Base Class: Paladin
The Oath of the Crimson Martyr is sworn by paladins who understand that true salvation demands a visceral price. They are not butchers who revel in slaughter, but solemn vessels of sacrifice who willingly bear the afflictions and burdens that would break others. Paladins who walk this path view their own vitality as a sacred currency, weaponizing their own life force to strike down wickedness and draw the world’s suffering into themselves. By turning their own pain into a radiant shield and their wounds into weapons of justice, they ensure that the innocent remain untouched. For these martyrs, the battlefield is a holy altar, and every drop of their own lifeblood spilled is an unbreakable covenant kept with the light.
Level 3: Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed. Once you gain access to an oath spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
-
3rd: False Life, Heroism
-
5th: Warding Bond, Prayer of Healing
-
9th: Life Transference, Beacon of Hope
-
13th: Aura of Life, Death Ward
-
17th: Mass Cure Wounds, Greater Restoration
Level 3: Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.
Vital Transference: As a reaction when a creature you can see within 30 feet of you takes damage, you can use your Channel Divinity to interpose your own vitality. You magically take the damage instead of the target. This damage cannot be reduced in any way, but the target takes no damage.
Blood Smite: You can use your Channel Divinity to weaponize your own life force. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend up to a number of your own Hit Dice equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1). Roll the dice and add them together. You take necrotic damage equal to the total, which cannot be reduced in any way, and the target takes extra radiant damage equal to double the total rolled.
Aura of the Martyr
Starting at 7th level, your willingness to suffer for others projects a tangible sanctuary. Whenever a friendly creature within 10 feet of you is forced to make a saving throw against a spell or effect that deals damage, you can choose to grant them advantage on the roll. If you do so and they succeed, you take the damage they would have taken, as if you had failed the save yourself.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Sanguine Resilience
Starting at 15th level, the magic of your oath sustains your body even as you give your life force away. Whenever you use a spell or your Lay on Hands feature to restore hit points to a creature other than yourself, you gain temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Charisma modifier.
Avatar of Sacrifice
At 20th level, you can physically manifest the ultimate sacrifice. As an action, you can undergo a transformation, glowing with a brilliant, crimson light. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:
-
You regenerate 10 hit points at the start of each of your turns.
-
Whenever an enemy creature within 10 feet of you hits one of your allies with a melee attack, that enemy takes radiant damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
-
If you would drop to 0 hit points while this feature is active, you can choose to drop to 1 hit point instead. If you do, the transformation ends immediately, and all friendly creatures within 30 feet of you regain hit points equal to 3d10 + your paladin level.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Comments