Oath of the Gravekeeper

The Oath of the Gravekeeper is an unwavering vow that binds those who swear it to preserve the natural balance of life and death. These paladins, known better in the legends as grave knights, are devoted to protecting those whose time has not yet come, as well as ensuring that those fated to die do not linger beyond theirs. They will seek those who would cheat death, through undeath or some other means of artificial immortality, and eradicate them. Wherever a wretched necromancer seeks to raise those who have crossed the veil, wherever an ancient vampire attempts to enslave the slain, wherever an old wizard begins to dream of lichdom, wherever dark forces conspire to cut down those not yet chosen to meet their end... a grave knight will rise, unwavering as their Oath, to stand in their path. 

TENETS OF THE GRAVEKEEPER

The tenets of the Oath of the Gravekeeper are solemn and unbreakable. Every paladin that swears this oath vows to uphold the very same tenets, which revolve around protecting both the living and the dead from any forces that would upset the natural balance, as well as punishing and eradicating those forces. What varies from one grave knight to another is their conception of where the balance is found, of who that walks among the living deserves death, and who that was slain should not have been yet.

Unbreakable balance: You must never act to upset the balance. You shall never slay a creature before its intended time, nor shall you attempt to bring back from death one that so deserved. Wherever events unravel according to the natural balance, you shall not interfere.

Protector and slayer: Life and death give each other meaning. A life should not be ended before its time, nor should it linger on beyond it.

Preserve the dead: You shall ensure that no one disturbs the eternal rest of those whose time has run out.

Eradicate the undead: You shall pursue and strike down the undead and any similar abominations to the natural balance, as well as the forces that created them in the first place. 

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

Oath of the Gravekeeper Spells

Additionally, you learn thefind familiar spell, but can only cast it as a ritual.

Channel Divinity

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

Turn the Undead: As an action, you speak the words of your oath. Each Undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can't take Reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action. Additionally,  when an undead fails its saving throw against your Turn Undead feature, the creature is instantly destroyed if its challenge rating is at or below a certain threshold, as shown in the Destroy Undead table.

DESTROY UNDEAD

Angel of Death: As an action, you brand a creature within 30 ft. of you with the mark of doom until the end of your next turn. The next time you or an ally of yours hits the marked creature with an attack, the attack is automatically a critical hit.

Aura of Keeping

Starting at 7th level, your sheer will creates a measure of protection against death for allies near you. Friendly creatures have the following benefits when they are within 10 ft. of you and you aren't incapacitated:

• They have resistance to necrotic damage.
• They have advantage on death saving throws.
• Whenever they are the target of any magical healing, they regain an additional number of hit points equal to your paladin level.

At 18th level, this aura extends to 30 ft.

Custodian of the Veil

Starting at 15th level, when a creature within 30 ft. of you other than yourself and that you can see is reduced to 0 hit points, but not killed outright, you can use your reaction to make the creature drop to 1 hit point instead. Additionally, when a creature within 30 ft. of you is reduced to 0 hit points, and it instead drops to 1 hit point (through abilities like relentless endurance or undead fortitude), you can use your reaction to cancel the effects of that ability and make the target drop to 0 hit points instead. You can only use each of these abilities once per long rest.

Herald of Life and Death

At 20th level, you can, as an action, surround yourself with an aura of light and darkness that spans a 30-foot radius and lasts for 1 minute. Enemy creatures that rely on sight have disadvantage on attack rolls against you or any friendly creatures in the aura. Whenever an enemy that is turned by you starts its turn in the aura, it takes 3d10 psychic damage.

While the aura lasts, you can use a bonus action on your turn to create one of the following effects:

• You cause the shadows in the aura to attack one creature. Make a melee spell attack against the target. Attack rolls against undead creatures have advantage. If the attack hits, the target takes necrotic damage equal to 2d10 + your Charisma modifier, ignoring any resistances or immunities.
• You cause the light in the aura to heal one creature. The target heals 2d10 + your Charisma modifier. This healing does not benefit from your Aura of Keeping. Additionally, the light wards the creature until it makes an attack or a spell that affects an enemy creature, or until the aura ends. While warded in this way, any enemy that targets the creature with an attack or a harmful spell must first make a Wisdom saving throw. Undead creatures have disadvantage on this save. On a failed save, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack or spell. This effect doesn’t protect the warded creature from area effects, such as the explosion of a fireball.