Oath of The Harlequin

In a world draped in the suffocating shadows of a horror circus, there are those who refuse to let the terror extinguish the world’s joy. Paladins who swear the Oath of the Harlequin serve a benevolent, enigmatic deity of wit, performance, and trickery. To these paladins, laughter is not a luxury—it is a shield against despair and a weapon against the macabre.

They are the brightly colored protectors standing between innocent souls and the nightmare ringmasters of the world. They use misdirection, acrobatics, and joyful defiance to prove that even in the darkest carnival, the show must go on.

Tenants of the Harlequin

The tenants of the Oath of the Harlequin are often recited as a rhyming performance, but their core principles are dead serious:

• Protect the Play: Joy, art, and laughter are sacred. Protect those who create it and those who need it to survive the dark.
• Defy the Ringmaster: Fear is a tool of tyrants. Never allow terror to control you, and break the chains of those ruled by fear.
• The Show Must Go On: No matter how grim the odds or how deep the wounds, put on a brave face. Your smile is a beacon to others.
• A Fool’s Wisdom: Do not be blinded by rigid law or solemn pride. Sometimes, a sharp joke or an absurd trick reveals more truth than a thousand sermons.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Harlequin Spells table.

Channel Divinity

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

  • Slapstick Retaliation: You can use your Channel Divinity to turn a foe's brutal strike into a comical blunder. When a creature within 30 feet of you hits you or an ally with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes psychic damage equal to the damage it just dealt, is knocked prone by its own momentum, and cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage and isn't knocked prone.
  • The Grand Distraction: As an action, you can flourish your weapon or perform a sudden, dazzling acrobatic stunt using your Channel Divinity. Each hostile creature within 30 feet of you that can see you must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is charmed by you for 1 minute or until it takes damage. While charmed this way, the creature has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and attack rolls against targets other than you, as their eyes are glued to your performance.

Aura of Glee

Starting at 7th level, your joyful presence forms a supernatural barrier against despair. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you cannot be frightened, and have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or paralyzed.

Additionally, when an ally within your aura misses with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to utter a witty quip or words of encouragement, allowing them to reroll the attack. Once you use this reaction, you cannot do so again until the start of your next turn.

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

Acrobats Evasion

At 15th level, your divine grace allows you to weave through danger like a tumbling performer. You gain the following benefits:

• You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, and your jump distance is doubled.
• You can move through the space of any hostile creature, regardless of its size, and doing so does not provoke opportunity attacks.
• When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Aspect of the Laughing God

At 20th level, you can embody the pure, chaotic, and benevolent essence of the Harlequin. As an action, your appearance shifts into a dazzling, shifting display of color, lights, and spectral confetti. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:

• Blink of an Eye: At the start of each of your turns, you can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.
• Killing Joke: When you hit a creature with a Divine Smite, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your paladin spell save DC or be overcome with magical laughter, falling prone and becoming incapacitated for the duration of your transformation. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
• Tricky Defense: Attack rolls against you have disadvantage.

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.