The Oath of the Slayer calls to paladins who seek to deliver blood soaked judgement upon all beings from the Nine Hells. Unlike their more gallant compatriots, these paladins give into a divine barbaric rage that burns as brightly as Pelor's light. Naturally, they are fervent and zealous, bordering on the mad, but this simply reflects the extremes that even deities go to when it comes to defeating evil.

Being a virtual parody of hell knights and virtuous saviours alike, Oath of the Slayer paladins paint ritualistic symbols on their armour with the blood of evil; however, they refuse to harm anyone that is not outright a devil, demon, undead or somehow provenly possessed by such an entity. It is in this way that they double as inquisitors - rooting out evil that seeks to subvert the souls of the innocent. Thus, these Paladins tend to serve gods of knowledge and war - such as Athena, or Paladine. They will often team up with clerics and other spiritual leaders to root out corruption, but when it comes time to fight, they charge forth to rip and tear.

TENETS OF SLAUGHTER

A paladin who takes this oath has the tenets of slaughter branded onto their body.

Root out Heresy - but Fairly. Consorting with the powers of the Nine Hells or the servants of undeath is the most grievous of crimes; however, no one can be judged before being proven guilty. Always follow the ideals of due process.

Sacrifice Self. The lives of the innocent are greater than yours. They are your charge and your cattle. See to it that they find peace and security in their spirits, that their needs are tended to and that none shall go wanting. In the end, you may have to die to preserve them.

Rip and Tear. Power and rage go hand in hand, and these are fed by the complete and absolute destruction of your enemies. Rend their bodies, burn their souls and destroy their minds. No enemy of the light must remain as anything other than a pile of viscera.

Oath Spells

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

Oath of the Slayer Spells

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.

Rage. You can use your Channel Divinity to enter a state of divine bloodlust. While in this state, you gain the following benefits:

• You can not use any weapon during this period. Upon activation, you drop whatever weapon (and shield, if any) you are holding, and instead use unarmed attacks. Each unarmed attack you make has advantage, and deals an extra 1d4 Radiant damage.
• If an enemy of evil alignment is out of your movement range at the start of your round, you may dash to them as part of an attack action.

Your rage lasts for 20 seconds. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action.

You can use Channel Divinity: Rage three times, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

Glory Kill. When you kill an opponent, you can use your reaction to Channel Divinity and carry out a glory kill. Doing so gives you 1d4 additional temporary health.

Aura of the Slayer

Starting at 7th level, you constantly emanate an aura of lethality while you’re not incapacitated. The aura extends 10 feet from you in every direction, but not through total cover.

If a creature of evil alignment is in range of you, it has disadvantage on attacks made against you.

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

Keen Inquisitor

Starting at 15th level, you have become more adept at rooting out evil. You can perform an Insight (Wis) check on a target against their Deception (Cha) skill to use your divine senses and discern if they are evil. If you succeed, you know their exact alignment and current motive as long as they are evil, otherwise you simply learn their alignment.

The Doom Slayer

At 20th level, you tap into your most primal reserves of absolute, unending rage to become the Doom Slayer of legend for 30 seconds:

• You gain the effects of Channel Divinity: Rage and Channel Divinity: Glory Kill is automatically triggered on each kill, as foes you slay explode in clouds of viscera.
• When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can make two additional attacks as part of that action.
• You have resistance to all forms of damage.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.