Oath Of Penance

The path of penance is a harsh one, followed by those who are masochistic in nature, who believe that punishment for their transgressions is the first step on the path for redemption.

Most paladins who swear by this oath believe they have commited some horrible sin, that good acts will not be enough to absolve. They may have formerly been a truly evil individual, who has reformed their ways, or this guilt may simply be misplaced, directed within instead of placed where it should be.

These paladins punish themselves in order to atone for the past they had previously lived. Through serving this punishment is where they gain their true strength, coming out the other side complete.

 

Oath Spells

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

Oath of Penance Spells

3rd: Entangle, Inflict Wounds

5th: Branding Smite, Spike Growth

9th: Fear, Slow

13th: Banishment, Blight

17th: Cloudkill, Cone Of Cold

Channel Divinity

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

Self Punishment. You can use your channel divinity to punish yourself, and therefore your enemy. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, including one empowered with a divine smite, you can choose to deal 1d10 damage to yourself in order to ro'll double the die to calculate damage.

Emissary Of Loathing. You can use your channel divinity to force those who would harm the innocent to wallow in their guilt. When a creature attacks an ally within 30ft of you, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails this saving throw, it is considered to be frightened of the ally it attacked until the end of it's next turn.

 

Penant Aura

Starting at 7th level, you can shield others from harm at the cost of your own health. When a creature within 10 feet of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to magically take that damage, instead of that creature taking it. This feature doesn’t transfer any other effects that might accompany the damage, and this damage can’t be reduced in any way.

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

Tragic Fate

At level 15, you become desensitized to most form of punishments, and your scars become a badge of honour.

Whenever you use a class feature (including channel divinity) that would cause you damage, you can roll a d6. If you roll a 6, you heal for half the amount of damage you would have taken.

True Penance

At 20th level, you become an avatar of punishment, which gives you two benefits:

• You have resistance to all damage dealt by other creatures (their attacks, spells, and other effects).
• Whenever a creature hits you with an attack, it takes force damage equal to half the damage you take from the attack.

This effect lasts up to a minute from when you choose to activate it, which costs a bonus action to perform. However, the effect will end prematurely at the end of each of your turns during this time, unless you take some form of damage (or heal as a result of the tragic fate class feature). Once this feature has been used, it cannot be used again until you finish a long rest..