The crusader paladin is a holy soldier who is called by their oath to claim back some holy thing for their God. Whether that be an ancient relic or sacred land, the crusader takes up the call and sets forth. The Crusader is a master of horsemanship and often fights from the back of his trusty steed. He uses the speed of his mount and the pure power to land powerful blows against his enemies.

Cavalry charge

The crusader uses the momentum delivered by his mount avoid attacks of opportunity. Starting at level 3, whenever the crusader uses half or more of his mounted movement, that movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Crushing Blows

The crusader attacks very little while mounted, but the attacks he does make are devastating. Starting at level 3, whenever you make a melee attack roll while mounted, you may add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll. On a successful hit, add 1d8 radiant damage to the damage roll.

When the Paladin gains its extra attack at level 5, you may choose to fuse your attacks for a turn into one devastating attack. This attack is rolled with an advantage multiplier equal to the number of attacks fused into it (for example, if 3 attacks are combined you would roll 3d20 and take the highest result to hit). On a successful hit, all damage dice and multipliers are combined and rolled as if they are part of the same attack. The 1d8 radiant damage from the 3rd level part is applied for each attack being combined.

Example: If the crusader combines two spear thrusts into one attack, the attack roll is made with normal advantage. A successful hit will deal 2d8 piercing plus 2d8 radiant plus double the STR modifier. This effectively doubles up the attack to make it single-targeted but easier to hit.

Unstoppable attack

Your attacks are so powerful, they can cut through one enemy to injure another. Starting at level 3, whenever one of your crushing blows reduces an enemy to 0 hit points, you may expend up to half your mounted movement speed in a straight line past the original target to deliver any leftover damage to another enemy. The damage is only transferred if the attack roll that hit the dead creature would also hit the second target. This feature cannot be used if the target originally killed is huge or larger. This may only be used while wielding a spear, pike, lance, longsword, halberd, or any polearm or weapon with the "great" prefix.

This process may be repeated if the transferred damage proves lethal to the second target, and so on.

Example: If my crushing blow that hits a goblin with 8 hp remaining deals 15 damage, I can move to another goblin and transfer the remaining 7 excess damage to it given that the original attack roll would hit it too. The second goblin must be within half my mounted move speed and be directly behind the first goblin from my perspective.

Trampling

Your skill in maneuvering your steed allows you to trample enemies beneath your mount's feet. Starting at level 7, whenever you expend half your mounted movement speed or more in the same motion, you may move through the space of medium or smaller creatures. Any creature whose space you pass through with this ability must make a DEX save or fall prone and take 3d6 bludgeoning damage.

Innate steed improvement

Having gained favor with your god for your work, your god has responded by blessing your mount. Whenever you call your mount, you may choose one of the following traits to apply to it until it is dismissed or dies:

• Pegasus wings. Your mount gains a fly speed equal to its movement speed.
• Supernatural speed. Your mount's movement speed is increased by 30 ft.
• Radiant flesh. Any creature not of good alignment takes 1d4 radiant damage upon touching the mount's skin.
• Shifting form. You may change the appearance of your mount at any time with a simple thought. This change does not affect the size or shape of your mount but may affect the color, texture, and even smell of the mount. The changes are physical and hold up upon close inspection.

Empowered blows

Your blows have become difficult to resist and have significantly increased in strength. Starting at level 15, you may treat each of your crushing blows as if it had an additional attack combined into it.

Banner bearer

You carry a standard that emboldens your other party members. Whenever you roll initiative, you may spend a reaction to hold high your party's banner. All party members who can see it gain heroic inspiration.