within the area, and no sound can reach into it.
• Tongues. Creatures of any types you choose can communicate with any other creature in the area even if they don’t share a common language.
• Vulnerability. Creatures of any types you choose have Vulnerability to one damage type of your choice while in the area.